July 22nd, 2012

Rei Ayanami sat on the bench in the cargo hold of a transport VTOL, hands folded in her lap. To an outside observer, she seemed cold, oblivious to all that was happening around her. In actual fact, she'd noted every detail in the hold when she'd sat down. Nothing had changed since then, except for the view outside the window opposite her, so that was what she paid attention to.

She was also getting rather bored, a feeling she was intimately familiar with (although she'd never admit it, especially not with the Commander in earshot. The Commander was always in earshot), and hoped they'd land soon. They'd been flying over desert for the past three hours, sixteen minutes and twenty-eight seconds. If she'd worked it out right, they should arrive in three minutes and thirty seconds.

As if on cue, Doctor Akagi walked down the steps leading to the cockpit. Approximately twelve hours since her last cigarette. She is going to be less cooperative than usual, Rei noted to herself.

"Good morning, Rei," said the doctor, "Ready to go?"

"Yes," said Rei. She knows I have been ready since we boarded, she thought. She'd noticed other people had a habit of confirming information they should already know, even people as intelligent as Doctor Akagi. That was one of the things that made interacting with her so-called "peers" so boring.

Rei, on the other hand, remembered everything and saw everything. The only other person who even came close to her in terms of memory was the Commander.

The VTOL finally landed, at an airbase on the coast of Israel. She noted the beach about two kilometres eastwards, the position of the sun indicating it was about 10.30 in the morning, the rows of military aircraft – British Typhoons, French Rafaels, Russian Su-47s, Mi-24s and a Ka-52 – the layout of the airbase and a million other things. Her mind worked out the temperature outside (40 degrees Celsius), an approximation of how much the base and its contents (minus certain items which would skew the total, which came to 5 billion euros), and started to work out the number of sand grains in the airbase before she cancelled that thought to focus more attention on her mission.

She'd walked down the ramp of the VTOL on autopilot, leaving Doctor Akagi to talk to the crew who had brought Unit 00 over, and was standing before a group of people - six, she counted - about her age (if she had been one to complain, she would have thought something along the lines of "great, not again" at this point), clad in variations of the same suit she wore.

Evangelion pilots.

Two – one boy, one girl - wore the black colours and emblems of the Russian Army Evangelion Squadron, a roaring bear on its hind legs. Another pair – again, one male and one female - wore the green-highlighted suits of the Chinese People's Evangelion Corps, with the stylised crossed swords and dragon emblem emblazoned on their chest. The final pair (another male/female pair – she wondered if it was a natural pattern, then decided it was probably a conscious choice on the part of the various nations involved in order to see which gender was more suited to piloting) wore heavier armoured suits, with helmets, in the camouflage of the British Evangelion Task Force. Their emblem – much smaller than the other emblems, and in dull shades – was a sword behind a shield.

The last pilot was Asuka Langley Sorhyu. They'd met once before.

The redhead was arguing with one of the British pilots (over matters of seniority, it seemed), while the other stood watching the rest of the group. The rest of the pilots were mixing with one another, although she couldn't speak Russian or Chinese. Note. Learn Russian and Chinese upon return, she thought. The silent British pilot – the boy - noticed her, and waved her over.

"You're the First Child, then?" came the voice from beneath the helmet, in English. She could speak English, luckily. She nodded. "Captain Ayanami. Royal Navy's Evangelion Task Force. I'll be coordinating the operation, or rather Rose here" - he gestured to the other British pilot - "will. How many hours of combat training have you had with your Eva?"

She held up a finger to stall the question. Something had to be clarified. "Did you say "Captain Ayanami?"" she asked.

"Michael Ayanami's my name," replied the pilot. "Oh yeah, what's yours? It's been kind of hectic, I forgot to ask."

"Rei Ayanami," she said. The Captain didn't seem very surprised , although he did take a half-step backwards – he must have noticed her hair and eye colour. If he was related to her, then he would have similar features.

"I figured we were related," he said, confirming her theory, "blue hair and red eyes aren't very common, even these days." He reached up to his helmet, twisted it to break the seal, and removed it. A scarred face with red eyes looked at her, framed by short, sky-blue hair. "Anyway, on to business. We can sort out the family tree later. How many hours combat training?" asked Captain Ayanami, tucking his helmet under his arm. Their suits must have some climate control, Rei thought, he doesn't appear to be reacting to the heat.

"One hour and thirty-three minutes," she replied. The Captain sighed.

"Just typical," he said. "Aside from Li, me and Rose, no-one here has combat experience. Me and Rose are the only ones with anti-Evangelion combat experience, and we don't know how to replicate half of what happened in that fight. We're actively trying not to replicate the other half. The training situation's just as bad, although you've got the worst record out of anyone here."

