A/N: I now return with chapter twelve of "Neon Genesis Striker" which tells the back story of Sakamoto in this story and has the next Angel attack.
Thanks to my pre-reader Makuhari-fan01
Disclaimer: I don't own Evangelion or Strike Witches
The scene resembled a war zone. The Sakamoto Expedition was in Antarctica on a top secret research project when things went horribly wrong. Now the entire continent of Antarctica was being obliterated.
"Dammit." groaned Dr. Sana Sakamoto as she staggered through the snow to the emergence capsule, her six year old daughter Mio in her arms. The little girl's right eye badly injured and there was a cut on her head, but otherwise was okay. Dr. Sakamoto placed Mio into the capsule and place the Sakamoto family katana inside.
"Mama." said Mio opening her good eye to stare up at her mother.
"I love you darling." said Dr. Sakamoto before kissing Mio on the forehead and sending the capsule away. A few minutes later a giant of light rose over Antarctica, announcing the destruction of the seventh continent, and wiping out of existence with everybody everybody who had still been alive, including Dr. Sakamoto.
"Fifteen years." said Sakamoto as she stood in her room and adjusted her eye patch while the rain came down outside.
"Here are some towels to dry off." said Yoshika emerging from the bathroom. She had just let Hartmann and Lucchini in the apartment to escape the rain.
"Thanks Yoshika." said Hartmann as she and Lucchini took the towels and began to dry off.
"That rain came out of nowhere." added Lucchini.
"Where's Sakamoto?" asked Hartmann looking around.
"She's sleeping." answered Yoshika.
"The we'll be as quiet as possible." replied Lucchini.
"What the hell is going on?" asked Hanna popping her head into the living room and seeing the two guests, "Who let these two pervs in here?"
"Be quiet. Sakamoto is trying to sleep." said Lucchini putting her finger to her lips.
"Well I'm changing and if you peek you're dead!" snapped Hanna before returning to he room.
"She's so vain." said Hartmann as the Sakamoto entered the kitchen.
"Did we wake you Sakamoto?" asked Hartmann jumping to her feet.
"We're so sorry." added Lucchini.
"I was already awake so it's no problem." said Sakamoto smiling as Hartmann noticed the new insignia on the shoulders of Sakamoto.
"Congratulations on the promotion Sakamoto!" shouted Hartmann happily.
"You totally deserve it." added Lucchini.
"Thanks you two." said Sakamoto before turning to face Yoshika, "Don't forget we have a synch test tonight."
"I won't." replied Yoshika.
"You heard that Hanna?" asked Sakamoto calling out to the Second Girl.
"Yes ma'am." answered Hanna after which Sakamoto put her shoes on, grabbed her umbrella and headed out the door.
"So what's that about a promotion?" asked Yoshika.
"Sakamoto has been promoted to Major. She has the insignia on her shoulders." answered Hartmann.
"I didn't notice." said Yoshika.
"Me either." said Hanna entering the living room.
"Major Sakamoto deserves better." said Lucchini.
A few hours later the girls were at NERV running a routine synch test. Lynne and another male technician were running the test while Perrine and Sakamoto watched.
"Both Sanya and Hanna have reached their limits but Yoshika can keep going." said Lynne.
"Yoshika has improved greatly since she first arrived." noted Perrine.
"Yoshika has been doing amazing." said Lynne smiling.
"It's like she was born to pilot the Striker." said the male technician.
"But it's not what she wants. I know she hates piloting Striker." said Sakamoto solemnly.
("That's good girls.") said Perrine to the girls who were with the others a few minutes later.
"You three did very well." said Perrine, "Especially you Yoshika, you're synch ration is up to 65%."
"But it's still below mine." scoffed Hanna.
"True, but at this rate Yoshika will surpass you soon." said Perrine.
"I'll see you at home." snapped Hanna angrily as she stormed off.
After finishing a little paperwork Sakamoto headed home herself with Yoshika riding shotgun.
"You did a great job today Yoshika." said Sakamoto as the two drove home together.
"Thanks but I really did like being praised like that." replied Yoshika.
