Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars or Evangelion.

Author's note: I have returned.

Shinji's eyes opened, and he took in his surroundings, as he did each morning. As he did each morning, he got out of bed, closed his eyes in contemplation, and sighed. As he did each morning, he put on his armor and checked his sidearm. And as he did each morning, he walked to his bedroom door, which opened at his command, and he punched the wall to his left as hard as he could.

*CLANG!* The sound reverberated through the mostly empty hallway. There weren't many men here at this hour, but there were a few. If Shinji noticed them, he didn't acknowledge them, and they certainly didn't try and catch his eye. He passed them all by and made his way to the bridge.

Behind him, Commander Red left his own room: the one to the left of Shinji's. Alex was already in the hallway, and walked over to greet him.

"He's still in that mood, eh?" asked Alex.

"Like you need to ask," answered Red. "I need you to look at this, though. I'm starting to get very concerned." He beckoned Alex into his room, and pointed at the wall to his right. Alex's eyes widened in shock.

"What in the..." his voice trailed off. There was a large dent just a bit lower than shoulder height. "How in the galaxy did that happen?"

"Shinji is my alarm clock," said Red. "I know that it's time to get up every morning when I hear that happening."

"You mean he's...?"

"Does it really surprise you?" asked Red. "You've seen some of the things he's capable of. The gap he jumped? The tank back on Utapau? The cliff all those years ago on Geonosis?" Alex was silent, and so Red continued. "Every morning, he's so frustrated with the current state of affairs that he hauls off and smashes his fist into that wall. When two things collide, either one thing breaks, or the other. Common sense dictates that his hand should be the thing breaking, but it's not. It's the wall."

"That shouldn't be possible," said Alex. "That's high-grade plastisteel, and more parts metal than anything else."

"Sometimes I really wonder," said Red. "Just how human is Shinji? Do you ever wonder if he's more than that?"

"I don't know," said Alex. "I do know this though. Given his record, what we know about him, and that-" he pointed directly at the wall "-I'm just glad he's with us."

Shinji's thoughts, meanwhile, where elsewhere. As he mechanically made his way to the bridge, his mind drifted back to what was now almost a year ago. Rei's hologram had been sitting in front of him, and he had had trouble trying to say what was happening.

"I... Rei, I..." he had fumbled.

"Yes?" she had asked, her normally blank face displaying the smallest hint of confusion.

"I have bad news," Shinji had finally said, his heart and hers both sinking at the words. "I can't come home."

Shinji, presently, took a deep breath. Rei had nodded and said she'd understood. But he knew better. He didn't know how, but he felt her emotions; all the pain she felt upon knowing they couldn't see each other. Or had it just been his own pain? He wasn't sure where hers began and his ended, but he was certain he could feel it, somewhere, somehow.

He snapped back to reality as he entered the bridge. The pilots and officers in the room acknowledged him and then went back to work. He took a deep breath in and waited. In moments, a hologram of Darth Vader faded into existence in front of him. Shinji was one of the few men in the room not visibly uncomfortable with the Sith Lord's virtual appearance.

"Shinji," he began, "I have a new assignment for you."

"What?" asked Shinji, somewhat irate.

"We've tracked the stolen plans, at long last, to Polis Massa," said Vader, ignoring Shinji's attitude. "You are quite close to that asteroid. I want you to go there."

Shinji had been in the military for over 20 years. He had seen things, and been forced to do things, that to some men would be unimaginable. In all this time, especially in the Empire, there was one thing he'd learned: how to keep a straight face. At the mention of Polis Massa, it took all Shinji had to keep that face.

"Polis Massa, sir?" he asked. "Isn't that just a medical station?"

"So you've heard of it," said Vader. "Good. The place troubled me when the report came in. I don't know why. I have the feeling that the Rebels are hiding something there, something other than the plans."

"I've been there before, sir," said Shinji. "Once, years ago. I don't believe the Rebels could be hiding anything there. It's too small a station." Vader was questioningly silent. "I will check it, though. Chances are they could be hiding a few tanks in the landing bay, or the cargo bay."

"I take it you did a thorough inspection last time you were there," said Vader.

"Enough to know where they'd keep anything they might have," said Shinji. "If they have anything, I'll find it."

"Good," said Vader. "Do not fail me."