She felt a need to defend herself at that. "I can maintain a synchronisation score of forty-four percent," she said. "A full five points above the average of thirty-nine percent."

"Sync scores don't matter," replied the Captain, massaging his temple with his free hand. "Sorry. I shouldn't be taking this out on you." For a moment, the Captain looked... scared?

"RIGHT," he shouted, breaking the moment and getting the attention of the other pilots – Rei noticed that Li Jie kept talking in Chinese, as did one of the Russians, probably translating - "Now that we're all here, it's time to actually reveal the mission. As I am sure you are aware, the state of Israel is undergoing a general collapse. Political analysts attached to the UN say that the state itself is in no danger of a complete failure. That said, last week Evangelion Unit Zero-Three was reported missing, along with its pilot. Me and Rose were shipped out here in case the worst happened, and two days ago it did. An unidentified group, comparable to the Israeli military in terms of size and equipment, took several cities spread across the entire Middle East, including Jerusalem, Baghdad and Tehran. When the Israelis launched a full-scale counter-attack on Jerusalem, their forces were confronted by Unit Three, and retreated with heavy casualties. Yesterday, the UN received a combined appeal from pretty much every state in the Middle East – including some that have grudges with each other going back to the nineteen hundreds – asking for help. That's why you're all here. We need to set an example to the world that the use of Evangelions in national warfare will no longer be tolerated, and to enforce the Vatican Treaty signed two years ago. That's the politics. The actual information you need to know is this – we have a rogue Evangelion along with a sizeable supporting army. We have no idea where it is – it could still be in Jerusalem but recon says they can't see it – we don't know what its capabilities are, and we don't know what their ultimate objective is. In short, things are pretty much as they always are on the battlefield." That drew a laugh from Li as he finished translating – Rei decided it was probably a joke common to soldiers. Captain Katsuragi back in Tokyo-3 had often made similar remarks.

"Now, Pilot Officer Sorhyu brought up the rather thorny question of command earlier," continued the Captain. The other pilots looked concerned at this. "Technically speaking, we'll be reporting to the commander of the UN task force. Practically speaking, that's going to be difficult. She's got to manage a multinational coalition which has about thirty different nations providing troops, including a mixed British and French contingent. Off the record, that was a bit of a mistake on the part of the politicians, but Her Majesty and the French President want to push the whole "union" thing so General Cellier has to put up with it. I almost pity the poor woman. Anyway, since the only officers with any experience of commanding Evangelions in the field are both half a planet away in either direction, the good General has delegated sorting out command issues to us. If I'm entirely honest I don't think she likes me very much." Again, Rei noticed, the use of humour seemed to defuse the tension generated by the topic under discussion.

"I have a proposal," Captain Ayanami continued, "But I don't want you to go along with it just because I'm the one who's been talking all this time. With the exception of Pilot Officer Sorhyu, who has complained enough for one lifetime, you're all free to voice your complaints." He paused for a moment – Rei couldn't decide if he was preparing to continue, like several of her classmates did when giving presentations to the class, or if he was just letting the translators catch up. "My idea is pretty simple. We divide into national groups – Russians, Chinese, and a final group made up of Unit Seven and the NERVlings." One of the Russians – the girl - muttered something to the other, and both of them laughed. "Okay," said the Captain, smiling, "repeat that for those who don't speak Russian, please."

"Tatyana said "Unit Seven and the NERVlings sounds like a band"," said the male Russian – the translator. Captain Ayanami laughed, as did the other pilots.

"Maybe once this is over," he said. "But I'm pretty sure I'd be a terrible musician. Anyway, since Unit Seven is equipped with a reactor we can act as a mobile charging station, and with our enhanced comms arrays we're the best suited to act as coordinator. We'll take the centre, with the other two groups two minutes' travel time to our left and right as we advance. If something comes up and we need to split up further, whoever's normally in command of the national groups can take over. We've been ordered to advance before the UN Coalition, so that's not too likely to happen, but it's always safer to be prepared."

"What about language?" asked the English-speaking Russian. "Between us we speak five different languages. How are we supposed to coordinate?"

"Actually, it's more like seven different languages. I speak Latin and Rose speaks Spanish. Regardless, I was assuming we'd use English, and whoever doesn't speak English can get a translation from someone. There are translators back at command, I'll see about getting a few assigned into our comms," replied the Captain.

"It almost sounds like you've put some thought into this," said Asuka. "But my Unit Two isn't like any of these other Evas; it's far faster and more agile. Shackling it to your lumbering hulk is a waste."