"Some people are just like that. Whatever makes you happy and comfortable and not care so much what others think of it." said Sakamoto followed by a few minutes of silence.
"How long have you been at NERV?" asked Yoshika.
"For a few years now. My mother used to work under your father. Of course now the roles are reversed." answered Sakamoto before noticing Yoshika seemed like she had something else on her mind, "If you have anything you need to talk about feel free to tell me."
"I'm okay." replied Yoshika.
The rest of the trip was spent in silence before the two returned home. Upon entering their apartment they discovered a party waiting.
"There's the guest of honor." said Hartmann who had been waiting along with Lucchini for the newly promoted Major to arrive. Sakamoto and Yoshika joined the others in the living room.
"To Major Sakamoto!" cried everybody including Yoshika as they clanged their drinks together in a toast.
"Thanks everybody and especially to you Hartmann for organizing this party." said Sakamoto.
"Actually it was Lucchini." replied Hartmann.
"Yup. It was all my idea." said Lucchini.
"Well thanks to you Lucchini." said Sakamoto.
"For once you did have a good idea." added Barkhorn as Pen-Pen sat on her lap.
"Why are you here Trude?" asked Hartmann.
"I invited her so there'd be class here." answered Hanna.
"Did you invite Sanya?" asked Sakamoto.
"Yeah but she's not the party type." answered Hanna shrugging her shoulders, "But I did invite Shirley."
"Oh great." said Sakamoto with fake enthusiasm.
"I'm glad you invited me Hanna." said Barkhorn before adding seriously, "Besides somebody has to keep Hartmann from drinking."
"I never drink." replied Hartmann who had several cans of beer in her backpack.
"Everybody knows you do and besides your favorite meal is beer-battered bratwurst and sauerkraut." pointed out Barkhorn which quickly led to an argument between guests.
"So, do you feel comfortable around this many people?" asked Sakamoto softly to Yoshika.
"Not really. I just don't like being the center of attention." answered Yoshika before asking herself, "Sakamoto, why did you join NERV?"
"So that's what you wanted to ask me earlier. It's been so long I don't even remember." answered Sakamoto. Shortly after the doorbell rang ending the fight.
"Shirley!" exclaimed Hanna happily but when she answered the door neither she nor Sakamoto were pleased.
"I was doing a little overtime at work and happened to bump into Perrine along the way." said Shirley as she joined the party grabbing a beer.
"Likely story." replied Hanna and Sakamoto in union.
"Need I remind you that you personally invited me." said Perrine.
"Yeah haven't forgotten." replied Sakamoto as Perrine joined them.
"Commander Minna must have tons of faith in you." said Shirley after chugging a beer, "This is the first time both Commander Minna and Sub-Commander Ferrara have left Fuso at the same time. They must have tons of faith in good old Sakamoto."
"My sister is out of the country?" asked Yoshika surprised.
"Indeed. Both she and the Sub-Commander are in Antarctica." answered Perrine.
A convoy of UN ships crossed the desolate wasteland that was once Antarctica. Large icebergs moving around the red and lifeless sea were all that remand. On the bow of the main ship Minna stood watching the ship's movements with Ferrara behind her.
"What a pitiful site. Antarctica was once a beautiful continent and now it's only a memory in the mind of old fools like me. Nothing can even live here anymore. This is the the true Dead Sea." said Ferrara as she looked at her surroundings.
"I think of it more as a baptism. This place has been cleansed of the original sin." countered Minna.
"I'd rather live in a place with people." replied Ferrara.
"Man caused this. Human beings are an arrogant species who pay for their follies and never learn from them. That is why our work is so important." said Minna spiteful.
"You sound just like your father." said Ferrara as a crew member ran onto the deck.
"We just received a message from Tokyo-2. An Angel is approaching NERV." said the man panicked.
"Ma'am, we have satellite video of the Angel." said Lynne as she, Amaki and Nishiki sat at their designated locations in Central Dogma while Sakamoto and Perrine stood behind them.
"Bring it up." ordered Sakamoto and when the image came up it revealed a giant, orange colored amoeba like Angel with a giant eye in the center of it's body floating above the Earth over Fuso.
