DC Evangelion
Chapter 9: Aerial Assault!
Major Hikaru Goro glanced over his shoulder to his backseat tactical officer who was examining her various tactical readouts. "Approaching optimum missile range to target. Ready Sora?" he asked.
Lieutenant Sora Kurosawa grinned back, "Hey, I'm always ready to blow stuff up Boss," she said giving him a thumbs up and flashing a toothy grin.
"Right." Goro turned back to face forward and flipped a toggle. "Activating VR HUDS," he said softly as around him, the virtual reality heads-up displays activated, showing real-time images from several hundreds of micro-TV cameras built into the exterior of the aerodyne. It created a blurry double-image for a moment. Goro took one last look of the outside world, trying to commit it to memory before he reached out and flipped a second toggle.
"Closing canopy," he said.
Immediately armored panels slid out, cutting off the view of the outside world, hence the need for the VR HUDS.
"Canopy sealed." Goro reported, suppressed a flinch as the armored panels locked closed with a dull thump. They were supposed to be a safety measure and it made sense, he supposed. But he couldn't help but feel that a pilot should rely on his regular eyesight when he was flying, not some incredibly fancy sophisticated and realistic holographic simulation.
Goro tightened his grip around his control yoke and listened as Kurosawa opened her dedicated com channel. "Attention Tac Officers! Prepare to receive preprogrammed targeting data!" she said crisply and began tapping keys.
Armored bays opened and small boxy missile launchers extended. He heard Sora mutter, "At least it's a damn big target," she remarked before she raised her voice, "FIRE!" she shouted.
General Hiro Matsuda silently watched the holographic projection screen as dozens of rockets were launched from the circling aerodynes in a cloud of smoke.
They streaked towards the lumbering XT and detonated in mid-flight, the shaped charge released a rapidly expanding funnel shaped cloud of plastic filaments. The small thermoplastic filaments immediately reacted to the extreme heat of the explosion. As they were designed to do, they drew in the ambient temperature and expanded, growing in size and shape, forming a wedge shaped form with razor sharp monomolecular edges.
The triangular shredder darts continued their flight to smash headlong into the gigantic form of Sachiel. The darts sliced and cut and shredded everything in its path, barely slowed down by the obstacle of Sachiel's body, much like a thresher would mow down a field of wheat.
Sachiel didn't even notice as he continue to take one single gigantic step at a time. Moments later his body repaired itself, Matsuda could literally see the flesh reknitting itself and within the span of a single stride, Sachiel was fully restored.
Maybe it did notice them, Matsuda thought bleakly, maybe it just DIDN'T care because they couldn't really harm it.
The Blackhawks launched a second wave of rockets. Different ones this time. They came streaking in and exploded in a bright flash of napalm and white phosphorous causing the gigantic XT to go up in flames!
Any NORMAL thing would be writhing around in agony. Any NORMAL thing would quite probably be dead. This wasn't anything normal however... Hiro closed his eyes and shook his head before opening them again to see the XT still moving forward as parts of it continued to burn here and there.
It was a monster.
Hiro felt a wave of dread in him as he watched the expressionless mask-like face of the XT continue striding forward, not even bothering to acknowledge their presence.
"Why does the JSSDF even bother? Surely they must realize their weapons just aren't effective..."
The speaker had pitched her words low and soft, clearly trying to not call attention to herself but Hiro heard them anyways. He stiffened, feeling the urge to snap at her but instead, he heard someone else retort for him.
"It is simply human nature," Yui Ikari said in a clear ringing voice. She gazed at Ritsuko Akagi with a benign smile. "We will fight, even if it seems hopeless, even meaningless. Because it is not in our nature to ever give up or to ever stop trying. We will struggle against the darkness, against all odds, despite despair and hopelessness and fear." She fell silent for a moment and then in a quiet voice that was heard throughout the entire chamber, "And that is why we WILL win." she said firmly.
Hiro Matsuda hoped she was right. He really did.
"This XT is really starting to piss me off," Sora growled.
Goro felt a grin on his face. "Giving up?" he inquired lightly.
"Hell, no!" Sora snapped as she began tapping computer keys again. "Arm deep penetrators." she ordered tersely.
