AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well, this is the third time around for this chapter. I've been writing and re-writing this over the past couple weeks. Here's to the hope that this try actually works out.
Thanks to everyone for the wonderful reviews of Chapter 4. I hope this chapter isn't a regression.
Your loving author (who amazingly enough had a short note!),
Sithanas
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Eva. Don't sue me cause that's not nice.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Second Genesis
Chapter 5: Assault
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
**One week after the 18th Angel**
Misato Katsuragi paced back and forth in her office. In a chair on the other side of her desk sat one of the three "bridge bunnies" - Lt. Maya Ibuki. Misato turned to face her and opened her mouth to speak. "What's the prognosis on our EVA units?"
"EVA-01 has been severely damaged. We found the head yesterday, so we will be able to reactivate, and the core is mostly intact, thankfully. Section two is estimating that it will take perhaps a month of work to restore it to operational status.
"Unit 02 survived the combat intact except for the loss of some of the chest armor plating. We've replaced the armor and it is fully functional - all we need is the pilot. Unit 00 suffered minor damage to the upper body and left arm, it'll be fixed in a week."
Misato's expression looked grim. "So if SEELE attacks or we encounter another Angel, we're screwed. What about the new EVA units?"
"The new EVA-03 and EVA-04 have been completed and are undergoing testing at NERV-05 in Israel. Both the Fourth and Sixth children are on-site."
"What about the other children?"
"We have candidates for up to the Tenth Children. For the children we have on-site, their health is somewhat shaky. Pilot Ikari is recovering slowly but steadily. Pilot Sorhyu is undergoing psychiatric evaluation, but we have every confidence that she will be cleared for duty. Pilot Ayanami is fully ready for duty and is only awaiting her EVA's repair."
"So let's see if I can sum this up. Our only working EVA has no pilot, and the two other working units haven't been tested and are half a day away anyways!" She collapsed into her chair behind her desk with a bleak expression. "God, we're fucked."
~~~~~~~~~~~
"Good afternoon Mr. Keel and welcome to the Japan Heavy Chemical Industrial production facility. I am the manager of this facility. My name is Toya Hirogume. If you would please follow me, we can begin our tour whenever you are ready." Lorenz Keel, the man behind the SEELE-01 monolith, allowed the manager to shake his hand and motioned for his guards to fall in as they proceeded forward through the factory. The first stop on the tour was a metal stamping facility, where gigantic armor plates were machined out of 3-inch-thick pieces of titanium. This was followed by chemical treatment, hardening, wiring, weapons manufacture, and finally skeletal assembly. The last stop on the tour was the top-floor observation deck of a 30-story room, where they awaited the appearance of the completed machine.
They were not disappointed.
A small smirk danced around Chairman Keel's lips as a 150-meter tall robot entered the room from one side. It looked as if it was wearing a gigantic backpack, and its armor was glossy white. Stamped across the front in bold, black print were two letters: J A. Underneath that, the full product name was stenciled on. It read "Jet Alone".
Keel turned to the plant manager, his face once again cold. "How many of these units can be produced within... let's say ninety-six hours?"
"Please allow me to check." He turned to a display, punched in a few numbers. "We can produce approximately four fully-equipped Jet Alone units in that amount of time."
"Good. Please proceed to do so. We will contact you when the time is up with instructions for delivery." He inclined his head to the manager, who bowed deeply. "Thank you for this tour. It was very... enlightening." Keel motioned to his guards. "Gentlemen, we should be going. I believe we do have a plane to catch."
~~~~~~~~~~~
**Approximately four days later**
One would expect the Israeli desert to be rather quiet at oh-three-hundred hours. And in most places you would look, it is. But in a place most people would consider the middle of nowhere, an oasis of light, sound, and civilization heralded the existence of one of man's most secure facilities: NERV-05. Hidden in one of the last places anyone in either their right or their wrong mind would look, it contained two of humanity's most advanced combat weapons - EVAs 03 and 04. Also on site were the two pilots for the aforementioned devices. EVA-03 had retained its original pilot, a Japanese teenager by the name of Touji Suzuhara. He had been gifted with cloned limbs to replace those lost in the original activation of 03, and was now perfectly capable of piloting its namesake. However, EVA-04's pilot was completely unknown to any of the Tokyo-3 teenagers. He was a fairly normal-looking American fifteen-year-old - olive skin, dark brown hair, brown eyes, and about 5'10" - in other words, average. However, anyone engaging him in conversation would discover quite rapidly that, like all the other chosen, he was crazy in his own special way. His name was Jack Kramer.
