Kept you waiting huh?

It's back now though, I can't say it's particularly longer than my other stuff, but there's a lot of combat in this one, so I hope that makes up for it a little bit. There's also more Touji the press ganged trooper. Don't worry he's not doing too badly. Feels wierd saying it but this combat is all a lot of setup for part 3's Big Push. You'll find out more about that later. For now I'm going to stop waffling and get on with what you all came here for.

NGST 5.2

ENCIRCLEMENT/ CIRCUMVENTUM

The Third Day – 0300

"Borealis Aristaios, NERV control here" said the Vox operator, he had taken over for Lieutenant Ibuki at midnight, the woman finally allowing herself to be relieved at Lanthanein's urging after a near twenty-four hour watch. "We've got some of the 'warpspawn' trying to break through our security cordon at the main western elevator. Facility security is holding for now but Captain Kirishima can't redirect support for at least another hour, a strike would be appreciated"

Lanthanein roused himself from his rest cycle at the initial rasping scratch of the vox channel opening. "We are roused, Control. We Walk. Aristaios out." Lanthanein brought the God- Machine out of it's rest state, the Heart coming back to nominal output as his Servivor-Moderatii woke from their own rest. Pain shook as he attempted to take his first step, the Engine began to tilt to one side. The Imperial pulsed the noospheric equivalent of a smack to the head at her. The left foot hammered back down into the rockcrete road. The titan righted itself.

All three of the half-things were operating at less than full efficiency, such was the consequence of three days of near constant action. The rest he had just awoken from was the first one he'd had a chance to take in the entire time he had been deployed. Lanthanein checked the Manifold chrono, it had only been two hours. Some loss in performance was to be expected after three days awake but the effect on Pain spoke more of weeks than a few days. Perhaps there was some deeper issue that would need to be addressed. Alas, he didn't have access to a Magos Biologis here.

As Borealis Aristaios rounded the next corner Lanthanein swung the Engine's torso to the right, the auspex picked up the movement immediately and Silence began to mark and identify targets. Lanthanein opened fire as soon as the las-blasters came around. He didn't need precise target marking, the NERV troops had fortified the doorway to their lift shaft and were in little danger from his fire. The small group of warpspawn evaporated under the assault from two titanic grade las-weapons in seconds. The titan's warhorns cried out with their deaths. He fired a datapacket to NERV confirming target destruction. Within seconds another kill-order appeared in the Manifold, it seemed his rest period was well and truly ended. Glory be.

As the Titan walked to it's next engagement the Preceptor-Intendant ran over the last few days of battle in his head. The first day had been a small taste of the sort of warfare that was to be expected in this siege, and a siege it was, the only difference being the force they were keeping at bay was situated in the heart of the city rather than it's edge.

The second day had heralded another collection of fleshsculpture from various points in the city, the titan had been needed for each, the JSSDF's armament had been utterly ineffective against every one. He had spent all of that day and most of the night moving back and forth across the city as each new beast began it's assault on one shelter or another. Even with near constant pressure from the enemy however, the JSSDF still managed to maintain their position a few kilometers from the center of the city.

Lanthanein admired their dogged resilience in the face of forces so far superior to their own. They even managed to hold a respectable kill-count on the lesser warpspawn beasts. So long as reinforcements continued to flow into the city he did not doubt that the perimeter could be held. The real problem presented itself in the matter of taking ground. Each push that been attempted over the past three days had been repulsed. It was as if the warpspawn were part of a hive-mind, or as Lanthanein suspected, the colossus at the heart of the city was coordinating them. Save for the fact the beast had no obvious method of observing the world around it, it was a sound theory. No matter the reason though, enemy reinforcements always seemed to rush in to fill gaps in their line precisely when a push was beginning to gain momentum and take ground. Curse these xenos filth and their coordination.

Lanthanein pushed these thoughts from his mind as Darkness pulsed him a warning. Something large moving nearby. That was interesting, the invaders use of flesh sculpture had died off entirely with the end of the second day. Why bring them back now? He pulsed a notice that he would be delayed to NERV and made his way down the nearest street that Borealis Aristaios would fit down.

Squad Satou field camp

The Second Day

Touji sat around the barrel fire with a few of the other members of the combat squad he had found himself wrapped up in, hot food had been prepared and passed around. The other men laughed and talked as if they had not all been fighting for their very lives less than an hour ago. Touji on the other hand sat there with his head down, staring into the depths of a metal cup full of now thoroughly lukewarm coffee. He jumped in surprise as someone dropped large crate next to him and sat down on it heavily.

"Hey Civvie, what's got you so down?" Sergeant Satou asked as she seated herself next to him.

"Oh, nothing Sergeant, just thinking is all." Touji replied, glancing over to the woman beside him.

Now that he had time to actually look at her he saw she was actually rather cute in a tomboyish sort of way. While sporting the sort of stunning figure that Misato exhibited, she was more androgynous, but that could have been due to all of her gear hiding her actual figure. What caught Touji's attention, now that her helmet was off, was her face. Her red eyes seemed to glint with barely contained amusement as she grinned broadly at him. Her hair, while disheveled and matted from being underneath her helmet for who knew how long was a golden blonde and cut short. He could tell, even given the dirt, that she was very fair skinned, far more so than one would expect to see in Tokyo-3. Her nose was small but there was a smudge of soot on the end of it that for some reason only added to her charm.

Leanne gave a short huff at his weak dismissal. "C'mon I'm not gonna get mad if you tell me, just look around, all these other idiots are having fun and you're just sitting here with that glum look on your face. What's wrong? y'know, aside from the alien monsters trying to eat us all." she asked jokingly while elbowing him playfully in the ribs. Some of the other men around the fire objected to being classified as 'these other idiots' with their own jokes or insults. The whole exchange actually brought a genuine smile to Touji's face.

"I guess you could say I feel out of place here, you all are having a good time, laughing, joking around, and all… I just don't understand." Touji looked back down into his coffee, taking a sip before grimacing and pouring it out. "I keep thinking back to everything that could have gone wrong in that battle, how close we all came to dying. It's hard to be cheerful when that's all I can think about."

Sergeant Satou nodded slowly a few times, contemplating before she spoke again. "I think I get what you're saying, but you're focusing on the wrong thing. The way a lot of us see it tends to focus more on the 'we survived so might as well have a good time between now and the next one because we might not be so lucky then' aspect of things." She told him as she accepted a cup of coffee of her own from one of the other men at the fire. "It might just come with exposure, a lot of us here have been in combat before or otherwise been desensitized to this sort of thing. You're still coming to grips with it all."

"Desensitized?" Touji asked, looking around the impromptu fireside support group, "How do you get desensitized to giant monsters made of corpses attacking the bunker your family is hiding in?" he asked with an almost hysterical laugh.

One of the other soldiers spoke up at that, his name tag read 'Tianaka' "Yeah, the monsters are a bit new, I'm still getting used to that bit myself, but still, we all survived! Even Fuso made it thanks to you."

The man in the white helmet came over at that point and looked over the group as if taking a head count. His gaze locked on Touji when he came around to him. "How's your back?" he asked gruffly

Touji flexed his shoulders with surprise, the lack of pain was amazing. "Pretty good actually, I swear it felt like that thing clawed me deeper." He thought back to the aftermath of that and remembered waking up fifteen minutes after the battle ended in the back of one of the tanks. Another thing to add to the list of crap he wasn't cut out for he thought wryly. "I guess it's pretty bad that I fainted if it was such a mild injury huh?"