"Which is why you won't be shackled," said Rose. The Captain glanced at her for a second (reprimand or surprise? thought Rei) and nodded. "What we're doing is basically a textbook deployment. The forces in the centre are supposed to act as a rapid reaction force to assist either flank, and vice versa. That's a role your Unit Two is well suited for; Unit Seven has the artillery to act as long-range support, Unit Zero can act as a reserve, but neither are fast enough to reach the flanks if urgent help is needed."

Captain Ayanami picked up the conversation. "If it looks like I've planned this in advance, it's because I have," he said, "and so has the Eva Task Force as a whole. On top of that, we don't need to decide where to go strategy-wise – we're tied to the coalition's main battlegroup. Any other ideas, or comments?"

There was silence for a few seconds, after the translators had finished.

"We have about two hours before the battlegroup starts to form up. Catch some sleep, a shower, food – whatever. Just report to your Evas at thirteen-fifteen hours. At thirteen-thirty, Evangelion season is officially open."

Michael climbed into the forward pilot's chair of Unit 07, linking the wires relaying his nerve impulses to the massive war machine into the slots riddling his body. Even at minimal power, and all of the restraints at maximum, he could feel the wind whistling through the cracks in the Eva's armour, the weight of the armour against his skin, the bulk of the reactor on his back...

Rose sat in the chair behind him, facing back towards the reactor. Unlike his seat, which had nothing between it and the walls of the entry plug, hers was lined with computer monitors. As she began the synchronisation procedure, his mind began to merge with hers; he knew what the various monitors said without having to turn around, although their minds were still separate enough that he didn't know what the graphs and numbers actually meant.

LCL began flooding into the plug. He popped the seal on his helmet, letting the fluid into his lungs. Apparently, it helped with synchronisation.

"Synchronisation complete," said Rose, her voice echoing in his mind a second before she spoke. "Pilot-to-Evangelion synchronisation holding at forty percent. Pilot-to-pilot synchronisation at thirty-six percent and rising. Reactor status nominal. All systems are green. Releasing final safety locks in three... two... one." The scaffolding holding Unit 07 in place slid away, and Michael was able to move again for the first time in months – no, Unit 07 was free to move. Keep a distinction between pilot and Eva, echoed Admiral Jones' voice in his head. He hadn't felt the other presence try to take control since they'd enacted the dual-pilot system, but it still twisted his thoughts. "You okay, Michael?" asked Rose from behind him. "One of the computers just gave me an Ego Border warning, whatever that is, and then we just lost a point of PE-sync."

"I'm fine," he replied. "Commence operation. Unit Zero and Two, form up on me. Units Five and Six, take the left. Eight and Nine, you're on the right." A flurry of acknowledgements came back over the radio, so Michael took a step. He felt the Evangelion's massive boot sink into the sand a little, tonnes of sand being trapped inside the armour plating. That's going to be a pain, he thought. "Bring up the tactical display," he said. A window opened on his helmet's visor, a blue two-dimensional map showing the positions of the battlegroup. Behind the line of Evangelions was the British/French division, a solid block of tanks and infantry carriers. Michael separated the icons to see who had drawn the short straw from the Army, and laughed when the tab showing the divisional commander's name showed up. General Hanson has fallen a long way since St. Louis, he noted. A Russian artillery unit was acting in support, with anti-aircraft cover provided by Israeli mobile SAM launchers. Two and a half divisions, in total, with eight more acting independently in other areas. He watched, still walking towards the rally point, as the other Evangelions slid into formation. "Rabbit Lead to all Rabbit elements, confirm readiness," he said.

"Rabbit Four to Rabbit Lead. Flight two is ready," came the reply from the Russians.

"Rabbit Six to Rabbit Lead. Rabbit Seven's having some problems but it won't delay us much," said the Chinese. That was to be expected – Unit Nine (designated Rabbit Seven) had only been declared combat-worthy two months ago.

"Rabbit Lead to Longbow," he reported to the Coalition's commander, "Be advised that we're running a few minutes behind schedule." He switched radio channels back to the pilots' channel. "Rabbit elements, continue confirmation."

"Rabbit Two to Lead. Ready." said Rei from Unit 00. He hadn't had chance to speak with her before the operation. Hopefully he'd be able to catch her before she disappeared back off to Japan.

"Rabbit Three to Rabbit Lead. I'm at one hundred percent. Why are we "Rabbit", anyway?" That would be Asuka. He decided he had time to answer this one, and grinned as he remembered why.

