This will be the final part of the Rameil saga. I've got a number of things to talk about but all that can come after the story, for now, here's NGST 5.3

(I thought I'd start providing theme suggestions in case any of you are music obsessed as I am, for this chapter I recommend 'If Only I Could be so Grossly Incandescent' by We Came from the North)

NGST 5.3

MORS INNOCENTIAE/ DEATH OF INNOCENCE

The Sixth Day – 1000

NERV Hangar 01

Conveniently, the enemy did decide to cooperate. The titan had not been called upon since it had retreated to the NERV hangar bay the previous night. The night had been eerily quiet for everyone in Tokyo-3. Unfortunately the lack of action only served to put all parties involved on edge even more.

Touji was content enough though, Leanne had allowed them all a chance to sleep in. Given the leg bastion ( foot-tress?) of Borealis Aristaios had enough floorspace for everyone this was accepted gratefully by all involved. Kensuke had awoken them a few moments ago bearing… something. Touji wasn't exactly sure what it was, but Kensuke in his red hoodie and Lanthanein (by way of the vox) were currently instructing the squad on how to wear it. It was a large metal backpack, that Lanthanein claimed was a power pack, wired to a pair of large metal boots. According to the techy duo they were mag-boots to allow them to not get tossed around the interior of the foot when the titan was underway.

"One of the first augmentations many Secutarii would undergo after their assignment to a Battle Titan would be the replacement of portions of or the entire foot to remove the dependency on this system for something less cumbersome." Lanthanein said, his voice distorted slightly by the crackle of the speaker and the echo in the small metal walled antechamber. A few of the men shared a look at 'replacement of the foot' just who was this pilot to come up with these crazy ideas?

"How long will the power pack last?" Touji called out before the demonstration could get started again.

"Ten hours." Kensuke said, he and the Preceptor-Intendant had clearly discussed this beforehand to some length.

"Barring any draw from other sources." Lanthanein added.

"Other sources?" asked Sergeant Satou.

"Yes. There are a number of other pieces of equipment that can draw from this pack. They will not be involved in this execution." Lanthanein answered. The Preceptor-Intendant was certainly being attentive to their questions.

"Like what?" this time from Tainaka.

"Rifles, Power Mauls, Arc Spears, other bits of utility equipment like portable welding implements, helmets, there's honestly too much for me to list right now" Kensuke answered them this time.

"Given the proper augmentations, this pack would function to project a Kyropatris Field as well, but to my knowledge, the technology for such implantation is not yet available." Lanthanein added.

"All of this is, for the moment a stopgap." Kensuke continued, "If we were able to fix the bulkhead door in this leg bastion we'd be able to go about this in a far less hamfisted manner. NERV and the JSSDF are going to work things out after this situation with the Angel is dealt with, hopefully by then, we can outfit anyone involved more permanently properly."

Lanthanein nodded with approval at the words of the man who was quickly becoming his closest confidant. This could have been handled better, he was only kludging it together now out of necessity, he hadn't wanted to play the 'I know you 'borrowed' a bunch of tech without telling me' card yet on his hosts. "If there are no further questions, I will dismiss you all back to the care of your Sergeant, I look forward to Walking with you all."

With that, the speakers went dead and the lights in the bastion main chamber returned to their full brightness. It wasn't actually that gloomy inside the bastion now that it had been brought online fully. Kensuke Aida put down the power pack he had been holding up and folded his hands in front of him, meshing his fingers together in the manner of someone yet unfamiliar with the motion. He bowed to the impromptu secutarii squad and took his leave, wishing them good luck as he went.

"I am ready now, Commander Katsuragi." Lanthanein said as he closed the internal vox link.

"Got it Lanthanein, I'll let General Goro know, he'll be contacting you from the base outside the city, but he isn't going through us, you'll have your private talk." Misato answered, she was glad Gendo still hadn't shown up for the day yet, she wouldn't have been able to do this otherwise.

…

Lanthanein waited for Silence to pulse him a connection request for a number of minutes before realizing that Silence was currently dormant, along with most of the titan's systems, he quickly searched his own buffers and found the vox link he needed.

"Good Day Brigadier General Goro, this is Preceptor-Intendant Lanthanein of Borealis Aristaios, it is good to speak with you at last." The Imperial greeted.

