USS Tokyo – Captain Katusragi’s Quarters

Shinji had known this moment would be coming for a few days and was not looking forward to it one little bit. The last time he had been in this position was to answer for what he had done during the second time he had piloted the Evangelion. Misato had not been happy with him back then, understandably so.

Looking back on it he could see that he had acted rash and impulsively. He had put a lot of people in danger even if the end result had been a positive one. This time was slightly different, but he still felt incredibly nervous about it all.

As he looked across as Misato, he felt dread in the pit of his stomach, and it was almost as if the collar of his uniform was getting tighter. He had seen a few sides to Misato since he had come aboard the Tokyo, and in front of him was the all-business Captain Misato. A side he didn’t know how to read. Her expression gave nothing away as to whether she was annoyed, happy or angry.

She had seemed happy enough when she welcomed them both back on board and then given them a whole day to catch up on rest but not it was back to normal business.

“Crewman Ikari.” She started to speak, “It seems you and Ensign Soryu had quite the adventure, leaving me with quite a few questions. I’d like it if you could tell me what happened, starting with when you were summoned to the captains Yacht.”

Shinji felt his stomach twinge with guilt, “I-I’m sorry about that...”

Misato shook her head, “Shinji, although this is a formal process let me assure you that there is nothing for you to be sorry for. I just want to know what happened, I’m not going to be blaming you or Ensign Soryu for any of it.”

“I... Okay.” Shinji took a deep breath and felt a little bit steadier, “I was in my quarters and was suddenly contacted by Lieutenant Commander Quinn. I was asked to report to the shuttle bay where your yacht was and when I got there, Asu... Ensign Soryu was also there.”

“Go on.” Misato frowned.

“He said that we had received some special orders from you. We were to use your yacht to travel to some planet a day or so away, there we were to perform some scans, document the results and return to the ship.”

“Mm hmm...” She continued to frown.

“We... We believed him.” Shinji said sheepishly, “I guess we... we thought that if we could get on the yacht and launch it, then the orders must have come from you, just like he said.”

“After all, I’m the only one who can authorize its launch...” She spoke through gritted teeth.

“Yeah...” Shinji lowered his eyes, “After we launched, things seemed to be going okay. We laid in a course and that was when you hailed us. By the time we knew anything was wrong that wormhole opened, and we couldn’t do anything about it!”

Misato gave a nod, “Continue.”

“We got pulled through and were forced to do an emergency landing on that planet. The yacht it was... well it’s...” Shinji paused, “We kinda... destroyed it.”

“It really wasn’t your fault Shinji.” Misato let out a sigh, “Although I really hoping that take that thing out for a spin at some point. The finest replicators, holographic crew on hand, soft beds. That thing was the most advanced captain’s yacht in the fleet, and now it’s gone.”

“S-Sorry.” He reiterated.

“Premium upholstery, super quiet engines and a top speed to match the Delta Flyer. All gone.” She sighed in despair.

“Um… Captain…” Shinji tried to cut back in. Her words were doing very little to stop his sense of guilt. At this point she was just adding to it.

“All gone…” She shook her head again, “Damn you Q!”

“Captain!” Shinji didn’t mean to raise his voice, but it did the job, Misato seemed to snap out of her despair. She cleared her throat.

“Continue.”

“We landed on the planet.” He continued, “And Asu- Ensign Soryu decided that we should try to set up a distress beacon.”

Shinji decided to leave out the finer points of the initial landing and awakening on the yacht, like Asuka’s refusal to listen to him, her panicking and snapping at him. He didn’t think any of that would be helpful, especially towards Asuka. Shinji wanted to do what he could to protect her, in his own little way.

“So, Ensign Soryu took charge?”

Shinji gave a nod, “Yeah, she made sure we had rations and our emergency kits sorted out. Then we left.”

It was a little bit of a lie; Asuka hadn’t been concerned with rations or emergency kits really. Shinji had been the one to sort them out but Misato didn’t need to know that.

“When happened next?”

“We walked for a bit in the jungle. It didn’t seem like we were able to find a good place to set up the beacon when we finally reached a clearing. That was when we were attacked.”

“Attacked?” Misato asked and felt her stomach drop a little bit. This was new information to her and whilst it was unlikely, surely Worf of G’Bakh would have said something about it, she really didn’t want to think about the possibility that her two stranded crew might have engaged with natives of the planet and broken the prime directive.

