I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion, neither the X-COM games.

****

Chapter Two: Imperfect time

Captain Katsuragi was what many would consider as being an odd person. She was with out doubt one of the best tactical minds the JSSDF had ever seen, and was NERV's director of operations.  Her swift ascension to such a position in the paramilitary organisation was impressive in and of itself, and spoke plenty of her dedication to her work.  On the other hand, her off duty life was definitely not what can be expected, especially from a woman.  Anyone close enough to her could tell you that, not that there are all that many who are.  For one she was a relatively new arrival to Tokyo-3, though perhaps more importantly, it is rather lonely at the top.

In any case, she was not having a good day.  Initially Misato was going to go with a team of the science division to ground zero, but apparently that was not meant to be.  Not that she'd really complain about missing that trip though. Internally she had been trying to find an excuse to sit that one out.  Those hostile environment suits were a pain to wear, and their temperature control was dubious at best.

Now she had to report to one of the briefing rooms in the D-22 sector.  Whatever the cause, it couldn't be good.  Sudden changes, especially in a military outfit like NERV, were never good.  D-22 was one of the secure briefings reserved for delicate or command level briefings. It was definitely something major.

If only she could find the briefing room.  She so needed to get fully acquainted with the layout of the base

****

Inside the briefing room, there were only a handful of persons. She immediately recognized Dr Akagi who looked like she shared Misato's opinion of the situation, some senior techs, and of course the Sub Commander, whom was probably going to address the briefing, considering he was standing behind the podium. There were others, and while she could place a few faces as part of section four's (science division, section four) number crunchers. Truth was she did not have much time to positively identify them as she made her way to an empty chair close to the podium. One has to know when to cut their loses.

"Now that the Captain is here," Fuyutsuki Kozo started "We'll be begin this briefing.

First I must stress the seriousness of the situation, and remind you all that what you hear within this room must stay within this room," the sub commander paused to clear his throat.

"Yesterday night, one of our analysis teams were performing a preliminary analysis on the data collected from our first encounter with the third angel," he said, motioning toward the section four personnel in the back of the room.

"They detected a slight anomaly in the sensor's log for the engagement at 1732," the NERV officer paused for a moment.

"The problem lies not in the anomaly itself, it is something we need to look after, but the problem now is the location." The sub commander paused for a moment, as if trying to find the adequate words before continuing.

"Triangulation of the signal places the anomaly originating in or around L5."  The room temperature seemed to drop a degree or two after that last statement, well at least for those that had been able to follow the conversation.

"Uh… L5?" meekly asked Captain Katsuragi

"Quite outside earth's orbit, I am afraid," calmly responded Fuyutsuki

"We have a military sat in an appropriate orbit to get a look at it, however, as you can see," he pointed at the screen behind him, now filed with a star dotted background and centered around a red oval shaped blur. 

"The picture is horribly out of focus, it will take some time to properly reconstruct, after all military sats were not designed for this particular task."  It was a real shame they had lost the Hubble, that would have been a real asset then, but regretfully the satellite's orbit had begun to decay in the early days after second impact, odds were due to the shockwave itself.

"In the meantime, Doctor Akagi, we want you in charge of the data analysis of this situation, you'll be having some additional help, from Section Four." he said pointing at the two exhausted section four analysts in the back of the room

"Captain Katsuragi," the sub commander said facing Misato "I'd like some procedure and deployment drafts on my desk by Monday."

"As for the rest of you," he said referring the bridge personnel "I want you on the look out of any strange reading, what ever it might be."

"Understood?"

"Yes Sir."

"Meeting adjourned."

"Captain, I need to have word with you, in private."

"Sir?"

****

The sub Commander's office was small and spartan compared to the office of the Commander. Misato sometimes questioned how Ikari had managed to get away with that particular office, or why he had his office mostly empty save for the intricate designs that adorned its floor. It really made no sense to her. But to her credit, nobody ever made much sense out of the commander or his designs. Or at least no one managed to both succeed in doing so and live to tell the tale.

"Captain, I know you don't have any guidelines for the work I had assigned you, I really don't expect you to present me any sort of plan, at least not till Dr Akagi's team presents the preliminary."

"Morale?"

"Among other things, but I needed a reason to have you there."

"Angel?"

"That's the problem, Captain, I have my doubts about it, even with our limited info, it just doesn't fit the pattern." Kozo paused for a moment, carefully measuring his words "What ever it might be, you know as well a I do that we have no chance of hurting it at the time being"

"It is bad enough that we don't have the initiative, but now..." Misato thought aloud

"Yes, Captain" Fuyutsuki started, breaking the captain out of her thoughts.  "However we should not be jumping to conclusions either."

