Today I bring you episode five. Things diverge in one of the first major ways in this episode. Ramiel is actually an interesting fight this time. I thought the original Ramiel fight was a good fight, but the preamble to that fight is one of my least favorite parts of EVA. Not because of Rei, but simply because it never made sense to me why the angels never tried an attack with ground forces, and Ramiel seemed the perfect vessel for that attack. This part of the story is going to be probably 3-4 parts, depending on how things hash out. I had wanted to move quickly on to get Asuka involved, but this engagement just kept growing and growing and I dont have the heart to cut any of it. This is the sort of long term fight where titans really shine after all. Once we make it through here we'll hear a bit more from our friend the tank commander, and Touji will start to consider his future. We have a few new characters this time around, one of them will be very important to the rest of the story. The Jet Alone arc will be a defining point for her, but I'm going to get into the story now before I give away any actual spoilers. So here you go NGST 5.
NGST 5.1
Obsidionalis/Prima Dies
2030 hours, The First Day
The Central Dogma swarmed with activity. Lanthanein had to dodge three people just on his short walk from the door to where Misato stood. The large screens at the head of the room were currently alternating between footage of what seemed to be a JSSDF assault force and live feed from a monitoring station focused on the Angel itself. He was again struck by how unique each of these creatures were. This one, while still immense, seemed to be little more than a reflective floating octahedron. The forces the JSSDF had arrayed against the thing were impressive, given their past track record though, Lanthanein did not expect much from them.
It was peculiar they did not have their own defense vehicle however, if they were the PDF equivalent… well even in the Imperium Leman Russ variants were available to PDF units he thought. The ships in the harbor opened fire on the floating tetrahedron first, their fire splashed against the creature's AT field which flashed a near-blinding red. The tanks and artillery fired a few moments afterwards but once again the angel's AT field flashed and the creature showed no reaction.
"Commander Katsuragi, I want the JSSDF ground forces to follow this Angel and maintain fire on it." came the voice of Gendo Ikari from above. Lanthanein turned around, and for the first time studied the layout of NERV's bridge. The hexagonal (yes that obsession again, perhaps the organization was run by sentient Apids?) central tower sat against the back wall of the room and towered in darkness over the rest of the bridge. He could not see over the lip of the tower railing from where he stood, he suspected that was intentional. The three mid level towers all connected and seemed to house the actual working area where the human staff labored. The lower three towers sat at floor level and each bore a large white and red steel plated box, the boxes were marked Magi 01-03 and each bore a proper name underneath their designation. There were Caspar, Balthasar, and Melchior.
Misato called her report aloud, assumedly so that the director on his high tower could hear over the noise of the lower bridge. "JSSDF acknowledged our request, they're deploying the 72nd armored regiment into the city under the command of Colonel Takeichi Shimada."
"Good. Is Rei prepared to launch?" Gendo asked from above.
Misato checked something on a computer over Makoto's shoulder. "Entry plug dropping now!" she called behind her "Do we have a destination Director?"
Ikari remained silent for a time, Maya called her own report. "Sync rate stable. Evangelion Unit 00 is active."
On the screen the Angel had moved over shore now. It floated along slowly but it seemed totally unconcerned with the tanks still firing on it. Lanthanein's focus was drawn to one of the screens near the bottom right corner of the wall. He walked over to the rail of the central tower for a better look. He could have sworn he'd seen something. He turned around to find he was standing very near to Maya's station, he knocked on the casing of her cogitator creating a hollow metal clang. Maya looked up from her screen questioningly.
"Lieutenant Maya, can you reverse the feed on this display by thirty seconds and zoom in on the Angel's lower half?" he requested. Maya nodded and tapped a few commands into her cogitator. The Imperial turned back to the screen, leaning over the rail and fixing his gaze on the bottom of the Angel. There. It happened again. He asked Maya to slow the footage down to half speed and watched it again. It was very hard to make out, but there were definitely a collection of small blue and pink flecks falling from the bottom of the giant octahedron.
"Deploy Unit 00 in the Angel's wake with orders to take down its AT field." Gendo finally said from the summit of the bridge.
"Commander!" Shigeru called, drawing Misato over to him "Magi have finished their analysis and provided a designation." At this an Ident code flashed onto the screen in both the local hieroglyphs and Low Gothic: 5th Angel [RAMIEL].
"Unit 00 ready for launch" called Maya from her station on the other side of the tower.
"Launch!" Misato said, striding back to the center of the tower floor.
2050 hours, The First Day
Unit 00 rocketed up on the mag rails and came to a halt in a lift tower. Rei maneuvered the machine out the open door and retrieved a pallet rifle from a nearby armory tower. She made her way after the Angel at a half crouch, hoping to escape notice.
"Rei, you are permitted to engage at will." came the commander's voice in her ear
Rei leaned out from around the building she was taking cover behind and sighted on the Angel before opening fire. She squeezed off three bursts before ducking back into cover. Not one round penetrated the thing's AT field. A massive beam of light ripped through a building just across the street from her, cutting it in two. Rei stepped off and ran to another piece of cover, she engaged in the same process again, leaning out from behind a building and firing on the Angel.
Rei was not so lucky this time as the Angel was apparently able to get a fix on her, its beam tore through the building she used as cover and struck the EVA in the back, melting its cable connection port and nearly cutting it in two. Rei screamed as the sympathetic pain tore through her body. Her synch rate on the monitors down below fluctuated like mad, she nearly disconnected three times before the beam finally died.
"Rei! Rei, can you still hear me?" Misato called to her through the radio.
Rei groaned in pain as she attempted to respond "Yes, Commander" she ground out through gritted teeth.
"That was a bad hit, can you still move Rei?" Misato asked her.
Rei willed her machine to rise, it did so sluggishly, she expected another shot to come from the Angel at any moment but it never came. She began to make her way to the nearest lift at Misato's bidding. Her machine gave out almost immediately upon locking herself into the maglift. The ground dropped out from under her as the tower and its rails retracted into the city's foundation plate.
