Misato swallowed hard as a sickening silence fell over the bridge, bringing with it a hard fact that no one dared to acknowledge. The Angel was gone, but also gone with it was their last chance of rescuing Asuka and Shinji. Misato could feel eyes on her, she had been the one to make the hard call.
It was the needs of the few, sacrificed for the needs of the many. That infamous Vulcan logic rearing its head once more.
It was such a bitter pill to swallow.
Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion around her until the meek voice of Kirishima broke the silence, “It’s gone captain, I’m not picking up any trace of the Angel in the system.”
Misato could hear the girl was holding back tears, she knew others would be too. This was the first loss the ship had faced. Two young people, barely at the start of their life.
She felt sick, the records could show that it was her call to make. History would likely show that it was the right call for the right reasons. Starfleet and the Federation would see it as a tough but brave decision.
As for Asuka and Shinji? If it was as they feared, and the two of them were stranded somewhere they couldn’t escape from then they would be remembered on some memorial, in some location all the way back on Earth. They’d be two names in a bulletin before the rest of the galaxy moves on.
When she returned to Earth, whenever that was, she’d likely have to explain things to Shinji’s aunt and uncle. Tell them why their nephew wasn’t returning home and explaining to them why he had been in put a horrible situation in the first place. Shinji was no Starfleet officer, deep down Misato knew that. He was just some young man caught up in this world because of his asshole of a father.
As for Asuka, there were no relatives to go to for her. Asuka’s mum had died at a young age, and she was estranged from her father and stepmother. Asuka was a woman just at the start of her career, it was tragic to see so much promise and potential snuffed out because of a few simple words.
She swallowed again, feeling the eyes of the crew on her. It was her job as captain to remain strong in this, to give the next order and keep her crew together, at least for just a few moments longer. She straightened herself and her uniform out, “What about Ayanami?”
“We have her in sickbay, Suzuhara is reporting that she is seriously injured but stable.” Kirishima answered, her voice still on the verge of breaking.
“Good.” Misato nodded, “Soya, take us back to NERV and set us in orbit. I’ll be in my ready room.”
“Aye captain.”
Misato turned and wasted little time in returning to her ready room, she was desperate to get away from the bridge, her crew and what she had done. She escaped into the safety of the quiet room and found herself stood over her desk.
She gave it a moment, her mind and heart racing, her stomach in knots and then she pulled her arm back and drove her fist down hard onto the desk in anger. For a brief moment those feelings were replaced by pain shooting through her hand and arm, then the feelings returned followed swiftly by her tears, falling silently onto her desk.
888
IKS nuQanjaj – Ambassador Worfs Quarters
Worf looked up at the Evangelion class ship ahead of him, deeply trouble by the events of the last few days.
It was at times like these he longed to be back on the Enterprise, Deep Space Nine or even the USS Defiant. He could seek advice from Guinan, Picard or Sisko on what to do next, to help guide him towards the right decision.
Those days were gone now, Picard had retired, Sisko had vanished and Guinan was... well she was wherever Guinan seemed to be, which could be anywhere. The other members of his old crews had scattered to, and besides which, his role with Starfleet Intelligence restricted him from making contact with any of them anyway.
Worf had become a warrior with nowhere to call home.
He didn’t particularly relish his current role, even if he did recognize the importance of it. It all involved playing simultaneous roles, being an ambassador to the Klingon Empire, all diplomacy and feasts whilst also being a spy, trying to find out what was really going on within the various powers of the galaxy.
Worf understood the need for spy craft, but he didn’t enjoy it. He was, like many Klingons, a fan of the direct approach. Whilst his many years in Starfleet had mellowed his Klingon instincts somewhat, he still preferred to face things head-on, instead of hiding in the shadows and lying.
To further add to his troubles, the old adversary of his and the Enterprise Ds crew had decided to show up once again. The last time Worf had encountered Q was in the Devron system many years ago. The being hadn’t been silent in all those years, choosing targets other than Worf, for which he was thankful.
