In the year 3060.....
It was early dawn on Tranquil. High, thin clouds let tiny rays of sunlight peer through to reach the planet. Mike sat in the cockpit of his Madcat, watching the sunrise. To him, it looked like a delicate dance of light and night. He liked dances. He'd always had fun dancing, lots of good times in those memories. Then a crackling voice pierced the calm of his quiet music that was playing over the comm. and the serene peace of a sunrise. "Lanceleader, we have to get moving now, the Jags could be on us at any moment."
Mike sighed, then responded to the MFB commander's request. "Acknowledged. It really was a beautiful sunrise."
"I'm sure it was, but if we don't hurry, it's going be the last one we see," returned the MFB commander's voice.
Mike nodded sadly, then began powering up his Mech. "Reactor: Online. Sensors: Online. Weapons Controls: Online. Systems Status: Nominal," came the melancholoy female voice of the Battlemech's internal computer. Mike turned the Mech to the right, and took one last look out the side of the cockpit before he keyed the comm. "Alright. Kris, form on me. John and Sean, take the left flank on the MFBs, we'll take the right."
"Acknowledged. C'mon you pessimist!" came Johnathan's chiding voice across the comm.
There was a rasping which Mike knew to be a sigh, then "When will you realize that I'm just being realistic?" came Sean's voice, light and tinny from the comm. distortion. "We're never gonna leave this rock, dead or alive."
Mike smirked and ignored the argument between the two that resulted, speaking only once to chide them for yelling on the comm. Such things were commonplace since they'd dropped in. He gently nudged the control stick to his right forward, and with a lurch, his Madcat began to move. "Here we go..." he said to himself.
...
"Nova Captain Draklin to see the Galaxy Commander, concerning todays sensor scans," Draklin said to the guards outside of the Galaxy Commander's meditation chamber, waving a datapad at them.
He stood still as the guards verified his ID, then scanned him for weapons. After this ritual, he was allowed entry to the Galaxy Commander's private chambers. He stepped inside and blinked. Instead of a room lit by overhead flouresent bulbs, it was lit by candlelight. The flickering flames shot shadows across the room, creating a mesmorising plethora of light and dark, caught in an eternal war. ^Like us and the Stravag Inner Sphere.^ Draklin thought. He silently cursed the eternal enemies of Alaxander Kerenskey's clans as images of past battles returned. Accompanied by past failures.
"Nova Captain Draklin," the Galaxy Commander's voice seemed to boom across the cavernous chamber, but in reality it was little more than a regular speaking voice. "I presume you have today's reports on the Eridani Light Horse unit that has been giving us slight trouble over the past few weeks?"
^Slight Trouble? You call losing no less than 50 Battlemechs of all classes and 3 firebases SLIGHT trouble?^ Draklin thought, however he wisely bit his tounge. He handed the readings to the Galaxy Commander and said "Yes sir. We have picked up some readings of enemy forces around Station 5 that could be them. Should I make ready to investigate?"
"Not just yet. Besides, even with a MASC, they would be closer to Station 3 or 4. It is impossible for them to be near Station 5,"
"Then the readings?"
The Galaxy Commander looked thoughtful at this, and Draklin began to worry. If he had angred the Galaxy Commander...
"Not to worry, Draklin, you have not angered me. It is a good question," He looked back to Draklin. "Assemble a Star of Owens'. Have them equipped with MASC and the best sensors we have. C3s would be a plus. Pick your best scouts and have them investigate these strange readings,"
"Uh... Sir," Draklin stammered out as he tried to remind the Galaxy Commander of something important. "All of our Owens' are already deployed. In fact, they are the very units that confirmed these readings. They have confirmed that it is indeed some Stra- er... some Inner Sphere forces."
The Galaxy Commander blinked, then smiled. "Oh yes. I had forgotten we have scouts at Station 5. Very well, take your personal retinue with you. We shall crush these Stravag Inner Sphere," Draklin smiled at this. "And I shall bring my retinue to assist and observe."
These last words caught Draklin by suprise. "You? Galaxy Commander? You will be present?" The idea of the Galaxy Commander accompanying them made Draklin's heart soar.
"Yes, I would like to see this first-hand. Is there a problem with this?"