"Partially because it's ironic – rabbits aren't known for fighting - but mostly it's kind of traditional. Anyone ever see the film "Battle of Britain?"" replied Michael. A chorus of negative replies came back, although he could feel Rose smiling behind him. She knew where this was going. "Well, it's about these fighter pilots during... well, the Battle of Britain," he continued, "and they're outnumbered ten-to-one, with their backs up against the wall. It's pretty much post-war propaganda. One of the RAF fighter squadrons is called "Rabbit" squadron, and that became my callsign back in the British Isles Campaign. One pilot, inexperienced going against an entire army and winning. My superior's a massive fan of war movies – I must have seen that damned film a hundred times."

"You have got to be kidding me!" shouted Asuka. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard! You're not even Air Force, you... you..." the radio link dissolved into a mess of cursing in German, Japanese and English, and Michael could have sworn he saw the seat's speakers glow red out of the corner of his eye. He switched off his microphone, and laughed. He hadn't expected such a reaction.

"We're coming up on rally point Alpha," said Rose from behind him, when things had died down. "Three klicks out from target."

"Got it," he said. "Alright, Rabbits. We're about to enter a warzone. Your mobile chargers will detach soon, so keep an eye on your batteries. Keep your fields up, stay vigilant, and radio me if you need advice. If you spot Unit Three, radio it in immediately. Don't try to take it out on your own. We have the advantage in numbers, supply, weaponry and experience, but they might have some sort of plan." Acknowledgements came through the radio, so he reported in to General Cellier. "Rabbit is ready to engage. Give the order, ma'am."

The General's voice came back, her French accent nearly making it impossible to make out the words. "Order is given," she said, "Rabbit may advance."

"Order is given, Rabbits," Michael said, switching back to the pilots' channel. "Advance and engage."

Unit 00 stalked through the streets of Jerusalem, a rifle held at the ready. The buildings surrounding her were low, but the ridges and hills the city was built on could hide the enemy Evangelion, not to mention the network of tunnels the Coalition engineers had reported. It almost rivalled the work being done in Tokyo-3, although Jerusalem wasn't built on top of a massive cavern.

Unit 07 was walking slightly in front of her, occasionally pausing to loose a salvo of missiles or obliterate a building with the rotary cannons mounted at various points on its body. Once, it had stopped for a minute, deploying the massive siege-grade artillery cannon (forty five point seven centimetre BAE "Trebuchet" double-barrelled siege cannon, Rei thought. It was occasionally annoying how precise she had to be.) and aiming it at a point in the distance. A few seconds (fifteen point six three seconds) later, it had retracted the gun, whatever emergency it had been brought out for dealt with.

Unit 02 had been sent on ahead, to the other side of the city. Asuka had been complaining about how little she'd been able to do in the attack, and Captain Ayanami (it is going to take a while to get used to calling someone else "Ayanami", Rei thought) had sent her off when she began to annoy his co-pilot. Unit 02 was equipped to draw power from the city's grid, so she hadn't returned for a while.

The other Evangelions had reported no contact so far, occasionally returning to recharge. Rei was almost beginning to get bored.

That was, of course, when Unit Three showed up.

"Contact left!" came a voice over the radio, breaking Michael from his thoughts. Rei had shouted (it still sounds quiet, he noted) at the same time as Rose, a red mark appearing on the tactical display.

He spun, drawing the Siege Cannon into anti-Evangelion mode, and came face-to-face with the enemy Evangelion.

It didn't look right.

Some sort of blue substance leaked out from the joints in its armour, and it had ripped its mouth-guard off, revealing a row of teeth covered in more of the blue... stuff. Michael staggered backwards as it roared, barely avoiding its first blow. A part of his mind noted a voice calling the other members of Rabbit to help as he triggered the rotary cannons. Hundreds of rounds sparked off of Unit 03's AT Field every second, the blows doing nothing to slow it down. Rei joined in with her rifle, her own shots doing little more. A warning flashed in front of one of his pairs of eyes, and he waved it away. He brought his arm up to block the next blow, feeling the enemy's AT Field become invisible, waited a second for its head to line up just a bit more...

Then he triggered the Siege Cannon.

The explosion kicked up a massive dust cloud, and flung Unit 07 back down the street. He stood up, reloading the cannon, and waited for the smoke to clear. He motioned for Rei to fall back a little, in case he needed to fire again.

Headless, Unit 03 jumped out of the dust cloud and pushed Michael down into a row of houses. He fired the explosive bolts, ejecting the cannon, and punched at the enemy. It caught his fist, and some of the blue stuff started spreading to his hand. He screamed in pain as he felt it burn, then another warning flashed across his – yes, HIS, not the damned Eva's – eyes. The reactor was failing, the impact knocking some important component loose, and the failsafes had cut in. He was down to battery power.

