For today NERV has scheduled the reactivation test of Unit 00. The last activation attempt on the 17th June 2115 failed horribly and the pilot of Unit 00, Rei Ayanami, was injured. As soon as the unit activated the EVA went out of control and trashed the test station. A test station is a large white room, somewhat resembling a padded room. The EVA unit is fixed to the wall; on the other end of the room is an armored glass window to a small control room from which the tests are run. Once the unit is activated the fixing bolts are released and it can move freely in the room to test the motor controls, etc.

Rei, how are you today? – Nadia asked

I'm fine. – Rei answered

Aren't you the least worried about the reactivation test? – Nadia Asked

Not at all, I know you will be watching over me. – Rei said.

That was an unexpected statement of confidence in her abilities since technically only a little in the test's outcome would depend on her recent work with the interface. So Nadia thought about how she could help Rei in case something would in fact go wrong again. How could she force an early shutdown or maybe get Rei physically out of the entry plug in a way that would not be to conspicuous.

I have to go now to the test station. – Rei said and went to the door.

Later in the control room.

Rei, do you hear me? – Commander Ikari asked.

Yes – Rei answered.

We begin now with the reactivation of unit 00, initiate contact phase 1 – Gendo said.

Power the systems – Dr. Akagi ordered.

Operational power level reached – Maya said.

Ok, begin second contact phase – Ritsuko said.

Initialize A10 connection – Hyuga said.

Activating synapsis, initializing neural link – Maya said.

Pulse and Harmonix normal – Another operator said.

How is the signal back flow? – Ritsuko asked.

It's below the detection threshold – Maya answered.

All links completed, neural connection established. – Maya said.

All central nervous system elements nominal. – Hyuga said.

Checking synapses – Maya said – Synchronization level rising need 2.5% more for activation, 2%, 1.5%, 1%, 0.5%, we are past the activation limit.

Unit 00 is now activated – Hyuga said.

Roger – Rei said – I'll proceed with the motoric tests.

Unlocking arm restraints. – Aoba said.

The Evangelion lifted his right arm and looked at it, than rotated it and proceeded to do the same with the left one.

How does it feel? – Nadia asked.

The arms feel numb – Rei said.

Ok, I'll dial the back flow suppression in the new input channel filters down a bit – Nadia said – how is it now?

Better, now it feels like always – Rei said.

Can you detect any signal inversion? – Ritsuko asked.

No, all looks good so far. – Maya answered.

Ok, Rei start walking – Ritsuko said.

Shoulder and leg restraints unlocked. – Aoba said.

The Evangelion took a step forward, than another. Then Rei proceeded to more advanced balance tests.

Commander Ikari approached closer to Ritsuko and asked in a low voice – So what do you think? – So that Nadia wouldn't hear their conversation.

Well, it's definitely impressive, though I don't think it would stop a unit from going berserk, it would though protect the pilot much better than our old system. – Ritsuko answered.

Do you think it's worth the risk granting her access to the low level functions of an EVA's central nervous system; would she be able to implement a control mechanism that would be capable of direct control? – Gendo asked

She probably could; but I think she wouldn't, definitely not for a unit that harbors a human soul. – Ritsuko answered. – For what we told them, the EVAs minds are completely void.

Rei finished the tests and parked Unti 00 again in the holding mounts.

Rei, the tests were successful, no issues with the reactivation – Ritsuko said

Let's deactivate the unit – Ritsuko ordered

All locks engaged – Aoba said.

Unit shutdown completed – Maya said – Moving unit 00 to cage 2.

Nadia left the control room and went to the EVA cages to see Rei and complement her successful test run in person.

That went really well, didn't it Rei – Nadia said.

Yes, of cause – Rei answered.

We should celebrate it somehow – Nadia said – How about going out to dinner in an expensive restaurant with the others?

If you wish – Rei answered. Her blind obedience made Nadia feel very uncomfortable.

Rei, what would you like to do – Nadia asked – I never went to a dinner in an expensive restaurant it may be nice.

