Chapter 14 - A mother´s wrath
Rei Akagi opened the door of the apartment she shared with her mother. In front of the door
a man and a woman were standing, both wearing army-uniforms under long coats.
"Yes?" Rei asked insecurely. She noticed the gaze of the one-eyed man, thought to discover
something familiar.
"Good evening. We´d like to talk to your mother." the stranger said politely.
"Yes."
It begins again...
Her face took on a sad expression when she turned her head and shouted:
"Mom, here are two officers, they want to talk to you!"
"Officers?" Ritsuko Akagi repeated and stepped out of the living-room. "Rei, are you sure?"
She come to the door, looked at the visitors, stared at Thomas. Her eyes tripled their size.
"You..." she whispered...
***
Thomas looked at the blond woman, who had to be doctor Ritsuko Akagi, with surprise.
His memory was working hart to remember her. She seemed familiar, but it must have been some
time...
"You bastard!" Ritsuko shouted and raised a hand to beat him.
The one-eyed was way too surprised to react.
But Deiko acted by grabbing Ritsuko´s hand and stopping it in midair.
"What´s going on?"
At the same time Thomas remember where he had met Ritsuko Akagi...
Oh, my god...
It truely was strange how all the puzzle pieces found together... sometimes he really hated it
to be right...
Ritsuko glared at him.
"Your appearance has changed, but somehow I always knew that I would recognize you."
"Could somebody please tell me, what´s going on? Anybody?" Deiko asked with low voice.
"Doctor Akagi..." Thomas started but re-thought it. "Ritsuko, I didn´t know..."
"Of course. You couldn´t even remember my name, right?"
"I... Listen, it was quite a chaotic time, and..."
"And?"
"And?" Deiko said at the same moment. "I´d be interested in hearing this, too."
"Mom?" Rei asked confused.
"Go to your room, dear."
Rei blinked.
"Yes."
Ritsuko looked at Thomas, still angry.
"Fifteen years... and suddenly you are standing in front of my door..."
"It wasn´t planned..."
"Oh, then it is okay", she mumbled sarcastically. "And what was planned? To deny responsibility
forever?"
"Ritsuko, I don´t know what you are talking about!"
The expression of her face changed, was replaced by perplexion.
"You really don´t know it?"
"No."
Slowly she stepped aside.
"Lets talk... in the kitchen... - You may also come in."
"Commander?" Deiko asked Thomas using his rank.
"Follow me, Captain Tamakura."
***
A little bit later they were sitting around the table at the Akagis´ kitchen. Thomas had taken
off his coat and placed it over the free chair while Deiko still was wearing hers.
Ritsuko had calmed down a bit.
"You look diffent."
"Yes. Fifteen years have been quite a long time."
"Contact lense?"
He nodded.
"I don´t need one for the other eye anymore."
"Those red eyes were quite... impressing..."
A small smile moved across his face.
"I´ve never been to this disco again... or to any discotheque..."
He touched the eye-patch.
"It took some time to recover..."
"I´ve been there, where we met, several times. Did you never try to find me?"
"No." He looked her into the eyes. "There were other things to do."
"Of course... of course lots of things exist of greater importance than somebody you spent the
night with."
"That´s the reason we are here now."
"Oh... And I thought... Hm... you seem to know my name, but I´d like to know yours."
"Yes... I have many names... used countless identities over the years... hm... well, call me
Thomas."
"Thomas... that´s all?"
"The only constant. Well, Thomas Shigen."
"Shigen, yes... So I can finally tell my daughter her father´s name."
Deiko started to cough.
Thomas´ eyes tripled their size.
"Daughter?"
Ritsuko nodded.
"You have just seen her. Rei´s your daughter... the result of that one night."
"My god... had I known..."
"What then? Would you have been there for her? Would she have had a father when she needed one?
Would you have cared for her?"
"Ritsuko, I... that´s taking me quite by surprise..."
He lower his gaze, stared at the table broodingly.
Deiko sighed.