"Uh, sir; is there any news on the pilot's condition?" her mind was already analyzing the possibilities. The situation they were in was mostly bad, even if what the sensors picked up ended up being natural phenomena. They just didn't know how long would the angels give them. And with one pilot unconscious and another bedridden…

"From what I've heard the Doctors are quite optimistic.  They seem to think he should be waking up any time now."

 "Sir, is there anything else?"

"Well, the paperwork for yesterday's operation is already awaiting you in your desk, it would be interesting," he empathized  "If you could look into it right away, especially a complaint regarding… car batteries?" at the mention of that particular event Misato's right eye started to twitch.

"Uh... er, I understand sir; I'll take care of it right away."

"Very well Captain, then, you are dismissed."

Fuyutsuki calmly waited till Miss Katsuragi had left the room before picking up his phone.

He really had grown to enjoy these assignments. They were very 'amusing'.

"Commander?"

"Yes sir, it is done"

"No, they have reacted as expected"

"Very well, I'll keep you posted"

And with that he hung up

****

Three heavy-duty battle armors, HDBA Mk 3, made their way trough a decayed wasteland. They represented the pinnacle of X-Com's technology; biomechanical constructs that weren't truly alive, at last not by that dimension's standards.  The armors had been developed in the aftermath of the "Corporate war", based on a pre-existing design. They stood at over two meters in height and while at a distance they possessed that polished finish that most of the power armors share, close up one could see the porosity of the deep blue armor segments.

But perhaps the most particular feature of the suits was their looks. As a general rule, power armor design took a creature as a base for it. Be it insectile, demonic, or animalistic. True, there were a few that were just functional, like the first alien war era armors, but they tended to be a very small minority. After all, looks add to the armor's might, psychologically speaking.

X-Com's state of the art suit looked like a former foe, one that most soldiers hoped to never encounter. A being that had starred in the nightmares of veterans and survivors alike, a plague upon the earth, to some, and a real daemon to others.  Simply put it resembled a Chryssalid, even if lightly.  That most of the troopers painted the characteristical grinning teeth on the helmet's 'mouth' only helped to add to the armor's intimidation factor.

But squad leader Nyoka Beltran was not concerned with things like that. He was trying to remain calm, focusing on the armor's sensor suite.  A real mess this was, they had lost contact with Focus and Shield over five minutes ago, and the damned ruins were prime grounds for ambushes.

What was worse was that they, Veldt, had been running heavy weapons, more particularly, he and Ross were fielding the heavy type fives and battle shields, leaving Rochan with a devastator, and an advanced blade on her forearm's hard points to provide close quarter's support and to work as an FO of sorts.  They were far from being the most versatile of units.

"Sir?" Ross was doing a poor job in hiding the nervousness in his voice.

"Yeah?"

"I think I caught something in the scanner, a bit further a head."

"I did too."  So this is it, thought Nyoka, he was quite sure that what ever had taken out 'shield' and 'focus' would be coming for them soon enough, but... "Ok guys, look alive, let's tighten up the formation, Rochen, I want you on my flank."  It was time to change the game a bit…

"Sure sir."

Tension began to skyrocket from then on; they were ill suited for fending off whatever assailant was stalking them, unless it, or they decided to stand in front of them. But if Focus and Shield, who were well suited for that task, were taken out so easily, they were in the proverbial hot water.

"Voomeroid!"

And then everything seemed to happen in slow motion.  Rochen diving towards the collapsed wall on their left. Ross moving his shield to block the bulk of the explosion.  Nyoka himself moving past Ross, before raising his shield as well and bracing himself for the shockwave.

Rochen was the first to go down, while she had not been the closest to the explosion, the pile of derbies that she had chosen as her shelter had left her exposed to the attackers from the flank.  Half dazed from the blast she had been no challenge.

That was when Ross panicked and started to fire the type five blindly towards Rochen's last position.

Streak after streak of the purple disruption beam filled the battlefield, doing no particular good to Veldt squad.

"Damn it Ross…" Nyoka was furious, that imbecile was going to get them both killed.

With the energy discharges, his sensors were dulled at best.  He was now fighting half blind, and he was quite certainly the next one to...  It was then when the 'dull' end of a heat lance was jabbed in between his feet, sending him crashing onto the floor.

It was out of pure luck that he was able to turn around and parry the lance with his type five.  He should have used his shield, but regretfully, he had turned over on his right side and that left the heavy battle shield pinned underneath the armor's bulk. Not that it would have been of any use. Those shields had been designed for range engagements, to withstand heavy punishment from equally heavy weapons, or even craft weaponry.  They were somewhat awkward to wield in close combat situations, especially against something like a heat lance.  But it was a one time deal. While considerably durable, the weapon was no match against the piercing tip of the heat lance. He felt the weapon snap even before the polearm retracted.

