Chapter 20: Cambiare

The dynamics in the Katsuragi and Ayanami/Shikinami households were evolving, an expected outcome seeing the disruption Shinji's melancholy had caused to the routines of all the residents. The newly arrived at arrangement saw Asuka and Rei alternate between making breakfast for everyone while Shinji handled dinner and lunch, though it would be more accurate to say that the trio simply took advantage of the leftovers from the night before for lunches the following day.

Of course as the day ended the girls always went back to their place for bed and bath and woe onto any man that walked in uninvited or without warning. Seeing as the entire building was more or less theirs, minus a few rooms where Section-2 details camped out, there was little risk of that so Asuka had begun treating her and Rei's place with a more laid back casualness. Thus it was with a nonchalant attitude that the girl poked her head out of the bathroom at hearing the distant rumbling. Once convinced it was not just her imagination, Asuka walked out and stared out the balcony door. In the distance was a rising fume of smoke, the source of which she could not quite discern.

"An explosion?" she wondered aloud.

The girl was still staring away when Rei entered the living room only to be greeted by a full on candid view of the redhead's backside. She tilted her head in slight confusion.

"Was it not considered inappropriate to wander the apartment without clothes on?" the girl asked.

Asuka spun around, her face flushed at being caught out like this.

"Of course it is!" she snapped. "I just wanted to take a quick peek because I thought I heard something?"

"So there are situations where such a state of undress is acceptable?"

"No! I mean, maybe in emergencies, but you should still try to find something to cover yourself with!"

Rei continued to look on in confusion. "Does satisfying your curiosity constitute an emergency?"

"No! I mean, it sounded like an explosion so it might have been an emergency?"

At this Rei nodded. "Then it is acceptable to not wear clothing when investigating sources of potential threats."

At this point Asuka was ready to start tearing at her hair. She settled for a cry of frustration that caused Rei to look puzzled once more. In the midst of all this it took the girl quite some time to realize that she had remained uncovered for the entire duration of her lecture to Rei.

Kaji's head poked into the office. "Yo, you wanted to speak with me?"

"Yes," Amanda said, looking up. "Have a seat, this could take a while."

"I am yours to command," the man said blithely as he sat down.

Amanda regarded Kaji levelly. "Back in Berlin we once talked about the usage of children as EVA pilots. Do you remember what I said?"

"You said it was monstrous," Kaji said with a wiry smile. "And I agreed with you. Still do for that matter."

Amanda nodded. "Well, now you get to prove you really meant that."

The man frowned. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"It means," Amanda began, "that you get to prove which is more important to you. Your sense of justice or your loyalty to your country, Special Agent Ryoji Kaji of the Japanese Ministry of Home Affairs."

To his credit Kaji neither denied the statement nor spent much time being surprised.

"So who else besides you know about my moonlighting?" he asked with a grin.

"Everyone you've been spying on and for," Amanda stated bluntly.

"Well, well, I'm obviously not doing a good enough job maintaining my cover."

"Oh don't worry, the UN Inspectorate still thinks that you're mostly their man." Amanda presented the man with a folder. "What do you know about the T-RIDEN-T project?"

Kaji frowned. "I've heard the name, but I can't say I know much about it."

"It's supposed to be a next generation combat walker capable of operating on land, air, and sea, hence the tri part," Amanda said. "Nothing really wrong with that, a lot of nations have continued developing new weapons systems since Second Impact. The pilots on the other hand are extremely questionable."

The man raised an eyebrow. "You're kidding."

"Page sixty-three."

Kaji flipped to it quickly and spent a few moments perusing the contents. The grimace grew more and more on his face.

"Child soldiers," he said as he finished reading.

"The pilot trainees the JSSDF are using are all under the age of fifteen and the employment of children that young is forbidden under Article 38 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Children and is treated as a war crime by Article 8 of the ICC Rome Statute. NERV gets away with it because there is an explicit exception written into its charter by the UN due to the extraordinary threat presented by the Angels and the simple fact that the only ones capable of piloting EVAs are the children we have. The JSSDF, and the Japanese government, has no such excuse."

Kaji was silent for several moments as he thought all this over. "I am not defending the Japanese government, but is there any actual incident where the Japanese government deployed these children?"

"Yes, and no. First of all, were you around for the excitement last night?"

The man shook his head. "I had a busy day and turned in early. No one called me either on my emergency line."

"There was an accident in the mountains outside Tokyo-3," Amanda stated. "One of the Tridents was out on a training exercise and ran into problems. It fell a considerable distance, damaging itself and severely wounding the pilot."

Kaji's eyes narrowed. "Where's the pilot now?"

"In UN custody," Amanda said. "I had him moved to the military hospital next to the city."

"I see. And what about the Trident itself?"

"Still out there. We haven't had time to move it yet, that damn thing's huge."

Kaji tapped the armrest. "How far from the city was this?"

"Twenty kilometers out," Amanda answered, "so yes, it falls within UN jurisdiction."

The man frowned. "What was it doing so close to the city?"

"At a guess? The JSSDF was trying to see if they could sneak troops close in without us noticing. Unfortunately for them and fortunately for the pilot, we noticed."

"Seems rather gutsy of them," Kaji said.