"Oh no Galaxy Commander! Never! The men will be overjoyed by this news! Morale will triple or even quadruple!"
"Good. We set out tonight."
...
Mike settled down to sleep in his Mech cockpit. Now that they were near what had been ID'd as a Smoke Jaguar Sensor Station, they couldn't afford to risk getting ambushed. That meant that instead of snoozing in a nice, warm, MFB; they had to sleep in their cramped Mech cockpits. Mike felt true pity for Kris, as he had a very cramped cockpit indeed. His Firefly-class Mech was small, a reflection of the size of the cockpit. Suddenly there was a bright flash. Then a string of curses. "God Damnit Johnathan! I told you NEVER to put a flash beacon in my Mech again!!!" Yet another argument ensued between Johnathan and Sean about whether or not Johnathan had indeed put the object in question into Sean's Mech. "This is gonna be a looong night," Mike remarked to no-one in particular. Then he rolled on his back and gazed at the stars.
...
Mike awoke with a start. ^Same damn nightmare as before.^ He could still hear the screams for a good minute after he awoke. He was wide awake when the MFB commander said, in a disturbingly calm voice, "Un-ID'd contact, bearing 251 degrees. Check it out, Lanceleader,"
Mike powered-up his Madcat-class Mech and announced, "Damocles Lead is operational."
"Damocles Two, ready!" came Kris' soft voice across the comm.
"Damocles Three, Billy-Bob is ready!" John announced.
"Damocles Four, nothing wrong. Yet." Sean said with a distinct lack of sarcasm.
"Allright, lets take a look-see at what we got here," Mike then nursed the right-hand joystick forward and felt his Madcat begin to move. His fellow MechWarriors formed up on him in the usual dispersed W-pattern. Mike was now at top-speed. 81 kph. He flipped a switch to his left and the computer announced "MASC engaged." His speed immediatly leapt up to 101.5 kph. As he neared the creast of the hill, he disengaged the MASC, and slowed. When he cleared it, he looked around. There was virtually no vegetation, just a river running through a small town built into a cliffside. Slightly hilly, but mostly flat and lifeless. However, this wasn't what Mike was focused on at the moment. Rather it was the Vulture-class Mech that was approaching at a dead run from 1.5 km away. "Kris, form on me. John, take Sean and go 400 meters west, then swing back and hit 'em in the ass," Mike said.
"Gotcha. C'mon Pessimist!" John said with his usual tone of comedy.
"DAMNIT! I AM NOT A GOD DAMN PESSIMIST!!!" Sean screamed over the comm. "I'm just realistic, that's all."
Mike smirked as he watched his friends' Mechs move off into the distance. Johnathan's Diashi and Sean's Thor may be slow, but together they packed a punch, with two ER PPCs each. With this, Mike began to scan the rest of the area for more enemy Mechs. Then his Mech's torso pitched skyward uncontrollably, a blue burst of light highlighting the cloud cover. "Damn Vulture's gonna pay for that!"
"Uh...Mike," Kris said slowly. "I don't think it was the Vulture..."
"Son of a Bitch! Enemy Mech's sighted!" Sean yelled cross the comm. "I count... 2 Thors, 5 S'cats, 3 Madcats, 2 Aniahlators, 2 Cauldron Born, and a Diashi! We're fucking screwed! We're gonna get pasted!"
"Shit! That's some Heavy Metal!" Mike returned. He thought for a second. "Alright, we'll focus on the Cauldron Born and take it from there."
Mike then slammed his right-hand joystick forward and moved off to the left of the valley. He flicked a button on the afore mentioned control stick which targeted one of the Cauldron Born. It was a squat, small, medium-class mech. Ugly, in fact. But the looks belied the power of the small machine. Mike rotated his torso, bringing the mech into his crosshairs. A beeping noise sounded for a few seconds, then steadied into one, solid tone. "Have lock!" he announced, awaiting Kris's lock confermation.
