NERV Colony Orbit
Asuka had to admit, it felt strange to pilot the Evangelion class ship. Starfleet Academy had prepared her for a variety of ship types, making use of navigation consoles or older style joysticks or flight yokes but nothing compared to this. No Starfleet ship ever placed the pilot as the heart of the ship, nothing made you feel as connected to your vessel as this did. It was hard to describe but she felt like she was the ship and also still Asuka Langley Soryu.
It was her thoughts that were affecting the ship, willing it to move upwards, setting the speed of the engines and affecting the status of the shields. It was her mind that had brought it into orbit above the NERV colony and had positioned it to face the enemy. She had completed step one.
Step two was to assess the situation and await further instructions from the captain. Asuka took a moment to look around the cockpit, or lack of. She could see the seat she was sat in, and the panels in front of her relaying information about her ships systems, but everything else was just the endless void of space. It was unnerving and freeing at the same time.
Pre-empting any orders she brought the ship to red alert status, the klaxon sounded and another glance at her monitors shown shields coming online alongside her ship’s phasers and torpedo bays. On one of the displays, she could see a top-down view of the Evangelion class ship, around it was the blue outline representing her standard shields and around that an orange outline representing the strength of her A.T. Field. A statistic in the top right informed her that her sync rate was sat at a healthy and light green 72%.
“Captain Katsuragi to the Evangelion task force. I don’t think I need to explain to the three of you just what is at stake here, we’ve all heard that speech. Your mission is simple, we’ve picked up three vessels entering the system. Two of them appear to be the Sachiel class ships we’ve dealt with before and we’re dubbing targets alpha and beta, the third is something new, target delta. We’re trying to ascertain what we can about it but I fully expect we’ll have to improvise.”
“Just give us the signal to go captain, we’re ready.” Asuka smirked as she replied to the captain’s communication.
“Pilots Ikari and Ayanami, I want you two to focus on taking out target alpha. Soryu, I’m trusting you to take out target beta, let’s hope those high scores at the academy count for something.”
Asuka said nothing at first, letting Shinji and Rei confirm their roles in this before adding her own reply, “Expect nothing less than perfection. I’m ready.”
“Good! When the two Sachiel classes are done, we’ll focus on target delta. The Tokyo will provide whatever support we can but I’m fairly sure you know we’re limited in what we can do. Good luck out there.”
Asuka took in a deep breath and steadied herself in her seat as Misato gave the order for them to engage the enemy. She felt quietly confident but also with a side of nervousness. This was the moment for her to prove herself, the moment when eyes were going to be on her. The years of training had led up to this moment and it was time to show she wasn’t just good in a simulator.
She had already been studying the previous Angel engagements, even before she knew she would become a pilot. She knew the Sachiel class fairly well, having observed how it attacked and moved and knowing where to attack it for maximum impact. Taking that out should be easy.
Asuka began moving towards the target. All three of the enemy vessels were holding formation, her specific target was sat to the port side of the larger unknown class of starship. So far, none of the ships had sprung to life or made a move to attack them. Target delta was an unknown quantity, not known what its combat capabilities or how it attacked made things awkward, so Asuka was keen to take out her target quickly and efficiently.
She adjusted the speed of her ship, bring her to a nice speed somewhere between half and three-quarter impulse and started to bank to her starboard side as she approached the target. A quick glance towards it revealed it starting to come to life, tiny pinpricks of light appearing on its hull, accompanied by an increase in its surface temperature.
Asuka stayed the course and began a little countdown in her mind.
5…
4…
3…
2…
1…
NOW!
Her countdown ended and she immediately began to roll the ship to the port side and dropped the speed to just under half-impulse. This was just in time to watch as several beams of energy sprung forth from the Sachiel class. Each one passed by Asuka, missing her entirely.
Asuka let out a chuckle, “Completely predictable, now it’s my turn!”