"Well, I think such stories to be quite interesting... but... Doctor Akagi, I am Captain Deiko
Tamakura of the UN-ship PROMETHEUS. Like my commanding officer I´m in the service of NERV, an
organisation of the military branch of the UN. What I will tell you hasn´t to be told anybody
else."
"What?" Ritsuko answered confused. "Would you..."
"No. This can´t wait. We have no time."
"Deiko", Thomas whispered.
"No, Commander, the schedule..."
"She´s my daughter."
"And Shinji Ikari´s Colonel Ikari´s Sohn... and Kensuke Aida is the Nephew of Lieutnant Aida...
and..."
She fell silent, looked at him with compassion.
"I´m sorry, you know better than I do what´s written in the NERV-agenda."
"I wrote it... continue..."
"Thanks. - Doctor Akagi, my organisation´s sworn to protect humanity from exterior dangers. And
your daughter, Rei, has abilities that make it necessary for her to accompain us."
"Rei? So you are here for her... You want to take her away from me!"
"No..." Thomas started but left it to his companion to continue.
"That´s not our intention. But... Earth needs your daughter´s help."
"But..."
"You should come with us to headquarters, so we can show."
Thomas gave a long sigh.
"Ritsuko, it´s all very surprising for me... I never expected... never thought about the possibility
of having a daughter..."
"And I never thought to see you again... Well, at first I intended to kill you..."
"I just hope you´re joking... may I talk to her?"
"To Rei? I don´t know if that´s such a good idea... don´t tell her who you are."
"If you wish so."
"I´ll accompain you."
"Okay."
They left the kitchen while Deiko stayed behind.
Could that have been the reason for Midori´s breakdown? But how could she have known if Thomas
was that surprised... Well, I´d like to hear the complete story... it must have happened before
the first expedition to the south-pole... hm...
***
Chaos reigned again within NERV-headquarters.
Most of the crewmen were staring at the large main screen.
Colonel Gendo Ikari jumped out of the commander´s chair when Selene entered the bridge.
"Report!"
"Look..."
Gendo pointed at the screen. It was showing a satellite picture that was dominated by lots of
red.
"The shipyards at the North-American westcoast has been destroyed completly. This hellmouth´s
all that´s been left of Sunnydale. Estimated number of casualities: about 50000 human lifes.
Selene hid her face in her hands.
"What did happen?" she asked with emotions.
"The MAGI report that the scheduled testing run of the CHRONOS´ S2-engine has caused no problems.
We think it has been sabotage."
"Sabotage... That man is responsible for our first loss..."
"Chief...!"
Shigeru Aoba had left his seat.
"Speak, captain."
"POLARIS reports the presence of a blue pattern! MAGI confirm!"
"Where?"
The image on the screen changed, showed a picture of South Japan.
"On the mainland... Near Tokio!"
"It looks like a hive. Tell the military! I´ll talk to the secretary of interior."
She got up.
"Ikari, follow me!"
***
Rei was sitting at her desk and read a book when somebody knocked at the door.
"Yes?"
Her mother and the one-eyed officer entered her room. The expression on the man´s face could have
been described with sadness as well as with amazement.
When she saw her mother Rei felt cold, like she had felt many times the last few days since her
memories had returned.
Ritsuko Akagi... my mother... in this reality... but in the other world she did hate me... like
her mother did... Naoko Akagi killed me once... but not here... I... if we are made by our memories
what of this did happen, if shall I do? Mom... Grandma... they love me... and if I wouldn´t see
these images...
Her thoughts were moving in circles. The only thing she could do was banishing them to the
farsest corner of her mind to prevent losing her mind. And the only other human being she could
have talked to about it was unreaceable.
"Rei, that´s... Thomas Shigen, he´s working for the United Nations..."
Ritsuko spoke hesitatingly like she was thinking very hard about each word.
"Hello." the man greeted her with warm voice. "I´m happy to meet you."
She noticed something on his uniform that had been hidden by his coat before: The symbol of a
halved fig leave of his shoulder pad.