“Yeah by… spiders.”

“Spiders?” She breathed a sigh of relief knowing that it wasn’t intelligent life at the very least. It was only when she caught Shinji looking at her oddly, that she realized how weird it must have seemed for her to be relieved by the possibility of giant spiders attacking her crew.

“Big ones, they attacked us!”

“And then what happened?”

“We tried to run away but realized we couldn’t run any further. Asuka she… she told me to keep running and hide somewhere whilst she tried to fight them off. She…” Shinji trailed off as he thought back to that moment.

It wasn’t the first time he had realized it but Asuka was going to sacrifice herself to protect him. If he had actually ran away then she would have died whilst he would have… lived? He wasn’t sure really but the reality of it made him feel sick.

“Go on…”

“She told me to run and hide.” He reaffirmed, “I disobeyed her. I couldn’t leave her on her own… I…”

Shinji trailed off again

“You care about Ensign Soryu, don’t you?”

“I couldn’t just leave her to die.” Shinji dodged the question but also felt a redness coming to his cheeks. Misato wasn’t wrong. Ever since their first meeting he had found himself captivated by the Ensign. She hadn’t exactly been kind to him, treating him unfairly and talking down to him during their first meeting and during their training sessions but there was something about her that just got under his skin.

He found himself thinking about her often, thinking about those moments in between. When she’d actually talk to him properly. When she’d guide him using the controls on the holodeck. How she’d guide his hands gently to the correct places. He’d listen keenly when she spoke about how amazing the Sovereign class ships were and how she’d be captain of one one day.

It was that enthusiasm that captivated him. It was the fire in her eyes and the determination that hooked him. It was like, in those moments, he was seeing the real her. He wouldn’t have been able to live with himself if he had abandoned her.

“Continue.”

Misato hadn’t quite expected Shinji to take a liking to Asuka when she set her up to train him. This was definitely an unexpected development and one she might have to keep an eye on. She had definitely gotten a sense that Asuka cared for him too, but wasn’t sure how much.

“We fought it off, but Asuka was hurt. She was losing blood and passed out.” Shinji explained, “The other spiders left and so I managed to get us to shelter where I treated her wound and made her as comfortable as I could. I started a fire to keep us warm and I… I waited until she woke up.”

“What then?”

Shinji wasn’t going to mention exactly what had happened when Asuka had woken up. He wasn’t too sure of it himself, and besides it was a personal thing for Asuka. He could remember it clearly though; the woman had been having a nightmare and woke up screaming and terrified.

Not just that, but in that instant, she seemed to lose all her confidence. Going from the brave and brash Asuka he knew to a terrified girl, admitting she didn’t know what she was doing and even that she wasn’t cut out for what she was doing.

“We waited and decided we should try our plan of setting up a beacon for the distress signal. We were about to leave the cave but then G’Bakh and his people turned up.”

Misato nodded, “Well… I think I have a clearer idea of it all. It seems like the two of you had quite the adventure together.”

“Captain.” He started, “Asu- Ensign Soryu…”

“You know you can just call her Asuka if you want Shinji.” Misato chuckled, “Formality is great when it’s appropriate but I don’t want my crew to call their friends by just their rank.”

“Sorry. Just… She…” Shinji took a moment to figure out just how to phrase this, “I… She did a really good job. She came up with the plan and if… well if anything bad is going to come of it then I…”

Misato cut him off, “Shinji, let me stop you right there. Nothing bad is going to come from this. There won’t be any time in the brig, no court martials or even spending hours cleaning the Jefferies tubes.”

“Really?”

“What happened to the two of you was never meant to happen and wasn’t something either of you could have stopped. If anything, I’m proud of the two of you and how you both handled yourselves. It can’t have been easy for either of you.” She continued.

“I…”

“You should be proud of yourself. You came through in a situation that required you to improvise and act quickly. You were even willing to put yourself in danger to protect someone else.” She laughed, “Not to mention spending two days on a Klingon vessel and trying Gagh, I don’t think even I’d be that brave.”

“I just did what I thought was right.”

“And you were correct.” Misato nodded, “There was actually something I wanted to speak to you about, it’s to do with your role on this ship.”

“Captain?”

“How does Ensign Shinji Ikari sound?”