"It's huge!" cried out Amaki seeing their enemy.
"It's been letting pieces of it's self fall to Earth. The first one landed pretty far off the shore but it's been getting much better at aiming." said Perrine.
"And if we were hit we'd become a Third Ashinoko." said Sakamoto referring to the natural lake and the artificial one created when Yoshika and Hanna defeated the Seventh Angel.
"More likely a near miss would mean this entire area would become an extension of the Pacific Ocean and the Kanto region would get a new beach on the outskirts of what was once this city." replied Perrine.
"The Angel is jamming all of our transmissions so we can't reach Commander Minna or Sub-Commander Ferrara so you're in charge Major." said Amaki.
"What's our orders?" asked Nishiki which caused Sakamoto to take a deep breath.
"Issue an order D-17 and evacuate all civilians in a 50 kilometer radius. We'll stop the Angel from falling and kill in the sky." ordered Sakamoto.
"Understood." replied the three technicians but when Sakamoto left she was followed by Perrine.
"Are you really going through with this?" asked Perrine shocked by the plan laid out by her friend.
"Yes I am." answered Sakamoto calmly.
"There is a good chance the girls may be killed and you're going to take such a risk! This isn't the Sakamoto that I know! You're only interested in getting revenge on the Angels!" snapped Perrine sound hysterical.
"I am the commanding officer and I will do as I see fit." said Sakamoto still calm before walking away and meeting with the girls.
"So there's a new Angel." said Hanna smiling while Yoshika and Sanya stood on her right and left side respectively stone faced.
"Yes and you girls are going to catch it." replied Sakamoto surprising all three.
"Are you out of your mind?" exclaimed Hanna.
"No. It's dropping pieces of it's self on Earth trying to aim at us and if it hits then we're all dead. So you're going to catch it with your shields and kill it so that won't happen." explained Sakamoto.
"You're nuts." sighed Hanna.
"A mission this dangerous requires you write a will before you embark in case something goes wrong." said Sakamoto.
"I have no need to since I won't be dying." said Hanna confidently.
"I don't need to write a will either." added Sanya.
"I'm feel the same ma'am." said Yoshika echoing her counterparts.
"Glad you feel up to it and as a reward I'll treat you both to a steak dinner on me." said Sakamoto.
"Thanks Sakamoto." said Yoshika happily.
"It sounds great." said Hanna with enthusiasm but when Sakamoto left she dropped her facade, "She really thinks a stake dinner will impress us. Man the Second Impact generation has low standards."
"She's trying the best she can." said Yoshika.
"Whatever, might as well figure out were we'll be headed." replied Hanna pulling out her Android phone and searching for five-star restaurants in Tokyo-3 as the three followed Sakamoto to Central Dogma.
"This is the Angel." said Sakamoto as the three entered Central Dogma and saw their opponent on the large computer screen.
"That's huge! We're expected to catch that with our shields!" cried Hanna.
"Indeed." replied Sakamoto as a map showing the possible drop range, the entire city stretching out to the mountains, popped on the screen, "Our projections show it will fall somewhere in this range."
"You're out of your damn mind in you think we can catch that!" exclaimed Hanna.
"We have no choice no get into your Strikers." ordered Sakamoto and they followed suit all be it with Hanna grumbling.
"Hanna, why do you pilot the Striker?" asked Yoshika as they walked breaking Hanna out of her grumbling.
"To show the whole world how great I am." answered Hanna boasting.
"To prove you exist." specified Yoshika.
"Something like that." replied Hanna who then looked at Sanya, "Why don't you ask Wonder girl?"
"I've already asked her." stated Yoshika.
"How close are you?" asked Hanna now suspicious.
"It's not like that." said Yoshika defensive.
"What about you? Why do you pilot?" asked Hanna.
"I don't know." answered Yoshika.
"How do you not know?" asked Hanna thrown off by the answer, "What are you, stupid?"
"Maybe I am." replied Yoshika as the girls reached their Strikers and jumped in. While getting hers, Yoshika remembered what Sakamoto had told her the night of the party.
