SOMEBODY I USED TO KNOW

Now and then, I think of when we were together

For the past seventeen months, Gendo Ikari woke up to blandness. Bland walls, bland ceilings, bland food and even bland company.

It was acceptable as Rei Ayanami would say.

Only the old professor incarcerated at the other end of the corridor was in any way intellectually stimulating and that was when the prison guards allowed them to be in the same room together. Under guard, with many guns pointed at them. They were allowed to play shogi together. Otherwise, he was permitted to sit and ponder the meaning of life, the universe and everything inside his cell or outside in a nondescript courtyard for an hour each day.

And who could blame the people for dictating this routine was to be his life? Gendo was an integral and willing participant of an elaborate and expensive conspiracy to end the world. Willing, right up until the eleventh hour. Hell, he wanted to end it his way, for his own selfish desires. The world never gave a damn about him, so why shouldn't he reciprocate? He only cared about Yui, nothing else. No one else.

Gendo had come to terms with it all. He deserved a far worse punishment. He was involved in instigating the Second Impact, a man-made disaster that killed three billion souls and ruined the world for fifteen years. People adapted but it was just not the same. Gendo Ikari changed the word for the worse and then nearly finished it off. He was lucky he didn't get mob justice imposed on him.

At least his wish had been fulfilled. Yui had finally been pulled out of Unit One through the generous application of technobabble by Doctor Akagi. Though she would never say it, he suspected the formerly fake blonde was jealous of his returned wife. His main clue was that she hadn't said a word to him since the day Yui Ikari came out of Unit One. It was the second happiest day of his life and it felt as liberating and satisfying as he imagined it would.

Until she kneed him in the balls for abandoning their son and then using Shinji like one of his NERV goons…

"I saw everything, Gendo," his wife said coldly as he writhed in pain in the floor. "I'm filling for divorce tomorrow. If you try to stop me, I'll make sure they burst next time."

Knowing Yui, it was not an idle threat. He let her walk away without protest. It was unlikely he could have gotten up and chased after her quickly enough after her to plead his case, though the stars in his vision certainly complemented her receding derriere perfectly.

As promised, she filed for divorce the next day, and stayed with Shinji to support him through the next major trial of his life: senior high school.

Gendo opened his eyes though he could see nothing. He reached across to where his standard prison issue lamp was, or at least where he remembered it was. He was surprised to feel grass under his fingertips instead of bland aluminium bed frame and artificial threads on his prison issue mattress.

The grass was a bit sad looking though, not as soft as the blades that grew in the local parks where he and Yui used to watch Shinji play as a toddler. Nowhere near as green or soft as the grass in Tokyo-3 Central Park where he and Yui sat down together and talked just before he was put into his bland box…

"Gendo, I don't think that I can ever forgive you for what you did to our son," Yui said to him that day. She was so calm about it, as if she had known about everything for a long time. He supposed she did, since she was Unit One for twelve years before Dr Akagi found a way to reconstitute his beloved wife. And when she emerged from Unit One, she hadn't aged a day. "I trusted you to build a future for him. Instead, you went mad and wanted to end it all for me. Our divorce is final."

That was the second time that Gendo's heart broke. He wondered if it would ever be fixed. More than anything, he wished he could just see her smile at him, for him, with him just one last time. But Yui Ikari stood up and walked away without ever looking back.

Gendo shook the memory's wool from his mind. Here he was, outside in the wide open world. It meant he was free, at least for now, though quite how he got here and who his benefactor was hadn't been determined.

The grass rustled next to Gendo, and his old bar fighting instincts returned by stiffening his muscles and clenching his fists. He sat up carefully, surprised to find that whoever had dropped him in the middle of wherever this was, had done him the favour of at least giving him companionship in the form of Kozo Fuyutsuki.

The old professor and Gendo's former co-conspirator had aged somewhat but still retained his look of wisdom, and thankfully, his kind heart. The older man was wearing his orange prison garbs, which Gendo noticed were also on his own self. In the five years since the conspiracy to end the world was thwarted, the old man hadn't changed much, probably owing to the stressless life of being incarcerated with no hope of release. Gendo, on the other hand, had noticed a lot more pepper in his hair now that he was in his early fifties.

The two men nodded to each other, both reverting to old habits.

"Ikari."

"Fuyutsuki."

Gendo looked around, trying to get his bearings. But there was nothing there to really help with that; they were sitting on a grassy plain interspersed with some small trees and shrubs, hills beyond and the sapphire sky above. After looking around a bit more, there seemed to be a well-trodden path not too far from where they were sitting.