USS Tokyo – Officers Bar

“You’re getting a promotion!?” Kensuke exclaimed loudly, almost catching the attention of a nearby group of officers.

“Misa- The captain told me to keep it quiet!” Shinji quickly cut Kensuke off, his face a little bit red in embarrassment, “But yes! Because of what happened and how we handled things, she said she would look at making me an ensign. It’s not really a promotion though, right?”

“Technically not, I guess.” Kensuke shrugged his shoulders, “I mean you’re a nomcom at the moment which has its own path, and you’re going to be made an officer which is a different one entirely. Plus, to be an officer, you usually have to have graduated from the academy.”

“Which makes you very lucky!” Touji added, “Getting to skip all those boring lectures and classes.”

“Is that okay?” Shinji asked, “For me to have not gone to the academy?”

Kensuke shrugged again, “If the captain says it is, then I guess it is. Captains are usually given a lot of flexibility as to how they arrange the crew on their ship. She might have to pull a few strings and work something out to justify it, but if she really wants you then it can happen.”

Shinji hadn’t accepted Misato’s proposal just yet; she had told him to take a couple of days to mull it over before he made his final decision. He knew it’d be a big change and change was always something frightening for him. He had only just gotten used to his role as a pilot of one of those ships and being on the ship, never mind being thrust into something completely different.

Taking her offer would mean he’d actually be given wider responsibilities as a part of his new role. She had also mentioned that he would need to put in some work on the educational side of things. Shinji might not have to attend lectures of classes like Kensuke and Touji had to, but it seemed he would still have to learn what they did in some way.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

He wasn’t totally sure what to do. Starfleet had never really seemed like an option for him in the past. He had been told he had the potential but he had just never really cared, preferring to just stick with the simpler option of staying on Earth with his aunt and uncle.

Things were starting to change though. Shinji’s eyes were starting to open up a little bit, even if it had never been something he had wanted. He didn’t want to continue piloting the Evangelion, but being aboard the Tokyo, having friends around him and being part of this crew and something special. Maybe that was something he wanted.

“Won’t people be mad?” Shinji asked, “If I skip the academy and such? They all seemed pretty annoyed when I was made a crewman.”

“To hell with them!” Touji exclaimed, “None of them had to do what you did! I didn’t see them fighting a weird alien vessel solo with no experience!”

“Or being sent to a planet and having to fight giant spiders!” Kensuke added.

Touji continued, “Or having to spend all that time alone with the red head! That’s gotta be worth several runs of the Kobayashi all on its own.”

“Asuka isn’t that bad!” Shinji moved to defend her but also laughed, “If she hadn’t been there then I wouldn’t be here now!”

“Well don’t let her hear that!” Touji remarked, “She’s already got a big enough head as it is! You can just hear her now, ‘Oh I’m the best pilot in the academy and I can fight off giant creatures and save people, aren’t I amazing.”

“I can’t believe you got to fly in the captain’s yacht too!” Kensuke cut Touji off, “I bet it was incredible. You know that thing is the most advanced one in the fleet! All those upgrades and…”

“Yeah… Misato said something about that.” Shinji replied, trying to not feel a little bit of guilt over what had happened to the yacht.

“You’re both so lucky! Getting to go on that advanced ship! Going through the wormhole and seeing all that action.”

“Just ignore him.” Touji shook his head, “He gets like that sometimes.”

USS Tokyo – Captain Katusragi’s Quarters

Asuka straightened up her uniform and made sure to stand firmly as she looked straight ahead to Misato’s desk and the waiting captain. She knew this would be coming, so had been preparing herself mentally for what would be the best approach. Eventually she settled on keeping it simple and concise. Just keep it to the bare minimum and nothing beyond that.

“I was in my quarters when I was hailed by Lieutenant Commander Quinn.” Asuka began, trying to not let her anger show as she said the name that Q had taken on to fool her and Shinji, “He asked me to shuttle bay two. There we were told about the mission you had supposedly put together for us and we left.”

“There were no issues with you leaving?”

Asuka shook her head, “The shuttles start up sequence went ahead as expected, we didn’t need to input any overrides or anything. It was as easy as taking a regular shuttlecraft.”

Misato frowned, “Go on.”

