I definitely understood now what Nabiki meant by needing to wait to find out. Even after watching that, I doubted I could have described it in any way that would make sense to someone who wasn't able to witness it firsthand. The recording, however, wasn't quite finished, and it continued to playback the events that had transpired after Asuka's absorption.

"Asuka?" Shinji called out, his unit still frozen after its loss of power. "Asuka?" he repeated a little louder, voice trembling.

"She's been absorbed," Ritsuko said quietly over the radio.

"What does that mean!?" I heard Misato shout, almost a wail.

"Her Synch Rate spiked at 400 during that fight... This... this is what we were trying to avoid," the Doctor said, sounding almost pissed as she said that last part.

"How soon can we begin the recovery attempt," Fuyutsuki asked.

"It won't work," Shinji mumbled, his voice cracking.

"But... we can't be-" Misato tried to say, but the Third cut her off.

"SHE'S GONE!"

"We can't give up," Lieutenant Ibuki cried, though her voice sounded like she knew any attempt was doomed from the start.

"Asuka... is with her mother," Shinji said, slowly, wiping at his eyes with the back of his hands before turning to look at the camera. "Asuka is gone, and we have nothing here she would want to come back to," he stated with finality.

The monitors froze, the screens split into four to show exterior shots of all four Evangelion Units, 00 and 04 severely damaged and 01 and 02 frozen in place but relatively complete.

"As we all can see, events quickly spiraled out of control from our intended plans, culminating in the situation we find ourselves in, now," Fuyutsuki said, though the way he was watching me told me he meant more or less to fill me in up to where everyone else was, currently.

"Well," I stated, my mouth somewhat dry, "that's not exactly everything," I said, looking at Kaji before turning to Nabiki for an explanation.

The middle Tendo recognized my look, as she started explaining almost immediately. "After Mr. Ryoji here was implicated, I had him brought to me. SHODAN and all sensors here indicate the transmission sent during the fight did not originate from the Thunder. Kaji was implicated for a crime he didn't commit."

I glanced at Kaji once more, before nodding to him, then turning towards the screens, studying the damage surrounding each unit. Kaji, however, seemed to frown to himself, before looking at Shinji thoughtfully. "So, Shinji... mind telling me how you found out for certain the identity of the soul contained in Units 01 and 02?"

He looked back at me for a minute before answering, his expression racing from one extreme to another, before finally, he quietly asked, instead, "why didn't you tell me?"

I did my best to suppress the cringe I felt trying to come out; that was one question I didn't really want to answer.

Before I could say anything, though, Misato spoke up. "I'm sorry, Shinji."

"Why?" he asked again, now fixing her with his gaze.

"Because," she started, sinking into her chair as if the weight of the world was pressing down on her. The weight of her world, I realized, probably was. Quite harshly. "We... had originally planned to tell you, but..."

"You didn't think we could handle it," he stated, plainly.

Misato, unable to even meet his gaze anymore, merely nodded.

There was a tense silence for a moment as Shinji seemed to digest this, before he finally nodded to himself, as if making up his mind. "I understand."

Misato looked about as shocked as the rest of us, before he turned to look at Fuyutsuki, "Commander, I don't think I can work here anymore." He punctuated this by tossing his Nerv ID down on the table, the spinning plastic card sliding to a stop in the middle with everyone's attention on it.

"But... but why? I thought you understood!?" Lieutenant Ibuki asked, finally.

"Trust."

The one word drew everyone's attention, and Rei didn't show any emotion as everyone's stares fell on her.

Shinji, however, nodded, before turning to me. "Kyle, sir... I'm not sure if I'll see you again after this... but I..." he trailed off, uncomfortable with the attention, but in his eyes, behind the resignation and anger, I could sense the gratitude.

I nodded, "I know what you're trying to say. I understand. But don't leave just yet. I don't know if Rei told you, but I have some papers around here somewhere for you, and a couple other questions for you, after we're done here."

He nodded, giving everyone a sketchy bow, before walking towards the door.

"Shinji!"

Everyone turned to look at Kaji, who was holding a silently crying Misato.

"Yes?" he asked, formally, clearly wanting to leave the room.

"Before you go, I have to know; how did you find out?"

"Oh," he frowned in thought for a second, before replying, "I found the papers detailing what originally happened, the summaries and everything. It took me a little while to understand all the English, but..." he shrugged. Everyone in the room looked around at each other at that, and I frowned, not wanting to waste time guessing.

