Neon Genesis Evangelion: Lantean Days
Chapter IX: The Shooting Star she saw.
Lantean Date 2,537,198.282 (8,507 BCE)
The planet of Asuras had once been a jewel of a planet, an example to all other in the universe that boasted a beauty that very few places would dare draw comparison. Its great plains had once been home to all manner of creatures from sky dragons to barking toads. The skies stretched into eternity, deeper than almost any abyss. Even the planets single settlement on the western continent could inspire poets and artists alike, its great silver spires reaching up into the heavens. Now it was gone.
The plains, tall mountains, scorching deserts and great snow fields were now covered in a great silver ocean that encompassed the entire world. The seas and the air itself had been burned away, taking the city with it. There was certainly no one left alive on the planets surface and even if there were any survivors on the planet they were almost certainly going to die soon.
The Lantean warship 'Forward unto the dawn' exited the expanse of hyperspace in a flash of green and blue light which would have blinded anyone looking at it. A deep silence had settled on the bridge, barely anything had been said since they had left the Lantean 'Threshold' station half a day ago. The silence had yet to be broken…
"What in the name of the Ascended happened here?" Captain R'deus asked himself silently from his chair.
"…Captain?" Commander Trebal asked.
"Rei…What, what do the sensors say?"
"The planets atmosphere has been completely destroyed, It appears that an event has reduced the city to its most basic elements and is what we see covering the planet. The planets mass has been decimated. But sir, it doesn't make sense." An emotionless Rei said to the captain.
"What do you mean?"
"In order to affect Neutronium and Trinium in the way we're seeing the temperature would have to be in the region of 2,000,000C. Sir, at that temperature the planets bedrock would liquidise but I'm clearly detecting solid bedrock."
"Does anyone have an idea?" A confused Captain asked. It was useless to ask, all work being done on Asuras was heavily classified by Moros and his monitor corps.
"Captain..! I'm getting something on sensors!" Trebal exclaimed in urgency.
The captain turned his attention from the blonde commander to the view screen that lay at the top Lagrange point to his chair. Through the holographic view screen he could clearly see a portion of the great silver ocean.
"Trebal, I don't see anything."
"Captain…"
Suddenly a great bubble arose out of the liquid metal. Like oxygen in water it grew in size. It didn't 'pop' however, it continued to rise and rise until it dominated the captains holographic view screen. A short silence settled on board as the crew collectively considered what to make of it. It was only after the 'bubble' left the atmosphere and the last of the silver ocean fall to the planet did the truth become apparent…It was a city ship.
"Incredible." Captain R'deus said in amazement as the piers of the city appeared from under the silver.
"Trebal, please hail them." The captain said to his second in command.
"I've been trying to sir."
"What?" The captain exclaimed in disbelief.
"Captain, the city is heading towards us and it is increasing speed!" Rei exclaimed. The screen above the captain chair changed from a real time representation of the city ship to a two dimensional representation of the city's course…And it was on a collision course!
"Captain! It's not slowing down!" Rei exclaimed.
"Shinji, try to outmanoeuvre…"
"Not time!" Shinji exclaimed from the pilot's station.
It reminded Shinji of a dragon's screams, the sound of the ship colliding with the city ship but it was far louder and far more destructive. Metal twisted and bent and finally broke under the pressure of 'The Dawn' smashing into the city ships great shield. Even the ships own shield collapsed, exposing dozens of people to the hard vacuum of open space, a fate very few beings in the universe could survive. Fires raged throughout the ship as lines of plasma were exposed to the ships oxygen.
Shinji awoke to a red haze; every time he tried to blink he was greeted by resistance. The pain in his head was deafening and the ringing in his ears easily drowned out the occasional scream. He could smell blood…and smoke…and liquid naqadah. He tried to pull himself up from his cot but he couldn't.
"Don't try to move. I think you've got a concussion." A lone voice cut through the static. It was a familiar voice. It was Asuka's voice.
"Why, why aren't I?" A powerless and barely conscious Shinji managed to say.
"Dead..? The shields and the front sections of the ship took most of the damage…We can't heal anyone to any real extent because the medical staff has been…killed." A shocked and pre occupied Asuka said.