"The current head of the JSSDF's a prick," was Amanda's succinct and blunt opinion.

Kaji chuckled but the humor did not last long on his face. "Alright, the JSSDF is having a child participate in combat drills. That is illegal, or at the very least stretching the bounds of legality, as far as international laws go. Is there anything else?"

"Yes," Amanda said, her expression hard as she presented Kaji with another packet. "This was a planned operation that they scrapped due to, changing circumstances. It was more of an intelligence gathering and reconnaissance operation, but it still falls within the purview of a military operation."

Kaji looked at the name atop the packet and frowned. As he flipped through the pages that frown quickly morphed into a scowl.

"Those sons of bitches."

"I think you might be slandering someone here," Amanda said.

"You're right," Kaji said. "At least the offspring of dogs have some sense of honor and decency."

Amanda chuckled humorlessly. "So, do you think you could deliver a little message for me, Special Agent Kaji?"

The man regarded his old friend for several moments, tapping his hand on the armrest. Finally he leaned forward and clasped his hands.

"We've known each other for a long time," Kaji said. "All the way back at university, where you once told me not to take Katsuragi for granted. I didn't listen back then and I'm paying for it now."

"And yet you seem to be making progress," Amanda noted. "What's this I hear about you and Misato going out drinking these past few weeks?"

Kaji grinned wirily. "Is there anything that doesn't escape you?"

"I am NERV's auditor-general," Amanda responded with her own smile. "It's my job to keep tabs on how everyone is doing."

The man nodded. "I suppose so. And that's the same reason you want me to deliver the message, isn't it? You're an auditor, not an inspector. Your remit is limited to just Tokyo-3, whereas I can go pretty much wherever I want, within some limits."

"That's right."

"You realize that if I officially investigate the Japanese government over this, my superiors at the Home Ministry will cut me off."

"Not if you give them something they want," Amanda said.

"Ah, so this will be some kind of give and take?"

"Quite, at least from the Home Ministry's perspective. They sent you to try to figure out if NERV was a threat to Japanese sovereignty, which to be frank just shows how little imagination they have. You on the other hand are ofter the truth."

Despite it all Kaji was still able to smile slightly. "You know me too well. So, what exactly is this truth that you think I want enough to risk splitting with the Home Ministry?"

Amanda placed a red keycard on the table before Kaji. "Reminds you of the color of blood, doesn't it?"

"I sometimes wonder if that was intentional," Kaji replied lightly.

"It was," Amanda said, causing Kaji to be taken aback, "but that's another matter. That, is a level 10 access card. It'll get you past any door within the Geofront. Usage of it is of course logged, but I'm sure establishing an aliba is not terribly difficult for someone like you."

Kaji's eyes narrowed as he picked up the card and looked it over. "And how do I know this won't send an alarm the moment I first try to use it?"

"Because, Herr Kaji, you trust me," Amanda said with her best smile. "And because you haven't been making any headway with your MAGI backdoor. Almost as if someone knew about it patched it since the Home Ministry originally discovered it."

Kaji's own face was a frozen mask now as he looked at Amanda. Then he looked back down at the card.

"You have an agenda," Kaji said, "one that I can only begin to guess at. Assuming this card is real, and I'm inclined to believe it to be, your agenda is apparently not put at risk, or at least the risk is manageable enough, by my possession of it."

Amanda tilted her head in acknowledgment of the point.

"We're friends, Amanda," Kaji said. "There are a lot of things I'm not sure about in this world, but I'd like to think that I am sure of that. Yet right now I can't help but feel a bit frightened at what might be at stake."

"Oh?"

"It's quite simple. What are you aiming for that giving me this is considered an acceptable risk?"

Amanda smiled and leaned forward. "Why don't you consider that an invitation to find out, Chief Inspector Kaji?"

Kaji nodded, pocketing the keycard. "So? What message specifically do you want me to deliver to the Japanese government?"

"A simple one," Amanda said. "I want the pilot candidates made available for evaluation to see if they have been abused while undergoing their training. I also want them out of the program permanently, reintegrated into society, and the Japanese government to admit fault in their conduct and provide all of the children involved an indemnity."

"About what I expected," Kaji said. "Just so I am clear on this, none of those are negotiable?"

"Of course not," Amanda said. "If they want to negotiate, then tell them that my next offer will require all those, plus a public hearing before the UN General Assembly. If they find that unacceptable, I have a report that I have not yet submitted to the Security Council regarding Japan's subpar conduct during the engagement with Sahaquiel and the unpreparedness of its government when it came to providing the assistance it is legally obliged to. Seeing as those failures could have directly affected NERV's ability to assist in the defense of its foreign branches, including those in the United States, well, I'm sure they can draw the appropriate conclusions themselves."

Kaji ran a hand through his hair. "You really are merciless, you know that?"

"I have very little patience for politics," Amanda stated. "NERV's responsibility is to ensure the survival of the human race. If that survival demands the scalps of a few politicians, I'll wield the hatchet myself."

"That's going to make you a lot of enemies," Kaji pointed out.

A glint flashed over Amanda's eyes. "Those gutless wastes of oxygen should be thankful that I've deigned to make them my enemies. It's about the only way they'll be anything more than a footnote in history."

"What is the meaning of this!?"