"You´re working for NERV."
He hesitated for a moment.
"Yes."
Rei got up.
"How can I help you?"
***
Thomas stood on one of the headquarters´ many corridors, forehead pressed against a window without
really looking at the outside.
Deiko leaned against the wall next to him.
"This day was full of... relevations..."
"Yes, you name it. To get to know that I have a fourteen year old daughter... It was... hm...
in a way I feel like the day Takanawa told me that I am going to die very slowly... but it´s not
the same..."
"Would you like to tell me how it happened?"
"Yes, how... Little Sister, I guess it´s not a glorious tale..."
"Well, tell me, you look like you need to."
"Fifteen years ago... Surely you remember how it all started..."
"Hm, the Matriel?"
"No, before."
"Ah, Midori..."
"Yes, when all went downhill between her and me... I had thought our bond would endure anything,
but I had been wrong... after the miscarriage..."
"I know..."
She placed a hand on his shoulder.
"She told you it was your fault."
"Mine and what I am... and I keep telling me that she was right, that I had killed our son..."
"Yes. You were quite down, some of us feared you might lose it."
"I know. Falk even prepared to have me eliminated..."
"Oh... I didn´t know..."
"Probably he evn would have succeeded. I was really down on the ground..."
"You wanted neither help nor comfort."
"Yes... Instead I took to drinking for days to forget. And you know was I was able to digest
when my healing factor wasn´t busy fighting the deterioration of my body."
"You were able to drink us all under the table without being drunk yourself."
"And in this state of mind I met Ritsuko Akagi... it was the classical one-night-stand."
"But with consequences."
"Consequences I didn´t even dream of... and when I was sober again, Falk stood in front of the
door and dragged me away to the plane..."
"So your daughter was conceived the night before we took off for the Antarctic?"
"Yes. And now fifteen years have gone by... fifteen years I missed... I feel guilty... and now
I know what Ikari´s feeling..."
"Hm..."
"Deiko, I am the Warlord, I should not have such feelings, but they are there."
"That makes you human... and the children secure. Thomas, I guess I am your oldest friend, not
counting Sanchez, I´ll be there for you, ever."
"Thanks, Little Sister."
"So, can we get back now to being professionals?" she asked and grinned.
"Back to work?"
"You don´t happen to waste time for self-pity on other occassions."
"Well... So?"
"Slowly it´s getting out of hand. Now doctor Akagi is going to accompain us to Antarctica...
another civilian to protect and another potential distraction."
"Well, we can´t kidnap the children... Deiko, you weren´t there, but Rei´s reaction was as weird as
the boy´s. It was like she was already expecting to be enlisted."
"Since she´s your daughter that doesn´t surprise me... maybe she´s inheritated some of your
abilities."
"Hm..."
His chain of thoughts was interupted when his sister, Colonel Ikari and Lieutenant Hyuga came
walking down the corridor with a steady pace.
"Selene, what´s up?"
"The MAGI have discovered a Bardiel-hive in the neighborhood of Tokio. The JSSDF got orders to
attack it, I´ll join the attack."
"A hive of brain-parasites? Hell and damnation..."
"And the US-branch with the shipyard has been destroyed."
"What? Why wasn´t I told earlier?"
"You had a meeting with the parent, I didn´t want to startle anybody."
"I see. I´m taking command here. Be careful."
"Of course."
He straightened, seemed to leave the sorrows and concerns behind, turned into the effective
machinery he had been trained to become, he had been born to become...
***
"The area has been evacuated." Gendo Ikari reported from the back seat of the jet fighter.
Selene gave him a sign telling him that she´d unterstood. Their jet was part of a formation
flying eastwards.
"N2-bombs ready. - But I want to circle the area first."
*Confirmed, NERV-01, fly ahead.*
"Colonel, keep your eyes open!"
"Of course."
The jet descended.
"Nothing´s on the screen..."
"The lake, Colonel, I´ll fly over it again..."
"Yes, there´s something. Scanner´s reporting sighting of enemy! The hive must be underwater."
