A/N: Happy 2005 to all. I thought I'd start the year by posting two more chapters.
Disclaimer: I do not own Evangelion or Scrapped Princess. Those shows are owned by Gainax and BONES respectively. I do not profit from writing this story.
Shinji was nervous as he watched the shuttle land in the shuttle bay. 'Who's this Ayanami person?' Shinji wondered as he tucked and straightened his tan uniform. According to Misato, they were getting five new crew members. Rumors were already flying about their ship's next destination. Some of the more wild rumors claimed that intelligence had located the HI's home world and was planning a full-scale raid. Touji figured it had something to do with the Vega campaign, but Shinji kept his theories to himself.
"So, who are these guys, Colonel?" Touji asked as he yawned.
"We're getting a couple of new D-Knights. You'll be working together to try out some new weapons and tactics the 15th Fleet has been working with."
"Really…" Touji trailed off. Shinji knew that Touji wasn't convinced that Misato was telling the whole truth. "Colonel," Touji continued, "You do realize that Fleet regulations stipulate that the Dragon complement is limited to three on an Orbital Fortress-class ship?"
Misato smiled, "You realize that reciting regulations to a superior officer is considered insubordination."
Touji was defeated. He wasn't going to get any more information from Misato. The trio turned to their heads toward the door as they heard footsteps approach. A breathless Hikari appeared and stood next to Touji. "I'm sorry, Colonel," Hikari managed to say in between gasps for air, "I was working on a Gigas and I lost track of time."
Misato didn't have time to respond. The shuttle door opened up to reveal eight figures: five humans and three Dragons. Shinji recognized Rei immediately, but he failed to recognize the other four humans. An older man stepped forward and saluted, "Thanks for having us aboard, Katsuragi."
Misato returned his salute. "Colonel Kaji, you will address me as Colonel Katsuragi while we are in the presence of others."
Kaji grinned sheepishly, "All right, Colonel Katsuragi. I'll remember that. By the way, let me introduce you. First, this is Kaoru Nagisa," Kaji motioned to a grayish-white haired young man on his left, "He'll be working with your chief mecha engineer and pilots."
Kaoru bowed and said, "Thank you for having me aboard."
Then, Kaji motioned to his right, "These three beautiful ladies are your new D-Knights. Meet Asuka Langely Soryu, Rei Ayanami, and Mana Kirishima."
"Thanks, for introducing me, Kaji," Asuka spoke up, "I am looking forward to serving under you, Colonel Katsuragi. I've heard so much about you."
Mana was the next to speak, "Likewise, Colonel. It's a pleasure to be aboard."
Ayanami nodded curtly and said nothing.
Misato smiled and acknowledged the girls. "I'm glad to have you three aboard. Oh my, where are my manners? Let me introduce you. This is Shinji Ikari…"
"What?" Asuka said loudly. "You're an Ikari? As in THE Ikari?"
Shinji was pensive in his response, "Uh, um. Yes, I'm related to Admiral Ikari."
"Then you must be G-O-O-D," Asuka replied as she smiled devilishly.
Shinji wasn't sure what to say, but Touji leaned over to him and whispered, "She's going to be a bitch."
"The one who's asking for it is Touji Suzuhara."
Touji clicked his heels and stood at attention. "Please to meet you."
"That's a good boy," Misato teased, "And, last, but not least is our resident mecha engineer, Hikari Horaki."
Hikari bowed slightly. "I look forward to working with your Dragons."
"Damn," Kaji said as his eyes widen in realization, "I almost forgot to introduce the Dragons. Greta is the one with long, flowing hair."
"Yeah. She's mine and don't forget it," Asuka piped up.
"Natalie is the one with droopy ribbons in her hair. She belongs to Rei. And, the on with twin pigtails is Mana's Dragon, Rene." All the Dragons bowed formally.
"It's always nice meeting other Dragons," Misato said. "Shinji and Touji's Dragons aren't here right now, but their names are Yui and Gloria. They belong to Shinji and Touji respectively."
Kaji smiled. "Now that everybody knows each other, what does the good Colonel have planned?"
"Oh, nothing special…" Misato trailed off.
" INCOMING, 2 O'CLOCK!" Touji screamed over the radio.
Only a few minutes before Touji and Mana were flying fleet defense around the Vanguard with Shinji, Rei and Asuka in reserve when the HI attacked. At first it looked like a probe since Touji and Mana beat off the attack so easily, but several of the ships got through. Shinji managed to bag a couple before Asuka flew in to deliver a coup d'grace. With Shinji's attention focused on the reckless pilot, he failed to notice Mana as she became overwhelmed by a force of re-grouped HI ships.