If he was completely honest Kaji felt that his nominal superior was handling this much better than he thought he would.

"The Trident project's been completely compromised," Kaji repeated. "Auditor Sommer showed me schematics, training schedules, even the original white paper that the JSSDF wrote when they proposed the project."

"How did she get them!?"

"I don't know," Kaji said with a perhaps not entirely appropriate shrug. "She didn't tell me. She did however inform me on what she intends to do with the information, specifically the records she has on the pilots."

When Kaji first showed up in Tokyo-2 he had dropped by one of his emergency conduits, a young woman that he could pretend he was trying to pick up without looking too conspicuous with all the doubletalk. Within an hour he had been shepherded into the ministry building and was now sitting with the junior vice-minister.

"And what does she want from us?" Takaro demanded. "What does that bitch expect to be able to blackmail from us?"

Kaji's eyes narrowed. "Minister, while I am loyal to Japan, I have counted Sommer as amongst my friends for years now. Insult her again and I may just decide that she has a point."

Takaro looked as if he was about to explode but fortunately common sense broke through. It looked as if at least he did not have an inflated sense of self-importance and knew when to fold.

"Apologies Agent Kaji," he said. "However, the consequences of this leak are serious. Sommer-san must have gotten the intelligence from somewhere. If the UN itself is in possession of it, then it is only a matter of time before every other country knows about the Trident."

"Minister, I think you're worrying about the wrong thing," Kaji said. "First, you're right, Trident is compromised and the fact that she got as much as she did says sad things about our own counterintelligence. How far and how much will spread to the other nations is actually an open question. Members of the UN Inspectorate are not in the habit of sharing intelligence with our home nations, those that do either get imprisoned if they're lucky or shot if they're not. The only reason I'm still alive is because any intel I pass on is about the UN itself, not about the other member states."

"Alright, so our enemies aren't likely to get the detailed technical schematics," Takaro said.

"Not unless one of them was the one that shared the data with the UN in the first place," Kaji said, eliciting a frown from the other man, but he went on uninterrupted. "And to be perfectly frank sir, I don't think Amanda even particularly cares about the Tridents. It's the situation with the pilot candidates that has pissed her off."

"What?"

"I've seen those documents as well. The initial prototypes were completed a year ago but the JSSDF began training pilots two years ago. Pilots that were only twelve years old at the time."

"But that's ridiculous!" Takaro protested. "Didn't NERV select the Second Child at age nine!? And the First! We don't even have any records of her until she appeared as a pilot candidate!"

"'Make no mistake, what has been done to the Children is monstrous, and we are monsters for doing it,'" Kaji said. "That's what she once said to me back in Germany."

Takaro grumbled. "Wonderful. So? What does she intend to do with the data on the pilots?"

"Well for the time being she's handed them over to me to investigate," Kaji said. "She's also filed a preliminary report with the Inspectorate, with notes about her concerns regarding potential abuse suffered by the pilots, based on the medical evaluation of the pilot that is already in UN custody."

"What? What abuse?"

"Internal trauma, micro-fractures in the bones," Kaji listed, "torn muscles, weakened tendons, those are lost some of the injuries the pilot seems to be suffering from. And those are on top of the ones he acquired from his little accident last night."

A stunned look appeared on Takaro's face. "What?"

"Your surprise is quite believable," Kaji said. "I'm almost inclined to think you didn't know."

"Of course I didn't!" This time Takaro did explode. "And what the hell happened to the pilot for all that to happen!?"

Kaji blinked, slightly taken aback by the vehemence of his superior's response. His breathing was remarkably even despite his outburst and Kaji was inclined to think he really was telling the truth.

"There's a design flaw in the Trident," Kaji said. "The developers cut margins to achieve specific weight/power ratios and so kept the amount of shocks and cushioning to an absolute minimum. A healthy adult might barely be able to ride the thing without developing severe problems, but a child that's still growing?"

The scowl on Takaro's face grew fiercer. "And is this confirmed?"

"That's technically what my job is," Kaji said. "Sommer wants me to bring in the other pilots to determine if they also suffer from the same injuries."

"And will you?"

"It's my job," Kaji said. "And frankly in this case, I don't see a reason not to do it."

Takaro sighed. "Neither do I. Very well, Agent Kaji, I know you don't need my permission to proceed, but consider it given. I'll do what I can to keep the government from trying to apply any indirect pressure on you."

"Technically the government shouldn't be able to exert any indirect pressure at all," Kaji said dryly. "I am supposed to be completely black, no?"

Takaro grunted. "And you more or less are. Besides your immediate and emergency handlers and myself, no one else knows you work for us. But I wasn't talking about the prime minister or the defense minister trying to lean on us, I'm talking about the JSSDF trying to hush this up. They've grown very powerful since their founding and General Suzaku is not one to accept any sort of interference in his domain, especially if the source is foreign in origin."

"Sounds about right," Kaji said. "Well, look at it this way, forcing the general to burn some political capital can't really be a bad thing. It might even help reinforce the notion of civilian control over the military. Oh yes, there was one other thing about the pilots that pissed Sommer off. In fact, I think this is what really set her off."

Takaro cocked his head to the side as he waited for Kaji to elaborate. Before the meeting was over the soundproofing of the room was put to very good use.