"Just like a Bardiel would love it. I´ll fly over it again."
"I am getting a visual! Looks like a giant brain... is that the hive-mother?"
"Show me... yes, confirmed. - To sqad: Target identified. Transmitting coordinates. Bomb it!"
She flew another loop, dropped the N2-bombs.
***
The satellite pictures transmitted to the control center were showing the destructions resulting
from the bombings.
"Report, captain Aoba."
"Still analysing, Commander. Ah... MAGI confirm target´s destruction. Lady Selene reports that it
was truely a Bardiel-hive. Well, they will have to draw new maps of the region."
"Thank you, captain."
Thomas leaned back in his seat.
"God knows howmany of them still exist out there..."
Deiko just nodded.
"Captain, have POLARIS do further deep-scans. I´m worried by the hive´s vicinity to headquarters.
And have the crew checked for brain-parasites."
"Confirmed."
Nervously Makoto touched the back of his neck.
***
In her containment cell Midori Sekigahama opened her eyes. Both were glowing in a deep red...
The redblonde-haired woman sat up on her plank bed and seemed to listen to unhearable voices...
***
"Rei, are you sure that you truely want to do this?"
"Yes, Mom."
Ritsuko noticed the short break between these two words. She stepped to her daughter´s side and
caressed her hair.
"What´s up with you?"
"I..."
"Rei, you are shivvering... is it because of this?"
"No. It is... Have you ever felt the urge to do something?"
"Even if it is complete nonsense?"
"Yes."
Ritsuko smiled.
"Oh, yes... But since your birth I made it a habit to ignore these urges."
"Yes."
"And your decision... it´s something like this?"
"You wouldn´t understand."
"Rei, you seem so... changed... what´s the reason? We can still tell your... the Commander that
you..."
"No, that´s not the reason. Don´t ask, Mom, please, don´t ask."
*************************************************************************************************
Next: Tabris vs. Bardiel - To the death!
*************************************************************************************************
A.N.: Yupp, I watched an episode of Buffy while reading this chapter...
Rei Akagi opened the door of the apartment she shared with her mother. In front of the door
a man and a woman were standing, both wearing army-uniforms under long coats.
"Yes?" Rei asked insecurely. She noticed the gaze of the one-eyed man, thought to discover
something familiar.
"Good evening. We´d like to talk to your mother." the stranger said politely.
"Yes."
It begins again...
Her face took on a sad expression when she turned her head and shouted:
"Mom, here are two officers, they want to talk to you!"
"Officers?" Ritsuko Akagi repeated and stepped out of the living-room. "Rei, are you sure?"
She come to the door, looked at the visitors, stared at Thomas. Her eyes tripled their size.
"You..." she whispered...
***
Thomas looked at the blond woman, who had to be doctor Ritsuko Akagi, with surprise.
His memory was working hart to remember her. She seemed familiar, but it must have been some
time...
"You bastard!" Ritsuko shouted and raised a hand to beat him.
The one-eyed was way too surprised to react.
But Deiko acted by grabbing Ritsuko´s hand and stopping it in midair.
"What´s going on?"
At the same time Thomas remember where he had met Ritsuko Akagi...
Oh, my god...
It truely was strange how all the puzzle pieces found together... sometimes he really hated it
to be right...
Ritsuko glared at him.
"Your appearance has changed, but somehow I always knew that I would recognize you."
"Could somebody please tell me, what´s going on? Anybody?" Deiko asked with low voice.
"Doctor Akagi..." Thomas started but re-thought it. "Ritsuko, I didn´t know..."
"Of course. You couldn´t even remember my name, right?"
"I... Listen, it was quite a chaotic time, and..."
"And?"
"And?" Deiko said at the same moment. "I´d be interested in hearing this, too."
"Mom?" Rei asked confused.
"Go to your room, dear."
Rei blinked.
"Yes."
Ritsuko looked at Thomas, still angry.
"Fifteen years... and suddenly you are standing in front of my door..."