"Not really" grunted the medic, "Probably just the shock of the whole situation." The medic's weathered face softened, he was older than the rest of the soldiers in this group by at least ten years, "A lot of guys your age do worse than pass out after their first injury. Don't worry too much about it. Tainaka there spent two hours crying the first time I had to take a look at him." The medic jabbed with a smirk

"Hey! You'd be upset too if you just broke your leg!" Tainaka protested.

"You twisted your ankle." The medic replied, deadpan, as the rest of the group all laughed

An embarrassed grin spread across Tainaka's face as he looked away. The Medic turned back to Touji, "Your back should be fine, it wasn't that bad at all. Your gear took most of the beating. But, if anything feels off though tell me or the Sergeant right away." With that he nodded and walked back to the APC he had come from assumedly to see to his more severely wounded patients.

Sergeant Satou nudged him again as she stood up. "Hey, Suzuhara, come with me for a minute."

Touji stood up and followed her away from the group, "Something wrong Ma'am?" he asked.

"Yeah, don't call me Ma'am, I work for a living." She said when she turned around a few meters from the group, laughing when he started to apologize. "No, nothing's wrong, I just wanted to let you know that given this area is secure, we'll probably be getting moved on as soon as reinforcements arrive. I wanted to find out if you're staying here or if you want to keep following us around?"

Touji looked at his shoes as he thought over that offer. He didn't think he was very good at this, but the Sergeant was offering to let him stick with them. "I don't know how much help I could really be out there, maybe it'd be better if I just stayed here…" He trailed off, letting the sentence hang in the air.

"You were a pretty big help in the last fight, I know you don't believe me but you're really not bad at this. I'd gladly let you come along." She paused for a moment as she thought. "I know you said your family was here in this shelter so I get if you want to stay with them instead."

"I might regret this later, but if you're serious…I'll come along, at least I'll feel like I'm doing something. I should probably let my father and sisters know I'm ok though. As far as they know I'm still stuck out in the city somewhere." Touji told her when he looked back up to meet her crimson gaze.

"Of course, I get that, I'll have one of the guys open up the shelter door for you, we got the codes for the doors about an hour ago." Leanne said as she waved over one of the men sitting at the fire. "And it's good to have you on board." She added before giving her instructions to the soldier she had waved over.

The Third Day – 0725

NERV Command Bridge: Central Dogma

Misato was nearly dead on her feet, empty coffee cups littered the bridge, a good bit of it having been drunk by Misato herself. The entire bridge crew, night crew included, had been working 18 hour days for the past three days, Lanthanein had finally nagged Maya into letting herself be relieved a few hours ago, Misato unfortunately had no such luxury, she had no relief personnel, an oversight she would certainly be bringing up to Ikari after this was all over. If this was what could be expected she needed a replacement so she could sleep. She was slipping, she knew it and so did the crew, she'd had one nap over the past three days and it had only been two hours long. Even the coffee wasn't helping do anything other than make her more jittery at this point.

"Commander!" came a shout from across the room. Misato shook herself out of her thoughts and yawned, walking over to the junior officer who had called out to her. "What is it Second Lieutenant?" she asked, leaning over the man's shoulder to look at his display.

"Armor layers are being penetrated again, Ma'am. The breach alarms just went off on plate 25." The man explained.

Misato stood up and called to Maya's relief, "Comms, get me a feed from city center on the main display!"

"Sorry Commander the enemy have destroyed our cameras at city center, I can raise one of Captain Kirishima's scout teams however." The man paused as he tapped a few buttons on his console, "What should I ask about Ma'am?"

"Ask them if Ramiel has somehow gone back to drilling" She replied, moving across the bridge to wait near the comms console.

After a few moments the communications officer took his headset off and twisted in his seat to look at her. "JSSDF scouts report that the drill as resumed operation Commander"

Misato cursed under her breath, "Contact JSSDFCOM" she ordered. "It's time we made use of those VTOLs they gave us. Did Ritsuko send anything regarding her theory about the Angel being blind before she went to bed?" she asked

"I have it here Commander" Makoto said from the station to her left. He had been awake this entire time as well, as he turned and offered her the report she could see he was on the verge of sleep just as she was.

"Thank you, Hyuga. Now go get some sleep." She told him tiredly as she began to leaf thru the report, trying to get the words to stop swimming off the page and take on some semblance of intelligibility

"I'm fine Commander, truly" Makoto replied as he turned back to his station.

"That wasn't a suggestion First Lieutenant. Go get some rest." She responded more sternly.

Makoto began to gather his things upon seeing that he wouldn't be allowed to remain in support of his Commander. He felt bad sleeping when he knew she was offered no such luxury, but arguing would help no one.

Misato growled as she read through what she could make out of her friend's report. "This doesn't tell me anything new, just goes over the theory she put forth yesterday." She sighed and turned back to the communications terminal, "Fine, we'll operate off the assumption that it sees in energy output like Rits-chan suggested. Call JSSDFCOM and have them send the VTOLs on a bombing run of the drill. They wont need any cover, Ramiel likely can't even see them in the first place." She told the junior comms officer.

"Affirmative Commander" he replied and began to relay her request to the Japanese military.

"Commander Katsuragi." Misato turned towards the voice that had come from the direction of the main door. Kozo Fuyutsuki stood there, having just entered the room. Misato saluted him tiredly. "Assistant Director, to what do we owe the pleasure?" she asked.

"To your relief Commander, I'll take over for you here, go get some sleep. You can't keep working like this." Ikari's Deputy told her with a nigh imperceptible smile.

Misato's shoulders slumped almost immediately in relief as she gave her thanks to whatever god might be listening for this miracle. "Thank you Assistant Director, I stand relieved, you have the Conn."

Fuyutsuki nodded and stepped further into the room, taking over the running of the paramilitary organization from the beleaguered commander. Misato, for her part barely made it back to her apartment before she crashed. She wouldn't wake up until early the next morning.

The Third Day – 1400

Northern Tokyo-3

"Borealis Aristaios, Kirishima here. Need you to give some support to one of the shelter defense teams, they've been pushed back all the way to the gates of the shelter itself. I'd redirect some of my troops there but there's another very similar situation to the south side and I don't have the resources to handle both." Mana Kirishima voxed to him, sending map data for the shelter she was assigning to him.

"We hear you, Captain Kirishima, inform your troops they are likely to be receiving another Fleshsculpture as well. Our hunt carries us in the same direction as the indicated shelter. It is likely no coincidence." Lanthanein voxed back, increasing his rate of stride in the vain hope of catching his fleeing quarry before it reached the shelter and the JSSDF forces holding the line there.

Lanthanein had been tracking the warpspawned thing since he had picked it up on his auspex hours ago. Somehow it continued to stay just out of sight. He could see the fell machinations of the enemy all seeming to fall into place now and expected the wild grox chase it had led him on to have been a mere distraction. Borealis Aristaios rumbled with discontent around him. The God-Engine knew just as he did that they had been deceived. Lanthanein tasked silence with establishing a vox link with the squads guarding the shelter he was currently en-route to. The Servitor-Moderatus shuddered in his throne and released a rasping exhalation before finally pulsing a notification that a vox channel had been opened. The notification was unnecessary as a cacophony of gunfire filled the Control Sanctum as soon as the channel connected.

"Northern Sector 18 Defense unit, this is Preceptor-Intendant Lanthanein of Borealis Aristaios, acknowledge." The Imperial shouted over the din and increased his pace even further, moving through a very narrow street at full stride now.

