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Chapter 3;

Engage!

2100 Hours
Atmospheric Descent, 200 miles above Earth
Leviathan Heavy Transport 'Orca'

The Orca slowed to 500 k/ph, its landing thrusters cutting into the night sky like powerful searchlights. Star Commander Jorgensson jabbed the comm. stud on his command chair.

"Sunka! Get Star 3 ready for Hot Drop!" the dark voiced commander barked.

"Sir, yes sir!" the corporal snapped back, keying in the command codes into his computer, setting the five light mech's into the correct position. These five mech's had been prepped for Hot Drop, which could be likened to dropping rations from the end of cargo-chopper.

Only in this case the rations were five 20 ton Battlemech's and the chopper was a spaceship going well past break-neck speeds.

The five mech's had their pilots in their head-mounted cockpits, each trained expertly in Hot Dropping light mech's. None of the mech's save for the Fusilier's had been outfitted with Jump Jets, which would allow the two long-range sniper mech's to get into a advantageous position while dropping from 200 miles above the earth's surface. The other three had been fitted with jump-assist boosters which they could use to slow their descent and position themselves with precision for the upcoming sweep & scan mission. Their target was a small city by a large water source. Their initial scans had shown that there was a large complex beneath the city, and that most of the city was submergible, though for what reason they did not know.

"Okay you five! Listen up!" Snuka barked through his comm. relay. "I want this clean and fast! Don't shoot unless engaged! Passive and Aggressive sensors engaged at all times! Comm. Lines are to be kept clear at all times unless absolutely necessary! And for the love of the Clan, don't go and fall on your face!" The five pilots keyed their green light to signal they were ready.

Snuka grinned as he walked over to the launch bay control module. The five battlemech's were hermetically sealed, so the pilots could survive the harsh, thin atmosphere during their descent. They could then blow the pylons blocking their air-intake valves and use the planet's own atmosphere to breathe, taking strain off of the battlemech's environmental systems and allowing the power to be used for more important things, like sensors or weapons systems.

The Corporal pushed the firing stud on the control module, launching the five 20 ton battlemech's into the thin atmosphere. Everything that wasn't tied down got sucked out as well, which wasn't much, but the instant before the mech's left the bay, eight barrels opened and each spat a large, conical shell at high velocity. After these shells had cleared the ship and the battlemech's egress, they exploded into thousands upon thousands of mirrored shards of metal, each sending out its own tiny radio signal. The effect from all these tiny radio signals would scramble any sensors trying to get a lock on the battlemech's, allowing the expensive war-machines to land with some degree of safety.

The five battlemech's launched, each flying from the launch bay and allowing gravity to take over. When they reached 100 miles above the surface, they fired their jump-assist boosters, slowing their descent from well over 500 k/ph to a manageable 135 k/ph. Through the rest of the descent, the five battlemech's powered up their sensors and weaponry.

The pilot of the Anarchist, a tall, stringy man called Avery De'Villar, noted the instant that his sensor's came on, that a swarm of surface to air missiles was heading for them.

"Okay people, we've got bogies coming in at six o'clock, dodge'em if you can, otherwise, knock'em outta the sky!" he called over the Star's intercom. The five mech's took evasive maneuvers, the missiles streaking past them mostly, one of the Drakes letting loose with their machine guns to knock a missile out of the air that was too close for comfort. They had passed through the last 50 miles of atmosphere during the missile barrage, and now were getting ready for landing. The five mech's were to set down on a ridge on the outskirts of the city, group up, and then begin their sweep of the city.

2100 Hours
Earth. Tokyo-3
NERV Headquarters

Asuka, Shinji and Rei all watched as the massive space-going vessel descended into the atmosphere, glowing like a comet as it streaked into towards their city. The JNDF had deployed surface-to-air ballistic missiles and were tracking the vessel as it descended. They knew that the missiles couldn't even dent the massive spaceship, but they could be used to try and take out the massive engine bays at the end of the ship. It was their only hope for knocking the spaceship out of the sky.

Misato watched her screen, tense, and her coffee growing cold. She hadn't taken her eyes off the screen for a long time, she was waiting for something. Something was going to happen soon. She could feel it in her bones.

The massive spaceship cleared the 200 meter mark, and they all watched as a light came on in the side of the vessel.

"What the hell could that be?" Ritsuko thought to herself. She watched intently as the ship's retro-rockets fired and began to slow the behemoth-like ship to a more manageable speed. It was then that Ritsuko saw eight tiny flashes of light, which exploded into a million fragments of light. She gasped as the video feed went fuzzy and cut out.

"The hell? Maya! What the hell happened!" Ritsuko barked at her. The young brunette began typing and found the problem.

"Those metallic fragments are jamming all frequencies Ma'am, we can't get anything through." Maya said, hoping the Ritsuko wouldn't scream at her again.

"Dammit! Get the EVA's ready! We may be under attack…" Ritsuko growled the words out softly, trying to control her anger. She hated not being in control.

Shinji, Asuka and Rei went quickly to the change room, getting ready for whatever was coming at them.

"So Rei… Asuka… what do you two think we're going up against?" Shinji asked softly.

"Well, Third Child, I think it's just another hoax! I mean, come on! Aliens? Attacking this place? Why?-"

"They could be here for the water, the minerals, us, any number of things" Rei said flatly, pulling her plug suit on with quick efficiency. Shinji and Asuka had pulled their suits on as well and were going for their entry plugs. Each of the metal cylinders filled with the yellow Link Connection Liquid, Shinji still grimacing at the blood-like smell of it.

Each of the metal entry plugs were inserted into the bio-mechanical beings known as Evangelions, the electrical umbilical plugs were connected, and the massive war-machines were shot up their respective launch bay's and released as the sun began to sink low into the sky of the slowly darkening city of Tokyo-3.