"It wasn´t planned..."
"Oh, then it is okay", she mumbled sarcastically. "And what was planned? To deny responsibility
forever?"
"Ritsuko, I don´t know what you are talking about!"
The expression of her face changed, was replaced by perplexion.
"You really don´t know it?"
"No."
Slowly she stepped aside.
"Lets talk... in the kitchen... - You may also come in."
"Commander?" Deiko asked Thomas using his rank.
"Follow me, Captain Tamakura."
***
A little bit later they were sitting around the table at the Akagis´ kitchen. Thomas had taken
off his coat and placed it over the free chair while Deiko still was wearing hers.
Ritsuko had calmed down a bit.
"You look diffent."
"Yes. Fifteen years have been quite a long time."
"Contact lense?"
He nodded.
"I don´t need one for the other eye anymore."
"Those red eyes were quite... impressing..."
A small smile moved across his face.
"I´ve never been to this disco again... or to any discotheque..."
He touched the eye-patch.
"It took some time to recover..."
"I´ve been there, where we met, several times. Did you never try to find me?"
"No." He looked her into the eyes. "There were other things to do."
"Of course... of course lots of things exist of greater importance than somebody you spent the
night with."
"That´s the reason we are here now."
"Oh... And I thought... Hm... you seem to know my name, but I´d like to know yours."
"Yes... I have many names... used countless identities over the years... hm... well, call me
Thomas."
"Thomas... that´s all?"
"The only constant. Well, Thomas Shigen."
"Shigen, yes... So I can finally tell my daughter her father´s name."
Deiko started to cough.
Thomas´ eyes tripled their size.
"Daughter?"
Ritsuko nodded.
"You have just seen her. Rei´s your daughter... the result of that one night."
"My god... had I known..."
"What then? Would you have been there for her? Would she have had a father when she needed one?
Would you have cared for her?"
"Ritsuko, I... that´s taking me quite by surprise..."
He lower his gaze, stared at the table broodingly.
Deiko sighed.
"Well, I think such stories to be quite interesting... but... Doctor Akagi, I am Captain Deiko
Tamakura of the UN-ship PROMETHEUS. Like my commanding officer I´m in the service of NERV, an
organisation of the military branch of the UN. What I will tell you hasn´t to be told anybody
else."
"What?" Ritsuko answered confused. "Would you..."
"No. This can´t wait. We have no time."
"Deiko", Thomas whispered.
"No, Commander, the schedule..."
"She´s my daughter."
"And Shinji Ikari´s Colonel Ikari´s Sohn... and Kensuke Aida is the Nephew of Lieutnant Aida...
and..."
She fell silent, looked at him with compassion.
"I´m sorry, you know better than I do what´s written in the NERV-agenda."
"I wrote it... continue..."
"Thanks. - Doctor Akagi, my organisation´s sworn to protect humanity from exterior dangers. And
your daughter, Rei, has abilities that make it necessary for her to accompain us."
"Rei? So you are here for her... You want to take her away from me!"
"No..." Thomas started but left it to his companion to continue.
"That´s not our intention. But... Earth needs your daughter´s help."
"But..."
"You should come with us to headquarters, so we can show."
Thomas gave a long sigh.
"Ritsuko, it´s all very surprising for me... I never expected... never thought about the possibility
of having a daughter..."
"And I never thought to see you again... Well, at first I intended to kill you..."
"I just hope you´re joking... may I talk to her?"
"To Rei? I don´t know if that´s such a good idea... don´t tell her who you are."
"If you wish so."
"I´ll accompain you."
"Okay."
They left the kitchen while Deiko stayed behind.
Could that have been the reason for Midori´s breakdown? But how could she have known if Thomas
was that surprised... Well, I´d like to hear the complete story... it must have happened before
the first expedition to the south-pole... hm...
***
Chaos reigned again within NERV-headquarters.
Most of the crewmen were staring at the large main screen.
Colonel Gendo Ikari jumped out of the commander´s chair when Selene entered the bridge.
"Report!"