A breathless, harried man's voice shouted back over the line, "Shit, the titan?" the voice sounded further away at it's next exclamation, the speaker clearly shouting to the rest of his unit, "Hey guys, we might just make it through this after all! Kirishima sent us the titan!" a collection of relieved cheers and whoops could be heard over the vox before the speaker resumed where he left off. "Good to hear you'll be coming in support Aristaios, me and my boys can hold out here for a bit yet, just try to hurry it up if you can. They're really trying hard to get at these civilians."

"Affirmative squad sergeant, can you provide a rough estimation of enemy strength in your immediate area?" Lanthanein requested as he checked over his various weapons systems to ensure they were as ready as they could be.

There was a brief pause punctuated by gunfire and shouting as the sergeant took stock of the enemy. eventually he responded with an estimate, "Looks like two of the larger monsters and at least a couple hundred of the smaller pink ones. They're putting a lot of pressure on us, but ever since we fell back into the lobby of the building they've been forced to come at us in smaller groups. Only a matter of time before they break through somewhere else I'd wager."

Lanthanein took note of that development as he lowered the volume on his incoming channel, the squad had fallen back into a building, presumably the one that housed the entry to the civilian bunker. "Sergeant you and your men need to push the enemy back from that bunker, likely the greater beings are being used in a similar manner to a siege tower or ram. When the abominations reach the building you are holding they will batter down it's walls to allow their smaller warpborne kin to flood in." the Imperial explained.

"We'll do what we can…er…Sir, but we're having enough trouble just keeping them back from the doors here." The sergeant stuttered not sure how to address the war machine pilot.

"Sergeant, Captain Kirishima led me to believe you were a mechanized force, why have you abandoned your vehicles?" Lanthanein asked him accusingly, his auspex finally clearing up an image of the battleground. It was strange that the range was so diminished of late, but he chalked it up to the concentration of buildings in the city.

The squad sergeant groaned in annoyance, as if he had been dreading answering that question. "The bigger ones have taken to spitting some sort of acid, it melted one APC early on, the other got swarmed and we haven't been able to retake enough ground to get back to it. I know that's not exactly the most believable of excuse, but I'm telling the truth I swear." He added hastily.

"I would venture that is why you pulled your troops back into the cover of the building housing the shelter as well sergeant?"

The panicked reply from the sergeant was not what Lanthanein had been expecting, "Fuck, I hope you're going to be here soon, Pilot, another one of the big ones just tore off the front of this building!"

"Understood." Lanthanein said urgently, he could hear the shouting of the troops and the heavy staccato of a large caliber machine gun. "Thirty seconds, Sergeant. Hold fast." The Imperial muted his end of the line as he came around the final corner and opened fire with his las blasters on the horde of smaller warpforms.

The auspex array took a noticeable amount of time to paint the sheer number of targets in this street cluttered with the wrecks of three APCs, it was still doing so when Lanthanein aimed the Left Hand at the creature of warpcraft that had so recently torn a massive hole in the front of the building where the JSSDF held the line.

"Nul." The Preceptor-Intendant intoned, and tapped the black globe The warhorns pulsed twice and the world went silent as an orb of non-existence flew slowly from the end of the weapon. It grazed over the horde of warpspawn before striking the fleshcraft. The smaller manifestations popped out of existence as the ball passed over them. The crafted creature took the shot to its center mass, a large hole of the same diameter as the orb appeared in the creature and what parts of it that were outside of the orb's area of effect promptly turned to a slurry of biological matter.

The las-blasters kept up their torrent of fire, but even they could not stem the sheer number of creatures in the street. "Sergeant, I have arrived. What is your status?" Lanthanein asked over the vox, the only answer he received was the hiss of white noise. "Sergeant? Squad Sergeant! Respond!" Lanthanein roared within the Control Sanctum, the God-machine blaring it's warhorns again in sympathetic fury. He fired a beam from the Sinistramanus Tenebrae down the street, dragging it through the horde of enemies. Pain's body seized up as the beam died prematurely. Lanthanein operated as if by pure instinct shunting another two of Sleepers into the furnace of the plasma reactor and reorienting the Ciricrux Anima. 18, he thought. The Machine Spirit clamored at his mind, crying out for blood, Lanthanein obliged.

Lanthanein triggered the Kill Aura. Within it's area of effect it caused souls to flee their vessels, human or warpspawn alike. It unfortunately did not work on larger, more powerful, manifestations. He came to full stride as he watched the smaller creatures flow in the opposite direction from the shelter, laden with bodies, both living and not. His face contorted in rage, both at his own failure and at the gall of the creatures to touch even one human let alone capture a shelter full for use in their heinous craft. He fired on the fleeing tide even as Borealis Aristaios stomped through them, warhorns shouting it's fury to the heavens. The few civilians who yet lived were already dead either way, to die at his hand was a mercy compared to what the Warp-things would do to them. Alarm klaxons blared from the sheer frequency the Imperial was calling on the Left Hand, he fed another two Sleepers to the Heart.

Lanthanein's fury had begun to fade with the final enemies escaping his reach through alleyways and sewers. He had allowed himself to delve deeper into Communion than was prudent and found that Assistant Director of NERV was shouting his name across the vox-link. "Assistant Director Fuyutsuki, I… lost my head for a moment, my apologies." He said.

"What is going on up there Preceptor-Intendant? We just lost contact with North sector 18's troops and the shelter door is throwing breach alarms. Did they…" Fuyutsuki trailed off, not wanting to give voice to his worst fears

"Yes, Assistant Director, Northern Sector 18's shelter has fallen to the enemy. The guard has been slain as well." The Preceptor-Intendant voxed back over the command channel. His response was almost instantaneous.

"What?!" he cried in disbelief, "What happened?"

"Three warpcraft manifestations and a horde of multiple hundreds of the smaller abominations laid siege to the structure. The troops held on for an admirable length of time, but We were not fast enough to reach them. They likely died just as We arrived on scene." Lanthanein replied through gritted teeth. He was still infuriated over the loss, it should not have happened as it did. The Heart of Borealis Aristaios rumbled in sympathy with it's master.

"The civilians in that shelter are lost then?" came Mana's voice over the link, clearly having been listening to the prior exchange.

Lanthanein zoomed in on his map of the city in the Manifold, plotting a course to the next kill order that sat in his buffer. "Yes Captain, the civilians are dead. The warpspawn had been attempting to carry them off, the majority of the horde now lies dead at my feet. The beasts paid for their victory with their own lives."

"They were carrying off the Civilians and you still fired on them?" Kirishima asked, her voice implacable. Her own platoon was currently holding a front in the southern edge of the city. They had not experienced much in the way of opposition in a few hours.

"I did. I could not save them, and their fate at the hand of the Angel's conjurations would be unthinkable. Better they die at my hand and remain uncorrupted." He replied the edge in his tone almost challenging.

Her reply was a solemn one and also surprising departure from his expectations, "Thank you, Preceptor-Intendant." Lanthanein appreciated that. He suspected many who had not been subject to war on the scale he had would have balked at his reasoning. He was glad Mana was able to remain stoic enough to recognize the necessity of his actions. Multiple thousands more corpses would have expanded the Enemy's greater manifestations even further.

"What of the other shelter Captain Kirishima? Did they whether the storm successfully?" Lanthanein asked next.

It was Fuyutsuki who answered them this time, "Negative, we just got the breach alarm on the other shelter. It's gone." He said, voice implaccable.