Lanthanein watched the main display with curious intensity, this execration was sturdier than even the last. He wondered if this would become a trend, with each successive proscription of Humanity's manifest destiny manifesting a stronger and stronger AT field, or if there was some upper limit that would be reached at some point. He maintained his vigil next to the Commander as he mused "Unit 00 took a severe hit." He said in a distracted monotone.
Misato nodded "So did Rei, we likely wont be able to send her back up for a few days."
"Commander Katsuragi!" came Maya's call "We're getting some odd reports from the JSSDF Armored elements in the city, they're reporting movement around a number of their positions, they want to know if we have deployed our own troops… and what color their uniforms are for some reason?"
Lanthanein felt a sudden creeping dread in his gut, something was not as it should be. Misato looked confused and responded in the way of asking further questions.
Surface, 2130 hours, The First Day
"Captain, Ive got more movement, to our front!" called the driver, Corporal Suzuki.
"Roger, Suzuki, can you make out what they are?" the tank commander asked, she held her headphones to her ear and peered out her own periscope to try and get a look.
"Negative Captain, all I can see are the same pink and blue blurs we've been hearing about all evening." Suzuki replied.
"Understood Suzuki, hold position." The Captain ordered, then turning to her Radioman "Staff Sergeant Takebe, any word from the Colonel?"
"Yes Ma'am, HQ advises; those are not NERV troops, we are cleared for combat should they prove to be an enemy." Erwin Takebe replied, cycling through his radio channels again.
"Received." She said as she switched her own comms to the platoon channel. "All vehicles, this is Captain Mana Kirishima. Be advised, command warns the unknown elements moving through the battlespace are not ours or NERV's, you are permitted to fire should they show hostile intent. Sound off and we'll get underway again."
One by one the other tanks in the platoon sounded off, save the fourth. Mana swapped to a private channel with vehicle 4 but got only static. She turned and looked out her periscope to the rear, the vehicle in question seemed undamaged. She tried again. "First Sergeant, Do you read? Sound off. Respond."
Her headset dinged, the notification that the HQ platoon was trying to contact her. She switched to that channel. "Go ahead Command."
She heard the panicked voice of the radioman in the Colonel's vehicle and heard the sound of the main gun go off in the background. Her mind went into overdrive, HQ platoon was under attack! "All vehicles, this is Command, Unknown elements are hostile, eliminate with extre-" and the line went dead.
Mana turned back to look at vehicle 4 again, it still looked undamaged, but she noticed a few things now that she took a second look. All of the hatches were open, there were a few splashes of red going down the side of the turret.
"Takebe get me a regiment wide channel!" she shouted and then over the inter-platoon channel "ALL VEHICLES! FIND COVER, HOSTILES IN THE AREA!"
"Regiment wide channel open Captain!" came the word from Takebe
"Regiment, this is Kirishima, does anyone still have contact with command?"
"Captain Kirishima? You're still out there?" a chorus of similar replies filtered through the radio answering her question as well as a direct reply would have.
"All vehicles, find cover and keep an eye out, if you locate the unidentified hostiles, open fire." She ordered over the regiment wide comms. If they wanted to chew her out over it later let them, she wasn't letting her whole armored column suffer the same fate as vehicle 4 and HQ. "Takebe, can you raise JSSDF-COM at all?"
"Negative Cap, all I'm getting on that channel is static, Likely we don't have range to them now that HQ is MIA." Takebe replied.
"Mana, target front! On top of vehicle 2!" Sergeant Hoshino called. Mana chose to ignore his disregard of rank as she took note of the pink six limbed creature crawling its way onto the other Type 10's turret.
"Hose it with the co-ax!" she shouted, her headset dinged again, this time vehicle 2 trying to get her on the line. "Kirishima, go ahead 2."
"Lead, we got something on us, we can see its feet through the periscopes" the commander of the other tank radioed.
"Affirmative 2, we see it" Mana answered, the rest of her reply died in her throat as she watched the thing tear a hatch off the other tank with its bare… claws and toss it out into the street.
"Oh shit!" she heard a muffled struggle over the comms and then the co-ax from her own tank opened up on the creature. She heard a collection of wet, meaty, thwacks and a pained screech. She looked through her periscope and saw the pink…thing lying in a heap on top of the turret.
"2, this is Kirishima, anyone still alive over there?" she asked.
"Yeah…yeah, we're all ok, Lead. Thanks for the fast action, not sure we would've made it otherwise. That thing tore our gunner's hatch right off its hinges." Came the relieved reply from the other Type 10.
Mana addressed the whole regiment on the open channel. "All vehicles, we are going to keep moving in towards city center, keep your heads on a swivel and keep your guns trained on your fellow vehicles, if anything looks out of place on them open fire first and question it later. I want everyone to button up and sound off now. I don't know what these things are, but they're strong and fast. Don't take any chances."
Mana kept a tally on a scrap of paper as she heard from each remaining vehicle. Some platoons were similar to her own in that they were able to report witnessing or being aware of lost vehicles. Other platoons simply never responded at all. When her count was done she had twenty-seven vehicles left. Twenty-seven out of fourty-two… so many men and women lost in a matter of minutes. And they didn't even know what they were facing. As her driver took the platoon down the street she radioed plans to the remaining tanks in the city. They would be pushing down a number of main thoroughfares by platoons, any tank that was part of a broken platoon was given orders to link up with the nearest full platoon.
"Staff Sergeant, see if you can raise NERV on the radio, they might have intel on what they are, and if not, maybe they can offer us some support."
2200 hours, The First Day
Lanthanein stood apart from Misato and the other two bridge officers, Maya was busy monitoring the vox. After they had lost contact with the JSSDF HQ platoon a few minutes ago, Maya had been hard at work trying to restore them. He stood next to her console and pondered what he had seen falling from Ramiel earlier.
He had yet to be asked to Walk, he also wondered what precisely they were waiting on. NERV had to realize the tanks had little chance, even if his fears were unfounded. He noticed Maya sit up with a start, she leaned forward and pressed the cup of her headphones to her ear.
"Commander Katsuragi! I've got something on the JSSDF emergency channel!" Maya called aloud. Misato broke off her conversation with the other two bridge officers and came over, taking up a spare set of headphones herself.