"Where'd you find them?"

Shinji blinked, clearly surprised. "In my locker, where you put them."

"Oh my god," Nabiki said, just as I realized what this meant.

"What?" Misato shouted, glaring at me with red-eyes.

I ignored her, turning to look at the camera in the corner, "SHODAN, lock us down. Nobody leaves the Geofront without my permission. I want a full squad covering every exit to the complex, and every entrance and exit to Tokyo-3. I want a shuttle, no, I want shuttles of scanning crews down here yesterday, and I want a complete list of all vehicular traffic in or out of the city since the alert was lifted," I spat, everyone suddenly talking at once.

"You can't do that!" Ibuki said, earning a glare from Nabiki.

"What's going on?" Shinji asked.

"This is going to turn real ugly, real fast," Dr. Akagi pointed out, to which I shrugged.

"They're on their way," the AI stated, as everyone digested the implications of Shinji's statement.

Turning to look at the confused kid, I sighed, "Shinji, I didn't put those papers there. Someone... probably the same someone who sounded like Kaji and confirmed what you said during the battle, planted those there for you to find. Someone set... well, both Kaji and I up."

"But... why?"

"Because they are the most likely to do something like this," Fuyutsuki said, gaining everyone's attention.

"What do you mean?" Makoto asked, unconsciously squeezing my hand as she glared at the commander of Nerv.

"Kaji is, or was, really, a triple agent, working for SEELE, Nerv, and the Japanese Government. He's admitted to it, and has since been scarce around here, as you already know. Your husband, however, is a recent addition to the roster, and new to this world entirely. Everyone here knows and has known each other longer than we've known you, so they were hoping our trust in you wasn't as strong as the trust we all had for each other."

"But, why would somebody do that?" Shinji asked, confused.

"SEELE... well, you read the papers. Like we said before, they want Third Impact to happen. What Misato did..." I trailed off, glancing at the Major, who nodded back at me silently, as before staring at the table.

I took a breath, "We knew what Misato had done... but we only found out right before the briefing yest- the day before yesterday. Her reason for not telling you was the same as SEELE's for telling you: the thought that you or Asuka might hold back knowing that your Eva held your Mother's soul inside."

"All units in place. Shuttles descending now," SHODAN said in the intervening silence.

"I... I don't..." Shinji looked grief stricken, before whispering, "this is all my fault?"

Makoto pulled her hand from mine and moved around the table, kneeling before him so that they were eye-to eye. She grabbed his shoulders, "Shinji, look at me. Look at me! This was not your fault. Kyle and I- Nabiki too, we're all younger than the others here, and we were almost fooled too."

"So you're saying I'm just stupid?" He asked, sounding even less thrilled.

"No!" Makoto said, loud enough to make him flinch. "No," she repeated, quieter, sighing to herself, before continuing, "you're not stupid, and you're not to blame. What you did... what you did was brave. Maybe a little foolish, but you did what you felt was right, am I correct?"

Shinji stared at her, then nodded slowly.

Makoto nodded back, once, before continuing, "Right. While a lot of grown-ups will deal with doing things they find..." She paused, looking for an appropriate word, I guess, before: "distasteful, you're not an adult. And none of us here expect you to be. You did what you felt was right in your heart, and I know, I know, that even though some of us might not like it, nobody thinks it was the wrong choice."

Shinji stared at her for almost a full minute, not blinking, a wet trail down his face where tears had run their course, until finally, he nodded once.

"Now we just have to find the bastard that set us up to fail," Nabiki said, darkly.

"I hate to be the one to point this out," Aoba said, earning everyone's attention, "but shouldn't we maybe consider the possibility that there is more than one mole here?'

Fuyutsuki shook his head, "no, an operation like this, it's too risky to send in more than one, simply because if one is caught, the whole game is up. They can't be that certain they can move in and out unmolested."

"I'll do more than molest them if I catch them," Misato spat, darkly. Everyone smiled at that, before a loud bang drew everyone's attention to Dr. Akagi.

"Son of a bitch!"

I was about to ask her to elaborate, when she looked up, at the monitor as her fingers flashed over the keyboard before her. The screen changed to show recordings of the blown up facilities on the outskirts of Tokyo-3.