Mana was feeling more than a little disoriented at the moment. Two days ago her friend Keita had gotten into an accident while on a training mission and thus far their JSSDF minders had refused to provide any news to the other pilot trainees. Then today just as they were rousing for morning drills new orders came down to pack everything and prepare for relocation. The girl admitted to herself a slight panic at that but as they disembarked the bus their destination did not look that different from their previous base. Well, besides the fact that this base was right next to a large city with its massive skyscrapers towering above them.

"Fall in!" an authoritative but distinctly feminine voice cried out.

The teens obeyed instinctively and Mana lined up next to her friend Musashi. Before them stepped a clean cut and stern looking woman that all of them recognized instantly. After all, there were very few women in Japan that wore the crossed wings of a UN colonel.

"Pilots, welcome to Valhalla base. I am Kayabuki Midori, commanding colonel of the 597th UN Regiment. On this base I am judge, jury, and if need be executioner." Kayabuki's eyes swept down the line. "Do not give me that need."

The teens collectively swallowed.

"While here you will follow my orders promptly and precisely. Tokyo-3 is a battlefield and while the civvies in the city may go about pretending otherwise, on this base we will conduct ourselves as befits proper soldiers in times of war. Am I clear!"

"Yes ma'am!" the teens roared in response.

Kayabuki nodded. "Kudo, quarter the kids and have the platoon sergeants run them through base protocol."

"Aye ma'am."

With that Kayabuki spun about and walked off, more than one of the boys sneaking peeks at her departing back. There was no doubt that the colonel projected quite the presence, her force of will shining alongside a statuesque form. It was therefore not at all surprising that some of the boys were almost drooling, Musashi being amongst them. Mana sighed resignedly. Some things never changed. Then again the girl could not quite dismiss her comrades' infatuation. After the battles against the Second and Third Angels Kayabuki had become something of a minor celebrity amongst the rank and file of the Japanese military. Some of it was almost certainly due to the fact that she was a woman, and a good looking one at that. For Mana though the colonel was something of an inspiration, a demonstration that hard work would be properly rewarded, even if it was ultimately the UN that did the rewarding.

Kudo cleared his throat, drawing the attention of the trainees. Some of them at least had the courtesy to at least look somewhat embarrassed about their behavior. The major reciprocated by pretending to ignore their staring.

"All of you will be quartered with Second Battalion, boys in barracks 5, girls in barracks 6. The platoon sergeants of each barrack will run you through base procedures. You will not deviate from those procedures during your stay here, security personnel have orders to shoot on sight."

More gulps. The guards at their previous base had had no such orders.

"After you finish speaking with your platoon sergeants, report to the hospital for a checkup," Kudo continued. "If you have any questions, direct them to any of the noncoms attached to your assigned platoon barracks. If you have any problems, bring them to myself or any of the battalion COs. Understood?"

"Yes sir!"

Kudo nodded. "Dismissed!"

Mana picked up her bag and after giving Musashi's hand a quick squeeze trotted after the only other two girls in the group of twenty trainees. The three hung out fairly often thanks to being the only girls in the group and Mana got along with them fairly well. Besides Keita and Musashi, the other two girls were the only ones that seemed to be growing uncomfortable with the risks they were all taking.

As the trio entered the barracks a sturdy looking young woman stepped before them.

"Identify yourselves!" she snapped.

The girls snapped to attention.

"Trainee Kirishima, reporting as ordered ma'am!"

"Trainee Tatsumiya, reporting as ordered ma'am!"

"Trainee Memphis-Hazama, reporting as ordered ma'am!"

The woman nodded. "I am Sergeant First Class Kasahara. Kirishima, you're in luck, you'll be bunking with me. Akashi, Tatsumiya, you two will be sharing the room next door. There's one bathroom between the four of us, you've got five minutes each in the morning to freshen up so don't waste any time in there."

Kasahara rattled off other rules and regulations including chow time and place, laundry, and other basic necessities for living on base. Each one was given a temporary ID that would also provide them with free meals at the mess hall. A good twenty minutes passed before three were standing outside about to be directed toward the hospital. It was then that a short man wearing the solid bars of a first lieutenant walked up.

"Kasahara, where are the inventory records?" he demanded.

"Sorry Lieutenant Dojo," Kasahara said, snapping to attention. "I'll have them ready for you this afternoon!"

Dojo's mouth opened as if he were about to yell at the sergeant but he clamped it shut before the three girls.

"See that you do," he snapped instead and walked off.

"Don't worry," Kasahara said to the girls as they watched him leave. "His bite is worse than his bark."

Mana was not the only one to look at the sergeant. "Umm, shouldn't it be the other way around?"

"Hmm? If the worst he does is yell, you're good in his books," Kasahara explained.

"I, see," Mana said, not entirely honestly.

"Alright, follow me," Kasahara said cheerfully.

"But, ma'am, don't you need to do that inventory?" Tatsumiya asked.

Kasahara winked at the girls. "I have an entire morning to finish it and sixteen hundred still counts as afternoon. Time management is a very important skill to have. Now, follow me."