"How many…?" Shinji said after what felt like a short decade of silence.
"Sixty four are dead; a hundred and two are injured. Four are seriously injured and twenty are unaccounted for." She said.
"What about..?" Shinji said as he finally succeeded and pulled himself up from the deck and realised he was in fact on the bridge.
"Captain R'deus has a seven inch gash across his eye, Trebal has a broken and Rei? Rei, well Rei's too busy for anyone to check for injuries." Shinji chuckled slightly at the mental picture of a road runner inspired Rei running about the ship fixing systems.
"I thought the Lanteans had the ability to heal themselves and others?" Shinji asked he walked towards Asuka who was desperately trying to re-establish inertia dampeners.
"Shinji, you're an idiot. Only a certain percentage of the population are that far on the path of ascension, And very few of them are in the monitor corps." Asuka carelessly replied.
"What about…?"
"The evangelions suffered very little damage, if any at all."
"Asuka please report to second control room." Rei said over the ships intercom. Asuka simply shook her head to Shinji and left. Once again, Shinji was alone.
The ships command centre was in an uproar, most of the operational officers were busy desperately trying to repair parts of the ship. With so much damage it was very unlikely the ship would ever be up to combat status again but if there was a chance the crew could get the communication relay working again they might have been able to call for aid. Captain R'deus sat in the ships throne chair in an attempt to co-ordinate repair efforts. Asuka wondered if the chair had been reconfigured to handle other systems than drone control. Commander Trebal furiously strolled into the chair room, she had important information.
"Captain, engineering reports that sub space radio is now operational."
"Thank you Trebal, The captain replied to his new second in command.
"This is Captain R'deus of the Lantean warship forward unto the dawn…"
"This is captain Srenala of the Lantean warship 'Epiphany of dust' transmitting recognition code."
"Code received Epiphany. Thank the ascended…" R'deus said.
"Captain Srenala. Could you contact Atlantis and request aid in the form of hyperspace transport?" The captain continued
"No good, Atlantis has issued a communication blackout between colonies. Even if you could contact them, they still wouldn't listen." Captain Srenala replied over the radio.
"What? why?"
"High Councillor Hippaforalkus has issued a general order for all ships available to regroup in the Lantean system. The fleet's being mobilised."
"Do you have any information why?"
"A hostile force has taken control of the Asuran city ship and has set course for the Lantean system." Srenala replied silently and regretfully.
"Captain Srenala, could you please replay the last message from Atlantus before the communication breakdown?"
"Of course…"
"This is Aeneas Hippaforalkus, High Councillor and Captain General of the Lantean Domain. All units are to group for a defensive against a hostile force in control of a city ship over the home world of Lantea. All other orders have now been rescinded."
Asuka had said that the front sections of the ship had taken the most damage, she was almost wrong. The ships hallways bore the show of collision, they were full of smoke nad many wall's panelling had been ripped away. Some by crew members in an attempt to repair the ship and some had been pulled of by the vacuum of space.
Shinji had never been so careful not to step on anything.
Shinji strolled carefully into the ships second command centre. The room next to it contained the ships throne chair where the Captain was perched. Asuka, Trebal and Rei stood around him deep in discussion. He gazed at one of the ships paper thin view screens hanging on the wall.
"Shinji..?" He turned around to see Trebal standing in the doorway while Rei and Asuka clustered behind her.
"Sorry, I was just on another planet…" Shinji said sheepishly.
"Shinji, you mustn't be walking after that kind of concussion… You're so confused that you thought you were on a planet." Trebal said caringly, her confusion at Shinji's comment made Rei and Asuka look at each other disappointingly.
"No time, we need every able bodied man and women working as hard as possible." The control room went silent. Asuka clenched her fist tightly as Trebal stopped blinking. For how much progress she had made, Asuka still needed to dominate a room.
"Captain, I really think…" Asuka said before she was interrupted by one of the ships many technicians.
"Captain, theirs a ship coming in. It's one of our ships."
"Confirmation code..?"
"Yes sir, they claim to be the cruiser Hecate."
"This is Captain Hyllus of the Lantean Cruiser Hecate. Atlantus received a communication from Captain Srenala regarding you status after which High Councillor Hippaforalkus ordered us to retrieve the survivors. Can we lend aid?" A somewhat familiar voice said over the ships subspace radio.