"The recall," Hyuuga said, softly.

Doctor Akagi nodded, her lips a thin line on her grim face. "We recalled all our staff from the destroyed facilities. There could be hundreds of imposters pretending to be the people who died in the attacks."

"But, with the records, we'd catch on-" Ibuki started.

"How soon, though?" Nabiki interrupted. "How long does a family take before asking us for their benefits? And then how long would it take that request to go through the system enough times from multiple families before we caught on that something was wrong?"

Fuyutsuki, a scowl adorning his features, turned to look at me, "your lockdown request might not have been so bad an idea, after all."

I sighed, "tell me that after we're sure every booby-trap, recording device... oh, god," I said, realizing as I said it that everything we were saying could have been recorded, warning whoever might be listening what we intended."

"I suggest we move locations immediately," Fuyutsuki said, catching on as quickly as I did.

"What about me?" Shinji asked, Makoto standing beside him with one hand on his shoulder.

"You come too. Rei as well. If... Well, lets get there before I bother explaining," I said, wrapping an arm around Rei and guiding her towards Shinji, as the others moved to surround the Children as we stepped out into Nerv's hallways.

"Kyle, all camera feeds to your area have been cut, and someone's manually rerou-" SHODAN's voice cut off with an electronic squeal, a moment before the lights died, the brightly-lit green and white corridors suddenly bathed in the blood-red emergency lights lining the halls.

"I hate being right," Shigeru said, as we began moving towards the elevators.

"Wait, can we trust these," Nabiki said, as we approached the doors. Everyone looked at each other in the dim light, before turning towards the staircase at the end of the hall.

A moment later, there was a bang from behind is as something metallic hit the floor, and suddenly the air was filled with bullets as someone stuck their arm out of the air vents and began firing a Nerv-issue MP5 wildly in our direction. Everyone hit the deck, and I saw Misato put her body between the shooter and Shinji while Nabiki and I did the same with Rei.

"This is a fine time to be unarmed," I growled, waiting to feel a bullet pierce my skin. After what felt like forever, but was only a second or two, the firing stopped as the shooters magazine ran dry.

"Move!" Nabiki shouted, jumping to her feet and helping Rei up, as everyone tried to get up and run. There was a clattering from behind us, and I realized with utter certainty that the shooter had just thrown a grenade.

"Oh," I heard someone whisper, obviously understanding what the sound meant, as well.

There was an unholy bang as the weapon exploded, and after a moment in which I expected to feel myself being torn to shreds, I opened my eyes to see Rei, staring back behind us with one arm extended. Spinning, I saw the fading concentric hexagons of an AT-Field as she let it go, and realized with certainty that we'd just narrowly avoided death.

"Good job," I said, louder than I intended as I let go of the breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding to say it. A moment later the fire suppression system came on, and I grinned as the tell-tale shifting took place, my clothes loosening in some places and tightening in others as the Jusenkyo curse took effect.

"Is everyone alright?" Dr Akagi asked, as the realization that we hadn't died sunk in.

Everyone chimed in after a moment of checking. Almost everyone, I realized, as Kaji appeared to be leaning on Misato, one hand pressed to his side that looked like it was coated in black paint under the red emergency lights.

"Kaji!" Misato said, drawing everyone's attention as she saw the same thing I did. Dr Akagi moved forward to examine it, before turning to look at Fuyutsuki, "we have to get him to a medical center immediately."

"Makoto, you should carry him," Nabiki said, moving forward to catch him as his legs gave out.

"Me?" Both Makoto's said, before looking at each other.

"Jupiter," Nabiki growled, earning a puzzled look from Makoto Hyuuga, and a nod of realization from my Makoto, a moment before she shouted, "Jupiter Star Power, Make-up!"

After a lightshow that left a majority of the group blinded, Nabiki, who had known better and looked away, said "let's go," as she handed off the wounded Inspector.

Sailor Jupiter took Kaji gently, before moving ahead, flanked by Rei and Doctor Akagi, while I moved back to the rear, my wings emerging as I saw a figure moving in the darkness beyond the haze from the recently-exploded grenade.

"We've got company! Move!" I shouted, summoning an AT-Field as the figures opened fire. The tracers were visible as they flattened themselves on the Field, but the other bullets were invisible in the dark hall, the only indication the attackers were not shooting semiautomatics loaded with tracers being the sound of the bullets clattering to the floor.