Goro raised an eyebrow at that but kept silent. Technically speaking he was the pilot of the aerodyne and responsible for it's maneuvering. The actual assault however was the responsibility of the backseater, the tactical officer. The deep penetrators were experimental and of a last ditch response only. On the other hand, he mused, nothing else seemed to be working either. He drummed his fingers anxiously, feeling helpless and more a little like a damn chauffeur than a fighter pilot and watched his instrument plot.
He heard racks of missiles being unloaded from the launchers and within the missile magazines, he imagined new ones were being hurriedly deployed into the launchers. "FIRE!" Sora barked.
Once more smoke bloomed from the aerodynes and a series of missiles erupted from their midst to hurdle headlong at Sachiel.
Instead of exploding however, the missiles plunged into the creature's body and was swallowed up.
Sachiel continued his unhurried pace.
One step.
Then another.
Then suddenly it faltered.
"Shake THIS off you freaking alien BASTARD!" Sora Kurosawa muttered as she turned away from a holo screen of a timer counting down to glare at the image of the XT. It flailed momentarily as bulging blisters began forming all over its body and they erupted in a storm of bloody fluid and the creature collapsed.
She broke into a wide grin, "YES!" she cried out triumphantly.
"Interesting. Were those the deep penetrators?" Fuyusuki asked curiously.
Zhang nodded proudly. "Yes. Surgically sharpened projectiles that were designed to burrow deep into the body where a timed charge would detonate. Incidentally inflicting massive body damage to the XT."
Matsuda continued to watch dispassionately.
They all watched the screen as the creature rose to its feet once more looking unhurt and unfazed.
There was a collective gasp and more than one throat choked in response. "I don't believe it." Ivanov muttered softly with narrowed eyes, "Fuck!" he swore a bit more loudly this time, "What does it take to KILL this thing!"
Matsuda felt a corner of his mouth twist upward in grim amusement. "Well, it wouldn't be a very effective autonomous war machine if it wasn't self-regenerating and capable of repairing itself now would it?" he asked.
Zhang abruptly straightened. Well, got even stiffer than he usually did. He cupped a hand over his right ear which was wearing a communication earbug. He grimaced. "Repeat that." he ordered in a cold, flat, and harshly robotic tone of voice. He nodded choppily. "Confirmed." he said and tore the earbug off. Everyone else in the room were starting to get nervous at his reaction. Zhang ignored their questioning looks and sidelong glances. Instead he looked at Matsuda and said, "That was the JSSDF. They're getting ready to use Final Scenario. Code name: Pale Horseman."
Matsuda felt like a hand had clenched into a fist over his heart. It had come to this. They were going to use the N2.
"OK Blackhawks," Goro spoke into the squadron channel, "form up with your wingman. We're going in," he pressed a key, cutting the circuit momentarily and glanced over his shoulder. "Closing into knife range is not what I had in mind," he remarked.
Sora nodded and sighed, "I know, but the plasma lasers lose a lot of their punch this far out and they're our last option."
Goro nodded. The further the distance, the more energy dissipated and conversely the closer they were, the more powerful the plasma lasers were. Of course, closing the distance meant getting closer TO the XT. Like about the thing's arm reach. Goro had seen enough movies to know how usually THAT brilliant idea turned out which is why he didn't think too much of this plan.
They still had a number of missiles and rockets to fire but they might as well be hurling spitballs at this thing. To be frank, he had his doubts about the effectiveness of the plasma lasers too. If this thing could shrug off the missiles they were hurling at it, the lasers couldn't possibly kill it either. But he wasn't about to just walk—er fly away without trying everything. Who knows, he thought wildly, maybe it's only vulnerable to laser beams. The rational part of himself just snorted and reminded him that this was real life not some manga. It couldn't possibly be THAT easy.
Oh well, this beats being a chauffeur, he thought as he and his wingman began their attack run. He glanced at a HUD that showed the rear angle view and nodded seeing his wingman as right in position to the right and below him. His knuckles tightened around the control yoke as they began a nice slow arc towards the XT and began to accelerate to maximum speed.
Matsuda glanced upwards and addressed the audio sensors built into the ceiling itself. "BRAINIAC?" he inquired, sounding much more calmly than he actually was.
Instantly a new holographic screen popped up showing three glowing spinning circles arranged in an upside down triangular pattern. "BRAINIAC is online General Matsuda," the deep and resonant voice of the sophisticated artificial intelligence spoke.
"Data projections on the XT," Matsuda requested evenly.
