Asuka felt a growing sense of frustration as she and Shinji continued their journey through the thick jungle. A quick check of her tricorder told her that they had been walking for nearly two hours now and Shinji had said absolutely nothing during that entire time. It also didn’t look as if they were going to find any sort of clearing any time soon in order to set up a beacon to contact the Tokyo or indeed any passing ship.
Not that her plan seemed like that good an idea the more she dared to think about it. Sure, she had seemed confident when explaining it all to Shinji, but the truth was, she didn’t know if it’d work. The theory was sound, and they might be able to get a signal out there but even if they did, she didn’t know where they were or if there was any chance to being found.
She had to keep moving forward though, maybe they would eventually find something to help them and no longer how long it’d take to find that something. If they came to a stop now, then she feared the reality of the situation would set in. The two of them were stranded on an alien world. They had been sent through a wormhole that had collapsed instantly after they had been pulled through it. Both she and Shinji were alone and their chance to escape was slim at best.
Still, she had to keep moving forward.
She checked the tricorder once again seeing an array of dots on the screen telling her there was some animal movement nearby. She had seen a few small creatures moving and skittering about in the bushes around them, there had been some birds that had flown overhead, and she had also spied a few insects here and there. The planet sustained life, which means it was likely there could be some sort of civilisation here but exactly what that civilisation was, was impossible to say.
Based on the fact that no one had come to find her, she could only assume it was pre-warp, and given the mistakes she had made so far, she wasn’t keen on seeking out any civilisation to break the prime directive just yet.
So, she just had to keep moving forward.
She let out a sigh as continued moving forward, placing one sore foot in front of the other. Seconds turned to minutes and before long another half an hour had passed. They were moving further and further away from the shuttle and there seemed to be no end to this jungle in sight. Asuka was hot, tired, dehydrated, incredibly hungry and if she was being realistic, she couldn’t go on much further. As much as she didn’t want to stop, she had to.
She slowed down her walking and readied her most confident grin and turned around to face Shinji, “Not too much more to go! Let’s take a few minutes to rest up and then the final push!”
Asuka immediately turned away from Shinji and leaned herself against a nearby tree, her grin immediately fading as she slumped down. She glanced hopefully at the tricorder once more in case it’d reveal something to her other than miles upon miles of thick jungle.
“How much longer have to got to go?” She heard Shinji asking as she leaned back against the tree.
Asuka didn’t bother to turn around, “Why? Is all of this too much for you civilian?”
“No! I…” He trailed off, “It’s just I…”
He trailed off again, annoying Asuka and causing her to turn around. He was facing away from her, which annoyed her even more, “You just what? At least turn around to look at me if you’re going to whine about things!”
“No wait I…” Shinji waved his hand towards her, “I heard something!”
“Oh, you heard something! Of course you heard something! We’ve been hearing things all god damn day! If you looked around, then you’d have seen birds and insects and…” Asuka suddenly stopped as she heard the noise too. Whatever this was seemed much bigger than the small creatures they had seen so far.
She felt her chest tighten as she slipped her Tricorder away and reached for her phaser, keeping her eyes fixed on the source of the noise. She raised her phaser, “Crewman, get behind me and ready your phaser.”
Shinji gave a brief nod and backed away from the source of the noise until he was a little bit behind her. There was more rustling and then the first of the creatures emerged causing Asuka to take a step backwards. As she had suspected it was much larger than the creatures they had seen so far, this was the size of a medium sized dog, but it was certainly no dog, it was an arachnid creature. It was black, which green streaks and markings adorning its body. It resembled the sort of creature she might fight on the holodeck, only this was no holodeck, and the reality was setting in that there were no safety protocols to protect them.
“Oh shit…” Asuka muttered as she kept the phaser trained on the creature, her finger hovering over the fire button. There were more sounds of rustling from behind the creature, her stomach dropping as several more spiders scurried out of the bushes, standing in formation behind the lead creature.
“Um… What are we doing to do?” She heard Shinji ask
If this was the holodeck then the answer would be easy. She could just turn around to Shinji and flash him her best and more confident smile. She would ask him if he was stupid and tell him that the answer was obvious, they were going to stand their ground and fight to their very last. Reality was so very different to the holodeck; she was realizing this as she felt her palms growing sweatier by the second.
It hurt her to admit it but there was only really one option. Her eyes fixed forward she spoke through gritted teeth, “When I give the signal… we run. Do you understand Shinji?”
Shinji swallowed nervously, “O-Okay…”
“Three… Two…” Asuka prepared to fire and readied herself to turn on her heel and run. More creatures were emerging but none of them had made their move towards the two of them. The front one had however started to rear up and seemed to be preparing itself to strike. Asuka let out the deep breath she had just taken, “One…”
In one swift movement she started to fire the phaser. She fired in an arc trying to hit as many of the creatures as possible before letting go of the fire button and turning on her heel and speeding off after Shinji.
“KEEP GOING!” She shouted, not daring to look behind her, “JUST KEEP RUNNING!”
Asuka ran as fast as she could, ducking and weaving under tree branches, around bushes, hopping over rocks and stones and making every effort to put some distance between themselves and their arachnid pursuers.
Her legs ached as she kept on trying to push forward. The walk through the jungle had already taken its toll on her body and this was definitely not helping. Her chest and stomach ached with every stride she made. Ahead of her she could see Shinji clearly struggling as well, the man stumbling as he tried to dodge around a bush.
“KEEP… GOING!” She called out, still pushing through the pain. She hopped over another rock, dodged around a tree but missed the tree branch. Within seconds there was even more pain as she lost her balance entirely, her knees hit the ground first and she tumbled to the floor. She yelped out in pain watching as Shinji came to a stop ahead of her and turned around.