Asuka levelled the ship out and set it back onto the original path, shifting the speed back up to just over three-quarter impulse. She was a little bit surprised as how quickly she was adjusting to piloting this strange craft, it was almost as if it was made just for her. She felt a sense of elation as she pressed forward readying her move.
“If I time this right, I can kill this bastard before they even get a chance to fire back!”
Now came the potentially tricky part, manipulating her A.T. Field. Dr Akagi had explained some of the basic theory to her earlier and Shinji had also spoken to her too. His explanation wasn’t the most helpful, being more along the lines of ‘You just kinda think about it and it happens.’
“Well, if he can do it, I most certainly can. Let’s give this a try.”
Approaching the enemy ship, she fired off a shot from her fore phaser array. It was absorbed neatly by the craft, revealing the hexagonal ripples of the A.T. Field that prevented any ships other than the Evangelion from being able to attack. Asuka glanced down at the date coming through on her monitor and nodded to herself.
She pulled her ship around, locking onto a specific part just above the enemy’s hull, a spot just above the core. If she could get this next bit right, all she needed to do was open up a small window.
Asuka tried to relax her mind, easier said than done knowing just what it was she was trying to do, but she made the effort. She envisioned the field around her, and tried to imagine it flowing outwards, meeting the enemy’s A.T. Field. Her ship started to shake as she did this, she kept it steady and locked it at just the right speed and pitch.
She could start to feel it, the A.T. Field spreading outwards, meeting with the enemies and starting to merge. She continued pushing forward hoping this would be enough and starting to ready her attack.
“Here goes nothing!”
She pitched the Evangelion upwards, unleashing several bursts from the fore phaser array, before baking to starboard, her port phase arrays sprung to life, hitting the exact same spot as the fore ones did. She kept rotating the ship until the final aft phaser struck its target.
Each hit struck the A.T. Field with frightening velocity, turning the hexagonal patterns a bright shade of orange each time, until the final shot from the aft phaser. This was the one that tore through it, creating an effect like glass smashing around the targets core and exposing it to further fire.
Asuka didn’t need much time to think about the next part. Her ship was already lined up in perfect position, she had already locked onto the target and the ship had no chance of escaping.
“Firing torpedoes.”
One after the other in single file, a full spread of torpedoes was sent forth from her ship. The sailed flawlessly through the gap made in the A.T. Field and slammed one after the other into the waiting core of the Angel.
Asuka pushed the speed back up on her ship, moving her away as behind her, her target erupted into a dazzling array of light, debris and small crosses. Satisfied with her work she signaled back to the Tokyo.
“Target beta is down.”
“Excellent work Soryu, move on it to assist pilots Ikari and Ayanami with alpha!”
Asuka turned the ship around to observe just where Shinji and Rei were at with the other Sachiel class. The two of them hadn’t managed to take out the target just yet, they had certainly weakened it and were doing a good job of avoiding its fire but there didn’t seem to be any coordination.
It was a little bit frustrating for her to watch but she resisted the urge to just butt in and do it herself. Misato had placed her in charge of teaching Shinji, and Shinji needed to learn. Asuka also knew that there would be quite a bit of scrutiny place on her and her attitude too. It was time for her to be better as a team player.
She opened up a communication channel with the Tokyo, “Soryu to the Tokyo, permission to take charge. I think I can… I think I can be more effective giving instructions here than you guys can.”
“Ensign Soryu, that’s quite the bold statement you’re making there.” Misato answered, “Are you sure you can back that up?”
Asuka gave a nod, “I know I can. Just watch me.”
“Very well, I’m trusting you on this Asuka, make us proud.”
That was all Asuka needed to hear as she slowed the approach of her ship and started to reach out to the other pilots, “Soryu here! You’re both looking good but you could be a bit more effective. I’m transmitting two sets of coordinates to you both. Ayanami, if you could divert power from your torpedo bays to your phaser arrays, Shinji, you divert from phasers to torpedoes.”
“D-Diverting power.” Shinji’s answer came first.
