THE FEAST OF ST. GEORGE-MEDITATIONS
I don't own NGE.
I've seen some of the Evangelion episodes; has my opinion of the characters changed much? Mmmm, not really.
In the next chapters, I'll make sure everyone is in character, so long as I deem it entertaining enough.
FYI: Draculesti Group will be referred to as DG in this story.
DRACULESTI GROUP NORWAY DIVISION RETREAT, NEAR EVJE
Officially, the mountains, rivers, streams and fields within this twenty-square mile property belonged to the world's largest corporation as an executive retreat for the Group's headquarters. The area was known for its relaxing springs and the beautiful surroundings. Draculesti Group workers carved trails into the forests and mountains, where benches were constructed on beautiful lookout points. Restrooms, with working plumbing, were located at various points along the trails. Horses were available for those who wanted to experience the retreat in some Pioneer-like style. The main lodge, hanging out over the valley from the middle of a mountaintop, was connected by another trail to a helicopter pad, where visiting executives could take off in a hurry for a nearby private airfield.
Since Norway only had 1.2 million people that survived the Second Impact, the country was desperate for the resources to save her high standard of living. Draculesti supplied these resources, and as a result practically ruled the country. Government ministers worked on DG computers with DG software on DG-made desks in offices built by DG construction companies on streets paved by DG vehicles manufactured in DG factories.
The Group's monopolistic activities were not limited to the mountainous kingdom. Tokyo-3 owed it's existence to the Draculesti Group. 120,000 DG workers had scooped out the Geofront with some of the largest machinery ever conceived by man. The elevators that brought Tokyo-3's buildings to the surface and back down again were patented by a DG subsidiary. The UN tanks that flooded the city during Angel attacks were built by DG factories, covered with depleted uranium and the strongest steel generated by DG factories. The aircraft that hovered around battlegrounds were designed and produced by the Draculesti Group. The Group built the city's roads, railways, and airports. Since Draculesti Aviation had swallowed Boeing, Rockwell, Cessna, Fokker, and various other prominent aircraft companies, one-third of the planes that flew in and out of the airports were produced by Draculesti and many were even operated by the Group. The gas and oil in the citizenry's cars were extracted from the Earth by DG rigs.
The prosperity of the Group exploded after Second Impact, gobbling up company after company as economies around the world staggered. Economic experts spoke glowingly of its dynamic leadership as the cause.
They were wrong.
Officially, the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Draculesti Group was Vladimir Tepevich III, who had taken over from his father, Vladimir Tepevich II. In reality, he was Vlad Dracula, or Vlad IV, Prince of Wallachia. He slipped in and out of assumed names with ease, and got away with it by allowing no photo-shoots.
Dracula knew the truth behind the Second Impact, and afterwards moved quickly to consolidate his power. He didn't play fair; he used his vampiric powers to scare the Breathing corporate lords into signing onto his own organization. By 2003, Draculesti Goup was a massive giant, making $250 billion a year. Dracula spread his influence across the world, penetrating every government and every army, every major public organization, using the media to his own advantage. In Germany, eight year old Asuka Langely Sohryu was treated to a million-man demonstration marching through Berlin demanding government reform. United States university campuses exploded in rebellion, calling for "Peace with God". In Russia, the people longed for the hand of authority to stop the chaos.
All according to plan…
The "retreat" in Norway served a dual purpose for Dracula: to keep his Breathing minions content, and to give him an excellent headquarters for his greatest move ever.
Hidden beneath trees and rocks were advanced surface-to-air missile systems. Hidden within one mountain was a squadron of the latest stealth plane produced by Dracula's defense industries. If anyone dared enter his airspace intending to fight him a side of the mountain would open up and the aircraft would exit their hanger from there. In another mountain was hidden a unique device that generated an anti-light field to create temporary darkness for an emergency deployment of Dracula's vampire troops.
Within the mountain that the main lodge perched on was a honeycomb of tunnels and rooms. Computers, communications equipment, and two hundred tons of blood were stored in this mountain.
In a wood-paneled office, decorated by paintings depicting battles from years before, he sat, at the desk previously described. The desk held a black blotter; two pens in their holders, pointed towards him; a panel of buttons sat beside the blotter, which he had recently used to talk to Gendo Ikari; a decorative lamp sat beside the panel; and a pewter statue of a dragon curling around the Earth. At his left hand was a modern black telephone, with a red light blinking on it.