It also hadn’t gone unnoticed that Q was acting ever so slightly different to how he used to. There were no insults and no riddles. Instead, Q got straight to the point, claimed good intentions and directed Worf and the crew of the nuQanjaj exactly to where they had to be in order to rescue those stranded officers.
“Officers that were nonetheless stranded before of him.” Worf muttered, “No matter his intentions, he will always be trouble.
The door to the shuttlebay opened and in walked G’Bakh who took position next to Worf, also looking up at the strange starship, “We are back on track after our little distraction. We will arrive at NERV tomorrow, your friend also gave us a little bit of a boost along the way.”
Worf gave a nod, “Good, I can only apologize for any delay, it was not my intention that... he should show up.”
Worf made a very deliberate effort to not speak Q’s name, lest the being appear before him.
G’Bakh let out a hearty laugh, “It was a good opportunity for some of the new crew members to taste their first bit of action, those spiders provided fair sport.”
Worf nodded again, “It is always wise to take the opportunity to sharpen one’s blade.”
G’Bakh said nothing, instead taking a moment to look across the entirety of the starship ahead of him. Evangelion 02 they had called it. It was pretty much identical to the one he had seen on NERV not so long ago. He had been told very little about the ship, only that the pilot for it would already be at NERV and this one was considered the final model.
“So, tell me son of Mogh.” He started, “Why are you really here? We were told to transport this ship as quickly and discretely as possible, and then one of your admirals contacts us requesting we divert to a busy spaceport to collect you. That seems strange.”
Worf frowned, “I am here to oversee the secure delivery of the vessel and look into some concerns the admiral had regarding the usage of those ships as well address any concerns the Dominion might have.”
“I see.” G’Bakh replied, “And that is everything?”
“I may require your assistance again sometime soon.” Worf looked across at him, “There is a Starfleet officer by the name of Kaji who will contact you when you go back through the checkpoint, go the system he mentions and wait for me there.”
“I would feel more comfortable if you told me why Worf.”
“I would feel more comfortable if I could tell you.” Worf answered, “But I need to confirm some things at NERV first before I risk anything else. Just tell me, does the nuQanjaj stand ready to fight with me?”
“For you, the nuQanjaj stands ready to storm Gre’thor itself.”
888
Fuyutsuki was somewhat hesitant as he approached the doorway to Gendo’s office. In all the years he had known the man, from being a lecturer back in the academy, through to serving as part of Gendo and Yui’s team during their early experiments on the Evangelion tech, he never truly felt that he knew the man.
It had been decades, and it still seemed impossible to know what was going on in the man’s head.
‘And yet, for all his machinations and plans, he makes for an awful 3D chess player.’ Fuyutsuki mused.
The recent day or so had been rough for everyone at NERV. News of the appearance of Q had of course spread, as had news of the loss of the two crewmen and the appearance of the Angel. There had been a real sense of despair, that this might have been it for all of them. Some positivity had been restored, thanks to the brave actions of Rei Ayanami and the quick thinking of the crew of the USS Tokyo, but still the spectres of Shinji and Asuka were present in all their minds.
Fuyutsuki couldn’t put it off any longer and entered the office. Gendo was standing, looking out of a screen showing the exterior of the complex. It was an unusual place for Gendo to be, usually he’d be sat at his desk, musing over some documents or plans. He seemed almost contemplative.
“Keel has been in contact.” Gendo didn’t wait for the door to close before speaking, “He and the rest of the committee will be arriving in the next ten days. It’ll be the USS Covenant and the rest of the fleet.”
Fuyutsuki frowned, disappointed but not surprised at Gendo’s decision to not ask about Shinji, the status of Soryu or the USS Tokyo. There was little point engaging him on the matter, Gendo stubbornly refused to discuss things he had no interest in talking about, and his estranged son was generally one of those things. As far as Soryu went, to Gendo she was just another cog in the machine, talented but easily replaced.
What did surprise him though was the lack of any questions about Rei. Gendo was usually quite concerned about the young woman, far more so than anyone else and for reasons very few knew about. Unless of course, there was something he knew that Fuyutsuki didn’t, which was very likely.
