Chapter Three
General Halmead watched in silent awe, listening to the pulsing binary chants of the praying tech-priest in the background as the two Evas landed in front of them. The explosion in space still cast strange shadows over the ground, testifying that these Evas were much, much more powerful then a Titan.
There was a soft noise as the…Halmead could only describe them as 'Energy Wings', folded back into the back of the purple Eva leaving only cracked armor as evidence of their existence. Halmead turned to his still half-traumatized command squad.
"C-com…" Halmead swallowed, before trying to sound more normal. "Comm.-officer Bertrugar, are you picking up any kind of Vox traffic from either of the, ah…'Evas'?" Bertrugar stared at him for several seconds, still in shock, before shaking himself.
"Ah, er, no Sir, nothing yet."
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Within Unit 02's entry plug, the enriched LCL had sat, undisturbed and unaffected by the millennia that had passed. Now, however, it was shifting, coalescing into a solid object. For the first time in countless years, Asuka Langley Sohryu breathed in. It was a shame that that first breath was LCL, but considering the alternative…
Asuka shook her head in mild surprise at how normal she felt. I had been nearly killed by those… harpy Evas, then I was absorbed into my Eva for Gott only knows how long with only Shinji and our mothers' with me. Shaking her head, Asuka tapped at the Eva's controls even as she searched back through her memories.
More memories rose and faded. She remembered the scent of blood, and the feeling of something around her throat. She remembered seeing her mother again on the false shore of the L.C.L. sea, and Ikari Yui's explanation that the sight was false, a sight of the world that would have been had they failed. She remembered watching from behind Unit 02's eyes as Fuyutsuki and an U.N. officer discussed her fate. She remembered decade long talks and confessions with her only three companions, and annoyance that the direct soul-to-soul communication prevented her teaching Shinji German (would have taken up a decade or two)…
Even as her mind had been wandering, subconscious instincts trained into her by years of EVA pilot training had quickly analyzed her surroundings. The entry plug was dark, but the actively glowing screens indicated that there was power, Asuka simply wasn't synchronized with Unit 02. A quick check of her hair with a hand indicated that the Synch-headsets were missing. A window opened on one of the dark screens. A shirtless, to Asuka's surprise, Shinji looked out of it.
"Asuka! Are you alr…" Shinji suddenly stopped and turned bright red. The screen turned black, with the words 'Audio Only' displayed. Asuka blinked in surprise, and then with a strong sense of foreboding, looked down to discover the main disadvantage of having a body only just recombined from LCL.
"Scheiße! Where's my Plugsuit!"
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"Ah, sir?" Comm.-officer Bertrugar said. General Halmead looked over from his conversation with Tech-Magi Dolman, previous enmity forgotten.
"Yes Comm.-officer?"
"I… found a 2-way communication on one of the older frequencies. For a moment there was some kind of pict. signal as well, but now it's just straight audio. I don't recognize the language though."
"Can you patch in to the signal?"
"I think so, it'll take a few minutes though, it's way outside the normal Guard channels."
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It was surprising that the LCL hadn't turned blue, or at least purple, given how Asuka was cursing as she struggled into the plug suit floating in her entry-plug, several of the stronger phrases causing Shinji to wince. Fortunately, only a few curses had been aimed at him, most seemed to be aimed more at the world in general. Shinji finished buttoning up his shirt, slipped on his Synch-headset and carefully tapped a few controls. The screens flashed and flickered through their normal patterns as the A-10 nerves connected, and Unit 01 came back to life.
Shinji gasped as he gazed out at his surroundings. Unit-01 was standing in the middle of a massive crater edged with buildings. Unit-02 was standing nearby and in front of them was a partly collapsed cross-section of an EVA cage. Next to it, stood several people staring up at the EVAs.
"Mine Gott im Himmal…" Asuka gasped over the radio as Unit 02 activated on minimal power, enough to activate the viewing systems, but not enough to move or drain the backup power supply.
"Was…was this 3rd Impact?" Shinji managed to say, wondering if, despite his mother's reassurances, if they had failed. "Did… did we fail?"
"No Baka," Asuka growled in reply. "Look around, this isn't Tokyo-3. The architecture of those buildings," Unit-02 waved a hand towards the horizon, causing several people on the ground to scatter, "and for that matter those soldiers sure aren't JSSDF."