“ASUKA!” Shinji yelled out as she moved towards her, he was only two metres away but suddenly stopped, a look of horror spreading across his face. He pulled out his phaser and aimed it at something beyond Asuka. In pain and now feeling a great amount of dread Asuka slowly turned around to see that their pursuers had seemed to stop giving chase but coming towards them was what seemed to be a much larger counterpart.
Back on her feet, Asuka cursed and reached for her phase only to realize in much horror that it was no longer in its holster. She looked across to see exactly where it was, it had flown from its holster and was now lying still by one of the new creatures’ many legs.
“Shinji… When I tell you to… run and hide!”
“Asuka I…”
“Just… do it…” Asuka fired back as suddenly the creature darted forward. Asuka quickly backed away as it reared up, swiping at her with one of its front legs. She moved around to its left side, as it swiped at her once again. This time it spat out a green liquid that narrowly missed her, hitting one of the nearby tree stumps.
A second later there was a bright flash of light erupting from the opposite side of the small clearing. Asuka looked up to see Shinji was stood near one of the trees, aiming his phaser at the spider and firing directly into the creature’s carapace. This was the opening Asuka needed, she quickly darted forward, past the spider whilst it was momentarily distracted by Shinji. She stumbled as she approached the phaser, her legs giving away and sending her crashing to the ground.
Asuka picked up the phaser and rolled onto her back as the spider was making its move towards Shinji. Without hesitation she set the device to full power, raised the weapon and fired a blast into its side.
The spider turned around again, moving quickly towards her rearing up again as both she and Shinji continued to fire at the creature. It reared up and slammed its legs down as Asuka rolled to dodge out of the way. She rolled again as another sharp and pointed leg came down on her other side. She kept firing upwards, leaving marks in the body of the beast. From the opposite side Shinji continued his assault.
It reared up once more, as Asuka aimed another blast straight into the mouth of the monster and fired one more blast. She rolled one more time as the creature slammed down one final time and finally lay still and motionless. Asuka remained on her back, panting and out of breath.
“We… We got it…” She heard Shinji muttering as he came out of his hiding place by the trees.
“Idiot!” Asuka snapped as she felt pain shooting up and down her body, “I told you… to run…”
“I couldn’t leave you!” Shinji answered back as he approached her position.
“I told you… told you…” Asuka tried to sit up only to find more pain rushing through her. It spread from her arm all the way through the rest of her body. She suddenly felt a wave of exhaustion upon her, and she looked down at her arm. There was a tear in her sleeve, and she could see very clearly where she had been unable to dodge one of the creatures’ attacks. Blood was trickling from the wound, and it was accompanied by green stains. She turned again to see only a blurred image of Shinji standing over her.
“Told… you… run…” She muttered, before everything went black.
888
Rei eased back into her seat and closed her eyes as she let the warmth wash over her. She concentrated on her breathing as the chaos that was the forging of the connection with her Eva gave way to order. The noise inside her mind and the ship subsided letting her know that she had control. Rei opened her eyes, the displays on the cockpit confirming that she, and no one or nothing else, was in control of the ship.
She silently brought the ship up to a quarter impulse as she waited for further instructions from NERV Command. On her display she could see the Angel at the far edge of the star system, and she pre-emptively laid in a course to intercept the being.
Merely seconds later a voice echoed in her cockpit, although it was not the one that she expected. Instead of it being commander Ikari, it was instead Katsuragi of the Tokyo.
“Pilot Ayanami, this is captain Misato Katsuragi of the USS Tokyo. I wish our introduction was coming under better circumstances but as it is, we’ll have to make do.” Katsuragi said, “I’ve been given command over this operation, I assume there are no objections?”
“I have no objections.” Rei replied calmly but feeling a slight pang in her chest that she immediately registered as disappointment.
She had been, perhaps illogically given Katsuragi’s command of the past two Angel battles, expecting commander Ikari to be the one guiding her through this operation. After all, he was her superior officer, not Katsuragi and it had been him that had guided her through her training and the activation of the Evangelion. Still, she could see that given Katsuragi’s Starfleet training and position, she was probably better suited to oversee things.
“Great.” Misato spoke again, “I’ve been told that you’ve already logged a good amount of simulator time and know your way around your ship, so I probably don’t need to micromanage you too much. The target looks to be a similar if not identical class of ship as the first one that entered the system a good few weeks ago. The data we gathered from that fight has told us that a simple approach is probably best. Get it’s shields down, stay mobile and as soon as you have a gap in the shielding, hit it with torpedoes. Got it?”
“I understand.” Rei answered as she brought the speed of her ship up and armed all of her weapons. Misato’s plan made sense, it was not dissimilar to what Rei had already been doing in the simulator recently.
As she closed the gap between the Angel and her ship, Rei felt another pang within her but this time in her stomach. She identified this feeling as nervousness and slowed her breathing down to try and ease the sensation and retain control of her Evangelion. Nervousness was a new a new sensation for Rei, but it was one she disliked. It could be quite an intense feeling and it had last flared up during the previous activation test.
To Rei, it was a feeling not unlike that of feeling sick. There was some mild pain in her stomach, a tightening in her chest and potential nausea. It was unpleasant and not something she had experienced in her past life. It was, however, a minor inconvenience that she had to endure as part of her freedom and individuality.
When she was a part of the collective these sensations such as nervousness or disappointment did not exist. For a Borg drone, there was no concept of nerves, no concept of disappointment, no illness, no anything. There was only the collective and the one voice that bound them all together.