"Have lock, roger. Duce's Wild Lock confirmed,"
"FIRE!" Mike yelled. He pulled his Fire Control triggers, sending a volley of 40 LRM missiles flying at the ugly Battlemech. Kris did likewise, and added a good 6 SRMs into the mix. Though smaller, the missiles were still powerful. They impacted into the main torso and right leg of the Battlemech, tearing off chunks of armor and knocking the Cauldron Born back a little. The smaller Battlemech turned it's torso towards Mike's Madcat, and fired a pair of medium lasers. The energy weapons slammed into the Madcat's torso, melting a little of the Ferro-Fiborious armor into slag. Mike switched over to his pulse lasers and pulled the triggers, sending three bright green lances of pure energy streaming fourth toward the ugly mech in retaliation. The lasers hit on the already damaged torso, tearing a hole in the armor about 4 feet in diameter. Then they hit ammunition. The resulting explosion ripped the right arm off the mech and blew the engine into scrap. The pilot ejected, but unfortunately at a bad angle. Mike turned away in order not to see the remains of the Clan Mechwarrior. He then flicked over to the other Cauldron Born. The mech was badly damaged, having obviously had it's left leg acuator fused together. ^ER PPC,^ Mike thought. ^shows all the classic signs of a Sean leg shot^.
"You guys need any help?" Mike offered.
"Nah, we got it," came Sean's voice across the comm.
"Too bad. Now then..." but Mike was cut off at the sound of a Clan curse. "Ok, I guess we won't help. Alright, lets combine strengths for that Diashi, it'll be a tough mother fucker. I'll soften her up with my LRMs, then take 'em with your ER PPCs."
Mike then suited action to words and rammed the right-hand control stick forward. Arming his LRM 20's he rotated his torso with the left-hand stick as he ran, getting a lock on the Diashi. When he got a solid tone, he squeezed the two fire control triggers. 40 missiles flew fourth, rapidly closing the 173 meters between Mike and the Diashi. Then they hit. An explosion tore a little bit of armor off and rocked the torso back a few degrees, but nothing fancy. John and Sean were next, firing all their ER PPCs. At that exact moment, the Diashi fired it's two ER PPCs in the exact opposite direction. The six streams collided, producing a massive explosion, warping space and time for more than a 100 kilometer radius. "Oh Shit" was all Mike thought as his Mech was thrown uncontrollably through Time and Space... ...
2015 A.D.
Tokyo-3 Outskirts
Rei Ayanami felt odd. She had an odd sensation in her stomach. What was it? Fear. That was it. Fear? Of what? ^What have I to fear?^ she thought. ^You fear death.^ her mind replied. Why? Why did she fear death? After all this time, in action against the angels, she had never feared death. Now, as she sat in the Entry Plug for Unit-00, she was afraid for the first time. "Launch EVA Unit-00!" Major Katsuragi announced.
"Rodger! Launching...Now!" Maya returned.
Unit-00 flew upward in the elevator, with a very frightened Rei Ayanami at the helm.
...
Above Tokyo-3 sat a large, circular strand of light, spinning slowly. Watching. Waiting. Now that the raid sirens had subsided, all was quiet. That silence was shattered by a very loud slam, which was then the sound of metal rolling across metal. EVA Unit-00 stepped out of the elevator, and a nearby arainment building slid open, revealing a pallet gun. The angel, which had been rotationg lazily, immediatly became a long, thin strand of light and shot towards Unit-00 at intense speed. It collided with the EVA at the legs, and procedded to do something totally unexpected.
In the Entry Plug, Rei gasped in suprise and pain. Her legs were firey with pain, and it wasn't going away. She looked at them, in an attempt to see what was wrong. What she saw, suprised and scared her even more. Her blood vessels, popping up, inflating. The angel was contaminating the EVA, and thus, her.
...
"Unit-00 is being contaminated by the angel!" Maya yelled.
"WHAT?!?!" Mitsato gaspt.
"Deploy EVA Unit-02," came the calm, cold, calculating voice of Gendo Ikari.
"Rodger! Unit-02, Launch!" ordered Major Katsuragi. ^But Asuka's synch rate has been spiraling down lately.... Will it work?^
...
Rei looked up from the spreading veins of infection on her legs as another, familliar slam was heard. She saw Unit-02 standing in the elevator. ^Pilot Sohryu,^ Rei thought. ^She is doomed,^
...
Asuka's frantic cries soon fill the comm channel. "Asuka! Move to assist Rei! Hurry!" Mitsato ordered, but it was in vain. "NEIN! ES WILLT LAUFT NICHT!" she yelled.
"No good!" Dr Akagi yelled. "Sync-ratio is under 10%!"