The girls allowed themselves amused smiles as they followed. Those smiles soon disappeared as they arrived at the hospital. Surprisingly they were the first ones of the trainees there. The lobby however was bustling with activity but Mana managed to pick out three people that her instincts told her were there for a specific purpose. Two of them wore the navy blue of the UN, a Japanese man and a foreign brown-haired woman, while the third wore the red field jacket of NERV. Mana slowed, trying to pick out what they might be saying, but to her surprise all three were speaking in a foreign language. It was not English, the girl was certain of that much. Then she recalled that the UN auditor-general stationed at Tokyo-3 was a German woman. Said woman seemed to notice Mana peeking at them and met the girl's eyes. Mana blushed slightly at being caught but the woman simply smiled and nodded for the girl to keep moving. Mana quickly scampered after her fellow trainees and the sergeant.

"They look so young," Kaji said as he watched the girl run off.

"They are just kids," Amanda said. "Hopefully we got them out in time."

"Hopefully," Kaji said. "The Defense Ministry's kicking up a fuss already and I have a meeting with the Prime Minister this afternoon. I expect they'll be asking me to brush this all under the rug."

Amanda snorted. "Do they know about the hearing yet?"

"Official notice should have arrived last night," Kaji said. "Might have had something to do with their request for an 'urgent' meeting this morning."

"Take a few guards with you," Amanda said.

"I don't think things have escalated quite that far yet," Kaji said with a smirk. "After all, the meeting is on the public record."

Before he could say anything else Kayabuki entered the hospital. At catching sight of the three she walked over.

"Colonels, inspector," she greeted.

"Colonel," Amanda responded.

"The VTOL is ready to take you to Tokyo-2, inspector," Kayabuki said, turning to Kaji. "A squad of my best will be accompanying you to the Prime Minister's residence."

Kaji chuckled and glanced over at Amanda. "You leave nothing to chance, do you?"

"Seeing as Misato is likely to strip my hide if I let anything happen to yours, I thought some precautions were prudent," Amanda said, ignoring the flush on her friend's face.

"I suppose I can't protest to anything that lets me keep my hide," Kaji said. "Well then ladies, I'll see you when I get back. Preferably in one piece."

With that Kaji took his leave.

"You sure he'll be okay?" Misato asked, apparently unable to suppress her concern.

"I guarantee it," Kayabuki said. "What's going to be really interesting is who from the JSSDF will also be sitting in on the meeting."

"The higher ranked the officer, the more seriously they're taking this?" Misato suggested.

"And it'll give us a hint at what level their sacrificial pawn will be at," Amanda said. "Someone's going to take a fall for this and you can be sure it won't be General Suzaku."

"No, Suzaku's too damn sneaky for that," Kayabuki agreed. "If I had to bet money, it'll be Hirokawa that takes the fall."

"Hirokawa?" Misato said.

"The officer in charge of the Trident project," Amanda explained. "A real hardliner in the JSSDF, believes in Japan's divine place in the world and all that nonsense. He'd take the fall and be proud of it in the belief that it would allow Suzaku to continue with their shared mission unimpeded."

"Ah, a fanatic," Misato said. "Japan has too many of those these days. But is he really going to be the only one that gets called to account for Trident?"

"Of course not," Amanda assured her friend. "I've already got enough to charge a third of the Trident development team with gross negligence of not outright active endangerment, from the designers that cut corners and didn't protest after they found out that the intended pilots were minors to the training officers that were supposed to look after those kids. Some of them I'll also nail for active abuse."

"Good."

Amanda chuckled. "Your maternal instincts awakening since adopting Shinji?"

Misato stuck out a tongue at Amanda. "I've always had a nurturing side."

"Sure, sure. Anyway, we need to get back to Tokyo-3. I trust you'll get the results of their medical checkup forwarded once they've been compiled, colonel?"

"Leave it to me," Kayabuki assured them.

"How did you get the kids here so quick anyway?" Misato asked as she and Amanda walked off. "I thought the JSSDF would have fought tooth and nail to prevent it."

"I didn't give them time to get organized," Amanda said. "And even the captain in charge of the kids thought twice about trying to defy an order undersigned by the UN Inspectorate, the Home Ministry, and General Hiraga of the JSDF."

Misato raised an eyebrow. "Okay, the Inspectorate I can understand, but the Home Ministry and the JSDF? How'd you pull that off?"

"Kaji pulled some strings with his contacts and I had a little chat with the general. He is the official military liaison to the UN and he was as, disgusted, with the treatment of the pilot trainees as you and I were. It wasn't hard."

"Damn. How many steps ahead are you of everyone?"

Amanda grinned. "Enough."

The soldiers that accompanied Kaji were armed, though with sidearms it was unlikely they posed much of a threat. The guards outside the kantei, the Prime Minister's official residence and workplace, thought differently.

"I'm afraid your guards cannot enter with weapons, Inspector Kaji," the sergeant at the gates said.

The squad accompanying Kaji exchanged unhappy looks before glancing over at the inspector. Technically the sergeant was correct, no unauthorized personnel were permitted into the presence of the prime minister with weapons. On the other hand the expanded authority granted to the UN meant its agents were supposed to be able to go anywhere their duties took them, including normally limited access areas. Still there was no need to unduly antagonize the Japanese government at this point, though Kaji was not quite prepared to roll over completely.