"Look..."
Gendo pointed at the screen. It was showing a satellite picture that was dominated by lots of
red.
"The shipyards at the North-American westcoast has been destroyed completly. This hellmouth´s
all that´s been left of Sunnydale. Estimated number of casualities: about 50000 human lifes.
Selene hid her face in her hands.
"What did happen?" she asked with emotions.
"The MAGI report that the scheduled testing run of the CHRONOS´ S2-engine has caused no problems.
We think it has been sabotage."
"Sabotage... That man is responsible for our first loss..."
"Chief...!"
Shigeru Aoba had left his seat.
"Speak, captain."
"POLARIS reports the presence of a blue pattern! MAGI confirm!"
"Where?"
The image on the screen changed, showed a picture of South Japan.
"On the mainland... Near Tokio!"
"It looks like a hive. Tell the military! I´ll talk to the secretary of interior."
She got up.
"Ikari, follow me!"
***
Rei was sitting at her desk and read a book when somebody knocked at the door.
"Yes?"
Her mother and the one-eyed officer entered her room. The expression on the man´s face could have
been described with sadness as well as with amazement.
When she saw her mother Rei felt cold, like she had felt many times the last few days since her
memories had returned.
Ritsuko Akagi... my mother... in this reality... but in the other world she did hate me... like
her mother did... Naoko Akagi killed me once... but not here... I... if we are made by our memories
what of this did happen, if shall I do? Mom... Grandma... they love me... and if I wouldn´t see
these images...
Her thoughts were moving in circles. The only thing she could do was banishing them to the
farsest corner of her mind to prevent losing her mind. And the only other human being she could
have talked to about it was unreaceable.
"Rei, that´s... Thomas Shigen, he´s working for the United Nations..."
Ritsuko spoke hesitatingly like she was thinking very hard about each word.
"Hello." the man greeted her with warm voice. "I´m happy to meet you."
She noticed something on his uniform that had been hidden by his coat before: The symbol of a
halved fig leave of his shoulder pad.
"You´re working for NERV."
He hesitated for a moment.
"Yes."
Rei got up.
"How can I help you?"
***
Thomas stood on one of the headquarters´ many corridors, forehead pressed against a window without
really looking at the outside.
Deiko leaned against the wall next to him.
"This day was full of... relevations..."
"Yes, you name it. To get to know that I have a fourteen year old daughter... It was... hm...
in a way I feel like the day Takanawa told me that I am going to die very slowly... but it´s not
the same..."
"Would you like to tell me how it happened?"
"Yes, how... Little Sister, I guess it´s not a glorious tale..."
"Well, tell me, you look like you need to."
"Fifteen years ago... Surely you remember how it all started..."
"Hm, the Matriel?"
"No, before."
"Ah, Midori..."
"Yes, when all went downhill between her and me... I had thought our bond would endure anything,
but I had been wrong... after the miscarriage..."
"I know..."
She placed a hand on his shoulder.
"She told you it was your fault."
"Mine and what I am... and I keep telling me that she was right, that I had killed our son..."
"Yes. You were quite down, some of us feared you might lose it."
"I know. Falk even prepared to have me eliminated..."
"Oh... I didn´t know..."
"Probably he evn would have succeeded. I was really down on the ground..."
"You wanted neither help nor comfort."
"Yes... Instead I took to drinking for days to forget. And you know was I was able to digest
when my healing factor wasn´t busy fighting the deterioration of my body."
"You were able to drink us all under the table without being drunk yourself."
"And in this state of mind I met Ritsuko Akagi... it was the classical one-night-stand."
"But with consequences."
"Consequences I didn´t even dream of... and when I was sober again, Falk stood in front of the
door and dragged me away to the plane..."
"So your daughter was conceived the night before we took off for the Antarctic?"
"Yes. And now fifteen years have gone by... fifteen years I missed... I feel guilty... and now
I know what Ikari´s feeling..."
"Hm..."
"Deiko, I am the Warlord, I should not have such feelings, but they are there."