At the moment, NERV-05 was at a rather relaxed state of operations. The Evangelion units were slated to undergo synchronization testing with their pilots at fourteen-hundred-hours, and there was nothing else significant on the itinerary. The elite Israeli troops guarding the base were kicking back, trading dirty jokes, cold beers, and cheap pornographic magazines among one another. The pilots were relaxing in their quarters, trying to catch some sleep before the day's work began. All in all, the base was pretty easygoing - a rarity. Unfortunately for its personnel, its state of alert was about to change rather rapidly.
At fifteen minutes past oh-three-hundred, a gargantuan explosion lit up the night sky. The blast cloud mushroomed out into the distinctive shape of a N2 mine detonation, and alarms howled into the night. Drunk soldiers were instantly sober, rushing to combat positions as they readied for the inevitable incoming troops. They were not disappointed. Large airborne troop carriers, painted stealth black and equipped with heat baffles to foil infrared detectors, began to appear over the horizon. A streak of light shot from the ground, intercepting one carrier and annihilating it in a spectacular fireball. The momentary victory was *very* short lived as a second, less powerful N2 mine flattened the Sprint SAM launchers responsible for the kill. As the first of the carriers touched down, black-suited soldiers began to stream towards the entrances to the NERV-05 complex like a multi-limbed river of death.
Jack woke up as he hit the floor, hard. He didn't have time to linger over the interesting circumstances of his awakening though, as the scream of klaxons drove him into immediate action. Grabbing his gun (A pre-Second Impact H&K .45 caliber pistol that had been left to him by his late father) and strapping it around his waist, he burst from his room, nearly running into Touji as he followed suit. He didn't even pause to talk, just took off running towards the EVA cage. Touji, having the same basic idea, followed.
As he ran, Jack shouted to Touji. "Those klaxons are the enemy attack alarms. They have to be after our EVAs. Screw synch tests - we need to activate them now. Agreed?"
"Definitely. There's no way we can let SEELE get their hands on the EVAs." As they rounded the corner, they saw Israeli solders grouping up around the entrance to the cage, apparently with the same thoughts in mind. They let the teens through, one of them tossing them both plug suits and another tossing Touji a Desert Eagle .50 AE. Ducking behind a wall out of site of the others, Jack simply unstrapped the gunbelt, pulled off his sleeping attire (boxers and a t-shirt), donned the white plugsuit with "04" stenciled on its chest, and restrapped the belt around his waist once again. He emerged from his cover to find Touji also changed into his black plugsuit with its "03". They both nodded, then ran for their Evangelions.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Four hours away in Tokyo-3, the situation wasn't much more relaxed.
Alarms blared on the command deck, startling Hyuga - he was the only one on deck when they began to howl. However, he wasn't alone for long. Within five minutes, the full bridge complement had reported for duty, complete with Major Katsuragi. She turned to face him.
"Status report!"
"Good morning. At approximately zero-seven-fifteen hours this morning, we lost all communications with NERV-05 in Israel. The last signal we received mentioned an explosion, with readings similar to a N2 detonation. We cannot be sure whether they have been destroyed or are just being jammed. However, this is cause for serious alarm, as we have also lost contact with all of our orbital observation satellites in that region as well. The last readings indicated anomalous radar signatures." Misato frowned.
"Isn't NERV-05 the base where EVAs -03 and -04 are located?" Aoba fielded the question.
"Yes ma'am. Both Evangelions, along with their pilots, are located there."
"So it's probably SEELE moving in to try and capture them. Ibuki! What's the status on our EVAs?"
"Evangelion units -00 and -02 are available for immediate launch. We can scramble both in 500 seconds." Misato nodded and turned to face the raised platform where Commander Ikari was seated.
"Sir, I'm requesting clearance to dispatch our Evangelions as backup for the two units already on-site at NERV-05."
"I see no reason to refuse. You may proceed, Major Katsuragi."
"Thank you sir." She rushed from the room.