"Yes captain, the ship has suffered irreparable damage and we require hyperspace transport." Captain R'deus replied.
"Very well captain, but High Councillor Hippaforalkus has asked me to transport your cargo as well, I believe they are referred to as Evangelions."
"Did he say why?" An apprehensive R'deus asked.
"He said one of your officers would probably realise why, after I showed you this." As Captain Hyllus replied a holographic image appeared over the throne chair. Thought it was rough and there was some data missing it was clear what the image was supposed to be, A fully mutated Lantean city ship.
It retained its basic shape, that of a great snowflake with piers connected in two places but most of the larger buildings had been wasted away and their material used to create great tentacles made of the same material as the city ship itself. In the eyes of all who saw it, it was an abomination.
Shinji couldn't see what the other captain was speaking about or see what he was supposed to see but in truth he had never quite grasped the complexities of sensor analysis. How could he? What had Hippaforalkus seen that made him think that someone on board would recognise it?
"Fimas!" Asuka spat angrily. The way she used to spit just before an Angel appeared.
"What is it? What do you see?" Shinji asked nervously.
"You really don't see it do you? There in the centre of the city." Asuka said as she pointed to the red spot in the centre that the sensors had designated as a power source. It did stir something in Shinji; it reminded him of something he had seen before. He couldn't quite put his finger on it though, like something out of another life…
"Fimas…" Shinji said as it dawned on him.
"What is it? What do you see?" Commander Trebal and Captain R'deus asked. Shinji, Rei and Asuka looked at each other in dread as each tried to find the courage to acknowledge the truth.
"The city ship of Asuras…Is the Thirteenth Angel." Shinji said.
Dozens of warships, cruisers and other craft lay in orbit over Lantea. Most of the warships were Pegasus glass like the Aurora or the Tria. Accompanying the 'mighty' fleet of warships were many hundreds of gate ships and drones waiting to be activated from the surface. Below, the city had disappeared under the waters of Lantea in the possibility that the enemy broke through the lines.
Hippaforalkus couldn't believe he was back here, on board a warships bridge starring at the view screen waiting for battle to begin. He didn't like being here, no Lantean loved battle. He sighed disappointingly, unless the Evangelions returned before long Atlantis could be under siege again and if Atlantis fell the Alteran race could end in the current generation. He had been in this situation before with the wraith and now he was back here again.
"It never ends." He sighed.
The synchronisation process was different and unusual, not simply because of the Evangelions Lantean retrofits but also of course because no pilot had ever attempted to synchronise at over 10,000 times the average speed of light. The LCL was still their much to Shinji's detest as well as the smell of blood but it was somewhat different, like riding an old motorcycle that had its engine serviced and had new tyres fitted.
"Shinji, can you hear me?" Shinji heard the ships chief engineer speak over the integrated communication system. The entry plug was different, the old chair had been replaced with something that felt a lot like the Lantean throne chairs.
"Yes, yes I can here you." Shinji replied. The Hecate's doctors had been able to treat Shinji's concussion on the fly.
"Good…Can you move the Evangelions arm?" Ignoring the stiff feeling from the Evangelions armour Shinji gently pulled the Evangelions hand upwards before cheekily using the Evangelions had and fingers to form a giant 'peace' symbol.
"Don't show off. The Lanteans don't know what that means." Asuka complained through the communicator.
"You are just irritated because your Evangelion will not function in space." Shinji replied to his disappointed companion as he dropped the Evangelions arm. In the control room Asuka considered blowing the hangers airlock and blowing Shinji and his Evangelion into hyperspace.
"He is correct, you know." Rei Ayanami Ikari said from the doorway leading into the hallway. Asuka considered a reply but before she could she was interrupted by a comm. Message from the bridge.
"Prepare for extreme deceleration."
The mutated city ship of Asuras, the thirteenth angel Bardiel dilatorily made its way to the Alteran world of Lantea. Dozens, even hundreds of ships tried desperately to inflict any damage upon the blight. Not only did the angel possess a completely infallible, fully powered Lantean shield but also it's natural AT field. These two together made the Angel impervious to any and all possible weapons the Lanteans could possibly throw at them.