"Where are we, Ikari?" enquired Fuyutsuki. It was a most rhetorical question. There was no way either of them knew where they were. Funny, they'd spent so much time underground in the Geofront and then in their special ultra-high security prison that they didn't know what to do above ground.

"I have no idea Fuyutsuki," Gendo answered. "I just woke up here, and I suspect that's what happened to you too."

"Hm. There's nothing for it then, we might as well get up and follow that path down there."

Gendo nodded. "Yes, we should get going and find a settlement as soon as possible. I don't want to get stuck outside without cover at night."

Fuyutsuki tilted his head a little and the two men started walking towards their goal without any more words being exchanged.

/

After walking for several hours, both Gendo and Kozo were starting to feel their respective ages and level of unfitness. There was only so much exercise one could do in a featureless 10 metre by 10 metre gaol courtyard. It wasn't helped by their lack of any supplies on their journey and they hadn't passed any settlements, or anyone else, for that matter. But at least the weather was nice and the company was silent yet comfortable.

The gravelled path crunched underneath their prison shoes, which were starting to get uncomfortable. They weren't designed for long distances and terrain rougher than concrete with some leaves underfoot.

"I don't suppose anyone had the foresight to put in some benches for old folks to rest on?" Fuyutsuki mused. It was the first time he'd spoken up since they'd set off. "It seems idyllic, these pristine fields and forests. I'm surprised these haven't been eaten up by farming or industry."

Gendo considered it. There were undoubtedly untouched parts of the world, but Fuyutsuki was right that these flat lands were seemingly unclaimed.

"Maybe…this isn't where we assume it to be," Gendo said.

"Where did you assume we are?" Fuyutsuki asked.

"We were in that hole in Geneva. I initially thought that someone had dumped us there. But…"

"…Switzerland is far more developed and mountainous than this."

Gendo grunted his agreement.

"But if we're not in Switzerland, then where do you think we are?"

"That is the question, isn't it Fuyutsuki."

The two kept walking despite their aches and pains catching up with them. The two men were used to exercising their brains and not their bodies, though Gendo had the advantage of relative youth.

After some more hours, the two noticed there was some noise coming from behind them. They turned to see a wooden cart being hauled lazily by two uninterested looking brown horses. A young man with light coloured hair and fuzzy goatee sat in the front, bucking languidly with the shape of the road.

"You two don't look like you're from around here," said the man as he approached.

Gendo could see that the cart was laden with goods, but it wasn't exactly full. He considered that the man was likely a merchant of some kind, and if he was using a cart and horse, then perhaps they were somewhere very, very far away.

"No, we're not," answered Fuyutsuki. "My name is Kozo, and this is Gendo. We're travelling merchants who are…down on our luck."

"Ah yes, bandits have been known to frequent these parts," the young man said. "I'm Lawrence by the way, and nice to meet you."

Lawrence looked in the back of the cart for a second to consider something. He turned to the two older men and tilted his head. "Come on, I'll take you on to the next town on my rounds. It's not far and there's enough space in the back for two more."

Gendo and Fuyutsuki exchanged subtle shrugs. It wasn't likely they'd reach civilization without help and it would be good to gather some intelligence along the way before they did meet anyone less friendly.

"Thanks, getting robbed and walking the rest of the way to our destination wasn't in the plan," said Gendo as he helped pull his elder companion up on to the wagon. "This is generous of you."

"Oh, think nothing of it. Hitchhikers are common, and sometimes they have interesting stories too," replied Lawrence as they set off once again.

To Gendo's surprise, they weren't alone in the back of the wagon. A young woman with brown hair that flowed in the breeze and red eyes were assessing them. Those red eyes reminded Gendo of the last time he saw Rei in the most secret and important part of NERV headquarters…

Amid the turmoil of the battle for control of Third Impact happening above ground, Gendo brought Rei down to Terminal Dogma. She'd been acting strange ever since the destruction of the Sixteenth Angel. Strange wasn't even the half of it. If Rei had been known as taciturn, then this third iteration was the opposite. And she was obsessed with crawling through the ducting system in NERV headquarters. This was evident because there were times when Gendo came back into his office and found things ever so slightly out of order on his desk.

"So Commander, when are Shinji and Asuka going to make babies?!" Rei Three asked Gendo at the bottom of Terminal Dogma. "Because they should you know, so many babies."