After a few moments she had Maya replay the message on the bridge speakers. "This is Captain Mana Kirishima, acting commander of the 72nd JSSDF Armored Regiment. We are currently facing sporadic attack from an unidentified force, presumed ground forces deployed by the Angel. I am requesting contact with NERV in hopes of requisitioning Evangelion support or facilitating contact with JSSDF-COM. We have lost all HQ vehicles and our radio range is now too short to reach any JSSDF installation."
This got the attention of nearly everyone on the bridge, Lanthanein included. Ground forces. Exactly what he feared. If the JSSDF were losing armored vehicles to them they were clearly no simple infantry. "Commander, I will Walk in support of the JSSDF forces." Lanthanein said
"You will not!" Gendo's voice, while not loud, carried down from his high tower to the lower tier.
Lanthanein glared up at the rim of the tower, the man still not visible from this angle. "And why, pray tell, not Director Ikari?"
"Because you have not been ordered to deploy Preceptor-Intendant." Gendo's monotone replied.
Lanthanein fumed at that, this fool…this fool would needlessly waste further human lives, and for what? To prove that he was the one in charge? He turned away from Gendo's pillar, choosing instead to focus on gathering intel. "Lieutenant Ibuki, do you still have an open line with the armored column?"
"I do, I've asked for any information she can provide about the enemy forces and promised we will pass on her messages to JSSDF-COM" Maya told him. Lanthanein nodded and turned to Misato.
"Commander, was Aida able to arrive before the enemy dropped its ground forces?" he asked.
"Yes, that's what Aoba, Hyuga, and I were discussing. Engineer Aida reports Borealis Aristaios to be in full working order, or as he put it 'Sanctified and prepared for Communion.'" Misato responded taking the headphones off and putting them back atop Ibuki's cogitator.
"Excellent, thank you." He said before turning back to the central tower. "Director Ikari, my Engine is fully repaired, allow me to deploy and put an end to this conflict."
"No. You will not deploy Lanthanein, not until we know we have a way to beat that thing, and until Unit 00 is repaired, we do not have anything of the sort." Gendo ground out, he sounded annoyed in the extreme. Good. Lanthanein thought So am I.
"So you would simply allow the entire JSSDF force above to perish? You have the means to save their lives, letting them die is a waste. Waste is heresy." Lanthanein growled. Ikari did not respond, but a shout from Hyuga drew everyone's attention.
"Commander! Barrier sensors just picked up full breeches in armor plates 26 and 27!"
"What? How can that be? Nothing could penetrate the armor that fast!" Misato shouted, rushing over to Makoto's console.
"Get me a feed on city center!" Gendo called from the tower. Finally a sensible order. Lanthanein thought.
The central display flashed up a view of the reflective octahedron, floating near the tops of the buildings in the center of the city. From its belly a long pole extended all the way to the road far below. It spun slowly, but its purpose was clear to all. It was a drill. The Angel was drilling its way down into the Geofront.
Misato acted even before Gendo could give the order "Start the breach sealant pumps!" she cried, rushing over to the cogitator Aoba was stationed at and tapping away at the keyboard there.
Lanthanein turned and strode back to the center of the room. "Ikari!" he called up to the tower "You may not care for your allied forces, but what of the citizenry, what precautions has NERV taken for their safety?"
"They have the shelters." Gendo replied venomously.
"That is all? A few bunkers are all the protection you give to the people of this city?" Lanthanein countered angrily.
"Tokyo-3 has a police force." Gendo snarled.
"A force of Arbites? Well wonderful, have they been deployed to eliminate any ground threats that may try to assault the shelters?" Lanthanein asked, genuine surprise painting his features. He had not been expecting such sense from these people.
Misato answered in Ikari's stead. "The Tokyo-3 police are a nonlethal riot suppression force, they aren't really geared towards this sort of engagement."
The unamused mask slammed back into place. There it was, he knew the sudden onset of sensibility had been too good to be true. "Excuse me Commander, I believe I misheard you. Did you say a nonlethal force of Arbites?"
Gendo responded from above. "Yes Preceptor-Intendant, what of it?"
"What precisely is the purpose of a nonlethal arbitration force? How do they quell riots without lethal force?" Lanthanein asked.
Misato elaborated for him. "The primary point of the T3PD is to act as a peacekeeping force and ensure any riots do not turn violent. The best way we have found to do that is with a nonlethal force, there's less chance of a massacre that way."
"But that is precisely why a lethal Arbites force is the greatest deterrent to a rioting populace!" Lanthanein retorted. "One massacre is all it takes to make most people think twice about rioting!" he shook his head. "Nevermind, they will be no help to us now. Are there truly no other protections in place for the population interred in the shelters?"
Ikari snarled. "The Evangelions, obviously."
"The Evangelions… The same Evangelions that are seemingly so very effective?" The Imperial spat, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "Ikari, pray tell, what do you think the people of this city will think when they find out you directed nothing to their defense?"
"They have defenses Imperial, what is the purpose of this inane line of questions?" Ikari spat.
"Ikari, what defenses do they have that are not Engine class weapons or totally incapable of doing anything to protect them against the current threat?" Lanthanein shot back, the rest of the bridge were beginning to take notice of the argument by now.
"The defenses they have were deemed sufficient." Ikari replied icily.
"As I thought. Why are there no armed infantry or armored forces employed by NERV to guard the citizenry of the city it has seemingly total jurisdiction over?" Lanthanein asked.
Gendo honestly could not think of an answer, ground forces were never something they had suspected from the Angels. He knew that would not satisfy the man. Gendo remained silent, refusing to give the Imperial more ammunition to use against him.
"Your lack of response speaks volumes 'Director'. I wonder, why is NERV seemingly built entirely around combating Engine class foes?" He asked, then turned to address the rest of the bridge. "Surely I am not the only one who finds that peculiar? NERV bills itself Humanity's first line of defense against the threat of the Angel, but why was the assumption made that the Angels would only ever be enormous foes that require Engines to counter? Why was it assumed they would never bring ground forces of their own?" There were a few hushed murmurs throughout the bridge at this.