Shinji tried to assess the situation. Mana was down. Touji was too far out for either he or Asuka to provide any meaningful support. Rei was close to the ship, so she could support the Vanguard. However, he and Asuka were staring down the barrels of the HI ships. "Asuka," Shinji called out over the radio, "Bank right and return to waypoint Gamma."
Her response was not too comforting, "What the hell are you thinking! I'll be exposed…"
"At least the Vanguard's defense grid can cover you! Out here, we're just targets." An explosion filled Shinji's vision. "Touji!" Shinji screamed out for his friend.
"Pilot Ikari. Pilot Soryu. I've lost contact with the ship. Their communication system appears to have been hit," Rei reported solemnly, "Switch to…"
Shinji lost track of Rei's voice as he began tangling with the HI ships. He fired a volley to scatter the ships and dived. A quick swipe with his saber dispatched one HI ship. An HI ship slipped in behind him, but Shinji dodged the ship's shots, pulled a tight turn, and ended up behind his attacker. An attack from his laser cannons dispatched that ship too. However, Shinji failed to see a ship come in from below.
The last thing Shinji saw as his Dragon was sliced in two was the bright light from the HI ship's weapons. A convenient 'You're Dead' message appeared on the simulation screen. Shinji sighed and put down his headset. 'The Colonel is going to kill us,' Shinji thought as he walked out of the simulator and into a holding area. Mana and Touji were already there.
Touji grinned when he saw Shinji. "Tough shit, eh?"
"No shit," Shinji spat.
"What kind of simulation was that?" Mana asked as she took a drink from a water bottle she held in her hand.
"I thought that was a program 7, but it looks like it was a program 28," Touji replied.
Mana gave Touji a confused look. "What are you talking about?"
"Around here," Shinji answered, "We call simulations programs. Each program has a numerical identifier depending on the situation. For example, a program with a multiple of seven has to do with fleet and ship defense. The Colonel drills all of the pilots and she expects us to know each situation by its identifier."
"It's a real bitch," Touji added. "But, it helps keep us alive because all the pilots know how to respond based on the situation. You see, in a program 7 the HI launch a probing attack on the Vanguard. But, in program 28, the HI probing attack acts as a trap to draw the Dragons into fighting a much larger force. We should have responded by drawing back into the Vanguard's defensive grid where we can receive some protection. It's a pretty hard scenario. I wonder why she decided to start out with that one…"
Touji was cut off by Asuka as she stormed into the holding area. "What the hell was that! What kind of game is this Colonel playing?"
"Where's Rei?" Mana asked innocently.
"Wondergirl? She's still fighting, but she was about to overwhelmed when I was destroyed."
Shinji was in shock. "You mean Rei is still fighting?"
"Yeah. Speaking of fighting, what were you thinking?" Asuka asked angrily. "If you had held them off like you were supposed to, we could have won."
Shinji slammed his hand against the bulkhead. "You should have pulled back like I told you too."
"No way! Everyone knows that the best defense is a good offense. You blew it."
"You all blew it," a stern voice spoke from the door. Everyone turned to see Misato walk in with Rei. "That was the worst display of piloting and teamwork I have yet seen."
Asuka was about to protest, but a stiff glare from Misato kept her saying anything. "Follow me," Misato commanded.
Everyone followed Misato into a large conference room. Kaji, Kaoru and Hikari were already there. Misato took a spot up front with Kaji. When everyone was settled, Misato was the first to speak, "Let me say this. What Colonel Kaji and I are about to tell you is classified. You will not speak to anyone about this information. Am I clear?"
When Misato was satisfied with everyone's responses, she continued talking, "Good. Now, the reason I'm pushing you so hard is because the mission we are about to undertake is the most important of the war. Our survival depends on it. Those of you who just arrived from Vega know how important that system's jump gate is. The HI are pouring reinforcements through that jump gate at an increasing rate. We believe that they will have the capacity to completely take the Vega system in a matter of weeks and Earth itself a few months after that. Colonel Kaji can brief you on the specifics."
Kaji touched a button and the Vega system appeared. "As those of you who came from Vega know, there are reinforcements coming in through the jump gate. Intelligence indicates that the HI have set up a jump gate in the Arius Eridani system that can shuttle troops and material to Vega in a matter of hours. Our mission will be to jump in and dismantle it. Now for the specifics…"
Shinji listened as Kaji droned on about the upcoming mission and the Dragons' role as a blocking force. Shinji was a bit apprehensive about the plan. The tactics were all too familiar. A glance around the room revealed that some people, Misato and Touji in particular, seemed to share his anxiety. The 15th Fleet transfers betrayed little emotion.