^Damn!^ Mitsato thought. "What'll we do now?"
"Bring Unit-02 down. I am authorizing a lift of the freeze condition on Unit-01," Gendo said. If one was only listening to his voice, one might think that he was sitting on a beach in America.
Mitsato began to frantically issure orders once more in an effort to get Unit-01 up in time to save Rei. That wouldn't take more than a sync-up, as Shinji was already in the Entry Plug, waiting. "Syncronisation started... complete! Sync-ratio steady at 73%!" Ritsuko announced.
...
Shinji was not unawary of what was going on above ground. He'd been listening to the comm, and was shaken up pretty badly. Rei was his friend, and it pained him to see her like this. He felt even more pain for Asuka, as he knew what she had been through recently, and knew how much pain it must be causing her to have failed in this manner. "Launch Unit-01!" Mitsato announced. Shinji braced himself for that familliar rough ride.
...
As Shinji reached the head of the elevator, Rei was preoccupied with the angel's actions. She stared at her hands, which were now showing the telltale veins of the angel's contamination of her body. She was terrified, so like any terrified animal, she did the only thing she could. She attacked. In one fell swoop, she grabbed up the Pallet gun and the angel. She pulled the angel against the barrel of the weapon, and fired. Again. And again. Nothing happened. The angel was unharmed. Rei was now terrified as well as confused. The angel had begun to invade her mind now. ^Get out...^ she thought.
^Why? You always wanted companionship,^
^I have wanted no such thing,^
The angel laughed, or at least her mind heard laughter. ^You silly human. You amuse me... Don't you realize that nothing in your mind is sacred to me? I see all, and now I understand why it is you fight us.... Why you resist Impact, to use your name for it.^
^Get out!!!!!!^ Rei 'screamed'.
The angel looked around her mind some more. ^This Ikari boy...... interesting....... You humans always deny yourselves what you want. You always wanted companionship, yet now that you have it, you want me out.... And Ik-^
^GET OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!^Rei screamed.
The angel laughed again. ^Hm.... That's him over there, right? You've thought about him for companionship. Perhaps I should join you two......^
Rei suddenly realized that everything the angel was saying was true. And as she did, she realized another small, trivial fact. ^NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!^
The Angel laughed. His laugh was getting annoying by now. ^Just wait.....^
Rei looked around. The angel had stopped talking to her, and as she glanced at her chrono, she saw that less than a second had elapsed. She looked down at her legs. There was a few drops of some liquid other than LCL on them, and more were appearing. "Am I the one who is crying?" she said to herself. She looked out at EVA 01. The angel coiled up, and launched itself at the Unit. "Does my soul really wish to join with Ikari?" she wondered aloud. ^No, I must destroy this angel no matter what.^ she thought. ^Even if it causes my death.^
...
Shinji barely dodged the angel as it flew at him. His Pallet gun wasn't so lucky. The angel struck it and the weapon snapped in two. A voice came over the comm, ^Sounds like Dr. Akagi,^ Shinji thought. "AT-Field reversal detected in Unit-00! Rei! What the Hell are you doing?"
"Protecting us," she said through the tears. She was out of her chair now, crouched over a pannel in the rear. Ignoring the frantic cries for her to eject the entry plug, she simply said "Goodbye," and flipped a switch.
Unit-00 exploded. "AT-Field detected!" Maya cried in astonishment.
"Another one?" Mitsato gasped. If this angel had split in two...
"It's gone now, we're reading no- WHAT THE HELL?" Maya shouted in disbelief.
"Huh?" Mitsato wondered.
"Un-Identified objects detected in Tokyo-3!"
"Angels?"
"No! No blood type detected! Visuals available though!"
"Let me see," Gendo said.
Maya pressed a few buttons and a large screen activated, showing 3 large objects amongst the buildings.
...
"Well, least I'm back on solid ground!" Mike mused. "But where?"
Then he saw the explosion ripping through the air towards his Madcat. "Damn. Guess I'll be seein ya sooner than I thought, Jather..." Then the blast hit. His mech's gyro-stabilisation system was overloaded instantly, and the 38 foot, 75 ton Battlemech flew backwards like a rag doll. Then the auto-eject system fired off, and Mike was sent flying off into the wild blue yonder.