“Yes.” Rei answered.
“Ayanami, lock onto those coordinates I’ve sent.” Asuka instructed, “Shinji, you lock onto the set you have. Both of you approach the Angel in single file, heading 23.45. Ayanami, when you reach the point, I’ve marked as alpha, fire all your phasers and arc around.”
“Understood.”
“Shinji, keep pushing forward and make your way to point beta. If you time it right you’ll get there just as Rei finishes her attack. As soon as you do, fire a full spread of torpedoes and get out of there! Do you understand?”
“I think so!” He answered.
“You’re both got this.” Asuka answered before mentally calculating a flight path of her own, just in case the two of them didn’t happen to have it.
She had faith in them though, and watched keenly as both her other pilots settled into an initial flight path. Rei was out in front with Shinji matching speed closely behind. Both ships speeds were adjusted just as Rei started to hit her turning point. Asuka looked on as Rei started to bank and send out pulse after pulse of phaser fire onto the point that Asuka had marked up, stripping the enemy vessel of what was left of its A.T. Field.
Asuka turned her eyes towards Shinji in his ship, as she had instructed, he was moving forward and reaching the exact point her needed to be at. He reached it just in time for the bright flashes of the Angels A.T. Field shattering exploded beneath him.
Shinji brough the speed of his ship down even more and fired the full spread of torpedoes in a line, each one slamming into the Angels core. The ship was pushed back up to speed just in time for the enemy vessel to also go up in a mix of light and debris.
Asuka let out the breath she had been holding for the last fifteen seconds. They had done it, and she had been the one to help orchestrate it. It wasn’t over though, there was one ship left to go, and it seemed like it was waking up.
“Hah, excellent work.” Asuka fired through the comms, “Now both of you pull alongside me, let’s take out the remaining bastard.”
A glance at her displays revealed, quite frustratingly, that there was no new or useful information to be revealed about their final foe. Only that it had an A.T. Field and it was moving towards them. Its movement had a strange aquatic quality to it, the tail swaying to-and-fro like a fin.
Asuka then started to notice it, the tiny pinpricks of light appearing across the fin, starting from the part closest to the hull and then towards the back. It didn’t take a genius to realize just what was happening.
“Shinji! Rei! Evasive maneuvers, get down and under it!”
Asuka didn’t wait to hear their confirmations, having faith that the two of them would be more than capable of getting out of the way. She pushed the ship into full impulse, pitching downwards just in time for the fine to be fully immersed in light. Suddenly a large number of beams shot up vertically from the tail.
They were fast and numerous, and coming directly for the three Evangelion class vessels. Asuka gritted her teeth and banked her ship hard to starboard, moving as close to the enemy and under its hull as she could.
The barrage of fire was just upon her, a lot of it narrowly missing but a few shots managing to slam into her A.T. Field. She felt the ship shake and rumble. She levelled out the ship as the final shot missed her and glanced at the read out. Minimal damage to her A.T Field and shields were holding steady. A look to her left and then her right told her that both Rei and Shinji had managed to come out of it unscathed too.
She looked up to see the Angel vessel looming over her. Now was their time to fight back. The ship had no visible core, so they needed to strip back that A.T. Field and find it as quickly as they could. If she had to guess, she’d probably say that it was central of the ship’s hull, hidden beneath God knows how much armour plating.
‘So… take out the A.T. Field first! With three of us, that should be easy!’
“Both of you, I’m altering the frequency of my A.T. Field to take out the enemy’s field. You two should do the same, when you have let’s roll the ships and fire all our phasers at the following locations.”
Stolen novel; please report.
She waited for confirmation from the two of them before starting her approach. It was a simple bombing run, just like the ones she had practiced in the simulators. Only this was going to be focused on the underside of the enemy. Asuka brought down the speed of the Evangelion and banked hard to bring her back in line with the rear of the Angel’s vessel.