Gendo had no words to even describe what he was supposed to think. Rei had never ever cared about human reproduction outside of whatever school assignment she had to complete. And to then mention his son procreating with Kyoko's daughter…

Yui had discussed the possibility that Asuka and Shinji could end up together with him jokingly before. Was this Rei bringing up some sort of repressed memory? No matter, he would discuss it with Yui again when they were reunited. His anticipation for that sweet reunion was incalculable. There was so much that he needed to say to her after eleven arduous years.

"Oh, is this what you brought me down here for, Commander?" Rei squeaked happily at the sight of a crucified Lilith. He was never going to get used to that. It was almost like how Shinji used to behave before the world went to shit.

"Because, you know, it's not going to happen," Rei declared seriously. It stopped Gendo in his tracks. For the first time, he was afraid of his carefully raised ward. "I want people to make babies, not whatever you have in mind."

The last memory of that encounter with Rei – indeed the last that anyone saw of Rei Ayanami – was of her hair standing on end and cackling wickedly as she turned to look at Lillith's crucified form before he lost consciousness.

Gendo was jolted from his memory by a particularly large pothole in the road. He saw that Fuyutsuki and the younger woman were both comfortably asleep against opposite sides of the wagon, and the afternoon sun beat a golden hue upon the ground as clouds crawled across the sky.

Wherever we are, at least it's got some nice scenery.

Gendo peered ahead and saw they were slowly approaching a small town with a protective stone wall and some turrets with guards inside scanning for threats. He supposed this was the place the young man mentioned earlier when they first met.

Gendo and Fuyutsuki thanked the kind stranger and his companion for the courtesy of giving them a free ride and went about wandering the streets. For a small town, the place seemed fairly busy even in the dying light. Stone and wood buildings seemed to teem with life and frivolity, which only served to remind Gendo how hungry he was. After all his last meal was the standard tasteless gruel in his maximum-security cube.

The two men wandered into a larger stone building, attracted to the light coming from within as well as the merry music and smell of freshly cooked food. They found a bustling scene as waitresses dressed in maid costumes flitted around the warmly lit establishment serving generously full mugs overflowing with yellow liquid and plates of food.

Fuyutsuki's stomach growled like he was warning off another animal from his food.

A smiling waitress walked up them. "Evening and welcome to the Granton Adventurer's Tavern. My name is June. How may I serve you?"

Gendo hadn't been met with a friendly face since…he didn't remember when. Even when Shinji visited him in gaol it felt like it was all forced. He couldn't blame his son, considering the circumstances. Gendo wasn't going to win any father of the year awards, or any awards in the foreseeable future, really. "Hello, my business partner and I are looking for a meal…but we…we were robbed on the way here and…"

June smiled and fluttered her eyelashes. "No problem. We can open a tab for you and you can work in the kitchen as payment."

Fuyutsuki shrugged at Gendo. The two of them weren't afraid of a little manual labour. "That is more than fair. We accept."

"Alright, then I'll just need to get your names so we know to look for you after you eat," said June.

"Mm. My name is Ikari, and my comp…" began Gendo.

June's face underwent the most instant transformation both men had ever seen. Not only that but the tavern was suddenly silenced. "Did you say…Ikari?"

"Yes. Is there a problem?"

"Guards! Seize them both!"

Gendo didn't even have time to react to the hands grabbing and pushing him into the tavern wall. He cursed his advanced age as he struggled to remember all of his old bar fighting techniques to no avail.

"This day just keeps getting better doesn't it, Ikari?" asked Fuyutsuki rhetorically.

Gendo could only grin ironically before he was knocked out cold.

You said that you could let it go

Yui Ikari always knew that she was privileged. Privileged to have been born into a well-to-do family, a family with power, blessed with beauty and a loving husband, giving birth to a beautiful boy and, most recently, receiving a third chance at life.

Though she found herself staring at her second life writ large. She hadn't seen that purple visage since…

Thirteen years ago, Yui Ikari conducted a science experiment which took her life away from her. Now, she as she was being wheeled away from a cavernous hangar ensconced comfortably inside a United Nations medical pod, she saw what she had become for thirteen years; a monster built to fight monsters.

Yui wanted to cry. Cry for the world that her son saved. Cry for the thirteen years that she was away from him, save for those brief moments of consciousness when Unit One was active. Cry for her wayward husband who nearly ruined the world all because of her. Cry for that feeling of relief that she was finally out of that thing.