Ok than we will do that – Nadia said and smiled.

In the evening, Misato, Shinji and Ritsuko joined Trax, Nadia and Rei for dinner. Misato was somewhat impressed with the place, it was a very expensive restaurant, probably one of the most expensive one in the whole of Neo Tokio-3 region. But she did not like that Trax and Nadia ware so wasteful with money, NERV salary's ware not adequate to the importance of their job. Also NERV itself was always cash strapped, despite them being man kinds only line of defense budget disputes ware all too often.

Say Trax you wouldn't have a few hundred millions to spend; for NERV to finely have the needed funds to modernize wing B – Misato asked. That was a very direct and not very polite question to say the least.

Well if man kinds survival is not worth to mankind enough why should we have to pay for it? – Trax asked telling her that they are legally in charge of the Taelon holding company was not a well thought move.

I don't understand why the government doesn't grant us the needed funds – Misato added.

Ah stop it already – Ritsuko said – the world needs more than just EVA's, people need also food and clean water that all costs money.

Yea but the Taelon holding company has shitloads of it so why not spend a few hundred millions in the right places – Misato asked.

Because in the end it would not help – Trax said – intangible assets, that includes fiat money, are like any good ponzi scheme, it's all worth a lot on paper until you try to cash it all out.

Look, the wealth of the world is currently estimated at 160e12€ while its BIP is only about half of that about 70e6€ – Trax explained – and a big part of that is actually already bound for necessary living expenses so only a fraction of that sum is really available.

Authors note: the values are taken as of 2014 I did not want to mess around with predicting inflation for the next 100 years past a near extinction event, feel free to do that for yourself. Ah and 1e12 = 1 000 000 000 000 etc…, for Europeans and all other normal peoples that's a billion, north Americas call it however a trillion.

If one activates a substantial portion of the words intangible assets the first thing that happens is that this particular assets will devalue very fast it will just distort the market without redirecting the worlds productivity to the intended amount – Trax continued the explanation – Even with real assets like gold when trying to sell a few tons you will first and foremost drop the price a lot. Or put it simpler if all rich people would try to spend all their billions at once they would notice that now all they money is at best worth 10-20% of what it was worth before.

The Taelons are also in possession of about half the world's gold (episode 3x19 "Apparition") that is 3e12€ or about 64 out of 171 tons (values as of 2011)

Rei was amused (to the limited extend she can be amused by something) by the pointless discussion about worthless metal and 0's in computers.

Well – Nadia said – at least our honored guest is having some entertainment.

Later in the evening, Nadia received a notification at her hand held, she looked at it. Her good mood was instantly gone.

An angel is heading to Neo Tokio-3 it's currently moving with Mach 1.2 across the north pacific it will arrive in japans Territorial waters at about 09:00 tomorrow morning! – Nadia said.

30 minutes later in central dogma, that is 21:47, Nadia put the satellite surveillance feed on the main screen.

It's even less humanoid than the previous one, it does not even appear biological – Misato said. It appears to be a gigantic, floating, crystalline octahedron. Its crystalline surface is blue and highly reflective.

It's an angel, it must be biological, it just has some kind of crystalline shell. – Nadia said.

Doesn't that thing remind you of something? – Nadia thought

Yes, it's shaped like your Blue Water – Trax thought as a reply.

How can it move so fast? – Aoba asked.

Trax looked on the remote console and said – Its leaving an intense ion trail behind, it probably ionizes the air that gets in contact with its surface and accelerates it backwards, using the resulting forward thrust for propulsion.

Can the UN drop a N2 mine on it like last time – Misato asked.

The UN does not have any supersonic missiles that would be large enough to carry a N2 device – Aoba said – Still they insisted at dispatching a destroyer fleet to try to stop it with conventional weapons.

That's waste of taxpayers' money – Misato said.

Economic interests, if they don't use up enough ammunition some higher ups job will be on the line – Ritsuko said.