She started pushing forward, rolling the ship around 180 degrees and moved up to just over half impulse. The tip of the fin was visible, and the first round of phaser fire hit it directly smashing through the A.T. Field.
Next up was the point where the fin connected with the hull. Phase fire rained down again on the point, smashing through the A.T. Field and slamming into the fin itself. Finally, they passed the front of the ship, all three vessels sped forth firing once more at the waiting Angel, again smashing through the field, the remaining blasts scorching the being’s hull.
Still the three Evangelions moved forward, away from the vessel. When they reached a certain distance, they each dropped their speed, flipped back over and started banking around just in time to see the fin from the Angel falling away from it and exploding into a sea of debris and tiny crosses.
“Easy.” She smirked.
Unfortunately, that good feeling didn’t last too much longer as the front of the enemy vessel started to roar into life. There was barely any time for her to think before a beam of light jetted forth from an opening, aimed directly as Asuka.
Reacting quickly, she rolled the ship to the side trying her best to get out of the way. She was just a touch too late as the blast managed to smash into her A.T. Field and strike part of her ships shielding.
Immediately this was met with a horrendous burning sensation to her shoulder. Asuka gritted her teeth, resisting the urge to yell out in pain. The fight had suddenly gotten very real.
The pain subsiding, she brought her ship back around just in time to see the opening on the enemy vessel closing, along with the confirmation of the core’s location. She shook her head, “So that’s where it is…”
“Pilot Soryu.” Much to her surprise, Rei’s voice came through the comms system, “My scans indicate that the Angels hull will be impenetrable to our standard weapons. It appears to be considerably more reinforced than its counterparts.”
“So, what does that mean?” Shinji spoke up, “How do we fight it?”
Asuka said nothing, taking a quick moment to think about it as she continued circling around what remained of the Angel. Every now and then she took pot shots at the ship and watching as her phasers did little, not even leaving scorch marks on the hull.
‘If we can’t fight it from the outside, then we need to get inside but the only time that core is exposed is whilst it’s firing…’
“Ayanami, when that thing attacked me, how long between it starting to open that chamber and the attack?”
“Approximately one point two five seconds.”
Asuka nodded, “And after it finished attacking, how long until it was closed?”
“Approximately four point three six seconds.”
“Not a lot of time then.” Asuka replied to no one in particular before starting to think again. She analyzed the width of the opening, it was too small for any of their ships to fit inside, which meant sneaking in after it had finished firing was out.
Phasers and torpedoes could work but positioning themselves in front of the ship after it had finished firing, getting the right angle on the target and firing might take too much time. They needed something much closer.
An idea was starting to form in her head, “Mines… and tractor beams…”
A quick glance at her monitors told her what she needed to know, each of the Evangelion class ships was equipped with a full complement of photon mines and a launcher.
“Okay you two, I have an idea.” She started, “I’m going to get close to the Angel and deploy three mine fields close to it. As soon as I’m done with the third one, I need you to lock onto it with both your tractor beams. If I’m correct, and hopefully I will be, it’ll target me as I’ll be the biggest thread, as soon as it’s finished its attack, divert all your power to your tractor beams and pull towards the minefield.”
“Pilot Soryu, even with full power to your tractor beams, it is unlikely we’ll be able to pull it towards the field in time, it is more likely the mines will just collide with the hull.”
“I’ve already thought of that Ayanami, I’m going to reprogram them to self-propel on my signal. As you start to pull the Angel towards them, they’ll be moving towards it.” Asuka explained, “If we get it right, we should have enough time.”
“What if it manages to hit you?” Shinji asked, “You’ll be killed at that range!”
“What do you think I am Shinji? I’m not going to let that thing hit me.” Asuka replied confidently, “You worry too much! Just trust me. What do you think Ayanami, sound good to you?”
“Calculations show that it is possible. I am prepared.”
“Good! Then let’s do this!”