The Fourth Day – 1400

JSSDF Forward Command Post

Borealis Aristaios towered over the command post, Lanthanein had arrived for the strategy meeting a half hour ago. He would not dismount from his Engine, the need to keep watch for the enemy too great, but he was able to participate by way of his Manifold link to NERV. The current topic was the planning of a diversionary assault to provide a cover for the mostly repaired Unit 0 and Princeps Ayanami to retrieve the particle weapon from the JSSDF stockpile. The enemy had once again ceased any major movements for nearly an entire day. Something was being prepared, but none of Captain Kirishima's scouts had been able to find anything out of the ordinary in the city.

"Captain, using your troops as a primary front in this diversion is unnecessary. Allow me to take Borealis Aristaios within range of the Angel. If I am able to hold my ground for long enough it will surely divert forces to my position while trying to land fire of its own on my Engine." Lanthanein suggested, plotting a potential route he could take on his map within the Manifold. The action translated over to the NERV screens as well as to the access point Mana had been provided for this discussion.

"Would it know you were there though?" Mana asked. "Last I heard nobody was really sure how or if it could see anything, or how it was projecting its particle beam for that matter."

Ritsuko spoke from the shared vox hailer in Central Dogma. "To the best of my knowledge, the Angel 'sees' by way of its AT field, specifically energy output. Somehow its AT field enables it to detect high output energy sources to a very precise degree. It seems to be almost totally blind to anything below a certain output threshold however. Given the Preceptor-Intendant's machine is quite possibly the most energy dense thing on the entire planet right now, it likely shines about as bright as a star to Ramiel. An EVA would likely be the same way. I've got a basic report done up for you all, I can have Maya send you copies for reference."

"Is that also how it shoots lasers?" quipped Misato.

"Actually I think it is." Ritsuko replied. "I don't have anything to concrete yet, so I wont bore you all with the details, but lets just say there's a number of possibilities Maya and I want to test out when this is all over."

"Then by all logic, the best distraction for the Angel will be the Imperial's walker itself? Good, how soon can we begin this operation?" this from Gendo, speaking in his usual monotone likely sitting up in his high tower in that pose he seemed so very fond of.

"I am ready to execute at this moment if necessary." Lanthanein offered, he could feel the fatigue of this siege more than he remembered having felt in any prior battle before, but he could keep going for a while longer yet before he shut down from overdose on combat stims.

"Give me an hour and I can have troops ready to make a push at the same time, maybe we can take a little bit more ground while our titanic elements draw the Enemy's focus. It'll give us some more breathing room at the very least." Mana interjected.

"Excellent" said Misato, "Then let's have all elements ready in one hour for this push. Borealis Aristaios will go in first, down the main highway through the city. Ramiel should notice you pretty quickly and begin to focus it's attention solely on you. There should be a bit of cover you can duck back into Lanthanein, if you need a chance to regenerate your shield, once you start seeing the smaller infantry forms, let Maya know and she can signal the JSSDF to begin their attack. We'll set up another VTOL strike on the drill as well at the same time."

"Agreed." Said Mana, her follow up question was one that has been on Lanthanein's mind as well. "Once NERV has the positron beam cannon, how long will it take before we can get it shooting? The longer we have to hold the city like this, the more chances something could go wrong."

"Once we have the cannon in our hangar, we have to modify it so it is usable by an EVA and then we have to set up the capacitors to fire it. It's going to have to be fired from the hills surrounding the city, it's not going to be a mobile weapon at all." Ritsuko explained.

Lanthanein gave a short hmm of assent before switching to a private channel between himself and Misato. "Commander Katsuragi, you retain contact with the JSSDF command structure outside of the city correct?"

Misato answered a few moments later, "I do. why do you ask?"

"I have a number of matters I must discuss with them, preferably soon and preferably outside of Ikari's earshot. I need you to get me in contact with their command cadre before the end of this siege if you can." Lanthanein requested.

"Ill do my best Lanthanein, but we can discuss this later" Misato replied, then swapping back to the command channel she addressed the assembled field command group. "Alright, We begin the operation in one hour people. Get yourselves ready. Dismissed."

The Fourth Day – 1515

Taito Ward – 1 kilometer down the Shuto Expressway from city center

Borealis Aristaios marched along the wide elevated highway, the Angel was visible at it's station above the center of the city, the drill extending from its underside turning once more. Lanthanein wondered how close they were to the thing penetrating the Geofront armor fully. Borealis Aristaios was sanguine, if eager, for the coming battle. Lanthanein grinned involuntarily, the God-Engine's zeal was contagious at times. After his previous encounter with Ramiel on the first day the Auspex now knew what to look for to tell if the Xenos beast was preparing to fire. Darkness pulsed an incoming fire warning through the Manifold, Lanthanein slowed the great machine and directed more power from the Heart to the void shield generator.

The bright particle beam from the Angel flashed with the intensity of a star at the point it struck his voids. The shield held firm. given current power drain, Lanthanein expected he could weather three more shots. With any luck, the beast would summon its minions soon. Borealis Aristaios opened fire with it's las blasters, both Preceptor-Intendant and titan rejoiced at battle being joined once more. The God-Machine roared it's defiance at the great reflective construct.

"Lanthanein, This is Central Dogma." Came Maya's voice over the vox. "How's the distraction coming along?"

"Battle has been joined Command, the enemy has fired upon us once already, We certainly have it's attention. I will report once ground forces appear in the vicinity." Lanthanein replied. The void shields flashed again, the Angel's second shot hammering into the same section of shield as the first. Borealis Aristaios blared it's warhorns once more. Lanthanein redirected power back to locomotion and moved the Engine into the cover of a nearby tower.

Darkness pinged the Manifold again, the auspex array had picked up either a single massive signature, or a large number of smaller ones headed his way. Either way, it seemed he had successfully captured the Angel's undivided attention. Lanthanein voxed this news to NERV and Captain Kirishima.

"We hold the Xeno's focus. Begin your operations."

"Affirmative Aristaios" Voxed Kirishima. "All fronts, advance!"

"We read you Lanthanein." Came Misato's voice, she turned to Maya and gave the order to launch Unit 0.

The Fourth Day – 1530

Western outskirts of Tokyo-3

Unit 0 emerged from its maglift on a hillside. It was currently unarmed, due to it's need to carry the positron cannon back from the JSSDF warehouse it had been shipped to. Rei was still afflicted by the psycho-stigmatic wounds she had suffered after her initial engagement with the Angel, Ramiel, but she had been given a task. She did not need to be uninjured to pilot the EVA. She would carry out the task assigned to her, as was her purpose. She dashed through the hills outside the city until she reached the extent of her EVA's power cable, Rei reached behind her machine and disconnected the cable from her back.

Now came the risky part of the assignment. She would need to move over the hilltops to the JSSDF warehouse without a power connection. If the Angel were watching, it would easily be able to detect her Evangelion, being the only machine within miles to output a similar amount of power to the Imperial's titan. It could likely hit her even from it's position in the city. She could put up an AT field of her own, but that would be akin to shooting up a flare advertising her position according to Commander Katsuragi.

"Commander Katsuragi, I have disconnected Unit 0 from grid power. Permission to begin my run?" She asked over the comms.

"Permission granted Rei, I'm having Lieutenant Ibuki connect you to the command channel now, that way you can get any updates on the state of the fight in the city" Misato replied, not long after the comms filled with the voices of the other lead elements of the city defense. Rei took her machine into a jog, with any luck she would get over the hilltop without any issue.

"Princeps Ayanami" Lanthanein said, using his peculiar variation of 'pilot' "I still hold the xeno abomination's attention for the moment, do not tarry, I cannot guarantee how long it will remain distracted" Lanthanein then let out a quiet expletive as something clearly caught his own attention.