"Absence of hard data lowers accurate computed predictions by approximately 43.8 percent," the disembodied voice stated as if peevish at having to commit such a heinous crime as guessing. Guessing was ... imprecise.
Matsuda grinned slightly, "I won't hold it against you, BRAINIAC." he said knowing full well that BRAINIAC's suppositions were better than most people's facts.
"Very well. Current projections suggest that the current military forces possess a 23.7 percent chance of destroying the XT by use of conventional weaponry. That percentage is rapidly dropping downward. I believe it will be necessary to revise the projections within the next five minutes—"
The aerodynes raced towards Sachiel who abruptly halted and looked at the insects who had been buzzing around in circles around him were suddenly charging toward him. It cocked its head and considered.
Sora Kurosawa armed the four plasma lasers built into the wings of the aerodyne and waited as the targeting scope locked onto the XT. Not that she could possibly miss a target this size but she wasn't about to take any chances. The crosshairs flashed green and sounded a steady tone but she waited, her finger mere millimeters above the discharge key panel and waited as the XT loomed larger and larger in the screen. Steady, she thought to herself.
Steaaady... She felt a bead of sweat running down her forehead.
They were practically right on top of Sachiel. NOW! Sora thought and stabbed the fire button ... as Sachiel flung out its arms upwards and space rippled and distorted as a wall of force formed in midair. Four brilliant beams of light lashed out from the muzzles of the wing cannons. Less than a second later, the other aerodynes fired as well and multiple streaks of light rained forth.
And did absolutely nothing.
The beams struck Sachiel's Absolute Terror Field and were bent or twisted aside. Sachiel merely impassively watched as the Blackhawks' last ditch attempt completely failed to penetrate his defensive barrier.
Goro blinked. "What the Hell?" he blurted as he stared at the rippling energy field and the deflecting beams streaking off harmlessly. Then he remembered their course heading which was—! "Break off! Break off!" he shrieked and yanked the control yoke hard.
The entire aerodyne shuddered and groaned as it twisted into a modified barrel roll, barely evading the crackling energy field. Goro grunted as the G-forces slammed into his midriff but he remained in control of the aerodyne, yanking it out of its roll and stabilizing its flight path.
Goro saw and heard the explosion behind him. He glanced at the rear view HUD and winced seeing the remains of his wingmate's aerodyne tumble off, scattering across the rest of the glowing energy field.
He saw another aerodyne crash headlong into the AT Field, it's structure crumpling before it too exploded in a brilliant flash proving the age old maxim of what happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object. And the aerodyne was sadly no irresistible force. It was like watching a bug splattering onto the windshield of a car.
He heard Sora groan as a third attempted to evade its but was fraction too late. One of it's wings impacted with the AT Field and snapped off with it's entire engine. The entire aircraft violently spun around out of a control like a top. It bounced once, twice off the forcefield and for a second, Goro thought the pilot might somehow regain partial control before it smashed a third and final time and exploded, shredding itself to pieces.
A fourth barely managed to react to the sudden evasion order and skimmed the surface of the energy field, skidding briefly across part of the AT Field. One of its engines sparked and smoked as it fought for control of the crippled craft.
The rest of the squadron had reacted in time, peeling off to evade a head on collision with the AT Field.
Dammit! Three aircrafts down with a fourth probably not combat capable anymore. And the blasted XT had a forcefield! Goro thought in disbelief and almost petulantly, that was fucking cheating or... or... or SOMETHING!
"—excuse me." BRAINAC paused for a moment before resuming smoothly, "It would appear the time needed for revising the projections were somewhat inaccurate."
A second holographic screen appeared as it replayed the scene of the plasma lasers striking the AT Field again and being deflected at a much slower speed and then freezing in mid-frame of the energy barrier.
"The XT has just demonstrated the capacity for generation of an AT Field," BRAINIAC reported.
"I know! I just saw it!" Matsuda snarled at the AI.
Unaffected by the emotional outburst, BRAINIAC continued, "Although structurally dissimilar, the AT Field generated by the XT possesses an identical waveform pattern to the xenological organism code named Invader One," BRAINIAC stated firmly as another holo screen appeared of a captured video image of Sachiel was placed side by side with a grainy static photo copy of a gigantic being of light with a text inset below it. 'Antarctica. 2000 A.D.'
Matsuda felt a corner of his mouth twitch involuntarily at that bit of information. "Damn," he whispered.