"Good day Preceptor-Intendant. I have to say, it's very good to finally speak with the one who's been so instrumental in all of our continued survival. I was surprised when Commander Katsuragi contacted me saying you wished to have a word in private, so tell me, what's this about?" the general's voice was deep, Lanthanein could tell the man was viciously pleased over their conversation already. He didn't seem to like NERV much and seemed to relish the thought of receiving potentially classified information from this chat.

"A number of matters Brigadier General, the most important being the fact that NERV is currently relying entirely upon the JSSDF for ground forces. This is problematic for the citizenry, but it may serve the both of us, if only your troops were more capable of defeating the larger enemy constructs." Lanthanein said

Goro bristled at the Imperial's last statement "The JSSDF does not have the resources NERV has access to, our budget is less than a quarter of what NERV is allotted every year, and that's only from Japan. They get even more from international sources."

"I was not offering criticism General, rather I seek to assist you. Firstly, the weapon you are loaning NERV, I wish to see it back in your hands as soon as possible." Lanthanein explained, "I can ensure it is returned without incident as a show of goodwill. My goal is to see the JSSDF able to at least have a fighting chance against the forces arrayed against Humanity. Tell me General, do you have plans for the weapon beyond this battle?"

"Currently? Not really, it's purely experimental at this point." Goro offered, his tone softening, perhaps he was a bit on edge.

"Really? You do not have the means to miniaturize the weapon and place it within a tank chassis?" the Imperial asked.

General Goro broke into a fit of laughter at that, when he calmed down a few minutes later he said "I'm not sure you understand just how big this gun is Preceptor-Intendant. A battleship, maybe, could carry it if we only wanted to shoot it maybe once a year, but we're decades away from being able to even power it without multiple days of capacitor charging."

"I believe I can help Brigadier General, or rather Borealis Aristaios can. I would be willing to allow my Engine to be examined by your engiseers, NERV has already done so I'm sure, even though I asked they not do so."

"And how would we do that? NERV certainly won't allow our people in honestly."

"Simple, Include them within the forces sent to fill out my Secutarii corp. I discussed the matter with Captain Kirishima and Commander Katsuragi, both agree that the concept is a valid one. I can provide initial wargear for a full force of fifty. They will likely still have to keep their actions covert, but it will get them past NERV security." Lanthanein explained excitedly.

"Yeah, I heard about that from Kirishima, I wasn't sure about it at first, but thinking it over even without the benefit you're offering it's a smart idea. It wouldn't do us any good if those little angels killed you before you can kill the big one." The General went quiet for a moment as he thought how to word his next statement tactfully "I can't help but wonder though, pilot, you're for all intents and purposes a NERV agent, why help us?"

"Because such distinctions are stupid in the face of species ending invasion." Lanthanein answered "I am no more a NERV agent than you, General. They house my Engine, and they tend to its Maintenance Rites, but as I told Sergeant Satou last night, my duty is to all Mankind. You will not die to these non-human filth if I have any say in the matter."

The general was silent for a long moment at that. The hatred in the other man's tone was a bit jarring, it spoke of more than a mere dislike for an enemy force. He found he rather liked the sentiment though. "Well, then I'd say we can agree on that Preceptor-Intendant. I look forward to working with you in the future…" Goro was about to sign off when he thought of something else "By the Way, I'll be stationing Captain Kirishima within the city for the foreseeable future, Ill have her provide you with contact information. If anything comes up, let her know, she'll be able to act faster being onsite."

Lanthanein nodded, ignoring the fact that doing so over the vox was pointless. "Understood Brigadier General. I too look forward to out continued cooperation. Ave Imperator, Gloria in Excelsis Terra. Lanthanein Ex." The Imperial signed off and closed the vox link, immediately opening a new one to Aida's personal communicator.

"Kensuke, I have a request to make that is rather out of the ordinary." he began. "When you finish your ministrations on Borealis Aristaios I need you to head to the hills where the positron cannon is deployed." Lanthanein ordered.

"Of course, Preceptor-Intendant, but why? And more importantly, how will we get way out there with the current state of the city?" Aida asked as he stopped working and looked up to the God-machine's head.