For Rei, the way she was now was a far cry from those days. She had been nothing back then, just a number assigned to one of many cubes, made to do the same tasks over and over be it maintenance or assimilation. She remembered very little of those days, there were a few moments here and there where she remembered being amidst the drones and hearing the voice of the collective, but it was mostly a blur. In a way, it was a blessing, she was spared some of the fate of others who had been freed of the collective.
She had the commander to thank for that. He had been the one to find her and break her free of the chains of the collective. He had been the one to put her on the path to being her own person. He had named her and given her a purpose. She was no longer a number amidst many, she was Rei Ayanami. She was no longer a drone, but now an Evangelion pilot and she would fight that which threatened all life in the galaxy.
When she thought of the commander and all he had done for her, she couldn’t help but feel that little pang of disappointment once more, knowing that he was not the one taking command of this operation.
Rei tried once more to empty her mind of those thoughts for now. She was about to go into battle, and there was no room for such distractions. She knew how dangerous this could be, and it didn’t help that she was alone in this fight. Although she wasn’t aware of the details, she had been informed before launch that something had happened to Shinji, and he would be unable to pilot.
She wondered if perhaps he had refused to fight and chosen to leave. If he had done, then she would not be surprised. Based on her meetings with him and his attitude towards the commander, it seemed quite clear that he did not want to be here. Rei wasn’t sure why, but that irritated her, as did his words about the commander. Shinji seemed to harbour a dislike for his father and seemed unable and unwilling to understand the important work he had done to help humanity and in turn help Rei.
Rei had been pondering the relationship between commander Ikari and his son. She had known that he had a son, having heard him mention Shinji on a number of occasions in the past but knew little else beyond that. From those few moments Rei had assumed their relationship was a good one, yet it seemed that was very much not the case. Rei found this quite curious, she had always thought the bond between a father and son was supposed to be strong. Perhaps she would investigate this further if she had the chance to. It might please Akagi, who seems quite keen on having Rei interact with the Tokyo and its crew.
For now, there was no more time to dwell on these things. The Angel was within weapons range and Rei needed to focus. She brought the speed of the ship down a touch to try and ensure better manoeuvrability. Rei set about locking onto a position on the Angel, knowing it would have an A.T. Field she aimed or a location near to where the Angel’s core would be. She kept the ship steady, and when the lock was confirmed immediately banked to port, unleashing a barrage of phaser fire and crashed into the Angel’s A.T. Field.
As Rei came out of the turn, she pushed the speed up on the ship, flying over the top of the Angel and letting her aft phasers fire at the same location on the A.T. Field. Beneath her she could see the ripples of the Angels hexagonal A.T. field as her phasers worked to create an opening.
“You’re doing great Ayanami!” Misato’s voice came through the comms, “Our scans are showing you’re starting to weaken its A.T Field. Just be careful, we’re starting to detect some rising energy signals from what we believe to be its weapon systems.”
“Understood, I am taking evasive action.” Rei answered calmly as she brought her ship up to full speed in an attempt to put more distance between herself and the Angel. Her eyes moved from the view of space before her down to her sensors, looking out for any changes in the Angels position or any sign that it was attacking. Just as captain Katsuragi had said, he ship was now picking up the build-up of energy from within the Angel.
Rei kept the Evangelion on a straight line away from the Angel, waiting until the moment the enemy ship unleashed its attack. Immediately, she banked the Evangelion hard to the starboard side. She kept banking just as the beam of brilliant white light hurtled past her, narrowly missing the ship and speeding on into the void of space.
Her ship shook violently from the shockwaves produced by the attack, but it was minor. Her shields were still reading at 100% and holding steady. Rei continued to bank the ship until it was eventually brought round to face the Angel once again. She was already at full speed and closing the gap quickly, she waited for the exact moment her phasers locked on and unleashed another barrage.
The Angel grew closer and closer and a quick glance at her sensors told her that it was preparing to fire once again. Rei quick picked out an evasive pattern and transmitted it to her ship to execute the moment the Angel fire. Whilst she waited the Eva kept moving forward, her aim this time to go underneath the Angel’s ship instead of over it.
Rei was able to see the build-up of energy on the Angel’s weapons. There was little time to react as another white beam was sent towards her. The evasive manoeuvre kicked in, and the ship rolled harshly to one side. She gritted her teeth as the shockwaves from this blast shook the ship more violently. She jerked forward in her seat as sirens around her let her know of the drain on her shields.
A slight drain didn’t matter through, she completed the run underneath the Angel and immediately brought the speed of the ship down, banking hard and bringing herself around one-eight degrees in an instant. She locked on with all phasers once more and fired directly at her target, watching as beam after beam smashed into the Angels weakening A.T. Field. Each blast sending ripples of hexagonal light around the Angel.
She kept on going, moving her ship around so that as soon as one bank was drained another was ready to fire. She could sense that the field was weakening, and finally there was a loud crack as she finally broke through the field. Her phasers pierced through the shields like a stone through glass and scorched the hull of the enemy ship.
Without any hesitation she brought the ship around, seeing the torpedo bays coming alive. She waited for confirmation of lock onto the Angels waiting core and fired the full spread. On her sensors there was an indication that the Angel was preparing to fire again, but it had no opportunity. The torpedoes were already on their way.
888
Misato had to admit, she was more than a little bit impressed at how quickly and efficiently Rei had managed to destroy the Angel. She looked on at the final torpedo smashed into the exposed core, this was followed by the now somewhat familiar flash of light and cascade of cross shaped explosions that accompanied the destruction of these beings.
The battle had been a masterclass, Ayanami needing little to no guidance from them. Rei had been ruthless and efficient, and as much as Misato disliked resorting to stereotypes, it had been Borg-like in how systematic it was.
“The target has been destroyed.” Ayanami reported.