Shinji felt himself calm down slightly as Asuka's words registered, but only slightly.
"If this isn't Tokyo-3, then where…" he began, before he was interrupted by a new window opened up on the surround screen. It was the black panel of an AUDIO ONLY signal, and it was speaking in a language he had never heard before. It went on for a couple of minutes, before stopping. The tone seemed to indicate that the person speaking was expecting some kind of reply.
"Erm… Asuka, I don't suppose you understood that, did you?" Shinji asked
"I think recognize some Latin in there, but no I don't understand it. Hold on a second." Asuka then began speaking, first in German and then English.
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"What is that?" General Halmead asked glancing at Tech-Magi Dolman, all thoughts of annoyance long gone.
UNKNOWN. ACORDING TO MY ENGRAMS, THE PEOPLE OF THIS FACILITY ONCE SPOKE IN AN LONG FORGOTTEN LANGUAGE CALLED 'JAPANESE'. A TRANSLATION IS IMPOSSIBLE UNTIL WE GET SOME TRANSLATOR ALGARITHMS OPERATING+
"Hey, do you understand what I'm saying?" the speaker said. General Halmead blinked in surprise.
"I understood some of that," he said in surprise.
INTERESTING. IT APPEARS WE ARE BLESSED BY THE OMNISSIAH. COMMUNICATION IS POSSIBLE. THE PILOT KNOWS SOME PARTS OF LOW GOTHIC+
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It took several hours for the situation to be explained. Fortunately, English and German were two of the main languages that Low Gothic was based on, meaning that Asuka, General Halmead and Tech-Magi Dolman were able to form a pidgin version of the language that both sides could understand.
Then General Halmead and Tech-Magi Dolman were able to explain the present situation, with the appropriate interruptions for Asuka to translate for Shinji, and to deal with a second Chaos attack, this one a company of Word Bearers supported by a pair of Predators and a Land Raider and lead by a Greater Daemon of Khorne (which had looked rather shocked when Unit 01 shrugged it's attack off with an A.T. field and casually stepped on it). It was this last interruption that convinced the two children that the General and Tech-Magi were telling the truth rather then anything else.
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"So," Asuka summarized, trying to suppress her nausea, "we've somehow traveled into the distant future, we're stuck in the middle of a galaxy-spanning civil war, and it's quite literally 'Hell on Earth' at the moment. And your Emperor just expects us to blindly trust and fight for him after all we've been through?"
There was a long pause, while Asuka glared at the Audio Only screen. "The Emperor rules humanity," General Halmead finally replied angrily. "If you don't fight for him, you're his enemy." Asuka blinked in surprise at his attitude as he hesitated, audibly calming down. "Besides, the whole planet's at war. If you don't fight…" the tiny figure of Halmead on the screen waved an arm at the massive crater and the ruined buildings surrounding it. "…where are you going to go?"
"Even if we did agree…" Asuka replied doubtfully, with the standard pause to translate to Japanese, "how will we get there if this 'palace' is at the North Pole? It'd take days to get there under normal conditions, and through a planet-wide war zone…"
"You're more important then you realize," Halmead replied, "The Emperor ordered the Imperial Fist's Sky Fortress to come pick us up along with the Imperial Fist Marines! In fact, I think that's it there." He pointed out towards the northern edge of the crater. As Asuka and Shinji looked up they both spotted a small dot on the horizon. S/he activated the Eva's filters, magnifying the spot. It grew into… neither of them could properly describe it. It resembled a pair of massive cathedrals that had been stuck together, base to base. About as many towers dropped down from the bottom as raised up from the top. Massive, gargoyle edged engines were mounted along the edges propelling it towards them, while weapon batteries continually bombarded the ground underneath it, apparently indiscriminately. Occasional flashes on the ground indicated some weapon crew foolish enough to try and shot it, and were promptly flattened by the fortresses weapons, while the projectiles in question vaporized uselessly against some kind of energy field.
It appeared deceptively slow, but it soon became apparent that it was moving incredibly fast. In merely twenty minutes, it had changed from a tiny dot on the horizon, to a massive mountain-construct floating over-head. As it slowed to a stop, barely 100 meters above them, two massive, yet tiny compared to the entire structure, platforms lowered from the lowest stalactite-tower.
"Well," Asuka said in Japanese, sounding slightly stunned, "I…guess this is our ride."