She barely paid attention to the doctors and nurses surrounding her comfortable bed as she was being wheeled away from Unit One. They were shouting questions at her, concern clearly written across their faces. Though she didn't feel there was anything wrong with her refreshed corporeal form. Her fingers and toes wiggled in command, she was breathing evenly and deeply or quickly as required and she could see, smell, hear, feel and likely taste everything again.

A strangely familiar face with blonde hair came into Yui's vision. She was sure she'd seen this person before. Ritsuko...that was her name. Ritsuko, who was daughter of Naoko Akagi, both of whom tried to take Gendo for themselves in turn. Yui shuddered.

Heh. They could have him.

Ritsuko Akagi opened her mouth and asked…

"Dr Ikari, are you alright?" a familiar voice called to Yui. She turned and saw Ritsuko Akagi standing a few metres from her, a look of surprise and uncertainty on her face. In the intervening three years since leaving NERV's underground hospital, Yui had not seen Ritsuko Akagi again. She had been glad not to, given what the younger Akagi had been doing to support her ex-husband, and what she'd been doing on top of and under him too.

"Dr Akagi," Yui replied evenly, not wanting to give a hint of the contempt she felt for the younger Akagi.

Yui wasn't sure what happened to land her in this situation, though her physical condition seemed perfectly healthy. One minute, she was walking back into the laboratory where she was applying metaphysical fundamentals to a computer jammed with the latest deep learning hardware and the next, she was staring at Unit One inside a dimly lit, rocky cavern. "It's been a while."

"Yes, it has," Ritsuko replied. She'd cut her hair shorter, Yui noticed, and had gone back to her natural colour too. She now looked more like Naoko than before. "I…do you know where we are?"

Yui shook her head. "No. But more importantly, why is that here?"

Ritsuko shrugged her shoulders. "I have no idea. I was only just getting out of bed…or what passes for bed in a prison, when I was suddenly staring up at Unit Two."

Ritsuko pointed behind her and Yui's eyes widened. "Unit Two? But that was moved into the Memorial Museum in Berlin."

"Yes, and Unit One was pride of place in Tokyo-2. But…they're both in this big cave right next to each other with us. I can't explain what's happened."

"Then…," Yui paused. She didn't know why it was so difficult to say the next words. "…we should find out what happened and why as soon as possible."

Ritsuko nodded and the two women started to find a way out of the cave together. Yui compartmentalised the relationship between herself and Gendo's erstwhile suitor. At the moment, the best thing to do was just to find a way out, get home and forget the whole ordeal even happened.

It didn't take long to find a tunnel despite the gloom. A short, careful walk through the tunnel led to a widening cave which got progressively lighter and warmer. And louder too. There seemed to be people in there with them.

A lot of people. Thousands.

There were men, women and children all mixed together in a state of chaos and confusion, soldiers herding them into the cave. It was being accomplished in an orderly fashion, as if it had been practised a hundred times before and the effort was led by a young woman in blue, white and grey with a giant two headed wolf.

The woman was leading the people right towards Yui and Ritsuko. The two stopped where they were, perplexed at the situation.

"Halt!" the woman in blue shouted. She drew her sword and walked towards Yui. "In am Her Majesty Queen Rivera Sergevague, who goes there? How did you get in here?"

"Uh…we…were hoping you could help us," replied Yui nervously. She vaguely remembered this woman now, and the wolf too. Shinji once helped Queen Rivera Sergevague by neutralising the wolf attacking the city of…Boldhold. "Wait. Is this…Boldhold?"

Queen Sergevague narrowed her eyes and walked closer with her sword pointed at Yui's throat. "I ask you again, strangers. Who are you and how did you get in here?"

"My name is Yui Ikari," Yui answered. "And she's Ritsuko Akagi. But I can't tell you how we got here. We just woke up back there a few minutes ago…"

Yui was surprised as the wolf walked up to her and gave her face a big slobbery lick. One head on each cheek. It was warm and smelled of raw meat.

"Ikari you say?" said Sergevague uncertainly. "Are you related to…"

"Shinji is my son."

There was an instant change in demeanour from the young queen. The sword was suddenly withdrawn from her throat, the look of suspicion was not so suspicious, and her face visibly relaxed, but remained guarded.

"It is an honour to meet you," curtsied Queen Sergevague to Yui and Ritsuko both. "And your handmaid as well, of course."

Yui wasn't going to let on that technically the two had met five years prior. "It's an honour for me as well. Though Dr Akagi over there is not my handmaid. She is a scientist who specialises in computational metaphysics."