"Lanthanein? What's wrong?" That was Lieutenant Ibuki, the woman seemed to be on a first name basis with the man. What odd people Rei thought, and jogged on.

"The enemy has decided to try it's hand at Engine combat once more. If you will excuse me…" was Lanthanein's only proffered answer to Maya's question before he muted the Vox.

The large moving object the auspex had picked up was not in fact a large infantry force as Lanthanein had hoped. It was a single fleshcraft entity. This one was about the size of a Reaver battle titan, but held a shape more reminiscent of a man walking upright rather than the hunched appearance of Imperial titans. It's spindly limbs reminded him of gunbox footage he had seen of Eldar engine equivalents. It was shorter than Borealis Aristaios and was clearly meant for melee combat, if the wicked looking bone spikes it sported instead of hands were anything to go by. Borealis Aristaios came back out into the main road, the void shield had recovered from the trio of shots it had taken last. Lanthanein targeted the thing advancing up the road at him with the las-blasters and opened fire, he shunted that task to Pain and brought up both the Aura of Terror and the Sinistramanus.

There were no human troops in his area, the Aura would not cause any harm. It would drain his already limited psyker fuel further, but he would need the advantage it gave to defeat the beast while under sustained fire from Ramiel. The warhorns sang, but before the Imperial could bring the Left Hand onto target the tainted creature broke into a sprint. It moved far faster than something it's size should be able to. Lanthanein only just barely brought the Arioch up in time to stop the thing from impaling his Engine.

The Angel blasted him again with it's particle beam, the void shield flashed angrily, less power was being fed to the generator now that the titan was fighting, Lanthanein expected he could block one more beam before the shield fell. Borealis Aristaios swung the Arioch around in a backhanded strike. The fleshcraft thing stumbled back, it's torso had been caved in from the force of the blow and one of its arms hung bent at an unnatural angle.

Lanthanein advanced on it quickly, both to finish it off before the Angel had a chance to fire a third time (Its second shot having just brought his shield down) and to keep the abomination within the area of his Aura. Lanthanein could not quite explain why but the thing seemed to be affected by the terror the Aura imparted, it shouldn't be, it had no soul. He brought the Arioch around again and sunk its claws deep into the creature's back.

The follow through of that strike allowed him to throw it to the ground. Borealis Aristaios brought its massive foot down on the fallen thing's back, pinning it to the ground. Lanthanein lined up the Sinistramanus with what looked like its 'head' and fired. The beam was short lived, the drain on the Sleepers negligible, but nevertheless the beast liquefied under his titanic foot. Borealis Aristaios turned, and knew pain. Lanthanein roared as he saw a particle beam tear through the titan's right shoulder leaving a perfectly round, glowing, hole. He tried to move the Arioch, but it would not respond, he could not even feel his own right arm. He spurred the machine into cover to take stock of the situation.

The Angel's beam had fully torn through the shoulder, it had severed both the right las blaster and the Arioch from the Heart. Lanthanein did not expect either had been damaged beyond that however. He took a moment to prepare the Rite of Necrotechnica and then unmuted the vox. As he reordered the Ciricrux Anima for regeneration he spoke again.

"Engine Kill." Lanthanein grinned in spite of the pain that yet lingered.

"Lanthanein!" Misato shouted, sounding relieved. "We got a drone with video footage up just as that beam tore through your shoulder. Are you alright?"

"I soon will be Commander. It would take more than one vile particle beam of non-human provenance to take Borealis Aristaios out of battle." Lanthanein replied with a chuckle as he felt the rite begin to take effect.

He heard a gasp from the other end of the Vox line, "Lanthanein, the armor… its as if it's flowing shut" Misato gasped.

"The Rite of Necrotechnica, Commander. It is extremely harsh on the Sleepers, but it allows me to heal even catastrophic damage to anything save the Left Hand." Lanthanein offered, there was no sense in keeping this ability a secret, he likely could not afford to use it often though. He flexed his fingers as feeling returned to them, the Arioch mirrored the motion. Another two Sleepers were shunted into the Heart, he was down to 14 now. He would lose his greatest bargaining chip quickly if he ran out of ammunition.

The other Princeps spoke over the vox for the first time in a while. "Unit 0 has returned to maglift. I have the positron cannon." Rei said.

"Good work Princeps Ayanami" Lanthanein offered, perhaps he had been a bit harsh on the young woman, she had not been trained on Mars. He should be the influence as much as the iterator he supposed.

"Excellent work Rei, we're bringing you back down now." Misato replied "Captain Kirishima, is the JSSDF satisfied with the ground that has been taken?"

"Affirmative Commander, we've taken a lot of ground. We have defenses already set up. We can hold things down whenever you need to end it." Mana replied, sounding rather cheerful.

"Understood, Borealis Aristaios will be withdrawing then. Get some rest Lanthanein. Power will be going down across Japan tonight while we start charging up the capacitors to fire the positron cannon. I'd say maybe another day or two before we are ready to end this. Just hang in there everyone."

The Fifth Day – 0200

Borealis Aristaios Embattled in Tokyo-3 harbor sector

The titanic fist crashed into the construct's upper body, sending it crashing through the roof of a nearby warehouse. Lanthanein swung the torso back around and caught the maul-like hand of the other construct before it crashed into his God-Machine's knee joint. The Arioch closed around the lumpen, fleshy, maul and the Imperial whipped the torso back around, tearing the arm from the construct behind him. It crashed forward into the street as the Arioch once again smashed into the first construct. Borealis Aristaios took a few steps back, crushing the second construct underfoot, and opened fire on the other with his las-blasters. Neither made any move to get up again.

"Engine Kill." He voxed back to NERV command. Both of them had not come past waist height to his Warlord, but they had been working in concert with each other well in the docks district. The JSSDF had been unable to run them off. Borealis Aristaios had been tracking them for nearly an hour before the two creatures had setup their poorly disguised ambush.

"Excellent work Aristaios, I wish I could say I had nothing else for you, but Captain Kirishima put in a request for Engine support at one of the other civilian shelters. They've been getting pushed back by enemy ground forces pretty steadily over the last half hour. Looks like they're trying to get more… crafting materials." Maya answered over the vox. She had taken over the dispatch arrangements for him a few hours ago, she was handling it rather well so far.

"We hear and obey Command. Forward locus data to my Manifold." Lanthanein replied. The second part of his request proved unnecessary as pip appeared on his map mere milliseconds after he finished speaking. "Thank you Lieutenant. Inform the Captain I am on my way. Are there JSSDF infantry remaining on scene?"

"There are Lanthanein, three squads under the overall command of Sergeant Leanne Satou. I'll bring you in on their comms frequency momentarily. They're holding for the moment, but they definitely need support, they're getting rushed by a mob of at least a few hundred." Maya could be heard tapping away at her cogitator as she explained. After a few moments Silence offered notification of a new vox link. Lanthanein connected to it and heard Maya reporting that NERV support was being redirected to their front.

"Thanks Lieutenant, we should be able to hold out till it arrives. Can I assume it's the titan you're sending us?" the person Lanthanein assumed was Sergeant Satou asked. He interjected with his own introduction.

"You assume correctly Squad Sergeant, I will arrive in a few moments. Hold the line."

Lanthanein stepped into the maglift he had requested be raised for him. The lift dropped before the door had even fully closed. NERV had become exceptionally proficient at this unorthodox use of their lifts, not even needing a verbal request any longer to coordinate a transit. Lanthanein appreciated that, it was far simpler to put a transit plan in through the Manifold as he walked to the nearest lift, perhaps he could bring this organization to some semblance of sensible war-making after all.