"Standby." Lanthanein said, bringing up a channel to Kirishima's command vehicle. "Captain Kirishima, I would like to requisition an APC to carry my Enginseer and his adepts out to the positron gun site. Do you have any to spare?"

Mana spluttered for a moment at his request and the almost frantic speed with which it was delivered. "I have one that could carry your people, but why can't they just travel with Unit 0?"

"Because they are going on my behalf, not NERV's. Please Captain, it is imperative that they be onsite the moment the Angel is slain." Lanthanein implored.

"Ok, Lanthanein, You must have some reason for this, Ill redirect one of my transports your way, Where are they coming up?" Mana asked tapping her radio operator on the shoulder and beginning to order a transport his way

"The same lift My God-Engine will use later. Thank you Captain, your trust will pay off." With that he cut the connection, returning his attention to Kensuke. "Enginseer Aida, Captain Kirishima is sending a transport to take you all out to the gun site. Use the personnel lift. When the battle is over, I need you to disassemble the gun yourselves and get it back into JSSDF custody. I do not trust NERV to return it, and I believe it will be important in the future."

"Got it Lanthanein, we're pretty much done down here anyway. We'll head out right away." Kensuke replied. Lanthanein saw the man begin issuing orders to his crew. He hoped Aida would reach the firing position safely.

The Sixth Day – 1800

Hangar 01

"Lanthanein, it's time." Misato spoke through the vox.

"Affirmative Commander, We awaken." Lanthanein spoke. He pulsed the warhorns quickly and opened a vox channel to the ad hoc secutarii squad currently residing in the leg bastion. "Squad Sergeant, It is time. Ready yourselves for war."

He received a short acknowledgement from Satou and began the rest of his Ritual. It was only a portion of the ritual this time. Simply reawakening the Sleepers, What few remained at least. They would be safe from the fear aura that would assail others that got too close to the Engine by virtue of the psy-shielding installed in the walls of the leg bastions. The Servitor-Moderatii that shared the Control Sanctum with him shuddered and contorted as they too were dragged back to wakefulness. Within a few moments he felt himself sinking back into the comforting, raging, depths of the MIU. The Machine Spirit of Borealis Aristaios was surprisingly quiescent of late. Lanthanein assumed it was due to the sheer amount of battle they had seen over the last week.

"We are Roused Commander. Launch when ready." Lanthanein said.

"Got it Preceptor-Intendant, We'll be launching Ayanami at the same time, she has to make the trip to the cannon site." Lieutenant Ibuki responded. A few seconds later she announced. "Launching Borealis Aristaios!"

The mag-lift shot towards the surface, traveling kilometers in a matter of seconds, it slowed as it reached the top of its shaft and Lanthanein found the door already open when he reached the surface. He stepped out as his auspex refreshed itself. The high speed trip to the surface always left it playing catch-up for a few seconds after stopping. A vox channel opened to Captain Kirishima, whose vehicles and troops sat waiting a few hundred meters down the road.

"Captain," Lanthanein addressed. "We have arrived."

That elicited a short guffaw from the tank commander. "I'm not sure we would have known if you hadn't told us Preceptor-Intendant." She answered with a grin, standing up out of the turret to look at the large machine. She hadn't had much chance to actually see the thing when her life wasn't actively in danger. Looking at it now, knowing what it was capable of, she wondered just what sort of war NERV thought they were in for when they built that.

"Launching Unit 0!" Maya called over the open command channel. None of the attack force would come into contact with Ayanami, but it was important they knew that the rest of the operation was going as planned.

Silence pinged it's Preceptor-Intendant with a new connection notification, shuddering in it's throne as His attention fell upon it.

"Princeps Ayanami, welcome to the war." Lanthanein greeted the NERV princeps as she too was connected to the command channel. Ayanami did little in reply beyond short sound of affirmation.

Mana voxed the entire force, "We are ready to begin. Good luck to you all." She said as her force began to advance, Borealis Aristaios bringing up the rear.

"Good hunting Ayanami." Lanthanein offered the non-expressive woman, he received little more than another short affirmative grunt. At least she was efficient with her words. With luck she had taken something away from their disastrous training session and her subsequent defeat at the (hands?) of Ramiel.

The march continued. Eventually the force came within line of sight of the immense Angel. Lanthanein expected the creature to fire on him almost immediately, but for one reason or another, it held back.