"That makes you human... and the children secure. Thomas, I guess I am your oldest friend, not
counting Sanchez, I´ll be there for you, ever."
"Thanks, Little Sister."
"So, can we get back now to being professionals?" she asked and grinned.
"Back to work?"
"You don´t happen to waste time for self-pity on other occassions."
"Well... So?"
"Slowly it´s getting out of hand. Now doctor Akagi is going to accompain us to Antarctica...
another civilian to protect and another potential distraction."
"Well, we can´t kidnap the children... Deiko, you weren´t there, but Rei´s reaction was as weird as
the boy´s. It was like she was already expecting to be enlisted."
"Since she´s your daughter that doesn´t surprise me... maybe she´s inheritated some of your
abilities."
"Hm..."
His chain of thoughts was interupted when his sister, Colonel Ikari and Lieutenant Hyuga came
walking down the corridor with a steady pace.
"Selene, what´s up?"
"The MAGI have discovered a Bardiel-hive in the neighborhood of Tokio. The JSSDF got orders to
attack it, I´ll join the attack."
"A hive of brain-parasites? Hell and damnation..."
"And the US-branch with the shipyard has been destroyed."
"What? Why wasn´t I told earlier?"
"You had a meeting with the parent, I didn´t want to startle anybody."
"I see. I´m taking command here. Be careful."
"Of course."
He straightened, seemed to leave the sorrows and concerns behind, turned into the effective
machinery he had been trained to become, he had been born to become...
***
"The area has been evacuated." Gendo Ikari reported from the back seat of the jet fighter.
Selene gave him a sign telling him that she´d unterstood. Their jet was part of a formation
flying eastwards.
"N2-bombs ready. - But I want to circle the area first."
*Confirmed, NERV-01, fly ahead.*
"Colonel, keep your eyes open!"
"Of course."
The jet descended.
"Nothing´s on the screen..."
"The lake, Colonel, I´ll fly over it again..."
"Yes, there´s something. Scanner´s reporting sighting of enemy! The hive must be underwater."
"Just like a Bardiel would love it. I´ll fly over it again."
"I am getting a visual! Looks like a giant brain... is that the hive-mother?"
"Show me... yes, confirmed. - To sqad: Target identified. Transmitting coordinates. Bomb it!"
She flew another loop, dropped the N2-bombs.
***
The satellite pictures transmitted to the control center were showing the destructions resulting
from the bombings.
"Report, captain Aoba."
"Still analysing, Commander. Ah... MAGI confirm target´s destruction. Lady Selene reports that it
was truely a Bardiel-hive. Well, they will have to draw new maps of the region."
"Thank you, captain."
Thomas leaned back in his seat.
"God knows howmany of them still exist out there..."
Deiko just nodded.
"Captain, have POLARIS do further deep-scans. I´m worried by the hive´s vicinity to headquarters.
And have the crew checked for brain-parasites."
"Confirmed."
Nervously Makoto touched the back of his neck.
***
In her containment cell Midori Sekigahama opened her eyes. Both were glowing in a deep red...
The redblonde-haired woman sat up on her plank bed and seemed to listen to unhearable voices...
***
"Rei, are you sure that you truely want to do this?"
"Yes, Mom."
Ritsuko noticed the short break between these two words. She stepped to her daughter´s side and
caressed her hair.
"What´s up with you?"
"I..."
"Rei, you are shivvering... is it because of this?"
"No. It is... Have you ever felt the urge to do something?"
"Even if it is complete nonsense?"
"Yes."
Ritsuko smiled.
"Oh, yes... But since your birth I made it a habit to ignore these urges."
"Yes."
"And your decision... it´s something like this?"
"You wouldn´t understand."
"Rei, you seem so... changed... what´s the reason? We can still tell your... the Commander that
you..."
"No, that´s not the reason. Don´t ask, Mom, please, don´t ask."
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Next: Tabris vs. Bardiel - To the death!
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A.N.: Yupp, I watched an episode of Buffy while reading this chapter...