...
It was early dawn on Tranquil. High, thin clouds let tiny rays of sunlight peer through to reach the planet. Mike sat in the cockpit of his Madcat, watching the sunrise. To him, it looked like a delicate dance of light and night. He liked dances. He'd always had fun dancing, lots of good times in those memories. Then a crackling voice pierced the calm of his quiet music that was playing over the comm. and the serene peace of a sunrise. "Lanceleader, we have to get moving now, the Jags could be on us at any moment."
Mike sighed, then responded to the MFB commander's request. "Acknowledged. It really was a beautiful sunrise."
"I'm sure it was, but if we don't hurry, it's going be the last one we see," returned the MFB commander's voice.
Mike nodded sadly, then began powering up his Mech. "Reactor: Online. Sensors: Online. Weapons Controls: Online. Systems Status: Nominal," came the melancholoy female voice of the Battlemech's internal computer. Mike turned the Mech to the right, and took one last look out the side of the cockpit before he keyed the comm. "Alright. Kris, form on me. John and Sean, take the left flank on the MFBs, we'll take the right."
"Acknowledged. C'mon you pessimist!" came Johnathan's chiding voice across the comm.
There was a rasping which Mike knew to be a sigh, then "When will you realize that I'm just being realistic?" came Sean's voice, light and tinny from the comm. distortion. "We're never gonna leave this rock, dead or alive."
Mike smirked and ignored the argument between the two that resulted, speaking only once to chide them for yelling on the comm. Such things were commonplace since they'd dropped in. He gently nudged the control stick to his right forward, and with a lurch, his Madcat began to move. "Here we go..." he said to himself.
...
"Nova Captain Draklin to see the Galaxy Commander, concerning todays sensor scans," Draklin said to the guards outside of the Galaxy Commander's meditation chamber, waving a datapad at them.
He stood still as the guards verified his ID, then scanned him for weapons. After this ritual, he was allowed entry to the Galaxy Commander's private chambers. He stepped inside and blinked. Instead of a room lit by overhead flouresent bulbs, it was lit by candlelight. The flickering flames shot shadows across the room, creating a mesmorising plethora of light and dark, caught in an eternal war. ^Like us and the Stravag Inner Sphere.^ Draklin thought. He silently cursed the eternal enemies of Alaxander Kerenskey's clans as images of past battles returned. Accompanied by past failures.
"Nova Captain Draklin," the Galaxy Commander's voice seemed to boom across the cavernous chamber, but in reality it was little more than a regular speaking voice. "I presume you have today's reports on the Eridani Light Horse unit that has been giving us slight trouble over the past few weeks?"
^Slight Trouble? You call losing no less than 50 Battlemechs of all classes and 3 firebases SLIGHT trouble?^ Draklin thought, however he wisely bit his tounge. He handed the readings to the Galaxy Commander and said "Yes sir. We have picked up some readings of enemy forces around Station 5 that could be them. Should I make ready to investigate?"
"Not just yet. Besides, even with a MASC, they would be closer to Station 3 or 4. It is impossible for them to be near Station 5,"
"Then the readings?"
The Galaxy Commander looked thoughtful at this, and Draklin began to worry. If he had angred the Galaxy Commander...
"Not to worry, Draklin, you have not angered me. It is a good question," He looked back to Draklin. "Assemble a Star of Owens'. Have them equipped with MASC and the best sensors we have. C3s would be a plus. Pick your best scouts and have them investigate these strange readings,"
"Uh... Sir," Draklin stammered out as he tried to remind the Galaxy Commander of something important. "All of our Owens' are already deployed. In fact, they are the very units that confirmed these readings. They have confirmed that it is indeed some Stra- er... some Inner Sphere forces."
The Galaxy Commander blinked, then smiled. "Oh yes. I had forgotten we have scouts at Station 5. Very well, take your personal retinue with you. We shall crush these Stravag Inner Sphere," Draklin smiled at this. "And I shall bring my retinue to assist and observe."
These last words caught Draklin by suprise. "You? Galaxy Commander? You will be present?" The idea of the Galaxy Commander accompanying them made Draklin's heart soar.
"Yes, I would like to see this first-hand. Is there a problem with this?"
"Oh no Galaxy Commander! Never! The men will be overjoyed by this news! Morale will triple or even quadruple!"