"That will be all Preceptor-Intendant. You have your clearance to deploy. Go and shut down that drill, or save the JSSDF, or kill the Angel. I do not much care, just get off my bridge." Gendo growled.
Lanthanein smiled at that, one surefire way to manipulate bureaucrats was to start pointing out awkward facts surrounding them. It was something he would be sure to revisit, with Misato at the very least. It was assuredly a question he wanted answers to, and the fact Ikari refused to even lie in answer concerned Lanthanein greatly. He walked over to the console Maya worked at and requested she raise the Captain again.
"Let her know the JSSDF is sending more tanks." Maya requested as he took up the vox hailer from the desk.
"Captain Kirishima, this is Preceptor-Intendant Lanthanein, We have reached JSSDF-COM. Armored reinforcements are on their way and will arrive…" he looked to Maya to finish with the timeframe she had been given.
"…within a few hours." Maya finished for him.
Lanthanein continued "However, I regret to inform you that Evangelion support will not be forthcoming at this time, there are currently no Evangelions prepared to launch." He paused for breath and the Captain replied, clearly thinking he was finished.
"Thank you for what you've been able to do anyway Preceptor-Intendant, we'll do our best to hold down the city up here. Hope you guys are able to get something up here soo-" Mana stopped as the man on the other end cleared his throat. She wasn't sure who he was, perhaps some sort of subordinate to Maya? His title was an odd one, she'd never heard of any position that went by Preceptor-Intendant before.
"I apologize Captain, but you did not allow me to finish. NERV cannot offer Evangelion support. In recompense I will be deploying in Borealis Aristaios immediately." A gasp was heard from the other end of the line. "I hope the slight difference in the nature of Engine support is not too severe an inconvenience." He finished with a grin.
Mana knew that name. Borealis Aristaios was the other, far more successful, robot NERV had been fielding of late. It came up almost daily in the morning command briefings at the base. Nobody really knew much about it, NERV was being very hush-hush about the whole thing. She'd heard a few rumors about a pilot who dressed like a freak but she hadn't really paid those any mind.
She smiled to herself as she answered the Preceptor-Intendant. "It's no trouble at all Preceptor-Intendant, We look forward to the support when you arrive."
Lanthanein nodded. "Very good Captain Kirishima, I will contact you again before I launch. The Emperor protects, Lanthanein ex." He signed off as he clicked the hailer back to mute and set it down. He glanced over at Misato and nodded before standing and heading out of the bridge. Her gaze followed him as he left, she hoped this time didn't leave him incapacitated for a week.
Lanthanein entered the hangar to a scene of industrious production. NERV's engineering staff were rushing back and forth busily under Aida's watchful eye. He seemed to be taking to his new role well. The man was even beginning to dress like the martian priesthood. He wore a red jacket with the hood currently pulled up over his head. Aida turned around as one of his subordinates pointed the Imperial out by the door.
"Preceptor-Intendant!" he called from across the hangar "Good to see you! You'll be wanting to deploy now correct?"
"You are correct Enginseer Aida, is Borealis Aristaios prepared?" Lanthanein asked as he strode over to speak with the newly-minted priest.
"He is. We were running through a final few checks on reactor output, I wish I had the incense we spoke of yesterday but the order hasn't come in yet. I would also much prefer some of the 'servo skulls' I read about, it would make applying the unguents far simpler." The man sighed at his helplessness "But… you don't need my complaints Preceptor-Intendant, Borealis Aristaios is as ready to Walk as we are able to make him now."
"Excellent. Do not worry yourself too much Kensuke, you are doing a fine job as far as I can tell. I do not see Suzuhara here today, did he make his way to the shelter?" Lanthanein inquired.
Kensuke became thoughtful as he spoke. "I don't actually know, we were together when the sirens started going off and we headed towards the shelter, the men that came for me offered to give him a ride too but he insisted he needed to go find his family and make sure they were ok. Said he had a bad feeling. I hope he found them alright." Concern for their mutual friend etched his face "I've heard some whispers that its bad up there from some of the guys who came in after me but I don't know what to believe."
"Hmm, I too hope he made it to them safely, but I do not think you need to worry. Something about Touji tells me he is far more capable than even he realizes. He will survive this." Lanthanein reassured. Aida did not look fully convinced but nodded halfheartedly at the Preceptor-Intendant's words. "I should prepare myself for my Vigil, Kensuke, I will see you when I return."
Enginseer Aida nodded and began ordering his work crews to prepare the God-Machine to launch. Their hurried work took on a new urgency as they hauled lockdown clamps and lines off the machine and labored to move scaffolds and cranes out of the way. Lanthanein entered the Titan and started his Ritual. The hour of Vigil was upon him once more. For some reason this time carried a weight his last two engagements hadn't. He couldn't place his finger on the exact cause.
2230 hours, The First Day
Touji ran down the next side street, it had gotten dark about a half hour ago and he had begun to hear gunfire off in the distance. He was determined to reach the shelter nearest to his home even in spite of the ominous sounds he was hearing in the distance. As he turned down another street, he saw something that very nearly turned his stomach.
A large amorphous mass sat in the middle of the road, it had numerous tentacles all over it's body, and was vaguely flesh colored. It hadn't seemed to have noticed him, if it could in fact notice things at all, but as he took in the scene around it he was overcome by the horror of it all. It seemed to be feeding on the large number of corpses around it. He saw uniforms of the local police, a few that looked like JSSDF troops, but the vast majority of them were dressed in civilian clothing. Touji drew his attention back to the blob creature. It looked bigger than it had before, but he couldn't tell if that was his imagination playing tricks on him or not.
It was then that he saw something else enter the scene of horror. This thing was smaller, about the size of a man, had six arms, and was bright blue. The similarities with a human ended there though as it looked to be almost entirely one enormous mouth. Its small beady eyes stuck out over the mouth. It was dragging behind it two bloodstained bodies which it tossed within range of the blob things tentacles before hopping off in another direction. The blob extended another of its limbs to the two new additions. At this point Touji had seen enough, he turned and ducked down a nearby alleyway to try to find a way out of this nightmare. As he emerged onto a street he finally recognized, he realized he was about a mile from the shelter. He set off to the north at a brisk jog.