~~~~~~~~~~~
The thunderous roar of 16 ionic jet engines shattered the silence of a Tokyo-3 morning as a pair of black EVA transports lifted off, angling sharply towards Israel. Asuka and Rei listened closely to their purple-haired Operations Director as she briefed them on the situation.
"We lost contact with the Israeli branch of NERV early this morning - about 3 A.M. their time. Our last readings indicated unidentified radar signatures heading towards the complex and what looked like a N2 mine detonation. We've had no communications since. The complex contains both EVA-03 and EVA-04. Pretty much anything is possible, but the most likely occurrence at the moment is an attack by SEELE. Expect the worst. You've each been equipped with a positron rifle and a pallet pistol. These are your only weapons, in addition to your knives of course. We have no reloads, so shoot wisely and don't miss. Our primary goal is to extract EVAs 03 and 04 along with their pilots. In the case of being unable to complete that goal, we must destroy those EVAs. Under no circumstances can SEELE gain control of them. Understood?"
Rei stared calmly back into Misato's eyes. "Understood, ma'am." Her face winked out.
Asuka tossed her hair and smiled slightly. "Roger. EVA-02, standing by." Her picture disappeared as well.
Misato sighed. She was glad that they were both ready and able to fight, but it just didn't seem right without Unit 01 and Shinji. She tossed off a silent prayer for his health and fast recovery, then turned her full attention to planning the defense of NERV-05.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Next time, on NGE: Second Genesis:
Combat as Rei and Asuka arrive on the scene of NERV-05's frantic defense! Also, witness the fearsome power of the production model Jet Alone series! Only on NGE: Second Genesis!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
End Note: I'm really sorry it took me so long to publish this chapter of NGE: SG. I had *so* much trouble thinking up a workable storyline for this chapter. I tossed so many different things back and forth before finally hitting this one when I was way to tired to have any proper thoughts. And you know what? It worked.
Worried that Shinji won't come back? Don't be! He'll be back in the mix in a few chapters, after he's had time for those nasty injuries to heal.
I'll try to post Chapter 6 faster than I posted this one, but if I were you I wouldn't hold your breath. Gomen!
Please read and review!
Your loving author,
Sithanas
Thanks to everyone for the wonderful reviews of Chapter 4. I hope this chapter isn't a regression.
Your loving author (who amazingly enough had a short note!),
Sithanas
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Eva. Don't sue me cause that's not nice.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Second Genesis
Chapter 5: Assault
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
**One week after the 18th Angel**
Misato Katsuragi paced back and forth in her office. In a chair on the other side of her desk sat one of the three "bridge bunnies" - Lt. Maya Ibuki. Misato turned to face her and opened her mouth to speak. "What's the prognosis on our EVA units?"
"EVA-01 has been severely damaged. We found the head yesterday, so we will be able to reactivate, and the core is mostly intact, thankfully. Section two is estimating that it will take perhaps a month of work to restore it to operational status.
"Unit 02 survived the combat intact except for the loss of some of the chest armor plating. We've replaced the armor and it is fully functional - all we need is the pilot. Unit 00 suffered minor damage to the upper body and left arm, it'll be fixed in a week."
Misato's expression looked grim. "So if SEELE attacks or we encounter another Angel, we're screwed. What about the new EVA units?"
"The new EVA-03 and EVA-04 have been completed and are undergoing testing at NERV-05 in Israel. Both the Fourth and Sixth children are on-site."
"What about the other children?"
"We have candidates for up to the Tenth Children. For the children we have on-site, their health is somewhat shaky. Pilot Ikari is recovering slowly but steadily. Pilot Sorhyu is undergoing psychiatric evaluation, but we have every confidence that she will be cleared for duty. Pilot Ayanami is fully ready for duty and is only awaiting her EVA's repair."
"So let's see if I can sum this up. Our only working EVA has no pilot, and the two other working units haven't been tested and are half a day away anyways!" She collapsed into her chair behind her desk with a bleak expression. "God, we're fucked."