"Yoshika, earlier you asked me why I joined NERV. I did it for my mother. My mother a scientist who became obsessed with her work; devoting so much time that her marriage to my father started to fail. My father started to "work late", something which I eventually realized meant he was paying for a high-end escort.
When mother found out they got into a huge fight; my father hit my mother and went to prison. When he got out he married his mistress and I haven't seen him in years. Mother threw herself further into her work neglecting me. I was always alone and very sad.
My mother took me with her to Antarctica, only because she couldn't find a babysitter, but when Second Impact occurred she sacrificed herself to save me. So I joined NERV to defeat the Angels and avenge her. She ran away from reality and abandoned everybody who depended on her but I've forgiven her and I don't want her death to be in vain. That's why I joined NERV."
"Okay, you can leave now." said Sakamoto to the three technicians.
"We're not going anywhere." replied Amaki.
"It's not just their fight. We can't let the girls risk their lives by themselves." added Nishiki.
"We're in this for the long haul." said Lynne.
"Thank you." replied Sakamoto bowing before giving out the command, "Launch!"
The girls were quickly launched and the waited for several minutes before the Angel began to fall near Yoshika who raced over and deployed her shield.
"It's heavy." groaned Yoshika under the weight of the Angel.
"Pilot Marseille, pick up your pace!" called Sanya as Hanna sped over to Yoshika.
"I'm going for the kill!" called back Hanna as she put her goggles on her face and charged at Angel while Sanya helped Yoshika. Hanna pulled out a family heirloom WWII bayonet from her back waist band used it to slash an opening in the Angel's shield before quickly breaking out her FN P90.
"Die!" yelled Hanna as she emptied her clip into the Angel. The three girls took off and deployed their shields again as the Angel exploded creating a third Lake Ashinoko and damaging Unit-01.
"I did it!" cried out Hanna happily as she kept a Cheshire cat smile on her face all the way back to Central Dogma.
"Congratulations ladies, you did an excellent job." said Sakamoto greeting the three as they re-entered Central Dogma.
"It's was no problem." replied Hanna proudly.
"Ma'am, we've made contact with Commander Minna." said Amaki.
"Put her on." ordered Sakamoto, "Ma'am, I'm sorry for what happened. Because of my plan Unit-01 was damaged and take full responsibility."
("The job of the Strikers is defeating the Angels so we should be luckily nobody was injured or killed.") replied Ferrara over the phone.
("Agreed. Overall the mission was a success. Good work Major.") added Minna.
"Thank you ma'am.") said Sakamoto who bowed on instinct.
"Speaking of is it pilot of Unit-01 there?") asked Minna.
"I'm here." said Yoshika nervously.
("I just read the report. Good work Yoshika.") said Minna causing Yoshika to feel ecstasy.
"T-T-Thank you." stammered Yoshika who also bowed out of instinct.
After the battle, Sakamoto and the girls left with Hanna fully intending on making Sakamoto fulfill her promise.
"Now don't forget your promise." said Hanna making sure Sakamoto didn't forget her promise.
"I won't." replied Sakamoto who was surprised when they arrived at a ramen shop instead.
"Why are we here?" asked Sakamoto.
"Well we know you don't have much money so we decided to go easy on you." answered Hanna who then put in her order and began to eat.
"Sakamoto, I know why I pilot Striker." said Yoshika as they ate.
"Why?" asked Sakamoto.
"I figured it out when I heard my sister's words earlier. I finally realized how happy praise can make you. That's why I pilot, to hear those words from my sister." answered Yoshika.
"That's why you pilot?" asked Hanna shocked, "You really are stupid."
A/N: There is chapter twelve. I hope you like what I did with Sakamoto, specifically the reason for the eye patch and her background, and I didn't make Sanya a vegetarian like Sanya because she doesn't strike me as one plus I believe she eats meat in the series but I might be wrong. Like Hayama last chapter the name Sana is a nod to Kodocha which I highly recommend. Next time, a virus-like Angel hacks into the Magi and it must be stopped without the use of Strikers. A slight insight to the background of Perrine in this story is also given. Please review!