“Great job pilot!” Misato folded and arms and smiled, “Now, get yourself back home. I’m sure they’ll be keen to have you back and when we sort out our little issue here then we’ll be sure to hold a little celebration for you.”
“That will not be necessary.”
The comm channel was closed and Misato let out a sigh that she had been holding in for quite some time. With the threat of the Angel out of the way, they would return to their primary objective of getting their crew members back. She only hoped that the two of them, wherever they may be, were okay.
“Looks like NERV did a good job of preparing her.” Ibuki piped up, “I wouldn’t have guessed that that was her first encounter with one of those things.”
Misato gave a nod, “She was very good, I’d expect despite her age and look she’s probably got a lot of knowledge from her time in the collective. Still, if she is that good, makes you wonder why they were so desperate to bring Shinji here.”
“I guess it’s the old saying, two heads, or at least in this case, pilots, are better than one. Also, don’t forget just how hurt she was when we got here.” Ibuki answered, “So, what’s next?”
“We make sure she gets back to NERV safe and sound and then initiate our plan to get Asuka and Shinji back.” Misato sat back down in the centre chair, “I have little doubt that Ikari or Fuyutsuki will be in contact shortly demanding to know of our plans. Neither of them seemed too happy that we had lost Shinji. Seemed to think we could have prevented it.”
“They do realize we’re dealing with Q here, right?”
“Ikari strikes me as a man that doesn’t care.” Misato sighed, “The presence of omnipotent beings that can do whatever the hell they want doesn’t really seem to bother him.”
“Speaking of Q… You don’t think he had anything to do with that Angel appearing, do you?”
“Hard to say. I’d like to think that his little game involves just Asuka and Shinji, and he isn’t going to be throwing extra pawns into the mix but who knows.” Misato leaned back into her seat, “Do you remember when we put this crew together and we thought our first mission would be studying some unknown worlds on the edge of Federation space?”
“I’m sure we aren’t the first Starfleet vessel to have our reality differ vastly from expectations.” Maya smirked, “Besides, this world is fairly unknown, and you can’t get much more beyond the edge of Federation space than this. At least we’re still in one piece!”
“And I aim to keep it that way. Only chance this ship has of going into multiple pieces is when we separate the saucer!” Misato tapped her combadge, “Katsuragi to Kirishima, what’s the status on our modified torpedo?”
“Ready to go captain!” Came the enthusiastic reply, “We’re finishing up the world on the software to allow the compute to know the exact moment to fire. It should be usable whenever you need it!”
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“That’s what I was hoping to hear! Get yourself up to the bridge and let’s get this done.”
“Aye captain.”
“Soya, plot a course for the origin point of the wormhole.” Misato ordered, “We’ll let NERV command know what we’re planning when we get there.”
Much to Misato’s dismay, there was no opportunity for Soya to reply before the officer at tactical suddenly spoke up, “Captain, I’m picking up a new warp signature from outside the system, it looks like they’re about to drop out near to our position.”
“Get them on screen Lieutenant.” Misato shot Ibuki a concerned glance before once again rising from her seat. She felt her heard sink as the new ship dropped out, there was no confirmation from her staff, but she just knew it had to be another Angel.
The ship itself was huge, easily dwarfing any of the ships they had fought before. It also differed entirely in appearance to the prior vessels. There was no visible core, nor any of skeletal structure that had adorned the Sachiel or Shamshel class ships. Instead, this vessel was a large octahedron, the surface was smooth and blue, giving the impression of polished glass. It didn’t look like a traditional living nightmare, but that didn’t stop Misato from feeling little else than dread.
“Scan it, immediately. I want to know exactly what we’re dealing with.” Misato ordered, “Open a channel to Ayanami as well.”
“Yes captain, channel open.”
“Pilot, it looks like we might still need you out there. Lay in an intercept course but be careful, we have no idea what this thing is capable of.”
“I understand. I am moving to intercept the Angel now.”
“Captain, initial scans are inconclusive. We’re picking up a faint energy signature from within the craft, but we can’t confirm one way or the other if this is indeed an Angel.” Reported the tactical officer.
“It’s large, appeared out of nowhere, no attempt to communicate… fits with their usual modus operandi.” Misato smirked, “Still, let’s play by the rules and try diplomacy. Open hailing frequencies, usual channels.”
“Channels open.”
“To the unknown ship that has just entered the system, this is captain Misato Katsuragi of the USS Tokyo, representing the United Federation of Planets. Please identify yourself.”
Several moments passed without any reply.
“Captain, I’m detecting something from within the ship, we’re getting some additional readings coming through. It’s an Angel.”
“Naturally.” Misato rolled her eyes, “Red alert, shields up! Get Evangelion 00 on screen, I want to see what happens.”
She fixed her eyes forward and watched as the small Evangelion flew towards the waiting Angel. From behind she heard the turbolift doors opening and turned to see Mana stepping onto the bridge.
“Captain, I’m here! Are we ready to… Oh…” She trailed off.
Misato shrugged, “We were ready but then that thing showed up. Ayanami is taking care of it now. You may as well take over at tactical.”
“Yes captain.”
Mana moved over to the tactical station, reliving the officer there of his duties. She immediately started tapping away, reading through all the information on display. On the viewscreen Misato watched as Ayanami got closer to the target.
Kirishima frowned, “Captain, the build-up within the vessel is surpassing anything we’ve seen before. If we… or Ayanami gets hit by it…”
“Understood Mana. Helm, prepare evasive manoeuvres, pattern Katsuragi Alpha 4”
“Yes captain.”
As if responding to Misato’s order the Angel sprang to life. There was a bright blue flash of light from one of the tips of the Angel and then without any further warning, a brilliant beam of blue light shot forth from the craft. Much like Kirishima had warned it was unlike anything they had seen before, a beam wide enough to engulf the USS Tokyo and sending forth a wide shockwave from all sides.