2300 hours, The First Day
"Captain Kirishima, this is Borealis Aristaios, where is support most needed right now? We are prepared to Walk." Lanthanein said into the vox. The God-Engine was already awakened and waiting in the lift, he merely needed a destination for his launch.
Commander Katsuragi spoke to him while he awaited Mana's reply. "We are working with the JSSDF to find a solution to the Angel problem, you mentioned during startup you weren't sure if you'd be able to penetrate its AT field, but you never explained why…" she trailed off, hoping he would pick up on the inherent question and humor her.
"Because Borealis Aristaios' cogitator was not finished with its analysis. I can say with certainty I will not be able to penetrate the creature's field. It simply regenerates too quickly to make any progress with my las-blasters." The Imperial replied.
"What about the Left Hand?" Misato inquired.
"It's use would be pointless, it is not meant to break void shields. It would do nothing against such barriers." He answered.
"Well, we might have an option, I started looking into it when you mentioned your suspicion. Ikari just confirmed that my findings are correct. The JSSDF has been working on a large scale positron cannon. If you can hold out up there for a little bit, we can probably come up with a plan." Misato explained.
"Very good Commander, We will await your word on that, then." Lanthanein swapped his vox back to Mana's channel. "Captain, have you got a location for Us?"
"I do Borealis Aristaios. Deploy along the main thoroughfare if you can, we've run into some pretty heavy enemy resistance there, it's the same front my platoon is operating on, so we will see you there."
"Understood Captain. Forwarding locale to NERV launch control now." Lanthanein replied.
"Preceptor-Intendant, is there anything we should be aware of when working alongside your machine?" Kirishima asked as her platoon rolled down the highway towards the site of the battle.
Lanthanein answered as the titan was moved to the correct launch tube. "Yes, Captain, if We should blare Our warhorns twice in quick succession I would suggest you all button up and avert your eyes from your periscopes. Observing a shot from the Sinistramanus Tenebrae is not something that a baseline human should experience. Any electronic observation devices should be ok but direct visual observation is right out. Severe mental trauma will be the least of your worries if this warning is not followed. You must make this very clear to your crews."
"Understood Preceptor-Intendant. I will make sure there are no questions in regards to that." She answered.
At that a building shot up from the ground next to the road. Mana gasped and threw her hatch open to get a better look. The front side of the building slid back down into the ground and the machine within the shadowed interior took its first step out. Mana had never operated in concert with an EVA before, but the JSSDF did have some simulations where such a thing was necessary. This machine looked nothing like the EVAs she had fought simulations alongside. She had seen pictures of it before, but somehow they didn't do it justice. Borealis Aristaios was fury. It was the wrath of an angry god given form. She didn't know how NERV had built it, but it was so far removed from the EVAs that she couldn't reconcile the two machines came from the same organization.
Borealis Aristaios stepped clear of the lift and turned to face down the street. The God-Engine blared its warhorns. Mana's hands flew to her ears as the immense thing roared down the street. It sounded like a lion with a pipe organ for a backup singer. She finally shook herself out of her speechless shock.
"Holy shit. Are any of the rest of you seeing this thing?" she asked over her platoon radio. She tore her eyes from the massive machine and looked at the other two vehicles of her platoon. Both of their commanders were also standing in their hatches, mouths agape, staring at the thing.
One of the other commanders began to laugh. "There's no way NERV built that." Muttered the other as he disappeared back into his tank.
Mana radioed the NERV pilot again to let him know they were advancing right in front of him. "Preceptor-Intendant, this is Kirishima, we are advancing directly to your front, just a warning as I'm not sure how well you can see us way up there."
"We see you Captain, We will watch Our steps." He paused for a moment and his machine seemed to gaze down the street. "We can see a vast concentration of hostiles at the end of this segment of road. That is our destination I assume?"
Mana turned to look, she couldn't see the end of the road from where she was, but he was looking in the correct direction. "I didn't know you could see that far Aristaios, but yeah, that looks like the right direction."
"We are a God-Machine, Captain, We can see for miles. If you would be so accommodating as to inform your frontline crews to pull back from the line and withdraw from their periscopes, We will begin." Lanthanein requested.
Mana gave the order quickly, her only explanation being the previously mentioned support had arrived. The frontline crews did as she asked and pulled back from the mass of pink and blue monsters, all swapping to cameras for navigation.
Lanthanein reordered the Crucible quickly and pulsed his horns as the Sinistramanus charged. All seemed to be working fine after the repairs Aida had overseen, he made a mental note to congratulate the man on his work. The Nul floated to within his reach and he stretched his hand out and took the obsidian black sphere in a three fingered grip, intoning its name as he released the pressure that had been building in his arm. The lance of blinding darkness spat forth from the muzzle of the techno-arcane weapon. All sound vanished and the previously moonlit night became noticeably darker as the beam struck the center of the mass of warp entities the God-Machine's auspex had picked up. He did not pay much attention to the beasts as they died. They were definitely warp monsters though, where an Angel had found them he did not know. It did not matter, they died as their very essences were obliterated. Pain began to squirm in her seat, the strain of the Left Hand maintaining a beam for so long wore on her far more than him.
Lanthanein let the beam cease and pulsed his horns twice again. "Captain, you are clear. Our wrath is dispensed, We will advance with you to mop up what remains."
Mana had been watching the ordeal on the main forward camera with the rest of her crew. The machine to their rear had shot what looked like a beam of… nothingness… nothingness that could kill with no effort whatsoever (if what her frontline vehicles were reporting was accurate) and hurt to look at. What exactly had NERV done to make this thing? This wasn't a normal war machine by any stretch, but this, this was even further beyond the pale.
The ground shook with the titan's steps as they all began their advance again. Lanthanein had an idea as he advanced behind the tanks. "Captain Kirishima, do you have any infantry forces in your regiment?"
"I have a few APCs I've been using mostly for scouting duty, why?" she asked.