The fleet will make contact approximately at 07:30 with the target – Aoba said.

Where did the angel came from so fast? – Fuyutsuki asked.

It emerged above the water surface vertical from the Peru–Chile Trench, when it was initially detected, and started heading straight to Neo Tokio-3. – Nadia said.

Prepare unit 01 for activation – Gendo said.

What about unit 00? – Fuyutsuki asked.

It needs more testing; we will use it only if absolutely necessary – Gendo answered.

Prepare all defenses and bring the city buildings into the geo front bunker – Fuyutsuki ordered – When everything is ready for battle go grab some sleep, we must be on our best tomorrow when the angel arrives.

07:47 the UN fleet is in position and awaiting the Angels arrival. NERV is observing the satellite feed, an audio com is setup to the flag ship of the fleet.

Target inbound it will be in range in 110 seconds – An officer said over the coms.

Target the object with all we have, open fire as soon as it is in range – the fleet captain ordered.

Shortly thereafter the ships lunched about a hundred SAM's on the target, these cruise missiles designed to take down fighter aircrafts travel at Mach 3 so they can easily pursue the target even if it would start evasive maneuvers.

Multiple direct hits on the target – another officer reported – enemy course unaffected.

What?! – the fleet captain asked

Fire the rail guns, full power! – he ordered.

The destroyers were equipped with modern rail guns capable of shooting 10kg projectiles with Mach 20 what corresponds to about 245 MJ of energy per shot. However all the projectiles have been deflected by the Angels AT-field.

The scanners detect a massive increase in the angel's power output, its risen by factor 10. – Nadia said.

Is it going to attack? – Misato asked.

In that instance the angel emitted a highly collimated energy beam, cutting two destroyers in half, than he proceeded to other targets.

It's an abomination, the light of Babel – Nadia thought

It sure looks like it – Trax replied – But how could a biological creature manage to emulate this technology.

It head 12 thousand years to evolve to this point – Nadia thought.

Still given our observations on its power output it couldn't synthesize a lot of artificial Orichalcum, in the time available. – Trax thought.

Yea, it's only covered with a thin shell – Nadia thought – but still it's a beast designed to kill angels.

Or EVAs for that matter – Trax thought – I wonder if its initial goal was to kill Lilith.

That's possible, given the path it evolved, but now it head to change its objectives – Nadia thought.

This energy beam of the creature, from what I can tell even an EVA's AT-field won't be able to withstand it for long – Nadia said.

The fleet is being decimated! – Aoba said.

Idiots, we told them that conventional weapons can't do anything against an angel – Gendo said.

Well, we may have problems with that one ourselves, commander! – Ritsuko said – If these measurements are correct, that energy beam indeed caries enough punch to severely damage an EVA.

And that beast will arrive here in less than two hours! – Misato added.

At 9:25 the angel arrived in Neo Tokio-3, it took position directly above the NERV HQ and started drilling with some sort of proboscis (tube-like mouthpart; see Mosquito) into the Geo-front. Other assaults with conventional weaponry remained ineffective. NERV used that occasion to map the angel's response range, a.k.a. how close an enemy has to approach to be attacked with the energy beam.

At 9:55 NERV personal under the command of captain Katsuragi is reviewing their options of defense against the creature.

The Angel is directly above us – Hyuga said – It's drilling into the geo front with some sort of drill.

I want a report and a tactical assessment of our situation – Misato said.

The angel is attacking everything that approaches it below a certain distance – An operator said. – The drill has already penetrated the first armor layer. At the current rate it will break through to the Geo front in about 14 hours.

So no chance of a hand to hand combat – Misato said – what's the status of its AT-Field?

It is permanently active, and very strong – Maya said.

What's its objective what good is a small 17 meter wide whole to the geo front for this thing anyways? – Misato asked – It's not like it could fit through it.

Keep in mind that it's a living creature its crystalline appearance is only a thin shell – Nadia said – best case is that it will pour its insides into the geo front, leaving its hard shell behind and assume a new shape, possibly losing some of its current deadliness.