"Alright boys! We got the titan coming to back us up!" Leanne shouted as she stepped out of the APC. A number of the other members of the squad cheered. Touji turned to her when she crouched down next to him.

"Lanthanein is heading this way?" He asked in surprise. Twice in one week he had been involved in fights where the titan pilot came to offer support.

"Lanthanein? Is that his name?" she asked with interest while she peaked out over the hood of the car they were covering behind.

"Yeah, I uh, kinda made friends with him during the whole thing with the last angel." Touji explained, rising to one knee and bracing his rifle on the vehicle's hood. The Angel's ground forces were closing in again from their last charge. They were still a few hundred meters away when Leanne ordered them to open fire. She shouted her next words too him over the din of over two dozen guns firing.

"You should have told me you were friends with the most dangerous guy on the planet! We could've had our own personal giant robot!" She nudged him with her shoulder as she opened fire on the advancing tide of the enemy as well.

Touji couldn't figure her out, she didn't look Japanese at all apart from her eyes. She acted so easygoing, even when her life was actively in danger, and somehow she made it contagious as he had caught himself grinning at her jokes a number of times over the past few days. He had very little idea who she was aside from that however as no one had really taken time to talk about their outside lives. He couldn't explain why but he found himself wanting to know. Where had she come from? Why was she here, both in Japan and in Tokyo-3? What had she experienced?

It was at that moment that he first took notice of the thumping of titanic footsteps and the hissing and pounding of massive pistons from behind their position. Touji turned around and saw the gargantuan machine stomping its way down the road towards them. It's leonine roar sounded once, long and loud, and the guns on its shoulders began to spin up.

Lanthanein's face sported a small grin as he felt the las-blasters begin to pound out shots. He didn't need to aim with the number of enemies that currently filled the road ahead. He routed his vox hailer to the exterior caster.

"Squad Sergeant, aid has arrived." His voice boomed down the street as his las-blasters spun down, the enemy ground forces once again withdrawing down the road.

The one he assumed to be the sergeant turned and walked a few steps from the line and tapped the side of her head, "Lanthanein?" she asked over the vox, "Suzuhara says thanks for the assist" she chuckled as the soldier who had followed behind her seemed to freeze.

"Suzuhara? Touji Suzuhara?" he balked at the small affirmative grunt from the other end. "You have Touji Suzuhara down there with you?" Lanthanein asked, still in disbelief, this couldn't possibly be a coincidence. But, if Suzuhara could survive out in this with no military training then even he had underestimated the man.

"Yep! He's been with us since the last time you came to shoot up the bad guys for us." the Sergeant replied cheerfully as she leaned over and dragged Suzuhara back over with an arm around his shoulders. "Say hello civvie."

"Hey, L." came what was unmistakably a very embarrassed Touji Suzuhara.

"Touji! Ha! It is good to hear your voice! I told Aida you would be alright, but I never expected to find you engaged alongside the JSSDF forces, I admire your dedication to your people." Lanthanein exclaimed.

"He says he's proud of you Suzuhara" Sergeant Satou told the other man. A number of the other members of their combined squad had taken notice of the exchange now and were actively chuckling back and forth at the absurdity of the 30 meter war machine being reunited with it's friends.

Lanthanein's smile faded as he was forced to get back to business. More enemy warpspawn were amassing farther down the road, a far larger force than the last time. "Squad Sergeant Satou, I hate to cut short your mirth, but the foe masses again. Prepare yourselves for battle."

Mana Kirishima spoke to the squad and titan over the vox. "I'm ordering the evacuation of that shelter, we're pulling everyone in it back to other shelters and letting the enemy have that ground for now. Just hold on until we have all of the civilians pulled out and we'll have more troops ready to stop the enemy forces."

Lanthanein pulsed his warhorns twice and brought the Sinistramanus to bear, he trusted these soldiers knew what to do with that signal having fought alongside Borealis Aristaios before. The world went silent as the beam of cannot-be lanced forth from the muzzle of the weapon and cut a large swathe through the on-rushing horde. The beam faded a matter of seconds later and the las-blasters commenced beating out their crackling staccato. The warhorns pulsed again and Borealis Aristaios took a step forward, the God-Engine stood astride the JSSDF line now.

Yet the enemy came on still, even thirty rifles and two titan scale las-blasters were not enough to stem the tide. Lanthanein momentarily wondered why there were not tunnels connecting the shelters to each other, surely evacuating by way of underground routes would be safer than going above ground by foot or APC. When the warpspawn reached the line Lanthanein ordered the defense contingent back.

He stood sentinel over their retreat farther down the street. When they had reassembled at the next series of fortifications Borealis Aristaios began to back its way to the new line, firing the whole way. The warpspawn that had begun to climb the titan's legs were quickly shaken loose as each leg began to move again. It wasn't until the titan was behind the next line that Lanthanein noticed the breach alarms had been tripped on the right leg bastion.

Lanthanein left the las-blasters to Pain and voxed the Squad Sergeant. "Sergeant Satou, We have a problem."

"What's the matter Aristaios?" she asked, shouting over her rifle's fire.

"During my covering of your retreat, at least one of the warpspawn was able to break through the lower bulkheads on the right leg bastion. If left unchecked, it will surely break through the other bulkheads and eventually reach my Control Sanctum. The creature must be purged manually. I cannot do so without leaving your squad unsupported." Lanthanein elaborated as he took control of the las-blasters again.

"I read you Lanthanein, I'll take my squad, we'll find the thing and kill it. Just keep us covered while we do!" She shouted to the rest of her squad and seven other soldiers, including Touji, moved towards the titan's right leg.

I=

Touji kept his position to the right of Sergeant Satou as they made their way slowly through the lower leg of the titan. Touji hadn't even known the legs were accessible let alone had the sort of fortifications they did. There had been gun ports and what looked like large machine gun mounts all around the ankle near the door that the monster had torn off to enter the titan.

As they climbed up through the narrow stairwell they occasionally came upon an empty barracks room or empty armory. They finally reached the top of the stairwell and saw a trio of the monsters, two blue and one pink, clawing away at a hatch, presumably leading to the rest of the titan.

Touji could imagine being anywhere in the leg while the Titan was walking could be quite the dangerous experience, but thankfully the machine was still for the time being. The warpspawn were too preoccupied with breaking into the rest of the God-Machine to take notice of the troops who had wandered up behind them. Leanne turned to the squad and spoke at a low whisper.

"Ok, here's how we're going to do this, they don't seem to concerned with us back here, so we fan out onto that catwalk behind them, once we all have clear shots, we open up on the three of them. It's literally the simplest plan I could come up with, but that just means there's less to go wrong." She said with a smirk, at the collection of nods from the rest of the squad she moved up off the stairwell and the rest of the soldiers followed her, spreading out and picking targets. On her order, all eight men opened up on full auto at the horrors. The beasts were inhumanly tough, but eight 7.62mm rifles emptying their magazines into their backs was too much even for their tainted biology to handle.

"Borealis Aristaios, this is Sergeant Satou. They're dead." Leanne said into her mic. The whole squad felt the giant machine rumble beneath them, almost as if pleased. The Squad Sergeant listened to her earpiece a moment longer and then turned to the rest of them.

"Our titan pilot here wants us to stay down there in the 'leg bastion' as he calls it and make sure nothing else gets in. he said there's some gunports and such down by the door so we don't have to stand outside and fight." She said as motioned for the others to follow her down the stairs.