"I am going to have NERV provide you with coordinates for the various shelters around the city. If you can spare them, I would request you station troops at some of them. NERV did not plan for hostile ground forces smaller than Engine class, as such, all the civilians within them are totally undefended." Lanthanein told her as he pulsed a request through the manifold to Maya for coordinates.
Mana received the coordinates a few seconds later and looked them over as they overlaid onto her vehicle's onboard GPS. "I can spare a few squads to go hold these points, of course." She replied.
The tanks and titan had joined the frontline force just as they were pushing ahead, having driven off most of the hostile beasts. Borealis Aristaios spotted a small group scrambling towards a nearby alleyway and opened fire on the herd with one of his lasblasters. They were all quickly and handily vaporized. As the group moved around the corner and into the final stretch of road leading to the city center Lanthanein requested Mana allow him to go first.
Borealis Aristaios stepped fully around the corner and saw the massive reflective form of the angel floating above the city. He had less than a minute to take in the sight before it opened fire on him. The Angel's beam slammed into Borealis Aristaios' void shield, the shield flashed as the energy of the beam brought it near to overload. Lanthanein opened fire on the Angel himself and his suspicions were confirmed. He could not pierce its AT field.
Lanthanein threw the God-Engine into a reverse stride and brought it back around the corner out of the Angel's line of fire. The beam stopped soon after, before it had a chance to burn through the buildings shielding him.
"I cannot withstand it's fire for much longer than the EVA could. We will need another method of killing it, Commander. I will not be able to sustain fire on it long enough to wear it's protection field down." Lanthanein said over an open channel.
Misato responded almost immediately "Alright, hold tight Lanthanein, Captain Kirishima, we're working on a solution now. We'll get back to you once things are hashed out." Then her line went dead.
"Well, guess now we hurry up and wait" quipped Mana as she popped up out of her hatch again.
Lanthanein chuckled at her comment and opened a new channel to the Lieutenant. "Lieutenant Maya, does the NERV adaptation of the manifold have the ability to plot out locations of other units?" he asked.
"It should, we were able to pinpoint VTOLs and jets in the past when we had their GPS transponder signals." Maya answered.
"Can you do so for the JSSDF armored regiment? It would help me locate where support is need should contact with Captain Kirishima ever be lost." Lanthanein asked.
Kirishima answered his question before Maya had a chance to explain the problem with that "I'd have to provide NERV with our transponder security codes. I don't see any particular problem with that given the situation. I can forward the codes to the Lieutenant now."
"Thank you Captain. Have you any other fronts that need reinforcement? It is clear to me I will not be able to advance any further on this Angel." Lanthanein asked.
"At the moment? No, the enemy ground forces seem to have pulled out of most of the engagements we were fighting. I've got an idea though, let me take two of my tanks around the corner and try to attack the drill. It doesn't seem to pay attention to us, maybe we can do something before it notices us." Mana said. Lanthanein offered a short hum of assent as Maya got the security codes sorted and points plotting the tanks appeared within the Manifold.
Mana's tanks pulled around the corner and were not immediately vaporized by the giant hovering octahedron. The three vehicles roared down the central street unmolested. The beasts that had plagued them for the entire night were suddenly nowhere to be seen. As they came within gun range of the Angel Mana ordered all three to halt and train their guns on the drill. The guns boomed in succession as all three vehicles let loose their anger. Two rounds struck the drill shaft, one high and one low. The length of drill that stretched from the bottom of the Angel's reflective shell to the ground seemed uncovered by it's AT field. The drill broke and it's uncovered length toppled over into the street with a resounding boom.
Light flashed around the Angel's hull and it lanced an energy beam down the street where the fire had come from. One of Mana's vehicles was caught in the path of the beam. The crew did not even have time to scream before their ammo cooked off and destroyed the Type 10.
"Full reverse! Now! Get off the road!" she shouted to her driver. Both her vehicles pulled around behind buildings. The Angel gave no indication it was going to fire again. As the JSSDF captain distributed orders to what remained of her platoon, calls came in from multiple other platoons across the city of assault from varying numbers of the Angel's troops. Mana tried to take note of each and every location that was under assault but soon lost track, there were simply too many simultaneous attacks to keep track of, she switched back to her channel with the NERV mecha.
"Borealis Aristaios, this is Kirishima, I've got reports of attacks underway on just about every defensive position we have set up. Can you offer any further support?" She asked frantically into the radio. The sudden uptick in activity had left her with something of a loss as to what to do, thankfully the Imperial seemed to realize this was likely her first time in command of the defense of an entire city.
"Affirmative Captain." Lanthanein intoned into the vox "From what I am hearing over JSSDF vox channels, it sounds as if the front being hit the hardest are the forces on the north end of the city. I will move towards that location. Let them know they will have support in approximately a half hour. I would suggest you spread this large force you have here out among the other defensive lines you have placed around the city." Borealis Aristaios began to turn around and head back down the road when Mana came back to him over the vox.
"Lanthanein, they're not going to be able to hold out for a half hour, what I'm hearing from them isn't making much sense, but it sounds like there's something big, and really hard to kill that's putting a lot of pressure on that line, is there any way you can get there faster?" Mana asked distractedly as she issued redeployment orders to her vehicles.
Misato and Maya shared a look down in the bridge before the NERV commander piped up. "Aristaios, we may have a solution for that problem. We have a lift shaft less than a block from the location where the vehicles on the north line are. If you return to the lift you first emerged from we can get you there in under five minutes."
"Excellent thinking Commander Katsuragi!" Lanthanein exclaimed. "Captain Kirishima, Let your men know they will have their support within ten minutes. Tell them to hold the line until then."
"I think that might just be doable Preceptor-Intendant. Good luck!" Mana replied.
Borealis Aristaios marched down the street back to the lift shaft at full stride. It didn't take long before the God-Machine had stepped back through the doors of the lift. The building shell closed up behind him and the whole structure descended back into the ground as the titan was hauled back down to the launch hub.
2320 hours, The First Day
"Director Ikari, what precisely makes you think you have the authority to just confiscate JSSDF property?" the general asked incredulously.