BRAINIAC continued dispassionately, "I hereby conclude that this XT is indeed related to the one present at Antarctica fifteen years ago. I currently project that the military possesses a .02 percent chance of destroying the XT which I am therefore now classifying as Invader Two."
Matsuda nodded grimly. Those were odds that would make even a professional gambler sweat.
"Suppressive fire!" Goro bellowed. They had to get the Hell out of there! They were all sitting ducks! If that thing attacked the scattered and disorganized squadron now, they'd be slaughtered!
"Roger!" Sora screamed, instantly understanding that they had to distract and delay the XT. Her fingers flew over the keyboards and immediately the armored panels popped open and a series of magnesium flares shot out and ignited, their blinding radiance shimmered off the AT Field.
It was quickly followed by a series of conventional explosive warheads. Most detonated upon contact with the barrier, sprinkling the AT Field with pinpricks of light and heat and concussive force. Some however did not. They struck at an angle and were deflected off.
Some flew onward where the safety range package caused them to self-destruct.
Some were sent spinning off. Their guidance system confused, the almost brainless missiles delayed detonation, unable to confirm that they were out of possible range of friendly forces and thus, a few were still trying to sort out their location when they impacted to the earth.
One struck an entire grove of trees that had survived unscathed Sachiel's passage and was now demolished now by a failed attack of man.
Another blasted a small hill and completely leveled it.
A third plowed a huge trench in a field when its trigger mechanism malfunctioned and remained for several days before it was retrieved by an ordnance disposal team.
A fourth and final missile however struck a section of a highway. Concrete stressed and shattered and went flying. A huge chunk went sailing and pulverized an electric transformer. Actually, a KEY electric transformer.
It sent a massive surge of electricity throughout its grid. It blew out the various electric lights and traffic signals for this section of the highway, mostly inconvenient but relatively minor damage. However a portion of the grid also covered a section of the magnetic levitation rail array which serviced the mag-lev train.
The surge of electricity scrambled the servitor droid which was still in the process of connecting itself to the mainframe of the computer server. It let out a scrambled squeal as current poured into it. The droid had surge protectors of course. Those surge protectors however were never intended for the level of electricity that the servitor was subjected to and blew out.
Shinji Ikari let out a cry of surprise as bright white and blue sparks flashed from the spindly body of the floating robot as it twitched and jerked before it crashed into the plush carpet. Then all of the lights sparked and sputtered, several of them exploding.
Shinji let out another scream and threw up his hands to shield himself from the bits of glass showering him before suddenly the entire car jerked and he heard the magnetic levitators flutter and fail, causing the entire car to drop over a foot.
He gave another cry as the entire car slammed onto the track with a sound like a bomb going off and he was knocked off his feet and sent flying. Even as he went airborne, part of his mind inanely remarked that he was sure screaming an awful lot, a split second before he crashed into the carpet.
Speed and inertia caused the entire passenger car to continue for several hundred feet before grinding to a halt.
And then ... all was silent.
A/N: To whom it may concern, Sachiel is indeed the Third Angel but MOST of the human race currently believes these gigantic creatures to be alien invaders. Only Lorenz Keele and the members of SEELE who have possession of the Dead Sea Scrolls know otherwise. The JSA does not and thus, refers to them as XTs.
Also, as far as the JSA is aware, Adam is the first and only one they have encountered. Save for Kal-El of course. They never discovered Lilith, so as far as they know Sachiel is the SECOND Invader.
I always thought it was a bit stupid for NERV to constantly refer to Sachiel as the Third Angel. It begs the question that if this was the third, then what was the first two? Considering that they were trying to cover up Adam's emergence as a meteorite impact and hide the existence of Lilith, it was almost like asking people to question things with such an obvious numbering system with a few missing numbers.
On a separate note, I would like to dedicate this chapter to Arthur Hansen. When I first started this thread on Anime Aadventures and began this storyline several years ago, Arthur was kind enough to lend his time and effort to correcting my massively incorrect grammar and horribly disjointed fragments. A task he continues to do to this very day as well as allowing me to bounce my ideas, both good and bad off him for his opinion. This was actually the first episode that he helped me revise and correct. I probably don't say it often enough, but thanks Art, I don't think it would have come out as well as it did.
He doesn't post anymore on the Aadventures but he's still on here and does occassionally update his work.