"I won't," said Shinji. The hologram dissipated, and Shinji sighed. "Come out of hyperspace far enough away from Polis Massa that we won't be detected, and then sneak in. We don't want those plans getting away again. I, for one, want to go home."

"Agreed," said Alex, having entered the bridge during Vader's transmission.

"We could all use a little down time, here," said Red. "Everyone get ready." Shinji nodded towards his two commanders, choosing to let them handle preparations. He had his own mission to get ready for. A personal one.

888

Once they touched down on the station, Shinji knew there wouldn't be much time. He turned to Red and Alex. "You two will be in charge of battle operations," he said. "I've been here before. I'm going to go off on my own and try to find that holocron, alright?"

"What makes you think you'll find it?" asked Alex

"Hunch," answered Shinji, putting on his helmet.

"Shouldn't we send someone to back you up?" asked Red.

"No," answered the general, "this mission is safest alone. I'll be fine, but I need the distraction you guys can provide. I have to find the holocron before they can move it, alright? You follow any information on it's supposed whereabouts, anything that comes in, and I'll look for it independently, in case this is just another wild chase."

"Makes enough sense to me," said Red. "Let's get moving." Shinji watched as Red and Alex pressed forward, leading the troopers. However, he had other matters to attend to.

He moved as quickly and quietly as possible. He could hear the sounds of battle beginning down the hall. He stopped for a moment, trying to think of the best possible route towards the basement levels of the complex.

Suddenly, he got the feeling all was not right. He looked around and saw nothing, but the feeling kept getting stronger. Giving into instinct, he rolled to the right, and just in time. He got up in time to see a crate that had been next to him disintegrate. He blasted at where he suspected the source of the attack had come from. He had set his blaster to stun.

"Argh!" cried a voice. Shinji heard a thud. Suddenly, on the floor in front of him, something materialized. It was a Bothan! Shinji knelt down to make sure the stun ray hadn't affected him adversely. After all, he'd only ever used the weapon on humans before, and did not know much about Bothan physiology. However, to his relief, it seemed to have stunned him like it would have anyone else.

'How was he invisible?' thought Shinji. 'Can Bothan's just do that?' He searched the unconcious Bothan, and found two devices he did not recognize. One was clearly a weapon. Shinji fired it at another nearby crate, and the target disintegrated. Shinji had never seen a weapon like this before. He was glad he'd dodged when he did.

The other object was more puzzling. He'd never seen anything quite like it before. He found a switch, and after a moment of debating with himself about it, decided to press it. To his surprise, he turned completely invisible.

He flipped the switch again. 'It must be a limited use device,' he thought, strapping it to his belt. 'That's why the Bothan turned visible after I stunned him. I'll study it later, though. I need to get down to the basement.'

Shinji navigated the many corridors of the Polis Massa station. Occasionally, he almost found himself in the middle of a fight. He had turned off his communicator for the time being, as he didn't want to be distracted by any transmissions, so he had no idea just what was happening on the battlefront.

Once, as he turned the corner, he saw a group of Rebels. Just in time, he hit the switch on the stealth device he'd taken off of the Bothan.

"Did you see that?" asked a Rebel.

"What?" asked another.

"Thought I saw... nah, never mind," said the Rebel. "Probably nothing. I'm just stressed." As Shinji took the next hallway, he was able to catch the Rebel saying he thought he'd "seen a ghost trooper, or something." Shinji smiled to himself. A Ghost Trooper, huh? That would be an interesting reputation to have.

As Shinji traversed the station he noticed that the lower levels seemed abandoned. In fact, it didn't look like the rebels had been down here at all. That was just fine by him.

After a time, he finally reached his destination. He came into a large, cavernous area. He saw what he was looking for: the vault. He looked around and saw that all of the cameras were still there. He once again flipped the switch on the stealth device, and quickly went to work deactivating the surveillance devices.

He deactivated the last camera just in time, and became visible again. He walked over to the vault. Everything appeared to be exactly as he'd left it more than fifteen years ago. Shinji stepped up to the terminal and entered his password.

He removed his glove and placed his hand on the screen. The computer scanned his hand print and accepted it. Then he removed his helmet as the retinal scanner activated. This too cleared. The vault door unlocked, and slowly came open.