"NERV is the only organization capable of defeating the angels, General Goro. We require full cooperation from the JSSDF and all of Japan if we are to succeed in that goal." Gendo replied with a sneer. He placed his elbows on the surface of his desk and tented his fingers in front of his face. Everyone seemed to have decided he was totally powerless of late and he was tired of it. What was it 'National-ignore-the-man-trying-to-save-all-your-damned-lives' day?
"But Director, NERV has shown absolutely no ability to defeat any angels to this day. You keep making this claim, but so far the only thing we have seen defeat the angels is Borealis Aristaios." The JSSDF general paused as he collected his thoughts, but Ikari interrupted him before he could continue.
"Yes, Borealis Aristaios, which NERV currently has jurisdiction over. If you will not cede the polaron beam cannon to us, I can call him back at any time." Gendo grumbled, he wasn't actually sure the vexatious Imperial would listen if he ordered that, but hopefully the military man wouldn't make him prove it.
"HA!" barked Goro in mock amusement "You mean to tell me that the pilot who has been nothing but helpful through this entire conflict is going to listen when you tell him to abandon our forces and withdraw for your petty little grudge?" he chuckled wryly to himself again "No Ikari, I think you have a lot less control over that pilot than you let on. He's not wired to your grid as the other machine is, so what could you actually do if he refuses? Not let him back into your base? Please do, we of the JSSDF will happily offer him a place to stay." Goro laughed for real this time
"So the JSSDF will offer us nothing more than a few tanks? I wonder what the UN will have to say about that, their standing orders remain that all nations are to assist NERV in our efforts." Gendo threatened, his bluff had been called once, hopefully it wouldn't happen again. He was really coming to hate the damned Imperial though, ever since the man arrived, things had just gotten so much more difficult.
"No Director Ikari," General Goro began, getting extremely formal now in contrast to his previous mocking tone "the JSSDF will allow NERV access to the Polaron Beam Cannon for the purposes of defeating Angel 05 Codename: [RAMIEL]. NERV will have full authority to modify, alter, disassemble, and study the technology and techniques used to manufacture the PBC prototype. Upon the Angel's defeat however, the prototype will be returned to the JSSDF. As of now, it is on loan." The General grinned as he saw Ikari's face fall. Take that you smug bastard. Goro thought.
"Fine." Gendo snarled. "I'll have Unit 00 sent to retrieve it once repairs are complete, until then, the Titan will continue to work with JSSDF ground forces to keep the city under our control."
"Glad we agree Ikari." Goro gave a toothy smile "As a bonus, I'll give you a wing of VTOLs to call in for airstrikes should you need them. Have a good day Director, until next time" with that Goro ended the video call and leaned back in his chair and sighed contentedly Steal Yui away from me will you? I'll get that robot yet you nameless bastard.
2345 hours The First Day
Touji heard gunfire. Lots of gunfire. Ok, that was seriously a lot of gunfire. What the hell was going on? He slid over to the corner of the alleyway he had been moving through and peered out into the street beyond. A bunch of men in what looked like military gear ran back and forth behind four armored vehicles. All four blazing away with both pintle mounted weapons and their own main armaments. The repeated thump-thump-thump of the cannons in their turrets backed up by the occasional burst from the soldiers rifles.
Touji stepped out from the alley fully, he seemed to be in a safe area. He took a look around and saw the lighted sign for Emergency Shelter 2B North right across the street from him. This is exactly where he had been trying to get, he figured given the soldiers presence there it was a pretty sure thing that everyone inside was safe. Just as he was about to make his way across the street and into the shelter he heard a scream from the battle line. One of the soldiers who had been firing at… whatever they'd been shooting at… was currently on his back screaming as he was dragged away from his comrades on the firing line.
When asked afterwards what had come over him, Touji Suzuhara would be unable to explain any real reasoning behind his next actions beyond 'a sense of duty'. He ran forward, snatching up the mans rifle from where it had fallen and unloading a three round burst into what he assumed was the face of the pink six-limbed monstrosity. It shrieked and released its hapless victim as it stumbled back away from the source of its sudden pain. Touji did not let up, he kept squeezing the trigger until the weapon stopped firing. The garish pink creature lay in a quickly discorporating lump on the ground.
Touji's shoulders slumped as he let the captured rifle hang at his side in one hand. He jumped and turned around when he heard someone clear their throat behind him and felt a hand land on his shoulder.
"Oh! Ah-… so-sorry. I don't really know what came ove-" he shut up as the soldier clamped a hand over his mouth.
The JSSDF sergeant nodded and let her hand drop from the civvie's mouth. "I'm not mad." She started with "If you hadn't done that, Fuso there'd be dead by now, and they'd probably have dragged him off and made him part of that thing down there like they did with the last two guys." she said as she gestured to the fleshy mass slowly dragging its way up the street towards them.
Touji glanced down the street where she gestured, a fleshy creature, similar to the one he'd seen earlier was slowly dragging its way up the street. This one looked bigger and was surrounded by a small army of blue and pink creatures similar to the one he had just shot the crap out of. He gulped, realizing just how much danger they were all in. He looked back to the soldier who had found him, and noticed for the first time that 'the soldier' was a woman. Two of the other men who had been on the line were busy hauling the man he had saved, Fuso, back behind one of the armored vehicles.
"R-Right, sorry about, stealing the gun and all. I'll just get out of you guy's way" Touji said, offering her the rifle.
"Hold on, you handled yourself pretty good just now, you seem like you've used a rifle before, have you?" she asked, Touji was confused by her line of questioning but answered nonetheless
"No, I've never even touched a gun before, why?"
The woman took a step back at that "Really? The way you charged in and just started blasting away at that thing and you've never even hot a gun before?" she nodded and pursed her lips, seemingly impressed. "Ok, look, my superiors probably wont like this much but to hell with it: I'm down three men and we're probably about to get attacked again any second. Backup is still five minutes away and I need every gun on the line I can get. Wanna stick around for a bit and help us out?" she finally asked him
"M-Me? Why me?" Touji asked, almost dropping the rifle.