“We weren’t out in space long before you contacted us. That was when the wormhole opened, we tried to turn the ship around but by that point we couldn’t go anything. We were pulled through, and forced to make an emergency landing on a planet.”

“And after you crash landed?”

“When we knew we were okay we had to figure out what to do next. I thought we should explore and look for a place to set up a distress beacon.”

Misato nodded, “Sensible course of action.”

“We walked a while, there was a lot of interference so couldn’t find anywhere to put down the beacon, suddenly we were attacked by those… big spiders.” Asuka continued, “We were able to fight them off and get away to set up a camp. Before we could go back out, G’Bakh and his men found us.”

“You make it sound like it was barely anything at all!” Misato remarked, “Like it was just a minor inconvenience.”

“Well, you know! For someone like me it pretty much was nothing.” Asuka boasted, “We had a plan, we stuck to it and we got out of it. Even if G’Bakh and his men hadn’t shown up, I’m sure we would have managed!”

It hadn’t escaped Misato’s notice that Asuka had left out some of the finer details of what had happened down there. In broad strokes it was pretty much the same, but just lacking some of the detail Shinji had added.

“So, this plan, rigging up combadges to one of the shuttles communications arrays. It’s a good plan. Yours, I assume?”

Asuka nodded, “It was.”

“And Shinji, how was he?”

“He did good. He stuck to the plan, there were no issues.”

There was something in the captain’s tone that made Asuka feel uneasy. She had intended for this to be a very quick debriefing. She wanted to lay out the simple facts, not mentioning what had happened before they left, what had happened in the cave and certainly not the moment Shinji had disobeyed her order to run and hide. Shinji had already been in trouble with the captain once for disobeying orders and she wasn’t going to imply he had disobeyed orders again.

She wasn’t really sure why, there was a side of her that felt loyal to the ideal that you try to cover for your fellow officers but this felt different somehow. Normally she wouldn’t care too much what happened to her colleagues but Shinji was different. Shinji had saved her life, not once but twice. Not only that, he had helped her when she needed it. She hated to admit it, but she owed him.

“And he didn’t say… not follow orders to run and hide?” Misato smirked and Asuka felt her stomach drop.

“Apart from those ones I guess.” She admitted, “He’s already told you, hasn’t he? The idiot.”

Misato chuckled, “Yes, he’s already told me and no, he’s not going to get into trouble for it. I understand why you told him to run, but be realistic Asuka, would you have run away?”

“No, I wouldn’t.” Asuka shook her head, “He did good, if he hadn’t have done that then I would have…”

She froze as the realization finally hit her. If Shinji had run away, just as she had told him to then she would have been dead. She wouldn’t be here right now, telling this whole stupid story. It was a strange thing to realize, that one wrong move and she wouldn’t be here. Back in the academy they had all been made aware of that ultimate risk to them all. They had all seen the memorial gardens and plaques to people who had fallen but it had never seemed real, until now.

She didn’t want to die.

“You care about Shinji, don’t you?”

Asuka was snapped from her thoughts by Misato’s question and caught a little bit off guard by it. She didn’t know how to answer it because she didn’t know how to answer it herself and with all those other thoughts going around in her mind, she couldn’t even bring herself to be able to deflect it.

“Captain I…” Asuka trailed off.

‘They were all right, weren’t they? I’m not cut out for any of this. I can’t be relied upon! I’m too selfish, too impulsive. I’m a failure. I needed him to save my life… twice. I’m going to end up the same as her, aren’t I?’

“Go ahead Ensign.” Misato prompted her.

Asuka’s stomach continued to churn, “I… I… I screwed up.”

“Asuka?”

“I… I fucking screwed up down there!” Asuka spat the words out before locking eyes with Misato, “They… They were all right about me! They knew I’d screw it up, and I did!”

Misato stood up and moved quickly across the room, placing a hand on the young woman’s shoulder to comfort her, “Asuka, you didn’t screw anything up.”

“I did!” Asuka shook her head, “I didn’t have any plan! I was bluffing, I only suggested what sounded right in my head! I didn’t listen to what Shinji had to say, and I just ended up nearly getting us killed! He saved my life! Twice!”

“You should never have been put in that position in the first place Asuka.”