On the viewscreen, Misato looked on as Rei did everything she could to evade, pulling the Evangelion up sharply and trying to get out of the blast radius. For a moment it seemed like she was unable to do so, the ship caught in the blast and being tossed unceremoniously away from the Angel, rotating and flipping around like a toy that had been thrown from a pram.
More frighteningly the shockwave wasn’t showing any signs of slowing own, continuing its journey towards the waiting USS Tokyo. Misato called out, “Brace for impact, maximise forward shields and engines, we need to get out of this.”
Soya didn’t even call back to confirm, instead working quickly at her console, speeding up the ship as much as she could and doing everything to manoeuvre it out of the way. Misato braced herself for the impact, hoping they wouldn’t be subject to what Rei had been.
The shockwave passed them by, rattling the ship but allowing them to stay on course. Misato stumbled, just about able to remain on her feet and immediately giving her next order, “Kirishima, status report on Rei and the planets defences.”
Kirishimas fingers darted gracefully across her console, “We managed to evade most of the shockwave, shields are holding at maximum. The planets defence grid wasn’t quite so lucky, their shields have taken a hit, down to 60%. I’m trying to get find out what’s happening to Ayanami now.”
“Open a channel to her.” Misato ordered as she watched Rei’s ship start to slow it’s spinning.
“Channel open.”
“Ayanami, please tell me you’re okay, what’s happening.”
“I am… unharmed…” Rei replied, sounding very much out of breath, “I am… attempting to stabilize the ship now. My shields are damaged, but I am still able to fight. I will re-engage the enemy.”
“Be careful pilot. This one seems powerful.”
“Captain, it’s powering up again.” Kirishima called out.
“Ayanami, I don’t know if you heard that but evade now!”
“I am attempting to do so.” Rei replied calmly. On screen her ship stopped spinning and instead of moving away from the Angel, Rei turned to face her attack.
“She’s powering up phasers.” Kirishima reported.
Misato said nothing as she watched Evangelion 00 continue its movement towards the Angel and unleash a full barrage of phaser fire onto a singular point on the Angel. As expected, each blast of energy did little but smash into the beings might A.T. Field. The now familiar hexagonal pattern rippling around the craft as Rei turned her ship around again, aiming more fire onto the same point.
“Get me a report on that A.T. Field.” Misato shouted.
“It’s much stronger than the other ships we’ve seen, I’m not seeing any damage to it.”
“Damnit.” Misato scowled, “She can’t do this alone… God damnit Q, why did you have to appear now?”
Misato felt powerless as she watched Rei’s ship continue to move at full speed around the Angel. Rei would exhaust her phase banks on one side of the craft before banking to allow them time to recharge and hitting a barrage from the other side. All the while she listened to Kirishima’s reporting on how close the Angel seemed to be to firing.
“Captain, if she is hit with that blast.” Ibuki was stood beside Misato, a concerned look on their face.
“I know… and we don’t have a plan B. If she doesn’t succeed, then that’s it.” Misato frowned and folder her arms, “Take us towards the Angel, arm phasers and quantum torpedo's.”
“Captain, are you sure?” Ibuki asked, “You know we can’t do anything to damage it, right?”
She nodded, “I know, but if anything, we might be able to provide some sort of distraction for Rei. Kirishima, can our shields withstand a blast from that beam?”
“Um… I wouldn’t really advise taking it on fully but if we can ensure we’re away from the centre of it then we can withstand one… maybe two at most.”
“In which case.” Misato took a deep breath, “Take us in, lock phasers onto the same point Ayanami is targeting and fire everything we have. Let’s see if we can provide some support.”
“Yes captain.”
The USS Tokyo surged forward, beginning to cross the gap between itself and the motionless Angel. All the while they could see Rei continuing her assault on the beings A.T. Field.
“We’re within range.”
“Start by firing phasers in short bursts.” Misato ordered, “We’re trying to get its attention, hopefully it’ll see that we’re a bigger ship and see us as a bigger threat.”
“Captain, do you think this’ll work?” Ibuki asked quietly.
Misato shrugged, “We can’t just sit back and do nothing but… if all else fails prepare an order for all non-essential and off duty personnel to evacuate.”
“Escape pods or?”
“Have them prepare to leave in escape pods, more chance of more of them surviving in that case but… if it comes to it then we’ll separate and give the Angel another target to content with.”
Ibuki nodded and returned to their seat, Misato watched on keenly as the Tokyo banked sharply and beams of orange light jetted forth towards the Angel. It was a terrifying and intimidating sight up close, and Misato immediately wondered just what sort of race could be behind these mysterious ships.
“Captain, it’s preparing to fire.”
“All hands brace for impact! Helm, engage evasive manoeuvres.” Misato called out, “Let’s hope we succeeded.”
The Tokyo started to bank away from the Angel and Misato gritted her teeth, bracing herself for the worst. She held her breath as the helmsman locked in the evasive patterns, Kirishima calling out that the Angel was now firing.
She felt it immediately, the impact of the attack on the ship as everything shook violently. Sparks flew wildly from a nearby console and another of her bridge crew was thrown to the floor. Misato was barely able to stay on her feet as shockwave after shockwave rattled through the ship.
“Damage report?” She yelled out as some of the shockwaves started to subside.
“Shields have taken a beating, we’re down to 30%, I’m seeing some hull damage on a number of decks and we’re getting early reports of injuries throughout the ship. We can’t withstand another one of those.”
“And the Angel?” Misato asked.
“Rei is… still fighting and hitting it with everything she has but I’m seeing barely any damage to it.”
