Neon Genesis Evangelion: Altered Destinies
Launch Twenty-one
Gendo Ikari calmly sat down, his glasses hiding his eyes as he gazed upon the holographic images. Each one was simply a column with a number on it, representing a member of this secret cabal that sought to control the world. They were SEELE, the ones holding the Dead Sea Scrolls, the keepers of knowledge and, in their minds, the ones who pulled the strings of the world.
"Ikari," 07 said, his voice reedy and petulant, "your NERV had to be saved by Jet Alone! And now you had a computer attack? What are you DOING?"
"My job," Gendo answered calmly, not letting a flicker of emotion cross the brown haired man's face. "We have dealt with every Angel attack so far, and the inclusion of Jet Alone into our operation has saved wear and tear on the Evangelions."
01 spoke next, his voice rumbling, "Remember, Ikari, defeating the Angels is only half the job. What of Instrumentality?"
Gendo fielded that question, "Things are proceeding on schedule, sir. I expect the required pieces will be in place, when we need them to be."
"You expect?" 03 repeated.
"There are always variables," Gendo met that with cool resolve, "the trick is managing them properly to achieve your goals."
"Manage carefully, Ikari," 09 said with a ominous undercurrent in his voice, "you do not want to see what happens if you fail us."
Gendo looked ahead calmly, "There will be no failures."
The other columns each winked out, leaving Gendo alone with 01. The column waved, becoming a old man sitting in a chair, his eyes replaced by a cybernetic visor, his body augmented in unknown ways beneath baggy clothes.
Lorenz Keel looked tired as he met Gendo's gaze. "Do not try our patience too much, Ikari," he rumbled, "you are not irreplaceable."
"Sir," Gendo nodded acknowledgment if not agreement, then the last hologram winked out, leaving Gendo sitting alone in his office. He sat there quietly a moment, then softly began to curse as his calm facade fell away.
'Things are not following my plans,' Gendo thought as he got up to pace his massive, dimly lit office, 'and worse, they're deviating from the Scrolls.' That last thought brought a chill to Gendo's spine, considering the Scrolls were supposed to be a... guide to this crisis. If they were no longer valid, or worse simply wrong, what did that mean for them all?
A soft chime signaled someone wanted in, and Gendo strode back to his desk, calming his expression once again. He hit the admittance key and Maya Ibuki entered, followed by Kozo Fuyutsuki, both walking up to the desk confidently. "Yes?" Gendo asked coolly.
"I've finished the review of internal security and have a list of improvements we can make," Maya said as the boyish looking woman extended the documents over his desk, "you'll have to determine which are most economically feasible, however."
"DNA coded access cards?" Gendo raised an eyebrow slightly on skimming the list, noting that most of the ideas made good sense.
"It's something we could bring in with current technology," Maya answered, "we'd know who was accessing what area by records, and the cards are not exchangeable."
"It is, however, expensive," Kozo added wryly.
"I'll run through the list," Gendo told Maya, "now please, excuse us."
"Sir," Maya nodded, turning around and leaving with a spring in her step.
"What do you think?" Gendo asked after she left.
"She's quite attractive, but a little young for you," Kozo mildly joked.
"Kozo," Gendo gave him a scolding look.
Kozo thought about it a moment. "I'm more confident than I was that her loyalties are to NERV," he conceded, "after you recruited her I ordered a second, more exhaustive background check and turned up nothing untoward."
"While she isn't a expert on the level of Naoko or Ritsuko, she has the skills we'll need as the endgame nears," Gendo said flatly.
"The old men aren't happy?" Kozo guessed.
"When are they ever happy?" Gendo shrugged slightly. "The deviations from the scrolls scare them, as does the interference of Jet Alone."
"We could... take steps with Jet Alone. A nuclear reactor is a touchy thing, after all," Kozo noted a trifle reluctantly, clearly feeling at least a little troubled by the idea of triggering a nuclear detonation wherever the giant robot was at the time.
"No," Gendo shook his head, "we need it, for now. If necessary, we can take such steps when the endgame comes."
"I understand," Kozo agreed.
Gendo sat back, crossing his hands thoughtfully in front of his face. "Keep a close eye on the children," he ordered, "they and Evangelion are the key."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Maya Ibuki went back to her office, a private one as benefiting her new status as head of computer sciences in NERV. Ritsuko Akagi was still her superior as head of Project E, but Maya was the next highest in the organization, theoretically anyway. Of course Maya knew her new office was bugged to the ceiling, so to speak, but her superiors had clearly forgot who they were dealing with. Bringing her terminal on line and a few seeming random keystrokes and the security cameras and bugs were all recording a very realistic simulation of her, working away on her projects.
After double checking her system was working Maya logged in to the Magi, typing away briskly. With one of the Magi down her work was actually easier, the inventive young programmer deceiving the other two that she had the correct access. It still paid to be careful, however, and Maya wasn't leaving any tracks behind her either.
Finally Maya reached the deepest layer of data, files that even Ritsuko probably didn't have access too, the virtual version of Terminal Dogma. With a certain amount of trepidation she began to read the files, and soon that concern was replaced by mounting horror.
Maya sat back in her chair, her expression slack with shock and dismay. She had known that Commander Ikari was not telling people what was going on, but she had mostly chalked it up to the needs of security. But skimming the files and putting the data together, she realized he was hiding things for a much deeper, darker reason.
'He wants to kill everyone,' Maya mused, studying the file.
Of course it didn't say THAT, instead saying that AT Fields would break down, leading to a mass group consciousness. But in Maya's opinion what that literally meant was that everyone would die and be turned into soup. Even worse, reading between the lines made Maya think he was doing it just to be reunited with his wife, currently locked inside Evangelion Unit-01.