"Sergeant," Kaji said to the noncom commanding his escort. "Have half of your squad stay out here and the rest will turn over their sidearms to them. That half will then accompany me inside."

"As you say sir," the regiment sergeant said, obeying but making clear his unhappiness without being outright insubordinate.

The sergeant handed over his own gun to a subordinate and led the way into the compound. Two other soldiers flanked Kaji was he followed while the last two trailed behind. The other four took up positions around the Humvees that had brought them all.

The Prime Minister's residence was a rather nice place. Surrounding the building itself was a classical Japanese garden with a clear pool that revealed the presence of quite a few fish. While they weren't visible Kaji knew that on the roof was a series of solar panels. Combined with the glass walls the place gave a feel of old blended with new.

"Inspector Kaji," a well dressed man greeted them at the front door. "Your guards will not be necessary while you are a guest here."

"We were given explicit orders by the colonel to personally ensure the inspector's safety," the sergeant said before Kaji could respond.

The other man frowned. "I assure you, the inspector will be perfectly fine."

The sergeant looked at the man with practiced patience. "Are you telling me, agent, that you would hand responsibility of your charge to someone else just because they assured you that he would be fine?"

The agent held the sergeant's gaze for several moments before finally tilting his head in acknowledgment of the point and stepping aside.

"Nicely done," Kaji whispered to the sergeant.

The man grunted but kept his attention focused on his surroundings, ever the professional.

The group was escorted to a nice appointed conference room. The table looked to even be made of real wood. Only two other people were waiting inside, the prime minster himself and a young looking lieutenant with a JSSDF insignia on his uniform. A first lieutenant so he was not quite at the bottom of the stack, but that the JSSDF did not send someone senior said volumes about the credence they lent to the UN inquiry. That was fine with Kaji, it would be an interesting challenge to get the JSSDF to recognize the authority and primacy of the UN. And quite a bit of fun watching them squirm.

"Inspector Kaji," the prime minister greeted, having the courtesy to at least stand as he did so.

"Mr. Prime Minister, thank you for the invitation," Kaji said, reciprocating the courtesy with a slight bow of his own.

"This is a grave matter before us, inspector, I thought it only prudent that we discuss it in person. Please, have a seat."

"Thank you sir."

"This is Lieutenant Sugo of the JSSDF," the aide that led them here introduced. "He is one of the staffers on the Trident project."

"Well lieutenant, I hope you'll be able to answer some questions for the UN."

"I will endeavor to represent my nation to the best of my ability."

The sergeant just barely suppressed a smirk, though not very well if the flush on the lieutenant's face was any indication. The prime minister at least was too seasoned a politician to reveal his emotions like that. So the JSSDF sent not only a junior officer but also an immature one. Interesting indeed.

"I understand that the United Nations has concerns regarding one of my country's weapons programs," the prime minister said. "While I understand that the UN feels a certain need to, monitor, developments that they feel may impact the international environment, the right to self-defense is enshrined within international law and a nation is perfectly within its rights to pursue methods to do so."

Sugo looked immensely self-satisfied as the prime minister finished his opening remarks while Kaji felt an overbearing need to roll his eyes. He suppressed it however, there was still a job to do.

"Self-defense is certainly a right all sovereign nations have," Kaji agreed. "At the same time, the government of a nation remains legitimate only for so long as it protects the rights of its citizens and refrains from abusing its people. After all, a government exists at the sufferance of the people and once it loses that trust, it is on borrowed time. In such situations history demonstrates that the best course of action is to quickly euthanize the government in question, as the greater it attempts to prolong its existence, the greater the suffering that government inflicts upon the people."

At this point the lieutenant looked near apoplectic and even the prime minister was revealing hints of his emotions. Then again he only had himself to blame as the prime minister was the one that came out swinging with the nonsense about sovereign rights. He was right that governments did have certain internationally recognized laws, but they had them only so long as internationally that government was recognized as being one.

"Now, let us go over the various topics of concern," Kaji said. "Many nations are developing new weapons systems and as you said there is nothing inherently wrong with that. Even in spite of the Trident's very impressive feature list, assuming your engineers actually achieves all of them of course, the walker is fairly conventional. In fact the UN probably would not have cared about it in the least, until we noticed the pilot candidates drafted for the program."

"A correction," Sugo suddenly interjected. "All of the trainees are volunteers."

"Volunteers have the right to withdraw," Kaji countered.

"They signed on as recruits and thus have an obligated term of service," Sugo insisted.

"Interesting, I was not aware that Japan had changed the legal age of enlistment from 16 to 12," Kaji replied blandly.

Sugo flushed but before he could say anything else the prime minister cut him off.

"Lieuteunant, enough."

The officer clamped his mouth shut but still fumed at Kaji.

"Inspector," the prime minister said in a more level tone, "the test pilots selected for the Trident project were done so because it was felt that the younger generation might be able to grasp the proposed control scheme more easily and thus provide us with test data more quickly. They are however only test pilots for the prototypes, they are not intended to serve as pilots for the production models."

"That is strange, seeing as the Trident whitepaper includes a section discussing the conditioning of pilots to prepare them for future combat when they, and I quote, 'reach the appropriate age,'" Kaji stated. "I suppose that line could be interpreted in a more benign manner, but I'm afraid it is my job to consider the worst and investigate appropriately."