Well, at least he had been able see the stealth armor clad figure of his executioner.  And then the lance came down once again.

****

Veldt, Shield and Focus were assembled in the main training hall of the Starlance, in front of a completely pissed off Colonel Alaris.

"Well, I hope you are happy with yourselves. You have all been beaten by one, ONE, stealth suit." He said while passing to and fro in front of the men and women of alpha platoon.

"So, enlighten me, how did you made it to the X-Com?" he paused facing the first row "No, really, I am curious how a bunch of dead end ASSHOLES like you made it here."

"I knew I'd have a lot of work with you, but never thought it would get to this level." The Colonel's face slowly made the transition between annoyance and anger "Now let me tell you something. We are in an unusual combat situation, by X-Com's standards, we are VERY far away from home and we cannot afford casualties, that means, ladies and gentlemen, that you are NOT ALLOWED TO DIE."  He carefully empathized each and every of those last words

"We are going to do things differently, from now on. It is quite obvious that you are all lacking in close combat abilities. Everybody is going to report to the training mat on the main gym, on the double. But this little incident is not going to be devoid of consequences," he said narrowing his eyes.  "Each time any of you makes a 'critical mistake', as to speak, or gets killed stupidly in the sims, their whole squad are going to 'volunteer' for jobs such as hull inspection, is that clear?"

"Yes Sir!"

"Good," he said as he eyed each and every one of the soldiers of alpha platoon. His voice was now neutral, almost devoid of emotion, save for the predatory grin on his face.

He really didn't wanted to do it that way, there were just too many risks involved in that particular approach. That had been why he had wanted the abort, not that it mattered anymore.  And on any case, he was going to have his hands full, at least for the time being.

******

It was almost four hours later when he felt mercy for the first platoon. That and he was expected by his commanding officer. Truth be told he had been impressed by the performance of some of the members of alpha.

It was not that they were bad, no; they were professional enough, for earth or even X-Com's standards. Problem was that the mission required something far above that, but that was all the senate had deemed necessary, or expendable.  It had cost a lot to get the authorization for the mission; the Senate, the people of Mega-Primus and mankind in general were getting comfortable again. But they would not let them follow that path once again. Last time it had been disastrous enough... hell, it had been nearly fatal.

"Commander?"

"At ease Colonel. What do you have for me?"

"This is my report sir," he said handing over a PDA. Commander Bastough grabbed the device and began to scan through it. It was a standard proficiency report, all in percentages or in scales, determining the total readiness of the different units and individuals, and also the particular abilities of each and every one of the active combat personnel of the Starlance.

"What is your opinion, informally I mean?"

"Well, they are mostly ok, some gaps here and there, especially when I max up the pressure and regretfully they are still soft on the teamwork. But that is to be expected, they were included rather late. But it's nothing that cannot be fixed."  Bastough nodded knowingly. Alaris' abilities were quite well known; he was not called 'The Angel of Death' for no reason. But in any case, it meant that they were not as under prepared for the current situation as he had originally thought.

On the other hand, Matias had noted the commander's expression and correctly presumed his commanding officer's line of thought. The Ganymede disaster was something he knew was going to haunt him until the last of his days.  True, he did enjoy close combat, true, he had done extensive quantities of it during the whole Ganymede fiasco and true, most of the pirates had been hacked into several pieces… but calling him a bloodthirsty bastard based on that was going a bit overboard.  However, it was also true that the blood-covered armor or the blood smeared floors had not helped his case in the least.

"It seems we'll have to make do with what we have colonel, hopefully we won't be entering any kind of assault situation in the foreseeable future. Perhaps we'll have the time.

How is the morale issue?"

"Still shaken, sir, all units lost their psi squad.  Whilst most of them had not been close enough to be a real hit, they had been starting to get close."  Alaris paused in mid rant, returning to the business at hand.  "Uh, do you have any news regarding…?"

"No changes, at least none yet."  It was a real problem.  Most if not all of the psi proactive crewmembers were still in a deep coma. As far as anyone could tell, the shift had had a psi shockwave effect, and as best as they could tell, it was similar to a 'psi grenade', but on a much larger scale.  They had also lost people connected to the ships neural net too, due to the backlash, including a full bridge crew, but some of them had already begun to awaken. It was good news, but sadly this seemed to be the only good news so far. The irony in all this was that the ship had been provided with a specialist in the field of psi induced trauma, regretfully he was a hybrid, and like his potential patients he was in a deep coma as well.

"In any case, it is not our main preoccupation, at least not now. I am far more concerned with the planet 'situation,'" he said, referring to the doppelganger earth.