Part of Maya could feel a certain grudging admiration for Gendo's relentless efforts, but the rest of her was dismayed. As far as she could determine Gendo intended to resurrect his wife then have her and him rule over the Instrumentality with his daughter by their side.
Maya opened a image of a test subject who had only partially became LCL, and nearly threw up. Shutting the file she saved the data to a secure, off-site location, then carefully left, erasing all traces as she went. Once she was sure she was out clean Maya sat back, considering the situation.
Maya felt certain the majority of employees at NERV would be horrified if they knew this, but she had no idea who was in this with Gendo other than Kozo. At least some staff had to be in it, and Rei Ayanami was a key component to the plan, but Gendo had not hinted in his files who was assisting him and who wasn't. Even Misato and Ritsuko could be involved, tho Maya doubted that.
Reaching out to people in NERV was out, at least until she could be sure it was safe, but just releasing the data was no good either. Yes, Maya could send the data to the news agencies, but Gendo had the ear of Presidents and power brokers. It was quite possible he could kill a story, no matter how juicy it looked. Dumping the data on the web was tempting, but it could all be discredited too easily that way, written off as a conspiracy theory.
Deciding she couldn't find a answer now, Maya went back to work, shutting down the security and bug data shunt..Updating computer security while leaving certain back doors for her kept her occupied, while letting the problem brew in the back of her mind. She was sure she would solve it, it was just a matter of time.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
This group met under the concealment of holograms, too, but for different reasons. While SEELE hid their identities from others to conceal their crimes, this group met secretly because the people they opposed could kill them in a instant. If a traitor learned their identities each person knew their lives would be over, it was only a matter of how fast they could run before they died.
Kaji saw out the visor a group of androgynous figures, each one disguised both by face and voice. Even a expert like himself couldn't tell if he was dealing with men, women or some kind of computer simulations.
The figure referred to as 'Scientist' spoke up next as he said, "We've studied the data our agent acquired from Terminal Dogma. The entity beneath NERV is most certainly a Angel."
"Do we know which one?" Kaji asked curiously.
"Not at this time," Scientist shook his head.
The 'Major' spoke up next. Kaji didn't know much about him, other than he or she was military, probably JSDF, and was the cutout between their group and the government. If they were caught she would 'officially' be on holiday, doing this on her own and probably killed with the rest of them.
"... their having an Angel isn't illegal," the Major finished, "and I doubt the spy cam is admissible in court. We need more proof to act."
'Minister' was a government official, high enough in the food chain to be worthwhile here, but not so high he couldn't be sacrificed. "It's ironic that we started digging into NERV to make sure Ikari wasn't misusing taxpayers money," he shook his head, "I don't think anyone expected this!"
One of the other members of their team was 'Officer.' He clearly had command experience, Kaji guessed, but was not high up in the military. They also had at least some connection to NERV from other things he said, but what that connection was Kaji didn't know.
"Let's review what we know," Officer suggested thoughtfully. "A covert organization known as SEELE has been manipulating events from at least before Second Impact. They might even have caused it, though we can't prove that."
Kaji took up the tale, "They manipulated the chaos around Second Impact to put their people in positions of great political power, and have been funneling large amounts of money to Gendo Ikari. First at GHERIN then at NERV they've been supporting black book, under the table research, but why we don't know."
"All we have is a phrase," Officer sounded frustrated, "the Human Instrumentality Project."
Minister seemed to look over at the Major thoughtfully and asked, "You couldn't break into NERV's systems somehow?"
"We already attempted it with a nanite and virus combo," the Major answered, "no good."
Kaji bit back the urge to blurt 'That was you?!' but it was hard to keep silent. "You might let others in the team know when you're going to try that," he said dryly.
The Major shook his head, "We couldn't risk operational security. Besides, I don't want anyone in NERV blowing their cover. We might need them later."
Kaji felt a twinge of relief that there might be another operative in NERV, then realized he might have just been talking about him.
"I was wondering," Scientist said, "maybe we're going about this all wrong. Maybe we should go after SEELE rather than NERV?"
Officer shook his head, "If we can crack NERV, we can get at SEELE. Getting SEELE is going to be much harder, considering we can barely prove it exists."
Minister sighed, "Officer's right. Besides, we can't really pin much on them other than misuse of official funds."
"I think we've gotten as far as we can, today," Major said simply. "Exchange data packets and let's be off, no reason to chance someone noticing our connecting this way."
They disconnected, leaving Kaji with a slight headache. As he removed the bulky VR gear he mused on the Major's final words, "I have a date with a scientist who's developed a conscience."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Maya Ibuki knew she shouldn't have stopped in a bar on the way home, but the young woman needed a stiff drink. She couldn't get the poor bastard who had been partially turned to LCL out of her mind. Was he still alive, in a lab somewhere, or had someone put him out of his misery?
"Here you go, Ms," the bartender smiled, her black hair falling into her face.
Maya blinked, "I didn't order this."
"Lady at the end of the bar," the bartender smiled, moving on to another customer.
Maya turned to look, blinking at the blonde haired woman at the end of the bar, dressed in a red blouse and slightly darker red skirt. She looked hot and clearly knew it, casually ignoring invitations from men and women around her. Instead she met Maya's glance and smiled, nodding slightly in welcome.
Nervously Maya picked up her drink and walked over, settling in the empty seat beside her. "Thank you for the drink," she said quietly.
"You're welcome," the blonde said, "I'm Motoko." She smiled, "I'd ask if you come here often, but this is the first time I've seen you here."
"Maya," she smiled back, "and yeah, I'm a first timer. Rough day at work."
"Then I guess it's my lucky day," Motoko winked charmingly.
To be continued....