"Good. We set out tonight."
...
Mike settled down to sleep in his Mech cockpit. Now that they were near what had been ID'd as a Smoke Jaguar Sensor Station, they couldn't afford to risk getting ambushed. That meant that instead of snoozing in a nice, warm, MFB; they had to sleep in their cramped Mech cockpits. Mike felt true pity for Kris, as he had a very cramped cockpit indeed. His Firefly-class Mech was small, a reflection of the size of the cockpit. Suddenly there was a bright flash. Then a string of curses. "God Damnit Johnathan! I told you NEVER to put a flash beacon in my Mech again!!!" Yet another argument ensued between Johnathan and Sean about whether or not Johnathan had indeed put the object in question into Sean's Mech. "This is gonna be a looong night," Mike remarked to no-one in particular. Then he rolled on his back and gazed at the stars.
...
Mike awoke with a start. ^Same damn nightmare as before.^ He could still hear the screams for a good minute after he awoke. He was wide awake when the MFB commander said, in a disturbingly calm voice, "Un-ID'd contact, bearing 251 degrees. Check it out, Lanceleader,"
Mike powered-up his Madcat-class Mech and announced, "Damocles Lead is operational."
"Damocles Two, ready!" came Kris' soft voice across the comm.
"Damocles Three, Billy-Bob is ready!" John announced.
"Damocles Four, nothing wrong. Yet." Sean said with a distinct lack of sarcasm.
"Allright, lets take a look-see at what we got here," Mike then nursed the right-hand joystick forward and felt his Madcat begin to move. His fellow MechWarriors formed up on him in the usual dispersed W-pattern. Mike was now at top-speed. 81 kph. He flipped a switch to his left and the computer announced "MASC engaged." His speed immediatly leapt up to 101.5 kph. As he neared the creast of the hill, he disengaged the MASC, and slowed. When he cleared it, he looked around. There was virtually no vegetation, just a river running through a small town built into a cliffside. Slightly hilly, but mostly flat and lifeless. However, this wasn't what Mike was focused on at the moment. Rather it was the Vulture-class Mech that was approaching at a dead run from 1.5 km away. "Kris, form on me. John, take Sean and go 400 meters west, then swing back and hit 'em in the ass," Mike said.
"Gotcha. C'mon Pessimist!" John said with his usual tone of comedy.
"DAMNIT! I AM NOT A GOD DAMN PESSIMIST!!!" Sean screamed over the comm. "I'm just realistic, that's all."
Mike smirked as he watched his friends' Mechs move off into the distance. Johnathan's Diashi and Sean's Thor may be slow, but together they packed a punch, with two ER PPCs each. With this, Mike began to scan the rest of the area for more enemy Mechs. Then his Mech's torso pitched skyward uncontrollably, a blue burst of light highlighting the cloud cover. "Damn Vulture's gonna pay for that!"
"Uh...Mike," Kris said slowly. "I don't think it was the Vulture..."
"Son of a Bitch! Enemy Mech's sighted!" Sean yelled cross the comm. "I count... 2 Thors, 5 S'cats, 3 Madcats, 2 Aniahlators, 2 Cauldron Born, and a Diashi! We're fucking screwed! We're gonna get pasted!"
"Shit! That's some Heavy Metal!" Mike returned. He thought for a second. "Alright, we'll focus on the Cauldron Born and take it from there."
Mike then slammed his right-hand joystick forward and moved off to the left of the valley. He flicked a button on the afore mentioned control stick which targeted one of the Cauldron Born. It was a squat, small, medium-class mech. Ugly, in fact. But the looks belied the power of the small machine. Mike rotated his torso, bringing the mech into his crosshairs. A beeping noise sounded for a few seconds, then steadied into one, solid tone. "Have lock!" he announced, awaiting Kris's lock confermation.