There it was, just as he'd left it. His secret weapon. His mother's Legacy. His father's gift. The EVA.

Satisfied that the weapon had remained untouched, Shinji closed and secured the vault once more, locking everything back up. He put his helmet and glove back on, and walked over to one of the security cameras. He activated the stealth device and quickly set about reactivating all of the cameras. He got out of the cavern just as the stealth turned itself back off and entered it's cooldown faze.

Now that his personal business had been taken care of, Shinji needed to get back to his men. He turned on his communicator and contacted Red.

"Still alive?" he joked.

"Course," said Red. "Have you found anything?"

"No," said Shinji, "They didn't have anything hidden where I checked. What's the situation?"

"We're closing in on the holocron's suspected location," answered Red. "Sending you the coordinates." Shinji received the coordinates and checked his hollow map. He smiled underneath his helmet.

"I'll meet you there," said Shinji. "From where I'm at now, I can flank them."

"I look forward to seeing you here," said Red. "Anyone can get this sorted out, it's you."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," said Shinji. He shot off the communicator and got moving.

888

Shinji arrived at the battlefront just in time. A number of troopers, including Alex, were pinned down by the Rebels. Shinji, his blaster set to stun, took the enemy by surprise. He was able to knock them all out before they could react. After the last rebel fell, he calmly walked over to his men.

"Did we get it?" he asked.

"It's right over there," said Alex, pointing to the table the Rebels had been standing next to. Shinji walked over and grabbed it. The moment gave him pause. He looked around the room, at the number of bodies present on the floor. He knew there would be more strewn about the station.

'All of this fighting,' he thought, holding the holocron up, 'just for this little tiny thing.' He placed it in a ouch on his belt, and motioned for his men to gather up the Rebels he had neutralized. He beckoned Alex to walk beside him.

"How many casualties?" he asked.

"Too many," said Alex.

"Prisoners?" asked Shinji.

"Not enough," answered Alex. Shinji shook his head sadly.

"This all has to stop."

"I agree, sir. But how, you know?"

"Wish I knew."

888

Shinji and the officers of the 501st hand delivered the holocron to Lord Vader. Shinji marched right up to him and handed it to him, not even trying to hide his feelings.

"I've done what you asked," said Shinji. "Are you happy now, Vader?"

"I am not sure I appreciate your tone," said Vader.

"Sorry," said Shinji, not sounding too sorry, "but we're all a little tired. Two solid years on the go, no leave, no rest."

"I know," said Vader. "But it had to be done. These plans were of the utmost importance. Thank you, Shinji. You and your men have earned your leave. You will get one extra week off, and then you will be back to work." Shinji's face softened.

"Thank you," he said. His officers let out a cheer. It was unprofessional, but they were too pleased to care. They all turned and began marching back towards the ship.

"Shinji," came Vader's voice, "a moment, please." Shinji turned back to face Vader.

"Yes, Lord Vader?" asked Shinji.

"I... I am sorry about all of this," said Vader, surprising the general. "I know I put a lot of pressure on you. I feel that you should know why. You are my oldest friend, Shinji. The only one I have left, I imagine. You are also the only one I can trust."

"Really?" asked Shinji.

"Yes," said Vader. "So go now. Enjoy your leave. The Empire thanks you for your service."

"Thank you, Lord Vader," said Shinji saluting. He turned and left the room. He made his way back to the shuttle that would be taking him back to the venator.

Finally. After two long years. He was going home.

Wow. Now, I think I owe everyone an explanation. In order to write this story, I played Battlefront 2 a lot. A. LOT. I was so sick of this particular battle that I could not touch the game, and this led to me not writing the chapter either. However, finally, I decided to go with what I really wanted to do here: just show Shinji. Polis Massa, for the purposes of my story, was never about the battle that took place there. It was about Shinji making sure that the EVA was still safely tucked away.

Now, I want to assure you all that I am in fact, back. An awesome friend of mine made a deal with me: as my part of the deal, I had to update all the fics that needed updating. With this piece, I have now done that. We also have a continuing deal that will assure I write two chapters (can be from any story) a week from here on out. That means I'll be updating, in general, regularly.

If you wish to thank my friend, you may do so in any comments you leave, and I will pass your words on to her. Til next time!