"Pilot Lanthanein." Rei began over the vox "Your disapproval of me will not affect your ability to operate effectively in this engagement I hope?" Coming from any other person this would have likely been phrased as some sort of insult, but the NERV Princeps sounded genuinely concerned. Lanthanein switched to a private channel between himself and Ayanami, it was still not a conversation that should be had in front of others.

Lanthanein sighed, he had suspected his 'outburst' might have such an effect on the girl when he had thought back on it, even if she seemed so disconnected, she was still human. "Princeps Ayanami, I hold no ill will towards you personally. I will be able to work alongside you without issue, do not worry."

"Very well Pilot Lanthanein, forgive my intrusion." She replied, but before she could disconnect Lanthanein stopped her with one word.

"Wait" She seemed willing to listen, Lanthanein assumed, as she did not disconnect. "I feel I should apologize Princeps Ayanami, my display of anger during our last meeting was unbecoming an Imperial officer of my station. My frustration at NERV's tactical ineptitude overcame my better judgement. I should not have directed that frustration at you. While I know that as a result of our respective… conditions… we will never be more than comrades in arms, I would still encourage you not to simply fight based on the decrees of a manual. Part of what makes us as Humans different from machines or xenos is that independence of thought. Do not let protocol stand in the way of duty, Princeps Ayanami. You are not a machine." Lanthanein finished. He listened for a response from the young woman on the other end, trying to gauge whether she understood his words of if it had flown over her head.

"…I… understand." She said flatly before disconnecting from the private channel. This didn't offer the Imperial much insight as to whether she really did or not. He put it out of his mind and caught up with the rest of the force for the time being. He would try to bring the girl around, make her a semi-passable or maybe even exceptional Princeps, but she did make it particularly difficult to tell if his lessons were having any impact at all.

The force kept up their march with little of note occurring. Eventually the armored force pulled into the city center in the shadow of the giant Angel. Borealis Aristaios stepped into the square after them, as the tanks and APCs spread out around the open clearing of the city center, troops began to dismount from them. All were ill at ease, no one had been so close to the Angel through the entire battle, even the few scouts who had been through here had not entered the central plaza of the city. Up until this operation it had been entirely full of warpspawn. The fact it no longer was made even Lanthanein uncomfortable.

"Princeps Ayanami, are you nearly ready with the positron cannon?" Lanthanein voxed.

"I am nearing the firing position now Pilot Lanthanein. Five more minutes." Rei replied.

"Commander Katsuragi, the gun is ready to fire correct?" Lanthanein asked as he began another lap of the plaza the Angel floated above. This whole diversionary tactic seemed to be more and more like a trap the longer they went without resistance.

"Affirmative Lanthanein, we have enough charge for two shots." Came Katsuragi's response.

Just then, the auspex picked up the sound of gunfire from the other side of the plaza. This was confirmed less than a second later by Captain Kirishima reporting enemy contact and ordering all units to open fire. Most of the vehicles had barely begun to turn their turrets when more warpspawn began to pour out of the streets and alleyways nearest to them. the whole force opened fire on the horde of enemy units. Lanthanein did not even need to move Borealis Aristaios to provide support, such was the utter size of the force the enemy was fielding.

"Katsuragi! When can we expect that gun to start firing?" Mana shouted over the open command channel. Misato's reply was drowned out by the whining roar of superheated air as the positron cannon's beam struck the upper glacis of the Angel. The beam held for less than a second, when it faded there was a massive hole through the Angel's upper plating. Smoke poured from the rent in the thing, but it did not go down.

"Princeps Ayanami, target strike confirmed, but you did not hit the core. We will need another sh-" Lanthanein voxed, he was cut off by the Angel firing for the first time that day, and not at him.

Ayanami's pained cry was cut in half when her vox link failed. Lanthanein continued to call out to her but got no response for a long minute. Eventually a response did arrive, but it was not from Rei.

The Sixth Day – 1845

Operation Yashima firing point

Kensuke had just watched the only operational Evangelion in Tokyo-3 get blasted in the face with a laser. This would be rather upsetting to most anyone, but was moreso when account was paid to how important he knew this part of the whole plan to be. The gigantic sniper rifle contraption EVA Unit 0 currently lay at was, to his knowledge, the only thing capable of touching the big shiny thing at the city center. Now, not only was one pilot (possibly) dead, the other was likely embattled in the city somewhere and expecting some kind of supporting fire. Kensuke pulled out his phone and dialed Lanthanein.