"Have lock, roger. Duce's Wild Lock confirmed,"
"FIRE!" Mike yelled. He pulled his Fire Control triggers, sending a volley of 40 LRM missiles flying at the ugly Battlemech. Kris did likewise, and added a good 6 SRMs into the mix. Though smaller, the missiles were still powerful. They impacted into the main torso and right leg of the Battlemech, tearing off chunks of armor and knocking the Cauldron Born back a little. The smaller Battlemech turned it's torso towards Mike's Madcat, and fired a pair of medium lasers. The energy weapons slammed into the Madcat's torso, melting a little of the Ferro-Fiborious armor into slag. Mike switched over to his pulse lasers and pulled the triggers, sending three bright green lances of pure energy streaming fourth toward the ugly mech in retaliation. The lasers hit on the already damaged torso, tearing a hole in the armor about 4 feet in diameter. Then they hit ammunition. The resulting explosion ripped the right arm off the mech and blew the engine into scrap. The pilot ejected, but unfortunately at a bad angle. Mike turned away in order not to see the remains of the Clan Mechwarrior. He then flicked over to the other Cauldron Born. The mech was badly damaged, having obviously had it's left leg acuator fused together. ^ER PPC,^ Mike thought. ^shows all the classic signs of a Sean leg shot^.
"You guys need any help?" Mike offered.
"Nah, we got it," came Sean's voice across the comm.
"Too bad. Now then..." but Mike was cut off at the sound of a Clan curse. "Ok, I guess we won't help. Alright, lets combine strengths for that Diashi, it'll be a tough mother fucker. I'll soften her up with my LRMs, then take 'em with your ER PPCs."
Mike then suited action to words and rammed the right-hand control stick forward. Arming his LRM 20's he rotated his torso with the left-hand stick as he ran, getting a lock on the Diashi. When he got a solid tone, he squeezed the two fire control triggers. 40 missiles flew fourth, rapidly closing the 173 meters between Mike and the Diashi. Then they hit. An explosion tore a little bit of armor off and rocked the torso back a few degrees, but nothing fancy. John and Sean were next, firing all their ER PPCs. At that exact moment, the Diashi fired it's two ER PPCs in the exact opposite direction. The six streams collided, producing a massive explosion, warping space and time for more than a 100 kilometer radius. "Oh Shit" was all Mike thought as his Mech was thrown uncontrollably through Time and Space... ...
2015 A.D.
Tokyo-3 Outskirts
Rei Ayanami felt odd. She had an odd sensation in her stomach. What was it? Fear. That was it. Fear? Of what? ^What have I to fear?^ she thought. ^You fear death.^ her mind replied. Why? Why did she fear death? After all this time, in action against the angels, she had never feared death. Now, as she sat in the Entry Plug for Unit-00, she was afraid for the first time. "Launch EVA Unit-00!" Major Katsuragi announced.
"Rodger! Launching...Now!" Maya returned.
Unit-00 flew upward in the elevator, with a very frightened Rei Ayanami at the helm.
...
Above Tokyo-3 sat a large, circular strand of light, spinning slowly. Watching. Waiting. Now that the raid sirens had subsided, all was quiet. That silence was shattered by a very loud slam, which was then the sound of metal rolling across metal. EVA Unit-00 stepped out of the elevator, and a nearby arainment building slid open, revealing a pallet gun. The angel, which had been rotationg lazily, immediatly became a long, thin strand of light and shot towards Unit-00 at intense speed. It collided with the EVA at the legs, and procedded to do something totally unexpected.
In the Entry Plug, Rei gasped in suprise and pain. Her legs were firey with pain, and it wasn't going away. She looked at them, in an attempt to see what was wrong. What she saw, suprised and scared her even more. Her blood vessels, popping up, inflating. The angel was contaminating the EVA, and thus, her.
...
"Unit-00 is being contaminated by the angel!" Maya yelled.
"WHAT?!?!" Mitsato gaspt.
"Deploy EVA Unit-02," came the calm, cold, calculating voice of Gendo Ikari.
"Rodger! Unit-02, Launch!" ordered Major Katsuragi. ^But Asuka's synch rate has been spiraling down lately.... Will it work?^
...
Rei looked up from the spreading veins of infection on her legs as another, familliar slam was heard. She saw Unit-02 standing in the elevator. ^Pilot Sohryu,^ Rei thought. ^She is doomed,^
...
Asuka's frantic cries soon fill the comm channel. "Asuka! Move to assist Rei! Hurry!" Mitsato ordered, but it was in vain. "NEIN! ES WILLT LAUFT NICHT!" she yelled.
"No good!" Dr Akagi yelled. "Sync-ratio is under 10%!"