The Fifth Day – 0400

Encamped near civilian shelter on west end of Tokyo-3

"Lanthanein?" Assistant Director Kozo Fuyutsuki attempted over the vox

"Yes Assistant Director?" Lanthanein replied, the man had relieved Misato again about an hour ago.

"Aida has been sending requests that he be allowed to work on Borealis Aristaios since you took that shot from the Angel yesterday, I know you keep putting it off, but he's getting more and more belligerent the longer you blow it off. You need to head back down to the hangar while we seemingly have this lull in fighting." He suggested, sounding exasperated Lanthanein could not place if it stemmed from his antics or Aida's.

"Affirmative, Assistant Director. Inform Aida we will return soon" Lanthanein replied and cut the link. He gave a single short blast on the warhorns and addressed Sergeant Satou over her own vox

"Sergeant, NERV has requested I return to the hangar for maintenance rites. Have your men get aboard, and then make your way to the Control Sanctum if you can. Bring Suzuhara with you as well, I wish to speak with the both of you." Lanthanein was pleased to see the Squad Sergeant begin bundling her troops into the leg almost immediately. The JSSDF were fine soldiers, he was exceptionally pleased to see how they dealt with the entire siege with stoic determination. NERV could learn a thing or two from their example. He thought back over the last two hours while he awaited signal from Satou that the troops were loaded.

Borealis Aristaios and the remainder of the troops left outside the shelter had held the line for nearly an hour, Squad Satou itself had fought off a few of the monsters that broke through the gaps in the line and tried to climb their way into the God-Engine. Eventually the all clear came through from Captain Kirishima. The shelter had been cleared out and the civilians were all well away from the battlezone. Lanthanein made the request to both Kirishima and Satou that he be allowed to retain the squad for the time being given as he needed them for defense. Neither had any issue with that plan and so the squad gathered their remaining equipment from the APCs they would no longer need and moved into the right leg bastion.

"Ok Lanthanein, we're all aboard down here, I told the boys to all strap in so they don't get thrown around too much." Satou reported back.

"Excellent Sergeant, I will hopefully have a solution for that soon, I merely need to speak to Enginseer Aida. A number of items were removed from my Engine when it came into NERV possession. I have not ensured all of it is returned as of yet. I will inform you when we are aboard the lift. It will be safe for you to ascend to the Control Sanctum then." Lanthanein began to walk towards the lift that had been raised for him as soon as he finished with his warnings.

Borealis Aristaios stopped in the lift tower a few moments later. Lanthanein began putting the Sleepers back into their dormant state, and brought up a vox link to Kensuke Aida.

"Sergeant Satou, it is now safe for you to your way up to my Control Sanctum. I will see you and Suzuhara soon." He said over the internal vox speakers before addressing Aida, "Enginseer Aida, We are nearly back to the hangar, I have a request for you. While your crew is inspecting the God-Machine, I need you to locate at least eight sets of the Secutarii wargear. We have taken on JSSDF forces and they will need the magnetized boots and power packs to keep from being thrown around as Borealis Aristaios walks." Lanthanein went quiet for moment before quickly adding, "Do so quietly if you can, as of now it is more advantageous for me to allow NERV some leeway in researching these items, even if they seek to do it under my own nose."

"Preceptor-Intendant! At last you're back! Do you know how distressing it's been not being able to inspect the Great Engine after seeing it sustain such damage?!" Aida ranted over the vox link, "I am aware of Borealis Aristaios' peculiarities given it's unique provenance, I read the documentation you forwarded to me, but were you not the one who told me the Machine Spirit demands great respect? How am I to show it proper reverence if I cannot conduct maintenance after lasers tear massive holes through it's body?" Kensuke was not so much ranting anymore as merely nervously rambling. " OhwhatritesamIevensupposedtouseformassiveholesinthecarapace?"

"Kensuke" Lanthanein said comfortingly, he quickly realized the newly minted priest was not listening. "Kensuke!"

"Huh?"

"Take a deep breath Kensuke."

"Oh… yeah… right." Aida sighed deeply, "Sorry, Preceptor-Intendant, I-I'm a bit stressed. I can handle it." Kensuke went back to mumbling to himself as the titan slid back into the hangar on its rail platform.

"Kensuke!" Lanthanein exclaimed over the external vox horns. The young machine adept jumped, along with more than half of his work crew, and stared at the great black and green colossus. "We are sanguine Enginseer Aida. Apeasement is not necessary. We are not made of glass, Our purpose is war. Let us make war. Do not worry overmuch about Our suffering in that endeavor, simply be there to make Us whole again when We return victorious." Lanthanein spoke not only his own feelings but also what he could interpret as annoyance at being smothered from the God-Machine, he chuckled at that.

Kensuke looked suitably chastened, then the young man shook his hooded head, clapped his hands once, and waved up to the windows above the hangar, "Send in the servo skulls!" he called. At that, a number of the drones that NERV used for battlefield surveillance flew down from an open window on one end of the observation deck, each one with what appeared to be a skull attached to its central body segment in some manner.

Lanthanein returned to speaking with Aida over the vox as the machines zipped around the hangar, each one had a brush attached to a long pole that they seemed to be using to coat the Engine in sacred oil once more. "Well, this is new. I've only been gone for a few days Kensuke, when did you come up with this?" Lanthanein chuckled as one of the small contraptions hovered in front of the forward monitor. He heard the door behind him open and Sergeant Satou and Touji enter quietly, or they did until the two saw they plastek skull clad contraption hovering in front of the God-Machine. Their laughter was uproarious.

Aida grinned as his creations worked exactly as intended, they might not look like the ones Lanthanein was used to, but the idea was sound. "I got the idea from some of the texts you sent me after the fight with Shamshel. This is the closest I can get without 'grav suspensors.'"

He then called over one of the foremen and listed off everything he wanted done and then sent the man on his way. "It shouldn't take us long Preceptor-Intendant, I need to go find the equipment you requested, I'll have it delivered to the leg bastions before you return to the surface for certain." with that Enginseer Aida rushed out of the hangar.

Lanthanein turned as far as he was able within the Crucible without pulling his plugs out and greeted the two soldiers in his usual manner. "Salve, Squad Sergeant Satou. Good day, Touji."

Touji offered a wave and a "Hey" while Sergeant Satou merely stood in shock. The man was cocooned in a slowly rotating ball of thin tubing and seemed to be wired directly into his chair from the base of his neck. She slowly followed Touji around to stand in front of the big metal throne, she didn't want to, merely being up here made her feel weird. She didn't like this feeling, she wanted to go back up to the city and fight the ridiculous pink and blue monsters again, at least they didn't put her on edge like this guy did. "What the hell are you?" She asked softly, abandoning any sense of politeness.

Touji's eyes darted between his… (he still wasn't really sure what she was to him, he wasn't actually a soldier so could he really say commanding officer?)…and the Preceptor-Intendant. Lanthanein's eyes were hard but his expression softened before he spoke. "I am Preceptor-Intendant Lanthanein of Ordo Sinister Fortress-Crypt Borealis. But I believe you asked * what* I am, not * who*." He paused for a moment and gestured around the room. "I am the princeps… the commander of this war engine. I am a man displaced in time nearly thirty millennia, I am the very God-Machine you stand within… but most of all I am a servant of Humanity and an ally in whatever struggles it may face." Lanthanein studied the sergeant's face, he could not place her reaction. "Does that answer your question, Sergeant?"