Things were just getting better and better.

Rei circled the fight as the two Evas grappled, waiting for an opportunity. She had quickly figured out that they weren't just fighting a rogue Evangelion any more. This could be a problem, she thought, If this is revealed as an Angel attack so soon, the Commander's plans could be in danger. It would be advantageous to allow the Angel to eliminate Captain Ayanami and his co-pilot in order to facilitate a cover-up. She grappled with the idea for a while, as Unit 07's arm was infected by the Angel. The Captain's – her brother's – screams echoed throughout the entire radio channel, and her mind fought itself over what to do. Inaction would lead to his demise, thought one half of her mind Not to mention his co-pilot's!

That would assist the Commander, thought the other half.

He is family! said the first half.

We are prepared to kill our cousins to further the Commander's aims. Why not our brother too? We both know his presence is not in line with the Commander's plans. He will need to be eliminated at some point. That point may as well be now, thought the second.

That is untrue, argued the first. His presence may be unaccounted for, but so were many other factors which have since been co-opted, and probably many more that we do not know of. The Commander has been aware of Michael's existence for far longer than we have. He will have altered his plans.

That is correct, but we cannot be sure that this precise situation is not his way of dealing with the Captain, said the second.

If the Commander wanted Captain Michael Ayanami dead here, he would have told us about the Angel and ordered us not to intervene. He has not done so. Therefore, the Angel's appearance here is not part of his plan. Therefore, we should intervene in order to kill the Angel as swiftly as possible, as per our standing directives, reasoned a third part of her mind, the part she retreated to when she needed to make a decision. The other two parts of her mind fell silent, accepting her judgement. Three seconds had passed according to the battery timer, and Unit 07 was still active.

Her rifle had run out of ammunition after the initial engagement, so she drew her knife instead, ramming it into Unit 03's back. The Angel-infected Evangelion span around, releasing Unit 07, and swung an arm at her. She ducked underneath it, and stabbed her knife into the centre of the enemy's chest. For a moment, she thought she'd actually hit the core as Unit 03 slumped, before it drew back a leg and kicked her down the ridge.

That was all the reprieve Unit 07 needed. She saw it stand up, its infected left arm no longer lined with blue but still limp. Its right arm reached up to its back, drew a large knife – not a Progressive Knife, she noticed, but an actual blade of metal – and snapped into a guard position. Unit 03 turned around, closing the distance with the wounded Evangelion. It reached one freakishly long arm out, and Unit 07 cut it off. The Angel screamed – not a roar, but a scream of pain – and withdrew the bleeding stump, lashing out with the other arm and aiming at Unit 07's limp arm.

Unit 02 slammed into Unit 03 from above, slamming a pair of knives through its neck. Rei took the opportunity, ran towards the enemy Evangelion and thrust her own knife into its core.

An explosion washed over her, and she blacked out.

2015

"Coalition Officials reported today that the rogue Evangelion, Unit Three, which was involved in a series of brutal terrorist attacks across the Middle East, was destroyed yesterday in an operation involving every single other operational Evangelion. The Royal Navy's Unit Seven and NERV's Unit Zero are reported to have been damaged in the fighting, and sources inside the Coalition have since reported that their pilots are still alive, although they are being treated for their wounds. General Cellier, the officer in charge of the Coalition, gave a short press conference on the operation praising the pilots involved for their courage and resolve in what she called "A tough battle".

Next on the show: We have an exclusive interview with Firefly actor Nathan Fillion, as -"

Shinji Ikari turned the television off, having learned all that he could from the report. There had been some shaky video footage, apparently recovered from a phone, but it hadn't really been worth his time.

A mass of paper surrounded his seat, along with several bowls of instant food. Normally, he'd have avoided that sort of food like a plague, but he hadn't had time to cook recently. Several textbooks lay open at his feet, sticky notes plastered to their pages. Sketches, equations and graphs filled the loose paper around him, the result of five years' hard work. I need more data, he thought. Estimations derived from shitty video camera footage and hearsay aren't precise enough. He looked at one piece of paper he hadn't written on yet, a letter that had just come in the post. He laughed as he read it. So, Father, you want me to come running home after all these years. Very well. I know exactly what you want from me, and I'll be happy to be your guinea pig... so long as you let me at what I want. And then, when I am finished, you WILL be proud of me.

END OF PROLOGUE

Note: Let me know what you think of the formatting. Some of the earlier chapters don't seem to flow right when I read them; they'll probably get an edit at some point.