^Damn!^ Mitsato thought. "What'll we do now?"
"Bring Unit-02 down. I am authorizing a lift of the freeze condition on Unit-01," Gendo said. If one was only listening to his voice, one might think that he was sitting on a beach in America.
Mitsato began to frantically issure orders once more in an effort to get Unit-01 up in time to save Rei. That wouldn't take more than a sync-up, as Shinji was already in the Entry Plug, waiting. "Syncronisation started... complete! Sync-ratio steady at 73%!" Ritsuko announced.
...
Shinji was not unawary of what was going on above ground. He'd been listening to the comm, and was shaken up pretty badly. Rei was his friend, and it pained him to see her like this. He felt even more pain for Asuka, as he knew what she had been through recently, and knew how much pain it must be causing her to have failed in this manner. "Launch Unit-01!" Mitsato announced. Shinji braced himself for that familliar rough ride.
...
As Shinji reached the head of the elevator, Rei was preoccupied with the angel's actions. She stared at her hands, which were now showing the telltale veins of the angel's contamination of her body. She was terrified, so like any terrified animal, she did the only thing she could. She attacked. In one fell swoop, she grabbed up the Pallet gun and the angel. She pulled the angel against the barrel of the weapon, and fired. Again. And again. Nothing happened. The angel was unharmed. Rei was now terrified as well as confused. The angel had begun to invade her mind now. ^Get out...^ she thought.
^Why? You always wanted companionship,^
^I have wanted no such thing,^
The angel laughed, or at least her mind heard laughter. ^You silly human. You amuse me... Don't you realize that nothing in your mind is sacred to me? I see all, and now I understand why it is you fight us.... Why you resist Impact, to use your name for it.^
^Get out!!!!!!^ Rei 'screamed'.
The angel looked around her mind some more. ^This Ikari boy...... interesting....... You humans always deny yourselves what you want. You always wanted companionship, yet now that you have it, you want me out.... And Ik-^
^GET OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!^Rei screamed.
The angel laughed again. ^Hm.... That's him over there, right? You've thought about him for companionship. Perhaps I should join you two......^
Rei suddenly realized that everything the angel was saying was true. And as she did, she realized another small, trivial fact. ^NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!^
The Angel laughed. His laugh was getting annoying by now. ^Just wait.....^
Rei looked around. The angel had stopped talking to her, and as she glanced at her chrono, she saw that less than a second had elapsed. She looked down at her legs. There was a few drops of some liquid other than LCL on them, and more were appearing. "Am I the one who is crying?" she said to herself. She looked out at EVA 01. The angel coiled up, and launched itself at the Unit. "Does my soul really wish to join with Ikari?" she wondered aloud. ^No, I must destroy this angel no matter what.^ she thought. ^Even if it causes my death.^
...
Shinji barely dodged the angel as it flew at him. His Pallet gun wasn't so lucky. The angel struck it and the weapon snapped in two. A voice came over the comm, ^Sounds like Dr. Akagi,^ Shinji thought. "AT-Field reversal detected in Unit-00! Rei! What the Hell are you doing?"
"Protecting us," she said through the tears. She was out of her chair now, crouched over a pannel in the rear. Ignoring the frantic cries for her to eject the entry plug, she simply said "Goodbye," and flipped a switch.
Unit-00 exploded. "AT-Field detected!" Maya cried in astonishment.
"Another one?" Mitsato gasped. If this angel had split in two...
"It's gone now, we're reading no- WHAT THE HELL?" Maya shouted in disbelief.
"Huh?" Mitsato wondered.
"Un-Identified objects detected in Tokyo-3!"
"Angels?"
"No! No blood type detected! Visuals available though!"
"Let me see," Gendo said.
Maya pressed a few buttons and a large screen activated, showing 3 large objects amongst the buildings.
...
"Well, least I'm back on solid ground!" Mike mused. "But where?"
Then he saw the explosion ripping through the air towards his Madcat. "Damn. Guess I'll be seein ya sooner than I thought, Jather..." Then the blast hit. His mech's gyro-stabilisation system was overloaded instantly, and the 38 foot, 75 ton Battlemech flew backwards like a rag doll. Then the auto-eject system fired off, and Mike was sent flying off into the wild blue yonder.
...