Leanne looked conflicted, like she was regretting coming off so harsh at the start. "Not really, but it's not important right now, you said you needed to speak with us." Leanne trailed off, she seemed to be out of her element for the first time since Touji had met her… fitting time for it now that he thought about it. Lanthanein came off strong even with his inhibitor on, just something about the man's personality, Touji expected. He still had trouble accepting the whole 'temporally displaced by thirty millennia' bit. Even when Lanthanein had told them after his little stint in the hospital, it had never really sunk in for Touji.

Lanthenein's next words brought Touji out of his musings "…and I want you fighting for me as Secutarii." Touji and Leanne shared a look and then responded in chorus.

"WHAT?!"

"I want JSSDF elements to serve as Secutarii for my Engine. It is something we often fought without in the Ordo, but Ordo engagements were so alien to this that the two are nigh incomparable." Lanthanein told the two.

"What do you mean?" Leanne asked.

"The sorts of engagements the Ordo Sinister was called to prosecute were always lone executions where no allied forces were in range, or they were engagements where collateral damage was of no concern whatsoever. Here, however, I am more or less in command of a city." Lanthanein went quiet, he seemed to have more to say, but simply didn't know how to explain it to two who were so far removed from the Imperium. "Suffice to say, potent as Borealis Aristaios' weaponry and techno-psykana may be, I have to prosecute this war in a manner far similar to a normal titan. I cannot do as my Ordo teaches and simply march across the world with my Kill Aura up. Humanity must endure. I must be reserved in my actions."

"So…" Leanne began. "this thing-"

"God-Machine" Touji corrected.

She glared at him, but corrected herself. "-This 'God-Machine' really has the potential to destroy this whole city if you wanted to?" Her eyes went wide and she shook her head, looking at Lanthanein with genuine fear in her eyes "What sort of wars are there where you come from that a weapon like this is needed?"

"This siege would barely register as a skirmish when I come from Sergeant. The warp horrors you have encountered are but the most minor manifestations that the heretic sorcerers conjured throughout their galactic rebellion." Lanthanein became distant for a long time, and when he spoke again, it was to change the subject "It is no matter, the fact remains that if I am to fight this war to the fullest of my ability, I will require ground forces to defend my Engine to be on hand. your squad has impressed me with their skill and endurance through this siege Sergeant Satou."

Satou hesitated "That's… The compliment is appreciated Preceptor-Intendant, but this is a lot to just spring on me like this. Have you worked out the logistics of any of this with the JSSDF? Or NERV for that matter?'

"I intend to speak with JSSDFCOM at some point during the next few days. NERV may prove resistant to allowing outside forces to stay within NERV housing but I believe commander Katsuragi will see the necessity of the move." Lanthanein told them, Touji was conflicted. Working alongside the Titan pilot would let him make a pretty big difference, but he also wasn't even technically a soldier. He had survived all this by more or less pure luck. He was about to voice this concern when the vox crackled.

"Aristaios, this is Kirishima, have you already withdrawn to the hangar?" Mana's voice asked

"Affirmative Captain, is Our might required?" Lanthanein asked, leaning back in his seat, the whole Engine seeming to start thrumming around them

"Not right now, but your input would be appreciated, my superiors are expecting me to make a breakthrough within the next few days. Likely they want the prestige of it as a bargaining chip against NERV."

"Ah, a war council then. Very well Captain, shall I connect NERV command as well? I should also mention that I have Squad Sergeant Satou, and a mutual civilian associate of ours within my Control Sanctum." Lanthanein said as his hands began moving through the air, as if he were manipulating controls only he could see.

"Sergeant Satou? The same one who handed a gun to a random civilian she found on the street?" Kirishima asked, Leanne flinched. It seemed news traveled faster than she thought up the enlisted grapevine. She started to tiptoe out of the room. Touji caught her by the arm at a nod from Lanthanein.

"Yes, Captain?" Leanne replied, cringing.

"I should chew you out for doing that, y'know… Is he still alive?" Mana asked.

Touji answered himself when Leanne elbowed him repeatedly in the ribs. "Ah- yes, I'm still alive Ma'am. Ow! shit, stop it Leanne!"

"Good, stay that way. Now can we get on with this meeting?" Captain Kirishima chuckled as she dismissed her subordinate's 'disregard for protocol'.

"Affirmative, Captain. Assistant Director, Doctor Akagi, can you hear us?" Lanthanein asked of no one in particular.

"We can Precaptor-Intendant" Answered Fuyutsuki. "What is this all about?"

Kirishima explained her basic idea to all assembled. "My superiors are looking for a breakthrough, and soon. I had thought the best way to facilitate that would be to plan another major assault when the Particle cannon was being fired. It would serve as both a distraction to cover the shooter, and allow us to make the gains my superiors want to see."

Fuyutsuki made a contemplative sound. "Doctor, have you heard from Engineer Steiner? How long does he need to finish modifying the weapon?"

"Last estimate I was given is maybe another day, by then we should have the power we need, we've already picked a shooting spot in the hills, it is hidden from view by the Angel mostly, and we have the capacitors set up. Up till now we've been hoping the Angel will be too focused on trying to find the titan to notice the power buildup, we don't really have a way to hide it all." Ritsuko explained.

"Can you have your assault ready by tomorrow evening Captain?" Fuyutsuki asked after considering Akagi's analysis of things.

"Easily, Assistant Director. We can count on titanic support from NERV I hope?" Kirishima asked.

"You can." Fuyutsuki was glad Ikari had finally gone to bed a few hours ago, no doubt he would have tried to negotiate for something before letting the titan leave again. Lanthanein had a similar thought, though his was significantly less flattering.

"Well then I think that's everything decided, I'll draw up planned movements of my forces and send them over in about an hour, with any luck the Enemy will cooperate and let us have the time we need to get set up" Mana Kirishima replied wryly.

She was answered by snort of suppressed laughter from Fuyutsuki and a scoff from Satou. "Like that's gonna happen."

End 5.2

So a lot of stuff happened there didn't it? This chapter has gone through I don't know how many rewrites, it just did not want to come together in a way I was happy with. Combine that with the fact I released the last part right before Christmas and you get a perfect storm of post holiday ennui and annoyance at words. I won't lie I put this down for nearly three weeks in frustration at my inability to make it obey me. It's a simple matter of being too comfortable though. That will be remedied in future installments.

Now I realize it's been a little bit since I last answered comments, so here we go again

Jemman290:

No I don't think I would take GW's job offer even if it were extended. I'm content being a moderately insane fanfiction writer, I've no desire to enmesh myself within that corpulent chaos-thing writhing invisibly with retcons and stupid decisions

Cyan Sung-Sun:

Gendo is not necessarily retarded, I'd say more set on his goal. He's been planning this for near a decade at this point and he's suddenly had basically every one of his plans go up in smoke all because of one man who really didn't even intend to cause the trouble he did. As for your other two questions, I could answer them. But I'd sooner encourage you to watch at least EP 1 and 2 of EVA. It's a good show, but in the later episode it does become "mental breakdowns: the anime"

AvirRapter:

Gotta say I like that you offered your thoughts on not just one but three chapters, it is really appreciated to see someone who enjoys this work enough to document their journey through it

And to all those I didn't mention, thank you for your kind words, I'd have shouted you all out but there's a lot more than I thought and I fear if I did this would be simply a list of various forms of "thanks"

I'm already working on 5.3, it's all plotted out, it's merely a matter of beating it into shape. Hopefully that doesn't take me as long this time

See you all soon

FDA