The phone rang a few times, the novice enginseer tapped his foot impatiently as he prayed to…something… anything…that the man would pick up. Eventually, there was an answer.

"Lanthanein. Speak." The Imperial answered in his usual fashion, but it was clear his attention was being pulled in many different directions.

"Preceptor-Intendant, this is Aida. We just saw Unit 0 take a laser to the face, I don't think it can still fire." He heard the Imperial curse at that revelation.

"That gun must fire again Enginseer Aida. It's our only chance to kill this Angel and free the city. I need you to make it so. Do what you must." And with that, the line went dead.

Kensuke wasn't entirely sure how he was supposed to aim and fire a gun that was even bigger than an Evangelion was tall. There was no way he could move the gun. There was a crane nearby (likely the one use to assemble the weapon) but he doubted it could lift the entire assembly on its own. No, aiming the gun was right out. He would have to hope the NERV pilot what was her name? Rei? had done so before she got hit, he called to his crew and clambered up onto the stricken Evangelion's forearm to inspect the trigger mechanism. It looked to be more or less the same as what would be found on a normal gun.

The idea hit him like a ton of bricks, he called for the APC to be brought over and its winch unfurled. He looked around the firing site as the winch cable was wrapped through the trigger and then anchored to the EVA's shoulder pylon. Looking over the gun it seemed to have a bolt action mechanism, Kensuke assumed for some form of heat sink given the massive amounts of energy the weapon would be discharging. The glowing asterisk shaped object lying a few dozen meters away on the hilltop spoke doubly to that assumption being correct. There was likely already another in the 'chamber' given the bolt was closed and locked. By his estimation the gun should be ready to fire as soon as the trigger was pulled. At this point his crew seemed to have the winch cable rigged up to pull the EVA sized trigger, and Kensuke gave the order to begin reeling it back and take cover.

Touji was glad Leanne had made them all practice with their respective mag boots in the hours leading up to the battle. Walking in them was noticeably different from walking normally and he was sure they'd all be falling over each other even more than they were already if they hadn't been made to get used to them before the feet of the titan were actively stamping around. There were only eight troops in Secutarii Squad Satou so far, but their position inside a fortified mobile bunker that came down to crush the very enemies it was fighting made for a rather easy fight all things considered. None of them spoke, it was too loud inside the leg to hear anything anyway, between the gunfire and the pounding of the gears and pistons above. He was glad they'd not been stuck outside like the rest of the troops though. The once plaza spanning frontline that had been set up had been pushed back to the point it now stood a mere dozen meters across around the feet of the titan. He wished the other pilot would get her second shot off already.

Enginseer Aida was deafened by the wall of noise that was the firing of a positron cannon. He had told his repair crew to take cover in the APC but had eschewed the order himself, intent on seeing his plan through. It did work… The gun fired. The beam struck the Angel dead on. And the thing slowly, almost as if it were full of helium, crashed into the tower closest to it and sank to the ground. Even though he couldn't hear anything he grinned and cheered at their victory. The great xeno beast was dead at last.

Eventually, the young man's enthusiasm faded as he remembered what he was standing on. Unit 0. Unit 0 which still contained it's pilot, a pilot who could be badly injured or worse. Kensuke turned and clambered his way up the EVA's bicep and onto its shoulders, balancing his way along them until he came to the armor covering the neck socket. The emergency release procedure had been covered when he had started his internship at NERV. Within a few moments he had pried the armor release open and gotten access to the plug port. Unfortunately, the plug was a far harder process to release, the handle would not budge no matter how he pried and tugged. He called down from the shoulder to his crew, within a few moments he had two men climbing up behind him and heading for the plug port.

Borealis Aristaios' warhorns blared loud and long. The Xeno was slain, at last the hands of humanity on this world had been slaked in the blood of the Alien. It was a wonderful thing to see. The warpspawn had begun to discorporate almost immediately after Ramiel took the second shot straight through its center. Some were still fading from existence, but none still fought against them. They had won. Humanity had won. For the first time they had a victory that was not won purely by his hand.