And what's the worst case? – Misato asked

It will morph its shape and invade the geo front in its current form – Nadia said.

So waiting for it to enter and fighting it inside is a gamble – Misato said.

How do we kill this thing, if we can't get near it? – Ritsuko asked.

The UN has suggested throwing a 10 Megaton N2 mine onto the Angel using a high altitude bomber – Aoba said – Such an explosion would however leave a 10 km large crater fully obliterating Neo Tokio-3 and the entire Geo-front.

Should we capitulate and evacuate? - Hyuga asked.

That would be no good, without NERV there would be no one to stop the next angel. – Misato said.

Before we do that, I would like to try one thing – Misato said – you remember that dossiers we got about that new positron gun the military is developing?

You can't be serious this thing was built to be powered by a fusion reactor – Ritsuko said – and they still did not manage to get it running producing an energy surplus, the gun was only tested using grid electricity at about 1% of its nominal power.

Well luckily we have a supplier of working fusion reactors – Misato said and looked to Trax.

Right, the gun was designed to operate with a primitive implementation of an electro-plasma system (EPS) so it can be powered directly from a fusion reactor – Trax said.

The gun was designed to operate at 1 Terra Joule of energy at most but to break the AT-Field of the angel we have estimated at least 2 TJ would be required – Ritsuko said.

That shouldn't be a problem the main limiting factor in the current implementation is the waste heat when storing the energy for a shot, charging the system over tens of minutes to hours results in. – Trax said – With 10 Taelon fusion reactors operating at its peak power, we can push 250GW into that thing, with this much power it would be charged to 2.5 TJ in just 10 seconds. We should be able to safely get more than one shot out of this thing before it breaks.

Are you sure you can implement an energy converter in that time available? – Ritsuko asked.

The beauty of this solution is that this gun is already mostly compatible, only some customized EPS relays are required that can be manufactured on the mothership in a few hours. – Trax answered.

Misato presented the plan to the commander.

Is that really our only option – Gendo asked.

Yes, that is unless you want to wait and see what the angel is capable of once it enters the geo front – Misato replied.

What about the positron gun can't we power it of the grid? – Fuyutsuki asked.

Well, we would need the entire power output of Japan to charge it in a manageable time frame. – Misato said – It would be doable, but I strongly advise against it.

As it stands now we would be completely relaying on the cooperation of those aliens – Fuyutsuki said.

I see no reason to reject your plan. You may proceed, Captain. – Gendo said.

Yes sir! – Misato said and left Gendos office.

Do you think it is wise to risk mankind's survival on them keeping up their end of the bargain? – Fuyutsuki asked.

If they would want to betray us they could just as easily cut a few power lines from orbit the effect would be the same a huge gun with no power to shoot it, and no more time for a plan B or a retaliation strike of some sort. – Gendo said – We, apparently, don't have any other options.

18:00 the Angel will reach the geo front in about 6 hours.

Status report? – Misato asked.

The angel has penetrated the 18th armored plate – Aoba said – just 12 more to go.

What is the progress on the positron rifle? – Misato asked

We are almost done assembling the device. – Vladimir said – We have already successfully tested the new EPS relays.

When will be ready to go? – Misato asked.

We should be ready as planned to start the operation at 20:00 – Vladimir said.

And the EVA's – Misato asked.

Ready to go – Ritsuko said.

20:00 the operation is starting Unit 01 has been equipped with the gun while Unit 00 will act as backup it also got the heat shield of an old space craft that should withstand the angels energy beam for some 10 seconds. The units got in position behind a hill.

Ok, you know the drill we have simulated it enough times. Get on the top of the hill and aim the gun at the enemy, the automatic targeting system should take the care of the rest, as soon as the system reports target locked we will charge the gun, when it says ready to fire, pull the trigger. – Misato instructed Shinji once again. – And remember when the gun is charged you need to shoot within 10 seconds or it will burn out, it wasn't made to store that much energy for long.