Asuka brought her ship back around facing towards the front of the enemy vessel once more. This time she was prepared as the opening for the weapon started to reveal itself once more. She rolled and banked away from the blast managing to not get caught up in it, before firing back a couple of shots of her own just as the opening closed. As she suspected there was no chance her phasers would reach the core.
Moving forward she also started to set up the mines, ensuring they could propel themselves forward on her signal. All she’d need is the location of the core, and hope that Rei and Shinji could do their bit. If the timing was right, they’d get into that opening and hopefully destroy the core.
Her first target point was reached, a position just in front of the Angel. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she set out deploying the first minefield. She tried her best to focus, ignoring the voice that had popped up to suddenly remind her that this was her first real combat engagement and failure her meant failure for all.
Her mouth went dry and her stomach churned, but she pressed on. She had to ignore that voice and get through this. She finished up deploying the first set of mines just in time to watch as the beings mouth started to open again. Cursing her luck, she pushed the speed up of the ship and fired several blasts from her phasers, hoping it’d keep the being’s attention. It’d be a complete waste if it shot and destroyed those mines immediately.
Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately for her, the being fired a blast at her, managing to catch her A.T. Field again. The burning from earlier returned, only more intense than before. This time she couldn’t help but scream out as a sensation, not unlike having scalding water thrown over, shot through her back.
A moment later the attack subsided, she felt tears stinging her eyes as the pain didn’t go away but she pushed on ready to deploy the second and third minefields. With the third field deployed she moved herself away and fired a spread of torpedoes, another attempt to try and present herself as the biggest threat and keep its attention.
Still feeling the effects of the blast, her stomach churning and her nerves kicking in, she fired off a communication to the others, “Alright, I’m done. Get ready to lock your tractor beams onto it as soon as it opens its mouth.”
She heard them both confirm as she continued to move away. It was in their hands now and not hers. She was trusting them to complete this, and trying to ignore the voice berating her to putting faith in others. Asuka had to force that voice out, relying on others wasn’t such a bad thing, besides in the long run it’d benefit her.
She became away that the weapon was getting ready to first once again.
“Tractor beams now!” She called out as she started to bank, waiting for the heat of the weapon on her. She wasn’t looking forward to it, still feeling the effects from last time, but after a moment nothing came her way.
She felt a sinking feeling as she looked around in horror to see the being had turned towards Shinji.
‘Oh my god no, not him.’
“Oh shit, oh shit. Come on, not him, not him, not now!” She opened her comm channel, “SHINJI! RELEASE THE TRACTOR BEAM AND GET OUT OF THERE! NOW!”
The only reply she got was to see him thankfully shut the beam off, there wasn’t enough time for him to get out of the way as the beam was sent directly at him, slamming into his shields and sending him ship flying away.
“SHINJI!” She called out in panic as she felt things starting to slip away from her. This was it, she had miscalculated yet again, and messed it all up. Her plan was going to fail and she had just ended up hurting Shinji once more.
‘Fuck, fuck, fuck…’
“Pilot Soryu” Rei’s voice snapped Asuka away from her spiral, “Activate your tractor beam, we should have enough power to pull it wards one of the mine fields.”
Asuka blinked twice before fully registering the woman’s words and nodding.
‘She’s right, I can check on Shinji later. He’ll be okay, we still have a chance.’
Asuka wasted no time in engaging her tractor beam and routing all power to it, just as the beam from the Angel started to dissipate. This was their chance, she relayed the command to all three sets of mines to start propelling themselves towards the enemy, whilst also starting to work with Rei to pull the Angel towards them.
At first it didn’t seem to be working, but then she saw it, the movement of the Angel towards them and the mines hurtling towards the opening. Time seemed to slow down for them all, as it became the longest four seconds in their life.
‘Come on you bastard! We’ve got you now!’
Then it happened, the first set of mines reached the opening, sailing perfectly through towards the core. One mine, two, three, five and seven before the gap was closed, the remaining ones hitting the hull and leaving no mark.