"Commander Katsuragi, does Princeps Ayanami still live?" Lanthanein asked over the vox. The JSSDF was currently in a celebratory mood, but he was rather sure NERV would still be investigating the status of it's other pilot.

"We were getting stable readings up until she got hit Lanthanein, past that we lost all connection. We've been trying to eject the plug since we lost contact but we're getting nothing back. We aren't even sure how Rei fired the cannon." Misato replied, sounding harried yet again.

"Ah yes, that… I shall explain later. I am on my way back to the lift. Please have one sent up for me." Lanthanein requested. Borealis Aristaios was pleased with the outcome too it seemed, if the giddiness spreading from that part of his psyche was anything to go by.

The pry bar clanged against the latch as it finally snapped free. Nothing happened at first and the three men began to edge closer once more when the entry plug fired from it's housing, crashing to the ground with a clang and rolling to a stop next to the APC. Aida was the first to slide down from the EVA's back and rush over to the long white pill shaped object. There was a red release lever on this too that needed to be turned to free the pilot. He struggled with it for a few moments, burning his hands on the still hot metal. Eventually one of the men on the crew he had brought with him rushed over to help and together they hauled the release open. The face of the entry popped free and a flood of orange fluid flowed out.

Kensuke was the first to step inside the plug once the tide of orange goo had ebbed somewhat. Ayanami sat there, still strapped in, unharmed but unconscious. When he approached her, she stirred, her eyes slowly opening an coming to rest on the red jacketed man standing in front of her.

"Ayanami? Are you alive?" Kensuke asked. This seemed like an odd question to Rei, but she answered it nonetheless, Aida did technically qualify as NERV personnel after all

"I am alive." She answered flatly. She could feel the cold night air beginning to flow in from the open hatch. At her response Aida, along with the two men at the door began to grin, one of them chuckled, and the others did so too. Soon the three of them were laughing. Rei did not understand why, but for some reason, she could not stop a smile breaking out on her own face.

5.3 END

So, I know this chapter was shorter than just about anything else I've written for this whole story, but this was the only way I could work it out. the pacing would have been wrong if I made it longer for the sake of length or tacked it on the end of last chapter. It did however not give me any issues coming together. so that's good. Hope you all enjoyed it even given the short length. the good news about that short length is it means I was able to juggle two chapters at once. The Jet Alone story is already in production, were going to see a lot of the JSSDF in there, as well as a diverse set of reactions from the citizenry of Tokyo-3 in response to the siege. there may also be an angry Preceptor-Intendant swinging a sword. Anyway, enough of me spoiling my own work, onto comments:

Nopite nopite nope:

As far as warlords having leg bastions, I'd say the lore is divided. The old lore where the Lucius pattern warlord was the norm (the big blocky one) there are multiple books from that time where warlords are described as having turrets and such in their legs. 'Titanicus' and 'Titan: God Machine' (old comic from the 90's. I spent literal months searching for a pdf of it cuz it's out of print. It's where the idea for L's speech to Kensuke came from) by Abnett both show things like that. Abnett seems to like the idea of that, he includes it whenever he writes titans. As for more recent lore, the book 'Warlord: Fury of the God Machine' has the crew of a titan running up through the whole engine after entering a door at the feet.

When I decided that I wanted secutarii in the feet I did some very rough napkin math which I will detail here.

Titan =~33m

33m = 108 feet

Given the lower leg is roughly 1/4 of the titan height on modern models I took 108/4 = 27 ft

The standard height of a modern building 'story' is 10 feet so there's nearly three stories of height there to fit stuff in and about 330 sq ft of 'floorspace' per story. Overall it's plenty of space for there to be a small bunker in each leg, and that's all I was really implying. I know you said you liked it, but I'm detailing all this in case anyone actually wants to see my reasoning (or sheer autism. Not sure which.)

Brother Bov:

I have two plans for that, I'm still deciding which one to go with, but that is a coming conflict

GNetne:

There's definitely going to be EVA's in melee, a certain redhead tsundere is very nearly ready to start heading to Japan with her EVA, I keep saying it (and I don't want to say it too much because I don't want to overhype you all) but things are going to get really interesting around the time of gaghiel I promise. Just stick with me for one more chapter. So I can set everything up right.