Dracula tapped his thumbs together as he regarded the phone, a small smile on his pale face. He loved victory, and this would be his finest yet.
Finally, he reached forward and pressed a switch on the phone.
"This is Dracula,"
There was silence for a while, and then a voice emerged from the speaker.
"Good morning, sir."
He smiled even broader.
"Ah, Major Katsugari. How are my new guests settling in?"
"They're fine," there was some rustling, and the sound of a weak shove, "dammit, not now, Ka…" there was a faint whisper, "all right, after I'm done with this call."
The Major cleared her throat and continued, "We've thought about your offer and…"
Dracula smirked a little at her hesitation.
"…We accept."
"You have made a good decision, my dear. You will not regret it."
"What would you have done if we refused?"
Dracula smirked once again.
"Most likely nothing at all," he replied, "Now, forgive me, Major, but I have some work to do."
He disconnected the call with a push of the button and leaned back in his chair. His left hand reached down and pulled out a drawer filled with files. He pulled one out and leafed through it. When he got to a particular page he traced down the words with one sharp nail until he reached one passage.
"…since these machines are based on the human body with similar joints, connections, DNA, etc, we can assume that the EVA units response to psychic influence would be similar to Breathing subjects. Therefore, the forceful application of a telepathic link would compel the subject 01 to observe and act upon commands given them. Since the unit's acceptance is limited to that of the pilot that has been codenamed 'Third Child', we are forced to rely on the pilot to enable us to control 01. It is my recommendation, sir, that the 'Psychic Enhancer'(described in a separate report sent to you) device be used in this matter, as we should not take any risks in this attempt. The unit has a morbid history of injuring—or absorbing—it's pilots and we have no data on how the unit will react to our attempts to retrieve Subject A. Therefore, first: we must keep the pilot at a safe distance from the unit; and second: restrain the unit as best we can to keep it from going into 'Berserker' mode and then damaging the facility.
"If the difficulties I have mentioned are overcome, our computers have calculated that there is a 79% chance that Subject A can be successfully extracted from unit 01."
Dracula's finger lightly tapped the "79%" as he looked into the room, as if seeing some curious oddity scampering about the office. Finally, he closed the file and tossed it onto the desk. He pressed a button and the monitors behind him sprang to life with the map of the globe, with data pouring in from the roving target points.
Once upon a time, Dracula and Gendo Ikari might have actually gotten along quite well. Both were ruthless persuers of their goals. Dracula was shoved into the life of a commander at a rather young age. He had lost his own wife; true, the circumstances were different, but Dracula knew that Commander Ikari must have pined for his lost love as the lonely Dracula did.
There the similarities stopped. The only time that Dracula ever willingly left his son was when the Turks had invaded in force and he knew that the boy would be safer elsewhere. If he could have taken his son, he would have; but it would be a dangerous trip.
It was a good thing that young Vlad hadn't come along; Dracula had no idea how the Crown Prince would react to see his proud father humiliated by that miserable little bastard King Matthias of Hungary. He wallowed in a cell in the King's castle like a common prisoner for years. Dracula emerged from that dungeon with a venomous hatred for the King and his Court. He laughed bitterly when Budapest later fell to the Turks some hundred years later.
Where Gendo had managed to bottle up his fear and hide it, that particular emotion was alien to the Prince. He had lost his capacity for fear of anything on Earth and below in the Turkish dungeons. He also came out of the Sultan's palace with an annoyance with screaming. He tolerated it only when he deemed it appropriate, like when he sprung his trap on the boyars. The traitors learned their rightful place that day! But, unfortunately, knowledge did not seem to stay inside their fat heads for too long.
Where Gendo discarded people easily, Dracula used those methods only on those he disliked or had foolish ambitions. He could not understand why NERV's commander played such ridiculous games in a crisis.
SEELE repulsed the Lord Impaler. They reminded him of the silly, impotent noblemen who stole from his people before he staked them up on the hills beyond his castle. Dracula took great pleasure in ordering their deaths.
Incompetence riddled NERV, as far as Dracula was concerned. The Evangelions were too weak for the Prince's own tastes. They fought with giant cables coming from their backs, without weaponry that was really effective. Those machines were dangerous themselves, threatening to kill either their pilot or others. To Dracula's cold, intelligent mind, the things were unstable.
A light ting sound came from within Dracula's jacket. He reached in and pulled out a beautiful pocket watch attached to a gold chain. He looked at the time, placed the watch back, and got up to walk out of his office.
So many things to fix, so little time…