Shinji found himself chuckling slightly despite himself.
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Actually climbing onto the platforms proved slightly tricky. The were linked by massive servo-mechanisms to the Sky Fortress above, and several complicated structures, apparently intended to support an EVA sized machine of some sort. Actually fitting an EVA onto the platform without damaging anything was as difficult as climbing into an EVA cage unassisted, but Shinji and Asuka managed it with only slightly scratched paint.
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Shinji thought he had been prepared somewhat for a 'futuristic' transport. He had been expecting some kind of advanced machine with the same 'sterile machine' feel of the inside of NERV. The reality was somewhat different.
The hallways were either dark and claustrophobia inducing, lit only by a few candles, or massive and awe-inspiring, decked with gargoyles and gothic architecture. The interior of the ship appeared to be made out of, of all things, stone bricks, and strange figures like the creature that had introduced itself as '+TECH-PRIEST DOLMAN, WORTHY OF THE OMNISSIAH+' were moving purposefully around.
Yet mixed in, and almost hidden by, the gothic environment were machines which made the Magi super-computers look old-fashioned. No doubt, Shinji thought as they finally arrived at the bridge, Doctor Ritsuko would give…would have given her eye-teeth to see this…
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Brother-Captain Angrimond glanced up as he heard the bridge's main door groan open over the combat chatter. Some of the figures he recognized as the Imperial Guard and Tech-priests the report had mentioned. The two people with them…
"Enemy Ordinance inbound from grid reference 03945-a."
Angrimond cursed silently. They are just children! They have to be at least twenty or thirty years from their fist re-juv treatment! Is this what that bastard Horus has driven us to? Fighting our wars with Children? Shaking his head, Angrimond turned back to the holo-table. "Helm, full ahead on heading 37-true. Weapon officer, maintain over-watch firing patterns. Ave Imperator."
"Minor damage and casualties at weapon port 498-starboard, repair work-gangs on route."
Angrimond waited for the acknowledgements from the Ratings and Servitors, before turning to his visitors.
"Greetings General. I'm sorry for your losses." As Halmead nodded his thanks, Angrimond turned his attention to the two 'Evangelion' pilots, and blinked in surprise as they met his gaze steadily. He had been expecting them to be cowed at his superhuman size and appearance, even those who commonly saw them were nervous at the sight of a power-armored marine. Yet these two were surprisingly calm.
Angrimond studied the two with both a mind that had seen two centuries of warfare and his rudimentary Psyker empathy, and was impressed. Although well hidden by masks, they both had an inner core of strength that they seemed almost unaware of. Despite the pain they had suffered, they were sound enough to fight.
It seems, Angrimond thought, that my appraisal as 'children' was premature. These two have had to grow up much too quickly. It's likely that neither of them really knows that they're hiding their true natures… Still, I can see why the Emperor wants them safely away from the Chaos forces…
"Targets at grid reference 05783-c eliminated. Searching for fresh targets."
"Welcome to the Sky Fortress, both of you," he said. "I am Brother-Captain Angrimond. We'll be arriving at the Imperial Fists' location in a few hours, before heading on to the Palace. "If you wish to observe our flight from here, you may. But don't disturb me or my men.
"Multiple targets spotted heading North along Route 427. Alerting ground forces."
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Shinji blinked as the yellow armored figure walked away after giving it's curt form of welcome. The person's evaluating stare had made him slightly nervous, only amplified by the slight scratching headache he had developed for a few seconds. Still, he could still remember facing down his father's stare when Shinji had quit after Touji's Eva had been possessed. Compared to that, the 'space marine's' stare had felt like a friendly welcome. Shinji leaned towards Asuka slightly.
"Inbound heavy ordinance. Void shields holding steady."
"Erm…what did he say?"
"Plasma Genarium 24 showing overheat. Shutting down and boosting Plasma Genarium 27 to compensate."
"He greeted us of course Baka," Asuka replied, rolling her eyes. "He said he was called Angrimond. And he warned us not to touch anything."
"Heavy ordinance backtracked to grid reference 05946-b. Targets Identified.
"Oh…" Shinji glanced around the bridge, populated by half machine cyborgs, flying skulls and busy ratings. Over in the corner, he could see Angrimond talking into some kind of speaker. "Somehow, I never really thought of touching anything…"
"Targets at grid reference 05946-b eliminated. Searching for fresh targets."