Ritsuko kicked the door to the stairs in frustration when her card failed to elicit any response whatsoever from the reader nearby, and I winced as another grenade exploded off my AT-Field, the bang drowning out all sounds for a moment before the ringing in my ears died down enough to hear Jupiter hand off Kaji before kicking the door herself, the sheet of steel flying from its electronic hinges to impact with the far wall before falling away into the stairway below.

A scream as it disappeared into darkness was the only indication we had that there were people in the stairs, a moment before a ricochet nearly took Dr. Akagi out, her hair jumping as a bullet passed through it. She yelped and jumped back, a moment before Rei's AT-Field popped up, catching a string of bullets and deflecting them away from the stairway as they ascended out of sight.

Running up the switch-back staircase, I held my AT-Field up as long as I could, feeling drained as I realized I'd never really used it continuously before. Just as I was about to let everyone know it was about to fail, Dr. Akagi called out, "There's light!"

Turning to look, I saw up the foot-wide gap between staircases that there was indeed, a light at the end of the tunnel. "Thank god," I muttered, as another tracer bounced off my AT-Field.

Suddenly, from above, a red bolt of energy shot past me, disappearing into the darkness below.

"Hold your fire!" Nabiki shouted, pushing past the bridge techs with Sailor Jupiter.

When the Stormtroopers spotted them, they froze before snapping to attention crisply and saluting.

Nabiki stepped aside as Jupiter, carrying Kaji, brushed by, a warning apparently going out that she was coming through, as she disappeared onto the floor they'd apparently emerged from without contest. The others followed swiftly, while Nabiki remained, talking quietly to the trooper, who nodded, before pressing his hand to the side of his helmet and apparently issuing orders.

"Fill them in?" I asked, as she followed me into the hallway, where a squad of troopers lined the walls, E-11 Blaster Rifles held ready as they began filing into the staircase.

"Glad you made it back," SHODAN quipped, as we approached the elevator.

"Makoto took Kaji, Rei, and Shinji up," Fuyutsuki explained, as the Bridge techs and Dr. Akagi stared at the second squad of troopers currently surrounding our party with weapons drawn.

A trooper wearing a shoulder pauldron approached, the semi-circle around us parting to let him through. "We've isolated the areas without power, and have cut off all known escape routes. Lady Jupiter and the pilots have been teleported aboard the Thunder and the elevator is on its way back down. Your orders?"

I considered telling him to bring back survivors, but a glance at Dr. Akagi's blood-soaked hands brought a scowl to my face.

"Wipe them out. All of them." I intoned darkly, a small part of me enjoying the quote, while the rest of me hoped the troopers failed to deliver the killing shot until after the first one... or twenty.

The Stormtrooper nodded, talking quietly into his suit-comm for a second before stepping back, saluting, and taking off towards the stairwell, where the rest of the troopers were moving in, the sound of blasters echoing from within.

At that moment, the elevator chimed, causing a few people to jump, then the doors rumbled open to admit more passengers.

"Doctor, you should go. See to Kaji, I'll catch the last one out," I said, nodding to Ritsuko who was absently wringing part of her lab coat in her hands.

"You aren't scared?" Ibuki asked, looking between the elevator and me. I shook my head, "I have faith in my men," I said, a couple Stormtroopers nearby straightening up a little with pride. I saw Nabiki smirk out of the corner of my eye, and I nodded at her, then the elevator. She smiled and slipped inside.

"I wish that I could say the same, at this time... The three of you go on up, I'll remain with the Sub-Commander and catch the last one," Fuyutsuki said, with a sigh.

Hyuuga, Aoba, and Ibuki nodded, grateful looks on their face as the stepped inside, a moment before the doors closed.

"Exciting day," I said, conversationally, as I watched the doorway intently. From within the staircase, we could still hear the echoes of gun- and blaster fire, though it was much fainter, obviously having moved out into the hallways from the stairwell.

"I wish I had your enthusiasm, as well," Fuyutsuki said, earning him a frown.

"I'm not exactly thrilled with what's going on, Kozo. I'm young, but not naive; I recognize the troubles this situation presents."

"And your faith in your men?"

"Is unquestionable; if for no other reason than the fact that I have thirty-five-thousand plus to throw at whatever pissant army tries to march on my turf."