Asuka held her breath, waiting for something, anything to happen. For a moment it seemed like nothing would happen, everything was silent with no movement from the Angel or their ships.
‘Did we do it?’
As if to answer her question the started to see it, it was small at first, just a small pinprick of light but then erupting into more. The hull of the Angel started to shake and shudder as explosion after explosion tore through it scattering the being into a million tiny pieces.
Exhausted and watching the display she allowed herself a small smile as she sat back, “Soryu to USS Tokyo, we did it.”
NERV – Locker Room
When Rei emerged from the locker room, she was surprised to be greeted by a smiling Ensign Soryu. The trio of pilots had returned to NERV only an hour or so ago, there had been a quick debriefing after which Rei had gone to take a shower and get changed, whilst Asuka had to have a quick trip to sickbay to have her injuries attended to.
“Ensign Soryu, I was not expecting to see you here.”
“Asuka.” Asuka said sharply, “Call me Asuka, not Ensign Soryu. If we’re going to be fighting together like that, if we’re going to be friends then we should probably drop the formalities, shouldn’t we?”
Rei felt a weird sensation in her stomach at hearing Asuka say the work ‘friends’, it wasn’t the first time that she had been referred to as such a thing. Shinji had said it earlier too. The feeling inside her could be best described as a warmth, in all the years she had been here, no one had ever called her a friend.
“In which case I shall refer to you as Asuka from now on.” Rei answered.
“And what about you?” Asuka asked, “What should we call you? Can’t really expect us to be calling you Pilot Ayanami, unless for some reason you prefer that?”
Rei was a little bit taken aback by the question. Not once in the years since she had been here had she thought or asked about how she wanted to be addressed. As a Borg drone her designation was 2 Of 12, when Gendo liberated her, he had given her the name of Rei Ayanami.
Gendo referred to her as Rei, as did Dr. Akagi and Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki. Shinji generally referred to her as Ayanami, but sometimes Rei. Others in NERV had referred to her as ‘That pilot’ or ‘The Drone’, neither of which were good to hear, and were generally said with disdain.
She mulled it over for a moment, before replying, “Rei, I think I would prefer if it you referred to me as Rei.”
Asuka nodded, “Rei it is then. Now, onwards to the celebration!”
“The celebration?”
Another first, Rei had not celebrated anything before. She had a birthday but that was not something anyone celebrated, and whilst others in the complex celebrated birthdays, they were not something Rei had attended.
“Well yeah! You didn’t think we’d like this victory go by without celebrating it, did you?” Asuka laughed, “I mean for one, you’ve now got me added to the team which is worth a celebration in itself, but this is the first time there has been the chance! I mean no one in the sickbay, no one in the brig and no one trapped on a weird spider plant! So, you’re damn right we’ll celebrate it.”
“I do not know if it is a good idea to attend.” Rei answered. The warm feeling in her stomach turning sour. A celebration meant that other people would be there, and other people tended to stare and dislike Rei. She could always feel their stares and hear their mutters of disdain.
“You’re worried about the others, aren’t you?”
Rei didn’t move, “I admit, there is some apprehension. I appreciate yours and Shinji’s effort to look past what I am, I am afraid that many others do not share the same point of view. I do not feel I would be welcomed in a large group of people.”
Asuka let out a laugh, “Well that’s alright, because I hate being around large groups too, and I’m fairly sure Shinji is useless around just one or two people, never mind a large group. You’ve got nothing to worry about, I’ve figured it all out. I have the perfect little Ramen place saved on the holodeck, just me, you, Shinji, his two stooge friends and Hikari. How does that sound?”
“I think... that would be acceptable.”
NERV – Observation Deck
Fuyutsuki paused as he entered the observation room. The lighting had been dimmed, Commander Ikari was stood at the far end, looking out of the window across at the still form of Evangelion 01. Ikari had been spending more time down here as of later, often returning to his quarters in the early hours of the morning.