~~~~~~~~~~~
"Good afternoon Mr. Keel and welcome to the Japan Heavy Chemical Industrial production facility. I am the manager of this facility. My name is Toya Hirogume. If you would please follow me, we can begin our tour whenever you are ready." Lorenz Keel, the man behind the SEELE-01 monolith, allowed the manager to shake his hand and motioned for his guards to fall in as they proceeded forward through the factory. The first stop on the tour was a metal stamping facility, where gigantic armor plates were machined out of 3-inch-thick pieces of titanium. This was followed by chemical treatment, hardening, wiring, weapons manufacture, and finally skeletal assembly. The last stop on the tour was the top-floor observation deck of a 30-story room, where they awaited the appearance of the completed machine.
They were not disappointed.
A small smirk danced around Chairman Keel's lips as a 150-meter tall robot entered the room from one side. It looked as if it was wearing a gigantic backpack, and its armor was glossy white. Stamped across the front in bold, black print were two letters: J A. Underneath that, the full product name was stenciled on. It read "Jet Alone".
Keel turned to the plant manager, his face once again cold. "How many of these units can be produced within... let's say ninety-six hours?"
"Please allow me to check." He turned to a display, punched in a few numbers. "We can produce approximately four fully-equipped Jet Alone units in that amount of time."
"Good. Please proceed to do so. We will contact you when the time is up with instructions for delivery." He inclined his head to the manager, who bowed deeply. "Thank you for this tour. It was very... enlightening." Keel motioned to his guards. "Gentlemen, we should be going. I believe we do have a plane to catch."
~~~~~~~~~~~
**Approximately four days later**
One would expect the Israeli desert to be rather quiet at oh-three-hundred hours. And in most places you would look, it is. But in a place most people would consider the middle of nowhere, an oasis of light, sound, and civilization heralded the existence of one of man's most secure facilities: NERV-05. Hidden in one of the last places anyone in either their right or their wrong mind would look, it contained two of humanity's most advanced combat weapons - EVAs 03 and 04. Also on site were the two pilots for the aforementioned devices. EVA-03 had retained its original pilot, a Japanese teenager by the name of Touji Suzuhara. He had been gifted with cloned limbs to replace those lost in the original activation of 03, and was now perfectly capable of piloting its namesake. However, EVA-04's pilot was completely unknown to any of the Tokyo-3 teenagers. He was a fairly normal-looking American fifteen-year-old - olive skin, dark brown hair, brown eyes, and about 5'10" - in other words, average. However, anyone engaging him in conversation would discover quite rapidly that, like all the other chosen, he was crazy in his own special way. His name was Jack Kramer.
At the moment, NERV-05 was at a rather relaxed state of operations. The Evangelion units were slated to undergo synchronization testing with their pilots at fourteen-hundred-hours, and there was nothing else significant on the itinerary. The elite Israeli troops guarding the base were kicking back, trading dirty jokes, cold beers, and cheap pornographic magazines among one another. The pilots were relaxing in their quarters, trying to catch some sleep before the day's work began. All in all, the base was pretty easygoing - a rarity. Unfortunately for its personnel, its state of alert was about to change rather rapidly.
At fifteen minutes past oh-three-hundred, a gargantuan explosion lit up the night sky. The blast cloud mushroomed out into the distinctive shape of a N2 mine detonation, and alarms howled into the night. Drunk soldiers were instantly sober, rushing to combat positions as they readied for the inevitable incoming troops. They were not disappointed. Large airborne troop carriers, painted stealth black and equipped with heat baffles to foil infrared detectors, began to appear over the horizon. A streak of light shot from the ground, intercepting one carrier and annihilating it in a spectacular fireball. The momentary victory was *very* short lived as a second, less powerful N2 mine flattened the Sprint SAM launchers responsible for the kill. As the first of the carriers touched down, black-suited soldiers began to stream towards the entrances to the NERV-05 complex like a multi-limbed river of death.
Jack woke up as he hit the floor, hard. He didn't have time to linger over the interesting circumstances of his awakening though, as the scream of klaxons drove him into immediate action. Grabbing his gun (A pre-Second Impact H&K .45 caliber pistol that had been left to him by his late father) and strapping it around his waist, he burst from his room, nearly running into Touji as he followed suit. He didn't even pause to talk, just took off running towards the EVA cage. Touji, having the same basic idea, followed.
As he ran, Jack shouted to Touji. "Those klaxons are the enemy attack alarms. They have to be after our EVAs. Screw synch tests - we need to activate them now. Agreed?"