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Tightbeam (single-direction) commstream generation (4/485.h).
Carrier-code Oscillate:63.5 138.67. Priority-1. (1/272.p) Datastream transmission only
Logging receipt…
Target receiving. (1/251.d).
HAIL. Suspend comms-traffic for duration.
Channel sustained.
Comm-officer Fornacht, Imperial Palace, to Sky Fortress. Report status.
Servitor12-x12 'Micky' responding. State secure ID code and your business.
2834-c34F. I need to speak with Captain Angrimond.
Please hold.
…
…
Brother-Captain Angrimond, Sky Fortress. Who is this?
I'm Comm-officer Fornacht, Imperial Palace. Could you report your status, my Lord
Status secure. Minor damage to some systems, but otherwise nominal. No major physical damage. We'll need some re-loads on arrival though.
Understood. I'll feed that info to the Administratum. What's the status of your…passengers
We've retrieved them, and their machines. We're heading for the Imperial Fists Legion now. Estimate two hours before arrival at their location.
Understood. Make haste, we need you and those reinforcements. It's nasty here…
We're under way.
To be continued…
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Pict. signal; An visual image sent along with Vox signals.
Gothic; The two official languages of the Imperium. 'High' Gothic appears to be a mixture of Latin, Greek and other older languages and is used mostly for ceremonial purposes. 'Low' Gothic is the more common tongue, and is a mixture of present day languages. For convenience, I assumed that English and German were the main two used, to allow Asuka to understand it.
Thousand Sons; Another of the Space Marine Legions fallen to the powers of Chaos. One of the smaller Legions, the Thousand Sons are made up mostly of Psykers, and hence has the most Sorcerers amongst it's ranks. This, rather then tactics of weapons, tends to be their main ability. They are always accompanied by Daemons.
Predator; The second strongest tank used by the Space Marines, it combines strong armor and weapons with a Rhino chassis, though at the expense of passenger capacity. At the time of the Heresy, the Destructor variant with it's Auto-cannon and Heavy Bolters was used exclusively.
Land Raider; THE ultimate tank used by the Imperium. Virtually impregnable, self-aware, capable of carrying an entire ten-man squad and mounting weapons powerful enough to take down a Titan, it is used solely by the Astartes. Although other tanks have been built that are more powerful, (e.g. Baneblade) it is always at the expense of much greater mass, volume and energy costs, less advanced technology and much higher maintenance needs. The Land Raider is a much more perfect balance between each aspect of a tank. Discovered from STC data from the Dark Age of Technology, it can take decades to produce a single Land Raider.
Sky Fortress; A powerful, air-borne fortress. During my first reading of the Horus Heresy articles in the magazine White Dwarf, I was given the impression that the Sky Fortress was owned and run by the Imperial Fists. Although later checks showed that the article didn't say that, I decided to use it anyway as it fits in with the Imperial Fist's image as artificers capable of building and destroying massive fortresses. As there is no real description of it's shape, I was forced to make my own.
Holo-table; Self explanatory. A table that projects a holographic image above itself.
Power armor; Unlike normal armor, Power armor uses a number of servos to increase the strength of the wearer, allowing the armor to be thick and allowing the user to weald heavy weapons with ease. The main disadvantage is that it can only be used to full effect by people with the right cybernetic connections (i.e. Space Marines) so it can work as a 'second skin' using it instead of in response to the user's actions (causing a noticeable time dely).
Imperial Fists; An Space Marine Legion known for it's ability with siege warfare, both aggressively and defensively. It has the honor of being the first completed Legion, and of holding the only Fortress-Monastery on Terra. The Legion has remained loyal to the Emperor, and is nearly unique in that it does not maintain a home-world but takes recruits from the planets the Legion visits. Even prior to the Heresy, the Legion maintained a long-standing rivalry with the Iron Warriors Legion.
Servitor; Often used for labor of repetitive tasks, a Servitor is a cyborg, made either from a vat-grown clone which has been chemically denied a personality or a mind-scrubbed and lobotomized criminal. They are often heavily altered for their task, and many are permanently wired directly into the machines they run.
Administratum; The Imperium's clerks. They are responsible for taking taxes, sending shipments to the correct places, etc. Basically they deal with most of the Imperium's paperwork. Fanatical record keepers.