“I should have done better!” Asuka snapped back, “I said I could handle being here! I said I was going to be captain one day, and they all… they laughed at me! Told me I couldn’t because of the way I was. I was too selfish, too brash, too argumentative, too… too scared… and they…”

“Asuka!” Misato’s voice was commanding but also gentle, “That is enough, look at me.”

Asuka stopped immediately.

“I know exactly what people have said about you and what has happened in your past. You think people didn’t reach out to me and warn me when I selected you to be part of this crew? You think I haven’t seen your record and know what happened?”

“I…”

“The fact is, I don’t care about any of that. Your past is your past, we all have one and this ship is a place for a fresh start.” Misato continued, “I wanted you here because I saw something in you that others refused to see, because I believed in you and what you could do.”

“Captain…”

“You both got back here alive and that’s the most important thing. Yes, you might have made some mistakes but you can at least look back on them and learn from them.” She added, “Making mistakes happens, but we learn from them and it’s up to us what we do with that knowledge. We can fix it for next time or we can give up.”

Asuka said nothing instead just keeping her gaze lowered to the ground. She felt awful, ashamed and embarrassed. Her outburst was supposed to be saved for back in her quarters not in front of the captain. She was supposed to be reliable not crumble under pressure. Her eyes stung, tears threatening to fall.

‘I’m not going to, not here. This is already shameful enough.’

“You were put into a position you shouldn’t have been put into and even the most experienced officer might have struggled.” Misato spoke softly, “You said you were bluffing but from my perspective you came up with a sound plan, you inspired confidence in your fellow officer and you kept yourselves moving and alive.”

“It was never going to work though…” Asuka muttered, “If Shinji wasn’t there, I’d have…”

“Died?” Misato finished the sentence for her, the word sent a shudder through Asuka.

Asuka nodded weakly.

“But you didn’t, and you’re still here because the two of you were able to pull together and survive. That tells you just how important it is to have a crew with you, and to not try and do everything alone.” Misato explained, “Being individually brilliant is one thing, and make no mistake, you are brilliant. Fact is though, you need other people and there is no shame in that. You want to be captain one day, don’t you?”

Asuka nodded again.

“Then take what you’ve learned from this and keep going. Prove the people who doubted you wrong.”

“I… I will.”

“Good.” Misato smiled and let go of Asuka’s shoulders, “Now go and get some rest and get yourself ready to be back on active duty tomorrow. Your path to Lieutenant Junior Grade begins here, and I don’t see it taking long for yo-“

Her words were cut off by the sudden sound of an incoming communication, “Captain Katsuragi, Dr Akagi here.”

Misato tapped her combadge, “Katsuragi here, go ahead.”

“Your presence has been requested down at NERV by Ikari and Fuyutsuki. You’re to bring Ensign Soryu with you too.”

Misato sighed impatiently, “Can’t it wait, Soryu is still not ready to get back to active duty.”

“I’m afraid not.” Ritsuko answered, “Ikari is quite insistent.”

“Fine. We’re on our way.”

Misato shook her head and looked back at Asuka, “We’ll continue this later. Take a moment to dust yourself off and put the mask back on. Time to go down to NERV.”

NERV

Both Fuyutsuki and Ritsuko were there to greet them as they finished materializing in the NERV transporter room. Fuyutsuki wearing his usual expression and Ritsuko lurking in the background looking quite sheepish.

Misato locked eyes with her for a moment, Ritsuko simply looked away not wanting to meet the gaze of the captain. It was bad enough for Misato to be suddenly summoned to NERV like this, when she had better things to do, but she also hadn’t heard from Ritsuko for a few days.

‘What’s going on Rits? Why haven’t you spoke to me?’ Misato fumed silently. The last time she had seen Ritsuko was when the news had come that Shinji and Asuka had been rescued. Ritsuko had gone back to NERV pretty much immediately and the only word from her had been to request Rei be returned to the colony.

Misato had made it known she wasn’t too happy with the request. Rei had been seriously hurt and moving her wasn’t really in her best interests but Ritsuko and by extension NERV had insisted, even going to far as to claim Rei is technically theirs.

“Thank you both for coming at such short notice.”

“Not like we were given much of a choice.” Misato bit back, “Commander Ikari not joining us?”

“Commander Ikari is currently pre-occupied with more pressing issues.”

“Like not speaking to his son?” Misato bit back, swearing she could hear a little snigger from Asuka behind her.