The young queen could win a Vegas poker tournament as her facial expression remained as neutral as distilled water despite the impressive technobabble. "I see. Though that still doesn't explain how you entered this cave. There is only one entrance, and it is heavily guarded. Is there another way in that we don't know about?"

"We…woke up here," Ritsuko said plainly. Though it was the truth, it was going to be absurd for anyone to actually believe that was the case. "Neither of us know how we got here."

Sergevague seemed deep in thought for a few seconds but sheathed her sword nonetheless. It seemed that she at least believed what Yui and Ritsuko were telling her.

"Tell me," Sergevague asked. "Did you happen to come alone or with anyone else?"

Yui and Ritsuko looked at each other warily. But Yui knew what the people of Boldhold were like and trusted them at some level. She replied: "Funny you should ask. Do you have any idea how to get some really big things out of this cave?"

Rivera Sergevague smiled widely. "That crazy bitch. It really worked. You mentioned that you needed to move some really large things out of the cave?"

Yui nodded.

"Show me."

Sergevague signalled to her solders to continue whatever they had been doing before meeting the newcomers. She walked with the older women in the direction in the way they came. Part of Yui's mind was hoping that the monstrous grimace of Unit One wouldn't greet them there a second time and that it was all just a hallucination. But alas, the monster she had created and once inhabited was still there, its metallic grimace and hollow darkened eyes greeting the party.

No, not a monster. Just a tool. A tool of evil men, but we broke those bonds and saved the world.

"Ooh, the Colossus is here too!" chirped Sergevague. Of course, she remembered Unit One, the queen had witnessed its fighting abilities. But Unit Two was new to the young queen, who gasped in surprise at the newcomer.

"I've never seen this one before," Rivera chattered as she inspected the red titan. "Is it new?"

Ritsuko answered for Yui this time: "No, it's about the same age as Unit One. This is Unit Two. We don't know why it's here too or how it got in here…"

"Speaking of being in here…where are we exactly?" questioned Yui. She had been wondering that the whole time. That and Sergevgue was leading a lot of people deeper into the caves. She had a bad feeling about the whole thing.

"We're in Boldhold, or at least, the mountains behind the fortress city. My scouts have reported a large army on its way to attack the city…so we're evacuating in preparation. If you can get the Colossi working…that would mean a lot in defence of our home…"

Sergevague looked hopefully at the two scientists, while they looked at each other with concern.

"We…will have to discuss that together, Queen Sergevague," replied Ritsuko evenly. "There might be a way to get one of them working. But, we can't promise anything."

Yui nodded her head to emphasise the point.

"Alright, I'll leave the two of you to work out the best course of action. I have to get the next group in. I'll be back with provisions for you both soon." With that, Queen Sergevague turned and walked away from the two women.

Yui and Ritsuko nodded as the queen left, their brains churning. How they would get even one Evangelion operational without a pilot…or a soul in Unit One…was rushing through their heads.

It was a minute before either spoke, Yui being the one to do so first. "I think I might have just the thing…"

Ritsuko raised an eyebrow. "Huh? How can we get either of them to work? Unit One doesn't have a soul and I'm not going to let you repeat the contact experiment. Unit Two only works for one person and she…"

Yui stopped Ritsuko before her rant could go much further. "I'm not going to repeat the contact experiment. I didn't much like being an Evangelion. But…" she held up a sizeable USB stick… "I think I have the next best thing."

Ritsuko raised an eyebrow sceptically. "Dr Ikari, with all due respect, I don't think any USB stick in the world solves our problems at the moment."

"Trust me, Dr Akagi. I know what I'm doing." Yui replied confidently.

I think.

But you didn't have to cut me off

"Colonel, our birds have returned from their missions successfully," the bridge crew informed Misato. She could see the same through the Wasp's sizeable bridge windows as fighter jets landed on Over The Rainbow.

She nodded absently while thinking about the next move. Sure, they'd found a settlement and her woman's intuition told her it was the right decision to drive off the attackers. What next? Would it be best to make formal contact with the inhabitants of the giant castle?

The most important question lingered yet. Why was she, and by extension, the United Nations Pacific Fleet even here? She remembered the long debriefing when Shinji and Unit One disappeared into that weird Angel's Diluc…Dirac…Distihl…whatever it was Sea. Ritsuko mentioned it would take a lot of energy to even open a hole between universes for one person, let alone two dozen warships and their crews. But here they were.

Right now we have no friends here. We need to make some soon if we have any chance of making it home. I have to take this chance.