“God damnit.” Misato snarled, “Bring us back around, prepare another attack this time longer bursts”
The ship turned to face the Angel once again and just like before phaser fire jetted forth from the craft. Each one found their mark on the A.T. Field, sending more and more octagonal ripples through the shielding. Near to them, Rei was also firing everything she had.
“Any damage?” Misato asked hopefully.
“Minimal.”
“Ready torpedoes, let’s give it everything we’ve got.”
“Aye captain.” Kirishima replied as the assault continued. More beams of phaser fire smashed into the A.T. Field but neither seemed to be doing the job of weakening. All Misato could do was look on as a full spread of quantum torpedoes hit their mark.
888
Rei watched as the USS Tokyo’s quantum torpedoes smashed into the Angels A.T. Field, whilst the efforts of captain Katsuragi and her crew were valiant, Rei knew that they were ultimately futile. One she and her Evangelion was going to be capable of stopping this thing but at the moment she was being betrayed by her body, by the pain rushing through it, the waves of nausea and the off-putting taste of blood that trickled down from her forehead.
She could also sense the angel of the beast she was fighting. Its rage was overflowing with the knowledge of the death of its comrade. It no longer cared for its mission or purpose, all it wanted was to wage its own path of death and destruction, beginning with Rei. Its attacks were screams of grief and anger, directed entirely at the ones who killed its brethren.
Rei needed to focus and put an end to its rampage. She knew that she was capable of doing it, she just had to fight through the pain, get through the waves of nausea and ignore the blood. She needed to be more at ease and give herself to the Evangelion that little bit more. This was exactly what she had been chosen for, it was why Gendo trusted her.
Closing her eyes, she allowed herself to feel the ship just touching at the corners of her mind. It wanted to help her, it desired to be let in, but she was afraid. It had been so long since she had felt the presence of another in her mind, many years since the voices of the collective had been quelled and she was scared to let something else share in that space. That had been the problem in the first activation, she had let fear get the best of her and rejected the ship.
This time she knew would be different, she didn’t fear its present anymore. Gendo had told her that she’d be safe, and she believed him. So, this time she would give herself to it.
Rei opened her eyes once again as she felt the warmth spread throughout her. No voice accompanied the feeling, but she could feel the presence of the ship everywhere. They were now as one. Feeling a burst of energy, she once again swung the ship around, extending her own A.T. Field and using her new connection to try and push through the barrier protecting the Angel.
Phaser fire jetted forth once more smashing into the Angels field. With each hit she could feel the Angel screaming out in pain as its shielding weakened. She kept up the attack, firing shot after shot and seeing the octagonal ripples glowing brighter and brighter.
“I… I feel your pain. It will soon be over.”
Suddenly, there was a moment of silence and then a loud smash as she finally broke through. The Angel seemed to roar with fury, and howl with pain. She prepared to launch a torpedo towards the waiting hull, but it was too late, she had been so focused on her own attacks she had failed to realize the Angel was readying one last desperate attack at her.
888
“Captain… It got Ayanami, direct hit.” Kirishima's tone was solemn, “I’m seeing large amounts of damage to the hull, most of her systems are down and she had minimal life support. She’s drifting, I don’t even know if she’s conscious.”
“Damnit.” Misato curled her hands into a fist and hit the arm of her chair, “Did she at least manage to break through the A.T. Field?”
“She did but…”
“Lock on with a tractor beam and get her away from her, when she is within transporter range get her directly to sickbay.”
“Aye captain.”
“After that prepare another spread of quantum torpedoes, fire every single one into that exposed area Ayanami gave us. We have an opening, let’s not waste it.
The torpedoes shot forth from the Tokyo, each one smashing into the large hull of the Angel. Much to the crew's dismay, neither one of them seemed to do any damage.
“Shit.” Misato cursed, “After all that… after everything Rei did… we still can’t…”
“Captain… It’s charging up again.”
“Not like this…” Misato shook her head, “I refuse to die like this… there must be something.”
“Captain I… I have an idea.” Kirishima offered, “But I don’t think you’re going to like it.”
“At this point I’ll take anything, what is it?”
“The modified torpedo.” Mana answered, “If we aim it towards the point on the hull we’ve been aiming at and then fire at it with our deflector as intended then it will open a wormhole directly on the Angel.”
“Either tearing it apart or sending it to God knows where?” Misato asked.
“Exactly, but there is just one problem.”
“Go on…”
“Once we’ve used the torpedo in this area of space we can’t create or use another one. Creating that artificial wormhole is going to put a lot of strain on the ship and do a lot of damage to subspace in the area. It means we’ll have to find another way of getting Ikari and Soryu back.”
The words hit Misato like a truck and for the first time in her Starfleet career she felt herself truly lost for words. Cold hard logic told her that the choice was a simple one, they fired the modified torpedo and saved the galaxy. A sacrifice of two for trillions.
Her heard told her otherwise, that she couldn’t sacrifice the lives of two young people for this. This was her biggest test yet, her own personal Kobayashi Maru.
“Captain, we need to make a decision.” Ibuki urged.
Misato nodded grimly, “I know. Kirishima, prepare the torpedo.”
“Y-Yes captain.”
Time slowed down around Misato as her eyes became fixated on the ground in front of her. How many other captains before her have had to face a choice like this? How had they felt in such a situation? How had it affected them?
She was no stranger to death. She had seen it so many times during her career, each death had been tragic and heartbreaking but there was always a distance, she had never been the one to make the tough call. It had never been her with that responsibility. Her only hope was that maybe Asuka and Shinji were out there somewhere still and that they were safe. Maybe a ship would come and save them or maybe they could just live the rest of their lives happily.