The prime minister closed his mouth as Kaji preempted his protestation.

"Considering the seriousness of this situation, I'm afraid that I will have to insist upon the disclosure of all records produced by the participants of the Trident project," Kaji said. "If, as you seem to insist, the trainees were nothing more than test pilots used to gather data, then the internal messages generated by the Trident staff should bear that out. Conversely a different attitude towards the trainees would also make clear that they were intended to see combat in the future. Of course seeing as you are adamant that that is not the case, I trust that you have no objections to granting me access to the relevant records?"

"This is absurd!" Sugo exploded. "You have no right to see those records! They are the sovereign property of the state of Japan and the JSSDF! You're just a stooge for the UN! What makes you think we need to show you anything!?"

"Lieutenant," the prime minister said sternly.

"Lieutenant, it is plainly obvious that you are irrelevant in this discussion seeing as you have neither the authority nor the intelligence to contribute meaningfully," Kaji said, stunning both the prime minister and the lieutenant. "I suggest you leave before I have to find you in contempt of a UN investigation and have the sergeant toss you out on your ass. You have ten seconds."

Sugo began sputtering something completely incoherent as his shock momentarily overcame his rage.

"Five seconds."

The man was either too dimwitted or too fixated on himself to respond and with a nod from Kaji the sergeant grabbed hold of Sugo by his collar and literally threw him out of the room with a private holding the door open. Said private promptly slammed it closed and stood ready to keep it shut.

"Now, shall we continue, Mr. Prime Minister?" Kaji said. "Hopefully without the interruptions from the young lieutenant, you and I can get some real work done."

The prime minister eyed Kaji warily before finally nodding. The point had been made, Kaji would not be bluffed or bullied into doing what the Japanese government wanted and if they tried he was perfectly capable of reciprocating. If the government really wanted to stop this, they would need some other approach. The prime minister was certain General Suzaku would begin concocting them the moment Sugo reported his humiliation.

The doctor that sat across from Kirishima looked kindly and wore a friendly smile. The girl felt remarkably at ease in her presence. That did not of course mean she trusted the doctor, not yet at least.

"Kirishima-san," the doctor greeted. "I am Hayashima Hitomi, base psychiatrist for NERV-Tokyo. I'd like to ask you some questions about your experiences in the Trident project."

Mana eyed the doctor warily. "I'm sorry, that's all supposed to be classified."

Hayashima nodded. "I understand. The JSSDF required that you sign a nondisclosure agreement when you enlisted and I'm sure they implied all sorts of consequences if you broke it. I don't expect you to take my word for it that NERV and the UN can protect you just because I promise it. That kind of trust has to be earned, and I hope you'll at least give me a chance to earn it. Fair?"

Mana nodded slowly.

"Good, that's a start. Now, first thing's first. You're worried about your friend, right?"

Mana blinked and surprise caused her to blurt out. "You know what happened to Keita?"

"Would you like to see him?"

The girl nodded frantically. Hayashima stood and gestured for her to follow and the two proceeded down the hall. The room they stopped before had two soldiers from the regiment stationed outside. One nodded and promptly opened the door. Mana was through it in a flash.

"Keita!"

Hayashima followed, giving the girl time to absorb what she saw before her. The boy on the bed was on full life support, his breathing regulated by machine and IVs dotting his arm. Mana felt both relief and worry mix within her, relief at finally finding out what happened to her friend but also worry about whether he'd ever wake up.

"He'll recover," Hayashima assured the girl. "NERV has some of the best doctors in the world and they're doing everything they can to help him."

Mana wiped away the tears that were slowly leaking from her eyes. "Thank you."

"The doctors, when they examined him, found a few problems," Hayashima said softly. "There are indications of old internal wounds, fractures in the bones that are still mending, a lot of it too old to be from when the Trident crashed."

Mana looked over at the doctor, the tears fading.

"They also found similar, wounds, in you, Kirishima-san," Hayashima said. "We'd, like to get a better understanding of how such wounds occurred."

The girl met Hayashima's eyes, her own crystal clear. She nodded.

"Yo prof!"

Shinji looked over to see Toji and Kensuke walking behind him.

"Oh, hey."

"Hey Shinji, did you hear the rumors?" Kensuke asked excitedly. "We're getting a bunch of transfer students in!"

Shinji blinked. "A bunch?"

"Yeah! This is a really weird time in the year for it, don't you think? Any chance they're, you know what?"

The boy thought back, trying to dig up anything that might confirm his friend's theory before shaking his head. "I haven't heard any mention of any EVA pilots transferring to Tokyo-3 and I'm pretty sure Misato-san would have told me if that was happening."

"Ah man, that's a bummer," Kensuke said, deflating noticeably. "But still, there has to be something going on. I mean, why else would they drop half a dozen new students in on us?"

Shinji blinked. "That many?"

The bespectacled boy nodded. "That's what the rumors say, anything. Two of them are supposed to be joining our class. Hmm, I wonder if they're girls?"

"Aida, get your head out of the gutter."

"Ack! Class rep! Where did you come from!?"

"And start paying attention to your surroundings," Hikari chided. "Honestly, for such a military nut you sure have poor tactical acumen."

"That, that hurts class rep!" Kensuke protested.