“Misato.” Ritsuko finally spoke, “Now isn’t the time.”

“Of course it isn’t.” Misato replied, “So, why are we here?”

Fuyutsuki looked a little bit apologetic, “I understand your annoyance captain, we haven’t exactly been mindful when it comes to dealing with yourself and your crew lately, but as with most things, time is of the essence.”

“Fine, lead the way.”

They all followed Fuyutsuki out of the room into a lengthy corridor. During the trip Ritsuko took a moment to pull herself next to Misato and spoke in hushed tones, “Misato, I’m sorry I… I tried to stop this. I said it could wait but they…”

“What’s going on Ritsuko?” Misato kept her voice low, “I haven’t heard from you in two days, I thought we…”

“I’m sorry!” Ritsuko answered, “I’ll make it up to you, I promise. Just… there have been complications and I’ve not been able to leave my lab.”

“Is everything okay?” Misato couldn’t help but feel a little bit concerned, she was mad at Risuko but also knew when they rekindled their relationship here, it might not be straightforward.

“I’m fine.” Ritusko sighed, “Just… I’ll explain later. Please just don’t… be angry.”

“At what?”

There was no time for Ritsuko to reply as they entered through another set of double doors leading to the familiar shuttle bay housing the two Evangelion class ships, or at least, it used to be two.

A sense of unease crept over Misato as she looked over the third ship, now docked in the centre of the room. Suddenly things were starting to make sense, Asuka’s presence and Ritsuko’s request to not be angry.

“A third Evangelion class ship.”

“This is Evangelion-02.” Fuyutsuki started to explain, “Construction was finished on it a few weeks ago, and it was brought here by G’Bakh and his men.”

Ritsuko continued the explanation, “Functionally it’s the same as the other two, but it’s received a few updates based on research from the encounters we’ve had with the Angel class ships and Shinji/Rei’s training data.”

Misato nodded and asked the question, already having a funny feeling as to the answer, “And who is the pilot going to be?”

Fuyutsuki answered, “Ensign Soryu has been selected to pilot it.”

“Why?” Misato asked sternly, “She’s got nothing to do with this, she’s a Starfleet officer. How can she be selected to do this? Didn’t you have any existing pilots in reserve yourself?”

“Asuka has a greater aptitude for piloting than any other candidate we have.” Ritsuko tried to explain, “Her scores in the academy, her general levels of fitness and intelligence. She’s an ideal candidate.”

“Absolutely not.” Misato cut her off, “Soryu is a member of my crew. You can’t just take people off of my ship like they’re your property, and especially not without consulting me first.”

“Captain, with all due respect.” Fuyutsuki started, “The threat we are facing does not afford us the luxury of time. Starfleet has granted us the authority to recruit who we need to.”

“So, what? You can just take people off of my ship?”

“She won’t be taken from you.” Ritsuko explained, “All we will need is her to report for sync testing along with Shinji and Rei, and for piloting when it is required. Outside of that she is still part of your crew.”

Misato shot Ritsuko an angry glance, “How long have you known she was a candidate?”

“A while, Asuka’s name came up when we knew we were getting the third ship transported here.”

“And no one thought to tell me…”

Misato was about to say something else but was suddenly interrupted by Asuka speaking up behind her, “I’ll do it.”

Misato spun around, “Ensign.”

“I’ll pilot it, like they want me to.” Asuka nodded, “With your permission, I’ll do it. I can do it, and like they say, I’m an ideal candidate.”

Misato shook her head, completely unsure as to what to say. She wanted to object but it seemed she was being given very little choice. Fuyutsuki was completely right, NERV had a degree of authority here and if Asuka wanted to do it, then she couldn’t exactly deny it without good reason.

“Are you sure?” Misato asked.

Asuka nodded again and smirked

“Who else are they going to select? Touji Suzahara? Come on, you know there aren’t any better options.” She boasted, “Besides, you want me to help Shinji, right? Well, if I pilot one of those things too, then it makes it even easier for me to help with his training.”

Misato thought about it for a moment, she wasn’t wrong but she also wasn’t happy about this. Still, there was a gleam in Asuka’s eye, that hadn’t been there moments before. Maybe this was the push Asuka needed to really help her.

“Fine, I’ll allow it.” Misato finally relented, “Ensign Soryu, you are now pilot of Evangelion 02.”