It all seemed so unfair, Asuka was young and at the start of her career. A career that could have been so promising and saw her rise to greatness. Shinji… he didn’t even want to be a part of this. He was never a part of Starfleet, he wasn’t part of their systems and yet here Misato was, potentially sacrificing his life.
It was all for the greater good. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Cold comfort for a terrible decision.
“it’s ready.” Kirishima confirmed.
Misato swallowed hard, still not daring to look up. She could feel tears stinging the corners of her eyes as she gave the order, “Fire.”
888
Shinji sat himself down in front of the campfire, its warmth reaching him and tempting his exhausted body to just lie down and go to sleep. He knew it’d be irresponsible of him to do that; it had been quite some time since they had lost their arachnid attackers, but he couldn’t take the risk of leaving the two of them defenceless. So, he reserved to remain sat, his heavily eyes focused on the entrance to the caverns and his hands clutching a phase rifle tightly, should anything threatening enter.
Near to him was the sleeping form of Asuka who had been unconscious ever since they had managed to kill the giant spider creature that had been pursuing them. Her arm was neatly bandaged from where it had struck her, her body was covered in a blanket from Shinji’s backpack and the backpack itself served as a makeshift pillow.
He had lost track of how long it had been since the attack. All he knew is that day had now turned to night and heat had given way to a cold chill. Each passing moment Shinji was growing more and more fearful. He had genuinely believed Asuka when she told him that they were getting off of the planet but between her being unconscious, the knowledge of the giant arachnids’ hell bent on devouring the two of them and no other signs of life, he was finding it hard to keep the faith.
He let out a soft sigh as he reached for the small flash near to him and sipped from it. He set it back down and snuck another look at Asuka, becoming more and more concerned for her as time went on. The young woman had shown no signs of recovering consciousness since the attack. Shinji had done what he could with the knowledge he had, he had cleaned up the wound from where she had been struck, he had bandaged it and made sure she was warm and breathing properly. She seemed fine but without getting her to a real doctor, he really had no way of knowing.
His gaze returned to the cave entrance, and he once again tried to fight the urge to drift off.
“Don’t… don’t… go…”
Shinji raised a curious eyebrow and turned his head. Asuka was still sleeping but her expression had changed, she looked frightened.
“Please… please don’t go… please don’t leave me…” She muttered again.
“Asuka?” Shinji carefully made his way to her side, “Asuka, are you alright?”
“I… I don’t want to be alone… I’m scared they’ll get me…”
She suddenly twisted around as Shinji moved backwards wondering what to do. Clearly, she was having some sort of nightmare and seemed to be in distress, but he didn’t know if he should wake her or not.
“I don’t… I don’t want to be one of them… don’t… don’t leave me.”
“Asuka.” Shinji kept his voice low as he placed a hand on her shoulder, shaking her gently. He could see tears rolling down her cheeks and she continued to move, “Asuka, wake up!”
“Don’t… don’t leave me… mama…”
Suddenly her eyes shot open as she gasped for air. Shinji pulled his hand away and moved backwards, almost tripping as he scrambled away. He called out to her as she started to sit up, “Asuka… it’s okay, you were having a nightmare.”
She turned to look at him, tears freely flowing down her face and her expression a mix of confusion and full-on fear, “I… I…”
Shinji didn’t quite know what to do, dare he get closer in an attempt to comfort her or should he keep his distance for now and give her space. He remained frozen in space as Asuka kept her eyes trained on him, seemingly struggling to speak of breath.
“Asuka…” He trailed off.
“I… I… Fine…. Fine… I’m fine. I’mfineI’mfineI’mfine.” She shook her head as she still tried to catch her breath, “Fine… I’m… I’m fine.”
Shinji still didn’t move, just watching her his hand frozen awkwardly as he seemed to be reaching towards her. He mumbled her name again, “Asuka…?”
Her breath slowed for a moment as she leaned her head back and looked towards the cavern ceiling, “Report…”
“Asuka… as you okay, you looked like you were.”
“I SAID REPORT!” She yelled angrily causing Shinji to flinch back in fear, “I’m fine, I’m fine, I’m fine just… give me your damn report. Where are we? What happened?
Shinji swallowed hard and nodded his head, “We… I… You fell unconscious after we were attacked. I carried you for a bit and found this cavern. I treated your wounds and bandaged you up. It… it looked pretty bad where you had been caught.”
Asuka looked at him for a moment and then to her bandaged arm, “You did this?”
He nodded, “Yeah… I… My uncle taught me when I was younger. Said it might be good to know how, you know… in case I ever found myself in need or it and we didn’t have modern medical equipment.”
“I thought we didn’t have any medical supplies.”
“We… had them in my backpack, I brought them with me and some water as well.”
Shinji pointed out the flask he had been sipping from. Asuka looked at it and then back towards the backpack she had been using as a pillow. She smirked, “Well aren’t you just a regular old boy scout. Why didn’t you say you had all this earlier?”
“I tried to on the shuttle, but you didn’t let me.” Shinji answered, unable to hide the bitterness in his voice.
“Guess you’re not as useless as I thought you were.” Asuka turned her gaze away from him, feeling more than a little bit embarrassed as she recalled how she had acted on the shuttle.
“There is a flash of water in the pack for you as well.”
“Thank you.” She said, as she reached into the pack and pulled out the waiting flask. She quickly opened it and held it to her lips; her dry throat was immediately appreciative of the cold water from within.
With that she surveyed the little camp Shinji had set up. He had a good strong fire going, had positioned himself in a good spot and the job he had done on her bandage and keeping her safe was more than good enough. He had been very well prepared, if anything, more so than she had been.