As the briefing drew to a close, Touji raised his hand. "Excuse me, Colonel, but I was wondering how the fleet intends to take out the forces occupying the gate with only five Dragons."
Kaji paused for a moment as if considering the question before turning to Kaoru. "Mr. Nagisa, can you tell the new pilots about the support they will receive?"
Kaoru got up and started, "The 15th Fleet has been working with a new type of mecha called the Valkyrie. I'm not allowed to discuss details, but I can say that it is a fully autonomous system capable of replacing the Dragon."
Shinji's eye's nearly bugged out. He was surprised to hear that a replacement for the Dragon had already been found and was expecting Asuka or somebody else to make a big deal about Kaoru's revelation, but none of the new D-knights said anything. "Wow," Touji said loudly, "Has it been in combat yet? What are they like?"
Hikari also added, "Will I be allowed to inspect one?"
Kaji chuckled. "It's been in combat before and you'll get a chance to see one soon. As for inspecting one, I'm afraid that won't be possible. But, rest assured that the Valkyrie is the weapon humanity has been hoping for."
Asuka suddenly stiffened in her seat when she heard Kaji's comment about the Valkyrie. As Kaji finished answering Hikari's question, Asuka jumped in. "Excuse me, but I was wondering if Mr. Nagisa can tell us what happened the last time we took the Valkyrie into the combat."
Kaji replied, "I'm afraid that I can't discuss that situation at this time. If there isn't anything else, you're all dismissed until 0800 tomorrow. You'll begin formal training for the mission then."
As Shinji got up to leave, he looked over at Touji and Hikari. He knew they were thinking the same thing he was, 'This doesn't look good.'
"Um, what do you guys think?" Hikari asked as she stabbed at her salad
After the meeting, Touji pulled Hikari and Shinji aside and asked them to join him in the mess hall for dinner. Hikari agreed readily as did a traditionally reluctant Shinji. "Do you mean the pilots or the mission?" Touji asked while he chomped on his hamburger.
"Both," Hikari clarified.
"Well," Touji responded, "That Asuka girl is a… Well, she's a reckless bitch."
"Rei is pretty good," Shinji offered as he sipped from his tea.
"Yeah," Touji agreed. "I looked up her service record and she has enough medals to open a gift shop. She's the fleet's number two Dragon ace after that Mauser guy."
"How did you find that out?" Shinji inquired. "I tried looking up her record earlier and it's classified."
"That's to be expected," Touji replied. "She and that red-head are members of a new squadron called Eva."
"Eva Squadron? What do you mean?" Hikari asked.
"You don't know about the Eva Squadron? I looked it up using Kensuke's old contacts. They're some kind of elite experimental squadron using psychic powers or something." Touji explained.
Hikari looked at Touji like he was crazy. "Psychic powers? What are you talking about?"
"Something called remote viewing."
"Remote viewing? What's that?" Hikari wondered.
"Remote viewing is the ability to see distant events as they happen in real time," Shinji answered matter-of-factly.
"How did you know that?" Touji asked incredulously.
"My father," Shinji replied softly. "He's worked on that stuff for years."
Hikari asked, "Your father?"
Touji exclaimed, "You mean you don't know!"
Shinji shot him an angry look as people looked in their direction. "I'm sorry, Shinji," Touji said apologetically, "I got carried away. You see, Shinji's father is an admiral. He specializes in black projects – secret stuff."
Hikari shook her head in disbelief. "Is this for real?"
Shinji nodded and said, "Yes. It's all true. When I was in that briefing, there was something familiar about the tactics that Colonel Kaji was proposing. But, now I'm sure of it. My father is behind all of this. His tactics cost people their lives."
"Whoa," Touji called out, "Sure, these mission plans stink – jumping into enemy space and all. But, I'm more concerned with these 'Valkyrie' things. The way Red looked made me feel uneasy." Hikari and Shinji nodded in agreement as Touji continued, "I think we need to talk to our 'fellow' D-Knights to see what happened in the Vega system. Each of us should split up for a couple of hours and meet with each of them. We should talk to that Nagisa guy too, but I don't think we'll get much out of him."
"I'll go see Asuka," Hikari said, "I won't get her mad like you guys."
Touji was a bit flush at Hikari's jib. "Okay. Then, I'll talk with that Mana girl. We'll leave Rei to you, Shinji."
Shinji mumbled, "Uh-huh", as he finished his tea.
"Good," Touji replied, "Let's meet in the bar at say… 1130 tonight to go over what we learned."
A/N: I don't know if this has been clear up to this point, but HI stands for Heightened Intelligence. They are the alien antagonists of this story and, to a lesser extent, Scrapped Princess.
Until next posting…
Cardinal Light