Fuyutsuki blinked at that, glancing at the Stormtroopers arrayed around us, and frowning slightly at the apparent disdain for their life I was displaying.

"They're trained to kill, and know the risks," I explained, before frowning, "something even Rei, who was raised here with you all knowing what was to come, was rather unprepared for."

"That was Gendo," he started, and I fixed him with a glare.

"You could have said something, Professor, but you chose not to, and things developed as they did, and only by my intervention did we avoid a number of problems that might have arisen."

He frowned at me, "you mean its better that we have lost Pilot Soryu, potentially for good, as opposed to Ikari only temporarily? Or the situation we find ourselves in now?"

I smirked, hiding the bitter feelings his words conjured up, "Despite these setbacks, my arrival has also saved thousands of lives as we avoided the costly mistakes made the first time around. I'll have restless nights thinking about the finish to a fight I was incapacitated in. How do you sleep, knowing you withheld the truth of Second Impact from a world that should have known?"

The old man blanched at that, looking every year his age as I pointed out his failure. Before he could come back, I continued, "I don't understand your obsession with Yui, and I don't really care, either, I've offered my help retrieving her from Unit 01, and I intend to follow through on my word. But question my men, my methods, or my resolve again, and I'll be happy to restore Yui to Shinji out by Pluto while you deal with SEELE's incursion forces."

Not that I'd really abandon everyone, but I was pissed. Yes, part of my anger was at myself and my own failings the old man had oh-so-nicely pointed out, but also at the entire situation, that he had some part in helping set up, even if he helped by doing nothing. He nodded after a minute of thought, apparently accepting my ultimatum at face-value.

The elevator chimed and the doors rolled open, the interior housing three more Stormtroopers, who stood aside for us.

"After you," I said, motioning towards the open doors.

"Ladies first," he smirked, indicating he wasn't too upset with our conversation. I smacked him upside the head with a wing as I turned to get inside.

I paused in the doorway of the elevator as I suddenly saw the army waiting for me. The surface was literally covered with Stormtroopers, at least a thousand standing there in formation, while hundreds more ran in formations from one location to the next, dozens of officers in their grey tunics pausing to salute me before continuing to brief the troopers they were responsible for.

Fuyutsuki and I only had a couple seconds to watch, however, as the scene faded away to be replaced with the Bridge of the Thunder.

Makoto, still transformed, waited with Nabiki and Captain Archer, who looked relieved to see me.

"Where are the others?" I asked, nodding to the Captain. He returned the nod slowly, obviously wanting to express his gratitude that I was still alive, but unwilling to interrupt our conversation.

"Doctor Akagi is monitoring the operation on Kaji, and Misato is nearby, probably still waving off the doctors until they're finished. Rei and Shinji are in guest suites, a couple sergeants assigned to them as gofers. The bridge crewmembers have been given suites as well, though they're probably too wired to sleep yet."

"If I could," Fuyutsuki said, interrupting for a moment, "I'd suggest having them all get some rest, with or without medical assistance, before we consider discussing what to do next."

I nodded, turning to Captain Archer, "give the order, offer relaxants or sedatives to anyone who wants them." He took off to do so, and I turned back to Fuyutsuki, "You should get some rest too."

"I don't have time to rest. Someone's got to take care of the situation below," he said, shaking his head.

I rolled my eyes at him, "unlike the rest of you, I slept more than enough last night, after the battle. I doubt many of you got any sleep, considering..." I trailed off, and he finally nodded, before I continued, "we're going to need everyone coherent if we're going to have more than a snowball's chance in hell of getting Asuka out of Unit 02. That includes you. Those are my troopers down there; I'll make sure they get things done."

"If you insist," he said, looking back at the door to the bridge for a moment, before turning to head off. Nabiki stepped aside to quietly issue a command to a nearby officer, who nodded once before guiding Fuyutsuki out.

"Alright," I said, plopping down in my chair, "what've we got going on?"

"Two regiments on the surface are scouring Nerv and the geofront for any unauthorized personnel," SHODAN stated. "I'm in touch with all teams, and an on-site DNA scan by the troopers is checking everyone in Nerv against the records on file. All unauthorized personnel are being transported to the brig."

I nodded, turning to look down into one of the trenches before looking back at the holographic map of Tokyo-3.