"Any breaks on it?"

"The intelligence division is working full time on that. They seem to be having some problems infiltrating the targeted computer network, apparently the system is a bit more advanced that what we had originally thought.  However, Hoffman thinks she'll be able to have all things set to start ops in ten days tops."  The core of the problem seemed to be the difference in the computing systems. And coming up with a translation routine efficient enough, so as to not being noticed by the watchdogs, was something that was taking some time.  Of course his ordering of an undercover insertion into the systems was taxing most of the ship's computer experts, but it was hardly the main concern, at least not for the time being.  They had some time, not much true, but he was not going to authorize any black ops before reaching lunar orbit, which was still a good week away at their current speed.

They were going to use the moon as a shield to block the planet's sensors, hiding beneath its shadow. Things would have been so much easier if they would have reached an alien world.  He knew that they'd need to start conversations with the planetside authorities, but establishing said communication was not going to be easy...

The bottom line was that the current delay meant that the intelligence ops were going to be running a little late, but it wasn't as if they were under a deadline or a very tight schedule.

"Be as it may, I'll be meeting Hoffman in a few hours, she should be giving me an up to date report…"

"Very well, sir. Anything else?"

"Not at the moment Colonel, you are dismissed."

Even as Alaris left his office, Bastough had returned at watching the full video feed they had on the giant monstrosities and to the notes the intelligence ops had put together.  It wasn't much, and yet it was more than enough.

****

It had taken some time for Shinji Ikari's consciousness to return.  His unconscious state was likely due to the trauma of the battle, or perhaps it was the drastic changes which had suddenly turned his routine existence upside down.  Though, perhaps it was due to the built up pressure of meeting his father once again.

With his return to consciousness, a good part of his mind was wondering exactly what had happened, or to put it another way, why he was still alive.  Whilst his memories were still a bit stirred, he did remember being trashed by that monster, but the alien environment of the hospital room he was currently in did not help his state of mind one bit.

"Oh, you are awake," a calm and decidedly female voice spoke from outside his field of view.  Truth was, he had been so engrossed in trying to figure things out, that he had detached a bit from the rest of the world.  That was probably why he had not seen speaker, who turned out to be a nurse.  Yeah, well, it was to be expected. After all, the place looked like a hospital room, at least to Shinji.

"Uhmm... err… wha…?" he half mumbled while trying to incorporate himself. But before he could finish that endeavor, his progress was met with the steady yet somehow gentle arms of the nurse

"Calm down young man," she said giving Shinji a caring glance.  "You still need some rest, you had quite the ordeal."

"I er… what… what… happ…?" he managed a bit more coherently

"You must have lots of questions, but I'm sure that if you are patient enough, somebody from the first section should come around to answer most of them better than I could."   Officially that's it, it was not as if the whole base didn't know what the kid had done, but she had been ordered to leave that part to Captain Katsuragi.  "Now, tell me, are you hungry?"

"uh… yeah, that'd be good?" truth was he wasn't very hungry, but he had a horrible taste in his mouth

"Good, I'll go get something for you… I shouldn't be gone for too long," she said with a wink.  "Oh, by the way, thank you; you did something terribly brave the other day. We wouldn't be here now if it wasn't for you... I… I wanted you to know that," having said that, the nurse turned around and walked toward the door, leaving a very confused Ikari Shinji behind.

****

In any case, at least from then on, things had seemed to slow down to a more, reasonable pace.  It was easier to absorb the whole thing that way.

Originally he had come here to try to make up with his father, or at least that was what he thought his father had wanted.  It hurt.  He had used him.  He had abandoned him when he most needed a parent, because it was inconvenient, and now he had called, not to fix the damage, but because he had a use of him.  Perhaps if he'd remembered the happier times he'd have wondered what had happened to his father. 

Still, Miss Katsuragi's offer to become his legal guardian had been one than he had expected.  True she was odd, but…

It was hard for him to put it into words. No matter if it was out of pity, or convenience. The little exchange the captain had had with apparently Dr Akagi, was less that encouraging.  And her driving didn't help his opinion of Misato much.  Nor did her cleaning habits or her cooking…  but now, before him was the chance to belong to a family, even if it was a small on.  It wasn't much, but somehow deep within, it felt good.  Never mind the reasons; it was something more than he had. And at least for the time being it didn't make him regret coming as much as he had expected. It might even be worth staying.

**********************

Well that is for now.

I suppose I should have some more insightful comments or some witty phrases, but to be honest I can't really think of anything. So if any of the people reading this have a doubt or anything, please send me an email.

I had a few more scenes to add but I figure that this is a better place to end this here.

A big thank you goes to Ezstairus for his prereading.