The Lantean warship 'Armentarii' had been heavily damaged by both the city's conventional weapons and its newly developed 'tentacles'. On the vessels bridge Captain General Hippaforalkus furiously punched the control chairs right hand console.
"Sir, our weapons are down and are shields are all but drained." Spoke commander Savil, the ships formal first officer as Hippaforalkus struck the console again.
"Ad utrumque paratus indeed…" Said Hippaforalkus as a console exploded behind him.
"Sir, theirs another ship coming in. It's the Hecate!" Savil exclaimed.
Like an eagle flying in front of the sun the smaller Hecate exited hyperspace and quickly took point between the heavily damaged Armentarii and the thirteenth angel. On board the ship morale was high, with this many officers and not one but three fully functioning Evangelions on board they had every right to be.
"Commander Trebal, signal the Armentarii and transport the survivors aboard." Captain Hyllus said.
"Yes sir."
"This is Captain Hyllus, break off and regroup in lower orbit." The captain said over subspace radio.
"Shinji?" The captain said over the on board intercom.
"Yes captain?" The pilot replied.
"Good hunting."
It was like a dance really, the Evangelion slid out of the hanger. It fell through deep space wrapped in its jet black wings. Suddenly the wings opened revealing the Evangelion to its enemy. Lantea's sun made it sparkle like a snowflake at dawn. Shinji quickly activated the ships engines and it flew to the Angel. Even the serious retrofits given by the Lanteans could not however give the Evangelion enough firepower to breach a city ships shields and an Angels AT field. Drones simply exploded upon the shields surface and even if he could get through the city's shield, and there was still the matter of the AT field.
"Any idea's" Shinji asked as he manoeuvred the Evangelion away from one of the angel's tentacles.
"Just give us a minute. We're thinking." Asuka replied in annoyance.
Despite Shinji's valiant efforts the angelic city ship drew ever closer to the heavily guarded world below. No matter how much fire power the Lantean fleet could muster they'd have no chance if Shinji couldn't knock out one of the shields.
"Asuka, I think I can see the apartment from here!" Shinji exclaimed as he turned away from the Angel and towards the blue world that lay dangerously close to him.
"Shinji we have an idea." Trebal said over the subspace radio.
"What is it?"
"You let the city ship enter the atmosphere of Lantea."
"What?"
"Listen!" Asuka exclaimed. "When a city ship enters an atmosphere most of its power requirements are taken up by the part of the ship entering the atmosphere which leaves the other part of the ship relatively weak."
"How would you define 'weak'?" Shinji asked.
"Five, maybe ten drones should be proficient." Trebal said.
The temperature inside the entry plug started to rise exponentially as the Evangelion followed the angel into Lantea's atmosphere. The LCL started to slowly boil, causing Shinji great discomfort. The Angel tried to 'bat' the Evangelion away with its tentacles but thankfully to no avail.
"Shinji, Fire! Shinji, Fire the drones!" Asuka screamed through subspace.
Shinji could literarily feel Lantea's warm air wash over him as the Evangelion and the angel crashed through the atmosphere. Its armour was heavy and its view was obstructed. Shinji tightened his arm and pulled the side sticks trigger…
"Accipe Hoc!" Shinji exclaimed as six drones were fired through the Evangelions wrist bound drone launcher.
Somewhere, on a dark world on the very edge of the Pegasus galaxy a new and unknown being entered the fray. It wore its hair long and grey and its eyes were of the same colour as human blood. It looked into the alien sky in recognition of its fallen brethren.
"The Lilim here are vast, but their Domain is but dust in wind. Their world shall burn until its surface is but glass." It spoke softy as the wind began to howl.
Authors note: Updates should come more regularly now, maybe every Friday or Monday( abit like undertheglassmoons.)
I chose to make Asuras an angel because
A. I didn't have a lot of Evangelions to destroy.
B. Lantean nanites + Angels = unholy union made in hell!
C. What better way to scare the living bee-Jesus out of the Lanteans than to destroy one of their priced city ships?
Latin Translations.
Fimas-Manure, pooh, shit
Accipe Hoc-Take that.
Ad utrumque paratus- prepared for either alternative