The pigtailed girl ignored him, instead smiling at her boyfriend. "Good morning Toji."

"G-good morning Hikari," Toji responded as calmly as he could.

"Sheesh, you two've been dating for months now and you still act all nervous around her?" Asuka commented. "Pathethic."

"Hey!"

"Ah don't be too mean to him," Hikari said, coming to her boyfriend's rescue. "It's one of his more endearing points."

"Sure, sure," Asuka said. "So what's this about transfer students? You hear anything about this, Hikari?"

"I got notice of it yesterday afterschool," Hikari said. "Two new students for our class, a Kirishima-san and a Memphis-Hazama-san."

"Memphis-Hazama?" Shinji said. "Two last names, a foreign and a Japanese one?"

Hikari nodded. "Like Asuka-san's. Hazama-san may have both a Japanese and foreign parent."

"Hey uh, class rep, were there pictures?" Kensuke asked.

The look that Hikari gave Kensuke was in no ways intimidating. The boy still quailed under it. The group made it to school without further incident and settled in waiting for the day to begin. Then the teacher entered and delivered his announcement. The class' attention noticeably focused.

Mana took a deep breath to calm herself. Only two days had passed since the arrival at Valhalla base and suddenly all of the trainees were being enrolled in school. The girl was not quite clear on what was going on but went along with it, especially after having been able to see Keita. Her friend was still sedated but the doctors at the hospital were obviously working hard to put him back together. Then there were her sessions with Dr. Hayashima. Mana had talked, a lot. In fact she was almost certainly going to be in trouble with the JSSDF. But the girl felt certain of her decision, the people she had thus far met from NERV and the UN, from the doctor to the auditor-general to even the chief inspector, all of them seemed like good people that genuinely wanted to help her and her friends. And if they needed her to play a small part, she would gladly play it.

Upon being called Mana and the other girl entered the classroom. The two wrote their names on the board and bowed as they introduced themselves.

"Hazama Canon Memphis," her friend greeted. "A pleasure to meet you all."

Mana looked out at the class, not at all surprised at the enthusiastic gaze of the boys. Yet there was one boy amidst them that seemed to see past their gender, someone whose eyes belayed a gentle yet firm strength that seemed well beyond his age. She recognized the boy easily enough, his picture had been part of the mission brief for the scrubbed intelligence operation she was originally supposed to participate in. Shinji Ikari, Third Child and pilot of Unit 01.

"Kirishima Mana," Mana said. "I hope we can all be friends."

As their eyes met Shinji smiled. He did not look away, did not flinch. He was nothing like what the profiles suggested. Mana found herself smiling back.

End of Chapter 20

A couple of notes. First, Kudo is NOT a sidestepper. The fact that he is not is actually important enough that I need to make this explicit. I had to give him a first name because it would have sounded really stupid if Amanda didn't use his full name when giving him an award. Second, the start of chapter 12 runs concurrently with the end of chapter 11 so there is some time overlap. That may not have been explicit enough. Third, Amanda is referring to Klinge when she uses the codename of Mother. All those points are sufficiently relevant that I feel the need to clarify in case I was not explicit enough in the text.

I included Katerose von Kreutzer because her voice actress is the same as Misato's. It was a funny enough coincidence and Katerose is as much of a redhead tsundere as Asuka in some respects and I needed more German characters so I decided, what the hell. And it would just be wrong not to include Julian if I included Katerose. The real question is what other characters I will be borrowing. I have to pad at least some of the other Trident pilot trainees after all.

This would be more funny if it wasn't so irritating but the draft for In Tune has gotten so long that Microsoft Word actually has stopped highlighting spelling errors. Right now word is claiming over 188,000 words. That's one of the primary reasons errors have been slipping in the past few chapters since a mistype can result in an error that I don't notice until well after the fact. And depending on which keyboard I'm using, mistypes are more prone to happen. Like the piece of crap HP keyboard I'm using now.

I suppose I wasn't clear enough on the submarine thing. Yes, it's theoretically possible to modify one that it'd be usable in space, but doing so constitutes a major rebuild at which point the entire rationale for using an existing sub, that it's ready to go to begin with after minor modification, gets negated. It's one of those ideas that should die on the drawing board (the radiator issue by itself should be enough of a deterrent), not get touted as a shortcut or an example of a character or faction's ingenuity. But this is one of those areas where a person's perspective dictates how far they're willing to accept impractical engineering for the sake of plot or coolness factor. Mine just happens to be very, low, when it comes to that area. Might have something to do with the fact that two of my grandparents were naval architects.

I expect the Kirishima scenario to span for about three or four chapters total, including this one. It may stretch to five if I end up needing to shove more stuff in. This arc is also an opportunity for Kaji to actually do something, since I really haven't written him doing much of anything. That needs to change if I am to keep him as relevant as he was in the series. After all, the collective has plans for him.

Gendo, has a plan. In fact he's had a plan for a few chapters now. It's not going to end pretty for a lot of people involved. And if you thought the Yamagishi scenario was tragic, well, ahem.

At this point I'll just say that once we get to a certain point, Soren's stoicism will make sense. I gave him some superficial similarities via his culinary and musical talents, but honestly those could have just been a smokescreen. Ahem. Anyway, wait and see.

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