"Drop a pre-fabricated garrison here," I said, pointing to the field my Entry Plug had landed in. "Send down the barges and collect all four units, I want every scientist and researcher aboard working with Doctor Akagi when she wakes up to get them up to par. If she needs anything from below, send a platoon and get it, even if she asks for the president."

"Understood," The AI stated.

"General Hongo!" I said, getting the blonde's attention and she rushed over, waiting at attention for me to speak.

"Implement your plans immediately. Have Admiral Yuuki keep everything we need to shuffle the units around on standby from here until we jump to the next universe,"

"War?" she asked, after acknowledging the order.

"Close enough," I replied, earning a nod, before she saluted and headed off to issue the commands to begin landing our forces.

"What are we going to do now?" Makoto asked, as I sat in the chair, staring out at the expanse of stars partially dominated by the blue and green sphere of the Earth. Only a portion of the planet was visible, but that was enough, the curvature around which China wrapped to disappear over the horizon apparent from this distance, but not by much. Nerv China was down there, somewhere. As were all the other Nerv branches, each under the control of SEELE's devious machinations.

"Such insignificant things," I muttered, before turning to Captain Archer, who approached with a cup of hot water. Taking it, I thanked him, before asking if we had any Special Forces aboard.

"The Storm Commando teams are, as always, ready to act at your every order, My Lord," he replied.

"Good. Warm up a shuttle and a couple Defenders for escort service."

"Where are you sending them?" Nabiki asked.

"Nerv-Germany. I want the facility neutralized,' I replied, coldly.

"But..." Makoto started, before going quiet. Finally, "that won't bring anyone back," she said softly.

I nodded, "I'm not doing this for petty revenge; not totally. They have parts and replacements Dr Akagi can use to repair our Evas... and disrupting them means interfering with whatever plans SEELE might have. They have to pay to make things work; I can get away with stealing, since I'm not economically bound like the nations of this Earth."

"You're also doing this to kick the old men, and rub salt in the wound when you abscond with their expensive toys," a new voice said from behind my chair.

"Wha-" I said, standing up. There, standing in the doorway, were the Trio, Kei Mei and Nei, each smirking at me as I tried to tell them apart.

"You know I hate it when you do that," I said, after a moment. They laughed politely, before saluting, and I finally realized they were all wearing Captain's Uniforms.

"It's here?" I asked, realizing what their being here meant.

"It's finished," they replied, still smiling slightly.

"Ooh, I bet Admiral Yuuki will like that news," Nabiki said, earning a nod from one of the three.

"Okay, before this continues, who's who?" I asked.

The three pulled off their hats, and I smirked as I recognized what they had done almost at once. Nei's hair had grown out, and was cut to match Nabiki's, while Kei and Mei had long hair, Kei's similar to my cursed-forms, and Mei smiled as she pulled a band out of her pocket and pulled her hair up into a ponytail like Makoto's.

"Much easier. Don't bother with the hats," I said, before rolling my eyes as Mei handed Nei a ten.

"So, where's your ride?" I asked, turning to look out the transparisteel in case I'd missed it amongst the stars. Of course, part of my excitement was due to the fact that, as the one in charge of this fleet, it was a whole new toy for me to play with.

"The newly completed Star Destroyer is a Modified Imperial Star Destroyer Mark II, designed to act both autonomously, and as a part of this fleet. Its multitude of systems have been partially automated and optimized to make up for its minimal crew, and as per her Captain's orders, the bridge has been modified somewhat to accommodate potential recruits," SHODAN stated.

"Modified bri- ohmygod," Nabiki said, before laughing. Turning around, I noticed the Holographic display was now showing a Star Destroyer, though its signature bridge was missing, the 'T'-shaped structure replaced with- "It's Nerv HQ!"

Indeed, sitting atop the superstructure was a pyramid of Durasteel, its sleek edges glistening in the starlight as the view rotated. While it was somewhat bizarre-looking at first glance, the merger between the two structures was streamlined, and Turbolaser emplacements were visible in strategic indentations, meaning it wasn't sticking out just waiting to be shot off.

"I take it the command bridge is a recreation of the tiered bridge below?" I asked nonchalantly.

"Down to the very centimeter," Mei replied.

"What's inside the Magi casing?"