“Rei came to speak to me today.” Gendo spoke, unprompted, “She is beginning to show some unexpected signs of growth. I suspect Dr. Akagi is to blame, she always wanted to encourage her human side. Of course, exposure to the new pilots cannot be understated as well.”
“Growth? In what way?”
“She attended a celebration with the pilots and some of the crew of the Tokyo.” Gendo answered, “Soryu’s idea, a way for them to celebrate their victory today.”
“Unexpected from Soryu, I was under the impression that she was something of a loner type.”
“She is ambitious and trying to impress the captain, it will likely be part of that.”
“I see.” Fuyutsuki frowned, “it is not completely unexpected. The arrival of new people was always a risk, especially ones who might not share the same prejudices that those here have towards Rei.”
“Indeed.”
“Should we increase her medication?”
“No, not yet. Any alterations in her behaviour at this stage would only arouse suspicion.” Gendo answered, “Besides, her getting to know her peers could prove beneficial to us. I will allow for some limited degrees of exploration.”
“Is now really the best time for such a thing?” Fuyutsuki asked, “Given how integral Rei is to our plans, I don’t see it as the wisest move. What if she becomes emotionally compromised, we might not be able to control her.”
“Then we deal with it as is appropriate.” Came the answer, stern and said in such a way that he knew Gendo was not going to change his mind.
Fuyutsuki didn’t want to press the matter any further. Gendo’s tone indicated that it was already a closed matter. In a way he was thankful for it, he wanted a normal life for Rei, as close to normal as it could be, knowing just what the plans were for the young woman.
“So be it. What did Rei want to discuss with you?”
“The pilot of Evangelion 01.” Gendo answered, “My son.”
“She spoke to you about Shinji? Interesting.” Fuyutsuki raised a curious eyebrow, “I suppose this is also to be expected? Naturally there will be a curiosity about him now that he is here, and it’s pretty clear his feelings towards you.”
“Indeed.” Gendo gave the slightest of nods, “It is her desire that me and Shinji meet and speak in some capacity. She proposed an official dinner, bringing together the pilots and Captain Katsuragi, as well as ourselves.”
“Surely you don’t intend to go along with that?”
“I do not, but I told her that I would consider it.” Gendo answered, “With Keel’s impending arrival, I feel the time has gone for such distractions. My son has his role in this, and it is best he is kept to it and away from here. Such things could compromise the plan.”
“Do you intend to meet him at all?”
“There is a memorial coming up soon for Yui, I shall see him then.” Gendo replied, “It will be a brief encounter, it is best that way. I have little to say to him.”
“I expect he has a lot to say to you though.”
“He will get his answers in time, but it is not I who will answer his questions.”
“Of course.” Fuyutsuki resumed frowning before shifting the conversation onward, “We’ve received an advance communication from Ryoji by the way, he’s boarded the Covenant. He estimates they’re three days away.”
“Very good.”
“Should we be concerned that Keel is arriving ahead of schedule? We have neither established the location of the garden nor the key to opening it. Surely his arrival will just cause problems for him.”
“I expect he is feeling pressure from Starfleet, both Section 31 and Starfleet Intelligence have been closing the net around him and the committee for the last few months. He’ll likely want to add some pressure here.”
“But it’s fruitless, we don’t have what he wants.”
“Incorrect, we do know the location and we can willingly share it with him.”
“Really? But I thought we didn’t want Keel to find it.”
“Him finding it before us is of no consequence, without the key it is pointless and only one person knows the location of the key.”
“Naoko’s boy.”
“Indeed.” Gendo nodded, “The committee have remained ignorant of the boy’s existence and purpose. All they know of him is that he is our bargaining chip to keep Dr Akagi on our side. Even she doesn’t know of his importance.”
“Such tangled webs we weave, there is a special place for us in hell…” Fuyutsuki mused.
“Remember why we are doing this Kozo…”
“We are going against her wishes.”
“We are nothing without her. This galaxy is nothing without her…”