"XO, prepare a helicopter and move the fleet closer to the castle. We're going to have to do some diplomacy."

"Aye sir." It seemed that her XO agreed with her assessment of the situation. Not that the UN had ever written a rule book about procedure after being transported into another universe. Maybe Misato should write one afterwards.

"And keep the fleet on standby alert, audit our supplies and keep minimal CAP… drones will be sufficient."

Her executive officer nodded. She hoped they had enough supplies. She wasn't worried about the nuclear powered ships. USNS Henry J. Kaiser and Andrew J. Higgins were with the fleet and could keep up fuel supplies to the smaller ships for a while and USNS Supply had enough food to last months, if they rationed. But eventually…

No, I can't think this way. There must be something we can do in the meantime.

"Sir, hangar reports helicopter will be ready in 30 minutes. I'll assign a squad of marines to you."

"Thanks XO. I'll be in my ready room to get into something more formal. I'll meet the chopper on deck. Meanwhile, you have command."

"Aye sir."

Misato walked briskly towards her quarters and ready room. Thankfully it wasn't far from the bridge. It had been a while once she had to don the UN Marine parade uniform. It was still that United Nations sky blue, with golden epaulets for her rank and dark green accents to signify she was an officer in the marine corps. The UN had been generous in awarding her medals and ribbons for her historic actions, including the Angel War.

The change in uniform happened with quick and practiced ease. She considered downing a can of Yebisu stashed in her bar fridge, but the frowning face of Shinji Ikari holding his own nectar of morning alertness and energy put pay to that idea.

She smiled at the memory. He was such a cute kid, especially once he figured out he actually had a spine. Pity about him and Asuka though…

The sudden blaring of alarms and her XO ordering all hands to general quarters brought Misato back to the present instantly. She ran back to the bridge, finding it in a general state of uncontrolled chaos. She wasn't sure why that was since there didn't seem to be any immediate threat.

"What's the status?" she shouted at her XO over the top of the din.

"Sir, radar has just detected a massive object right on top of us…"

That was impossible. This world had no complex technology to speak of and, if she remembered correctly, only large predators like dragons were inhabitants. And Misato would bet on a modern AIM 120 missile over a dragon.

"Size?"

"Radar estimates it at over 600 metres in length."

Misato's eyes went wide. Was it an Angel? There was one that big…and they relied on luck and three Evangelions to catch and neutralise it. Those were simpler times.

"Where is it? Can we see it?"

"Negative sir…it… that can't be right."

"Lieutenant, please make it make sense." Misato was growing frustrated at the lack of clear information. Obviously something was unusual or else there wouldn't be this level of hesitation.

"Well…sir…radar indicates the object is 600 kilometres away slowing down from an initial speed of 29.8 kilometres per second. It's also…descending rapidly from an altitude of…400km."

"Lieutenant, you're right. That doesn't make sense. How long until visual?"

"Any second now, Colonel."

Misato raced outside the bridge and climbed the ladder onto its roof. She scanned the clear blue sky for anything that looked big and unusual. It didn't take long. A grey dot rapidly grew into an unusually shaped object with an ovoid saucer perched on top of a roughly oval cylinder. Two wings protruded from each side, curving up to hold long tubes which glowed and hummed with energy. She brought her binoculars up to her eyes and peered at the strange thing in front of her as it came to a stop, hovering in front of the fleet a few hundred metres above the water without looking like it needed any kind of thrust. She saw some English on the underside of the saucer that read:

NCC-1995-B

Misato's radio chirped. "Sir, we've got a signal coming in. Patching it through to your radio…"

"…I repeat, this is Captain Gendo Ikari of the Federation starship USS Tokyo. I call on any civilised people in this sector to respond to this hail…"

Misato stared at the huge ship hovering in the air, humming calmly while glowing red and blue, and wondered just what in the hell was going on. Since when was ex-Commander Ikari in command of a starship? He was incarcerated after the Vienna Trials and thrown into the deepest, most heavily guarded hole the world could reasonably afford the last she knew.

I have to get to the bottom of this.

A/N:

Hey everyone, author here. It's been a while, and I've been cooking the above up in the meantime. I hope this is an enjoyable chapter for y'all. As always, feedback is welcome!

And now, for the mail:

Guest - thanks for your continued patronage, and I hope that whatever I come up with will keep you interested!

Kull-Warrior-SG1 - I'm having a lot of fun with this so far, and I hope it's fun to read too!