"Well, 1) because you're here. 2) because you're alive. And 3) because you seem like you wont break and run when that thing gets up here." She answered with a grin.
Touji shook his head, this woman was a odd one, he couldn't understand how she was smiling when certain death was inching ever closer to them but as he thought over her offer, he didn't see any other option. He had come out here to make sure his family was safe. If he just went and hid in the shelter when he could be out here doing something (even if that something was hopeless) he wasn't doing much protecting was he? He locked eyes with her and saw something else there, aside from the mirth, determination? Touji wasn't sure why she seemed so confident in this situation but he couldn't help but be encouraged by it.
"Ok. Ill do it." He said.
"Great, come on then, well get you what we can to maybe keep you alive a couple minutes longer. I'm Sergeant Satou by the way, Leanne Satou." The woman, no, Sergeant Satou said as she led him to the back of one of the vehicles. She slipped inside for a minute and came out with one of the vests the soldiers were all wearing loaded down with a number of magazines for the rifle he carried and a few ball shaped objects he expected were grenades. Perhaps all those hours spent playing games in high school weren't quite as wasted as his parents had always insisted.
"Sergeant!" came a shout from one of the soldiers watching the road "They're coming!"
"Shit!" Sergeant Satou shouted "Come on civvie, we have to get back out there. get yourself ready, lets go!" she called over her shoulder as she hustled around the side of the APC.
Touji rushed after her, trying to remember anything he could from the games he'd played in high school. This rifle looked like the FN SCAR, That was it right? He thought. By the time he had stopped next to Leanne, he had pulled his empty magazine and tossed it about twenty feet away. He noticed everyone looking at him as if he'd just slapped all of their grandmothers at once.
"Don't toss your magazines, this isn't a video game, those cost money." Leanne chastised him.
Touji nodded sheepishly as he slid the full one into the rifle and pulled the bolt back to chamber the first round.
"Alright boys, Get your asses in gear, cuz here they come!" Sergeant Satou shouted down the line. The charging army of horrors was about 200 meters away when Leanne gave the order to fire. The whole line of men blazed away at the pink and blue things, they fell en masse but more just kept coming, climbing over the dead ones before they had even hit the ground. The guns on the APCs opened up as well, the rapid firing cannons pumping round after round into the oncoming horde.
Touji's rifle clicked empty, as he worked on reloading he took a moment to glance around as he fumbled with the new magazine. As he watched a number of the blue creatures seemed to materialize a few feet in front of the APC right next to them. The monsters jumped on it and began slashing at its hull with their clawed hands. Leanne and the other troops standing next o the vehicle turned and started to hose down the creatures with fire, Touji followed suit. The group that had attacked the tank died quickly, but in the time that their attention was pulled from the main horde, it had gotten even closer. If something didn't change soon they'd be overrun.
They almost didn't hear the horns over the rattle of gunfire. But then they came again, that lion's roar underscored by overlarge pipe organ. Touji turned at the familiar sound, Sergeant Satou put a hand to her ear, listening to something.
"Understood Captain, we're still holding out here, let him know to get over here quick if he want that to remain the case though!" She shouted over the din around her. What struck Touji the most was that she was grinning like a madwoman. "Hold onto your butts boys! Backup has arrived!" she called. The rest of the troops cheered and redoubled their efforts. Touji turned back to fire on the enemy again when he heard the roaring horns behind him again. The crashing of tumbling masonry tore his attention behind him again.
Borealis Aristaios stepped out from the wreckage of the store it had demolished with its shortcut, warhorns roaring twice in quick succession. "Civvie! Look out, don't look at it!" Leanne screamed as something crashed into his back. What registered first was the sudden lack of sound, then the pain. His back was on fire, he tried to roll around to make it stop, but something had him pinned, he couldn't move.
When sound finally returned to the world whatfelt like an eternity later, he heard someone screaming obscenities and the previous din of gunfire. He wondered if he had died and ended up in some sort of battle related purgatory. He let his head fall, his forehead resting on the relatively cool asphalt. Then he was being rolled over, he groaned at the forced movement, when he opened his eyes Sergeant Satou and a man with a red cross on his helmet knelt over him.
"Shit, you're still alive after that?" She asked
Touji mumbled something unintelligible and promptly passed out.
0000 hours, The Second Day
"Kirishima, this is Aristaios, Target annihilated. Be advised, entities have begun creation of Fleshsculpture. This will not be the last time a situation like this occurs. The defense of the Shelters has just become all the more important." Lanthanein informed the entire vox channel. "Commander Katsuragi, how goes the plan to destroy the Angel?"
"We have a plan, now, but you'll need to hold thing down up there for a couple days. Probably just shy of a week. We need time to repair Unit 00 and get things set up. The JSSDF is lending us some VTOLs and a big gun. It should penetrate the Angel's AT field. The VTOLs are available should we need any airstrikes."
"Excellent. We shall hold for as long as We can Commander." Lanthanein said, with that he took command of the lasblasters back from pain and began to open up on the last bits of the remaining horde of Horrors as they fled.
This was going to be a long, tiring week.
END 5.1
5.2 coming soon.
So I figured here at the end I'd go into a bit about how I've been ordering all this in my head, just in case I end up talking about it again in the future.
We started out in the Arrival Arc, the first four episodes detailing Lanthanein arriving and coming to grips with his situation, it was a lot of set dressing and staging the rest of the story, but overall I think it will be the most boring of all the Arcs
Now we are at the threshold of the Ramiel Arc, where Tokyo 3 experiences it's first Siege and it's consequences
The Ramiel arc will then give way to the Asuka Strikes Arc. That one should be obvious, Asuka is introduced, all three pilots meet here and the various conflicts that will spring from that take place. There may or may not be a game of swordfight between Asuka and someone else. Afterwards we will move into the last two Arcs, what I have tentatively named the Amniosis and Engine War Arcs. There's a lot of more esoteric stuff that will be coming through the Amniosis Arc, and Engine War should be self explanatory to an extent. don't think any of these are actually spoilers, so much as a summary of tale. I think there's a lot of cool things coming down the line, I hope you all enjoy.