She couldn’t help but start to have that nagging feeling that she had messed up once again. Asuka had been so eager to take on this mission and prove herself that she hadn’t even kept the simple stuff in mind. She had led them through the jungle without a clear plan in mind. She hadn’t listened to Shinji at any point, instead opting to interrupt and belittle him. This mission was supposed to be her case for promotion but instead it just seemed to showcase why she shouldn’t even be there.
“What do we do now?” Shinji asked, breaking her train of thought.
“I don’t know.” Asuka admitted with a shrug. Maybe it was tiredness and the pain within her body or perhaps the lingering effects of the nightmare, but she couldn’t be bothered to even put up the front anymore. All she wanted to do was go back to sleep.
“Well, should we try to set up the communications device?”
“I don’t know.” She repeated.
“What about scanning the area? Maybe there is someone else on this planet.”
“I don’t goddamn know Shinji!” She raised her voice, “I’m just a fucking ensign, trapped on some hell planet in God knows where! Why would you expect me to know what to do?”
“Asuka?”
“I didn’t know what to do when we arrived here and I sure as hell don’t know now!”
“But you…”
“I said what sounded good!” She admitted, “Set up a communications device and boost it using tech from the ship. It sounds like a fine idea, but I don’t know if it’ll work! I said what I needed to say because I couldn’t face the truth! We’re trapped here and it's my fault! We got attacked because of me! We’re going to die because of me! I’m…”
“Asuka!”
“They were all right! Each and every one of them! I’m not cut out for this!”
“Asuka stop it!” Shinji rose to his feet, “I…”
“You what?” She looked up at him.
“I… I don’t know either.” Shinji sat himself back down sheepishly, “I’m not exactly one of you lot either. I don’t know what to do her either but… we’re alive aren’t we? And if we’re alive then… we have a chance?”
“How very inspirational…” She replied dryly.
“Misato must be looking for us, right? She isn’t going to give up and we shouldn’t either, I mean… maybe it won’t work but we should try, shouldn’t we?”
Asuka sighed and shook her head, “Fine, you’re right. Maybe… there is a chance.”
She reached into the backpack and pulled out the comms device she had taken from the shuttle. A part of her did genuinely believe in her plan, it had sounded good and logical. Set up an amplified distress signal and hopefully something will pick it up.
“If we set this up in the entrance to the caverns, we can broadcast a signal off planet. I don’t know how far it’ll reach. Ideally, we’d need a bigger clearing, but I don’t want to take my chances with those spiders again.” Asuka spoke, “When we have it set up, you’re going to get some rest. I’ll keep guard.”
“But your arm?”
“Is fine.” Asuka snapped back at him, “I can still aim and shoot, besides you look exhausted and that’s worse than me firing with a damaged arm.”
“Okay.”
“Right, hand me your combadge, I’ll use the wiring in that to rig it up to the comms device I grabbed. Like I say this might not work but it’s better than nothing.”
“Okay.” Shinji handed her the combadge and looked at her as she worked, “And Asuka, are you sure you’re okay? It sounded like you were upset.”
She glared at him for a moment before resuming her work on the combadge, “I’m fine, it was just a bad dream.”
“But…”
“I said drop it.”
“Sorry.”
“Just forget about it, okay?”
“I will.” Shinji paused for a moment, “And… thank you.”
“For?”
“This… I mean, if you weren’t here than I…”
“Probably wouldn’t be in this situation.” Asuka said as she finished up her work on the combadge and handed it back to him. “But if you’re going to say you’d be dead if I wasn’t here, then the feelings mutual. I’m glad you disobeyed my order to run. Now, go and switch that on and place it at the foot of the cave entrance.”
Shinji nodded but had barely taken a few steps before a noise from that direction startled the both of them. Shinji took a few steps back as Asuka motioned at him to move behind some nearby rocks.
“More spiders?” Shinji asked as he crouched down next to her.
“How should I know?” Asuka shrugged, “Stay low and quiet.”
The two of them remained in position watching for the source of the sounds. There was a faint sound of voices and footsteps and Shinji’s heart lifted on hearing them. He started to stand up only for Asuka to immediately grab him and pull him back down to the ground.
“Idiot! What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“I can hear voices!” he whispered back.
“And your point is? Just because we can hear voices doesn’t mean they’re friendly! It could be anyone, Breen, Jem’Hadar or any other race that hates us!”
“Oh…”
“Yes, ‘Oh’! Now stay down!”
The two of them continued to sit and wait as the footsteps and voices grew louder. From their position they could hear at least two voices speaking in a language they didn’t understand but one that felt strangely familiar. Regardless they remained still, hands on phasers waiting for whoever it was to enter their view.
Finally, the two figures entered their view. Huge humanoid figures flanked by several more. Shinji felt a fleeting moment of panic before his eyes widened in surprise and recognition. These were not hostiles at all, but a small squad of Klingons lead by a man he very much recognized.
“G’Bakh?” Shinji stood up without thinking.
“G’Bakh?” Asuka looked up at him in confusion.
The Klingon at the front of the group stopped suddenly and turned to face Shinji, a wide grin spreading across his face, “Shinji Ikari. the warrior pilot! You see Worf, I told you he would be just fine.”
“Warrior pilot?” Asuka exclaimed loudly in even more confusion, standing up beside Shinji.
“And Soryu as well!” G’Bakh exclaimed, “It would seem your friend Q was telling the truth Worf! They are here!”
Both Shinji and Asuka recognized the name G’Bakh had spoken and turned to see the man known as Worf next to him. Worf cut a stark contrast to G’Bakh, he was similarly tall and well build but where G’Bakh had a hearty grin, Worf wore only a scowl.
“Q is no friend of mine.” Worf answered, “But yes, it would seem on this occasion, he was being truthful.”