"Definitely. There's no way we can let SEELE get their hands on the EVAs." As they rounded the corner, they saw Israeli solders grouping up around the entrance to the cage, apparently with the same thoughts in mind. They let the teens through, one of them tossing them both plug suits and another tossing Touji a Desert Eagle .50 AE. Ducking behind a wall out of site of the others, Jack simply unstrapped the gunbelt, pulled off his sleeping attire (boxers and a t-shirt), donned the white plugsuit with "04" stenciled on its chest, and restrapped the belt around his waist once again. He emerged from his cover to find Touji also changed into his black plugsuit with its "03". They both nodded, then ran for their Evangelions.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Four hours away in Tokyo-3, the situation wasn't much more relaxed.
Alarms blared on the command deck, startling Hyuga - he was the only one on deck when they began to howl. However, he wasn't alone for long. Within five minutes, the full bridge complement had reported for duty, complete with Major Katsuragi. She turned to face him.
"Status report!"
"Good morning. At approximately zero-seven-fifteen hours this morning, we lost all communications with NERV-05 in Israel. The last signal we received mentioned an explosion, with readings similar to a N2 detonation. We cannot be sure whether they have been destroyed or are just being jammed. However, this is cause for serious alarm, as we have also lost contact with all of our orbital observation satellites in that region as well. The last readings indicated anomalous radar signatures." Misato frowned.
"Isn't NERV-05 the base where EVAs -03 and -04 are located?" Aoba fielded the question.
"Yes ma'am. Both Evangelions, along with their pilots, are located there."
"So it's probably SEELE moving in to try and capture them. Ibuki! What's the status on our EVAs?"
"Evangelion units -00 and -02 are available for immediate launch. We can scramble both in 500 seconds." Misato nodded and turned to face the raised platform where Commander Ikari was seated.
"Sir, I'm requesting clearance to dispatch our Evangelions as backup for the two units already on-site at NERV-05."
"I see no reason to refuse. You may proceed, Major Katsuragi."
"Thank you sir." She rushed from the room.
~~~~~~~~~~~
The thunderous roar of 16 ionic jet engines shattered the silence of a Tokyo-3 morning as a pair of black EVA transports lifted off, angling sharply towards Israel. Asuka and Rei listened closely to their purple-haired Operations Director as she briefed them on the situation.
"We lost contact with the Israeli branch of NERV early this morning - about 3 A.M. their time. Our last readings indicated unidentified radar signatures heading towards the complex and what looked like a N2 mine detonation. We've had no communications since. The complex contains both EVA-03 and EVA-04. Pretty much anything is possible, but the most likely occurrence at the moment is an attack by SEELE. Expect the worst. You've each been equipped with a positron rifle and a pallet pistol. These are your only weapons, in addition to your knives of course. We have no reloads, so shoot wisely and don't miss. Our primary goal is to extract EVAs 03 and 04 along with their pilots. In the case of being unable to complete that goal, we must destroy those EVAs. Under no circumstances can SEELE gain control of them. Understood?"
Rei stared calmly back into Misato's eyes. "Understood, ma'am." Her face winked out.
Asuka tossed her hair and smiled slightly. "Roger. EVA-02, standing by." Her picture disappeared as well.
Misato sighed. She was glad that they were both ready and able to fight, but it just didn't seem right without Unit 01 and Shinji. She tossed off a silent prayer for his health and fast recovery, then turned her full attention to planning the defense of NERV-05.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Next time, on NGE: Second Genesis:
Combat as Rei and Asuka arrive on the scene of NERV-05's frantic defense! Also, witness the fearsome power of the production model Jet Alone series! Only on NGE: Second Genesis!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
End Note: I'm really sorry it took me so long to publish this chapter of NGE: SG. I had *so* much trouble thinking up a workable storyline for this chapter. I tossed so many different things back and forth before finally hitting this one when I was way to tired to have any proper thoughts. And you know what? It worked.
Worried that Shinji won't come back? Don't be! He'll be back in the mix in a few chapters, after he's had time for those nasty injuries to heal.
I'll try to post Chapter 6 faster than I posted this one, but if I were you I wouldn't hold your breath. Gomen!
Please read and review!
Your loving author,
Sithanas