"Most of a Magi system. SHODAN was unwilling to complete the system without Dr. Akagi to go over the final configuration, since a lot of the system below has been modified to the point that schematics are useless for recreating it."

"Are the personalities programmed in?" Nabiki asked, with a frown.

"Sure are!" Nei beamed, before Mei elaborated.

"We originally considered using ourselves, to back up our decisions as the nominal Captains..." she trailed off, and Kei took over.

"Since we're all sort of copies of you three, we decided to just emulate the source, and designated the three The Fighter, The Lover, and The Thinker."

It didn't take much to figure out which personality was a reflection of whom. Makoto scowled when she did, though. "The Lover?"

Mei stepped forward and waved her hand dismissively, "don't get so upset. Nabiki tends to think of the bottom line, while Kyle looks at the big picture. We provide the mediating voice, detailing the repercussions they tend to overlook or are unable to see," she said.

"Tell me about it," Makoto said with a frown.

I took her hand and gave it a squeeze, "you're selling yourself short, Mako-chan. You handled Shinji down there much better than Nabiki or I could have, even if we did, in a way, see he needed to understand he'd been the victim."

Nabiki chimed in, "he's right," and Makoto smiled softly.

"Any other surprises?" I asked, after a moment.

"One of the hangars has been reconfigured to resemble the Eva bays, complete with a repair tank, room for a Sim-unit, and an Entry Plug retooling system."

"Impressive," Captain Archer said, looking at the schematics that displayed the alterations that had been made."

"What about LCL?" Nabiki asked. All three clones frowned.

"We're still trying to figure out how to handle that one. While the information we've gotten indicates it can be stored for long periods of time without going bad, it requires some sophisticated filtering systems to stay viable during storage. After it's been used, it takes even more specialized equipment to get it usable again," Mei stated.

"You didn't install those?" Makoto asked skeptically.

"The system would have fit, but we were unsure how much we'd need... and how much we'd be able to get. We can build equipment, but LCL is beyond our abilities to make. The WD's don't spit out organic substances, which is what LCL registers as, despite its odd abilities," Nei explained with a frown.

"You couldn't have a WD spit out a tanker?" Nabiki asked.

"There were no viable tanker plans in my files," SHODAN replied.

"We could always just steal one," I mused, earning a questioning look from everyone. "You know, a tanker. Like the Exxon Valdez or something."

"I wouldn't recommend that, the trace amounts of oil would contaminate the LCL, and I doubt you want to expose your lungs to raw crude, even in trace amounts," SHODAN said.

"Well have one of the droids spit one out," Nabiki said, sounding somewhat exasperated. "It's not like you can't steal the plans for one. Add a couple more plates of armor, some thrusters and a shield generator, and you've got a short-term Tanker that can be used to transport fluids through space."

"That…" Nei started.

"That's acceptable," SHODAN said, earning a nod from Nabiki.

"Anything else?" I asked, watching Makoto yawn. A moment later, Nabiki did, too.

"We still have to worry about Asuka," Makoto said. I nodded, and she turned to head off the bridge, Nabiki following.

"Where are you two going?" I asked, as the doors opened.

"Unlike you, we didn't get a chance to sleep last night. We were kind of busy watching you," Nabiki explained, before the door shut.

"Oh," I replied, staring at the shut door and wondering what to do next. "Now what?" I muttered to myself, plopping back down into my chair. When I didn't get a response, I sighed and stared out at the globe, and contemplated the upcoming changes I'd set in motion.

------

Okay, so the ending's a bit sudden, but really, this is the best place I could find to end. Otherwise I'd still be writing, and, well, I had this done, so why not post it? If any parts felt a little off, I should let you know I felt some parts were forced; I had to get them in there, but nothing I tried seemed to fit just right, so I had to settle for merely acceptable at some points. Hopefully the final few chapters will make up for any dull moments I might have forced upon you all, since it's probably somewhat apparent I prefer writing action over waxign poetically about how beautiful a sunset is. Even though they are kinda nice to look at.

Anyway, thanks to Nate and Parker, who's shotgun pre-reading caught some errors I'd have been mortified to push to publish without rectifying. Lifesavers, to be sure. And I supopse, as a hint as to what's next, well... aside from the attempt to retrieve Asuka, I've got stormtroopers to organize, and Arael to confront, followed by Armisael, Tabris/Kaworu, and then, who knows? I do.. but I'm not telling.