Shinji got in position, system reported target locked.

Ok, let's go! – Misato said.

Engaging EPS relays 1 through 10 – Trax said – Energy flow stable, charging 10%, 20% ...

Energy increase in the target – Nadia said – I think it noticed us and wants to attack.

Shinji! Take cover – Misato screamed.

Unit 01 has hidden behind the hill. The angel's blast took out the entire hill.

Shinji are you ok!? – Misato asked.

Pilot appears alive – Maya said.

Shinji do can you hear me!? – Misato asked again.

Yes, yes I can hear you, what now? – Shinji asked.

Charging complete in 5 seconds you must target the angel and fire within the next 15 seconds, or just shoot it "some ware" and retreat. – Trax said.

I can do that! – Shinji said and got out from behind the scorched hill.

What's that! The targeting system reports an error, what now – Shinji asked.

You must target manually – Misato said – use the visual backup system.

The angel is preparing for a second strike – Nadia said.

Plasma containment failure in 8 seconds. – Trax said.

Get out of there Shinji! – Misato screamed – that's an order!

No! I can do that – Shinji replied while trying to target the angel.

Containment failure in 5 seconds. – Trax said – you must shoot now or the gun will blow up!

The angel fired, rei blocked the beam with the shield aided by units 00 AT-Field.

Shinji, retreat I said! – Misato screamed even louder as if the coms could actually be that loud.

3 seconds till containment failure – Trax said – if you don't fire now I will trigger the gun remotely no matter where it's pointing at!

I 'almost have it – Shinji said – Just wait please!

Plasma containment critical, Now or never – Trax said.

Shinji fired; the positron beam struck the angel and pierced it through and through. The angel started losing altitude, its proboscis broke. When it hit the ground its shell cracked and red viscous fluid started leaking out of it.

What's the status of the enemy is it dead? – Misato asked.

All energy emission ceased – Nadia said.

What's the status of unit 00 and its pilot? – Nadia asked.

The shield held but the unit is heavily burned – Maya answered – The pilot appears to be alive as the AT-Field generation is still up but coms and telemetry are out.

Can we safely eject the entry plug? – Misato asked

The unit is not in a stable position, if we do that the skeletal structure will be damaged again, once the effects of the AT field subside – Ritsuko said.

Eject it anyways – Misato ordered.

Hold that – Ritsuko said – if we deactivate the unit we may not be able to reactivate it in time to prevent substantial damages.

Shinji do you hear me – Ritsuko said – you must bring unit 00 to the nearest elevator and fix it there so we can bring it in to the cage.

Understood - Shinji said.

10 minutes later Shinji managed to drag unit 00 to the nearest entrance.

Placing unit 00 on the elevator platform – Shinji said.

What's the status of the coms? – Misato asked.

Still down! – Maya answered.

Ok, I think it's strapped in. – Shinji said and took a step back from the elevator

Unit 00 to cage 3 – Misato ordered.

Shinji, we're sending up a new platform we will bring you in to cage 2 – Misato said.

Take care of that – Misato said to Ritsuko and left towards the cages, Nadia followed her.

In units 00 cage, due to the exterior damage the unit can't be properly fixed to the support structure, so the cage needs to be filled with fluid to support the EVA's body mass.

When can we eject the entry plug? – Misato asked.

We need 3 more minutes to fill the cage – a technician said.

Don't worry she's ok I feel it. – Nadia said.

You can't know that. – Misato said. – Hurry up!

Cage 3 filling completed – a voice said through some loud speakers.

Eject the entry plug right now – Misato ordered.

The plug was ejected, and opened, Rei exited the entry plug.

How are you? – Misato asked.

I'm fine – Rei said as if nothing happened.

How can you be fine you could have dyed out there? – Misato asked unsettled by Reis lack of concern for her own wellbeing.

I was being watched over – Rei said and looked to Nadia.

I think that commands a second nice dinner – Nadia said and smiled.

Rei smiled back.