He didn’t care to bring up any of these subjects to Gendo, if Keel and the committee were to be the topic of conversation then that was it. Besides, this was a concerning development for Fuyutsuki too, this was not what had been arranged.
“They are leaving ahead of schedule, did he say why they were coming so soon?” He asked.
“He didn’t say.” Gendo answered, “Only that they were unable to wait any longer. I think Keel has some concerns about certain parts of Starfleet getting suspicious about his actions and he of course suspects we aren’t exactly playing by his rules.”
“To be fair to him, we aren’t playing by his rules.” Fuyutsuki remarked, “So what do we do?”
“We prepare for his arrival.” Gendo replied, “We are to change nothing of our plans.”
“But sir, we haven’t even heard from Ryoji yet, and what about Kyo?”
“Nothing changes.” Gendo stated, “We started to change anything now or act any different it gives him more reason to suspect us. Kaji isn’t an idiot, he’ll already know of Keels plans and adjusted accordingly, as for the child, that is not our concern.”
“I understand.” Fuyutsuki nodded, “And what of the missing pilots? They weren’t found and the reports from the Tokyo indicate…”
“Use Akagi’s data and source two more pilots for Evangelion 01 and 02. It is a shame we lost the first pilot, but the second is of little consequence, she hadn’t even synchronised with her machine yet.” Gendo’s reply was cold, even for him, “See to it that Rei is sent back to us immediately as well.”
“Ikari, I’m not sure the Tokyo will be willing to let her go. They said her injuries are quite severe.”
“We cannot risk them finding out anything about Rei yet.” Gendo stated bluntly, “Assure them we can treat her here, it’ll be the best place for them.”
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
“I’ll see that it’s done.” Fuyutsuki was again hesitant to bring up the subject of the missing crewmen but thought it wise to ask, “And of your son and the girl, are we really to give up on them?”
“That depends on one being.” Gendo replied, “We are not in the position to challenge gods, at least not yet.”
888
Shinji sat quietly, alone at a lone table towards the back of the Klingon mess hall, around him the noise of loud and cheerful Klingons provided a rousing, if not overwhelming atmosphere. He couldn’t help but feel a little bit sick as he turned and caught a glimpse of plates of the Klingon food before turning back to his own plate and prodding it with a fork, fearful that is, like most of the cuisine on this ship might be alive.
Asuka on the other hand had no such difficulty with the food, as she joined him at the table, her plate loaded up with a pile of the delicacy known as gagh. It was a fact that had impressed the other Klingons, many humans would turn up their nose at Klingon food, but Asuka had quite a taste for it.
He did feel a little bit embarrassed. He had been brought up to appreciate many different types of food, even knowing how the basics of catching fish or hunting small animals. Yet, there was something about the gagh that turned his stomach.
“You know, you should just give it a try.” Asuka laughed as she looked around the mess hall.
Shinji shook his head, “I… I’m okay.”
“Part of being in Starfleet is learning about and sharing in other cultures.” She teased, “Go on, not even one little worm?”
“N-No…” His stomach churned as he tried to keep his eyes off of the plate and either on Asuka or on his own plate.
“You know… I bet you would if the captaaaain or Rei asked you to.” She smirked.
“I wouldn’t!”
“Of course you would! I’ve seen the way you act around the two of them.” She continued, “Oh Captain Katsuragi, I’ll do anything for you! Oh Ayanami, what was that you said!”
“I’m not like that!”
“You can’t keep your eyes off them. I bet if either of them asked you to try it, then you’d do it immediately!”
“You know what! Fine!” He shot back, “You want me to try it so badly, then I’ll do it!”
Shinji immediately regretted rising to the redhead's taunts because as he looked down at her plate, even one of the creatures seemed like one too many. Asuka’s words had gotten to him though, he didn’t want her to think of him like that, as someone who just did what anyone asked, and at the same time he was doing this for her.
He slowly reached over and took one of the live worms from Asuka’s plate. It wriggled, he shuddered. He looked at Asuka, who gave him a nod.
“You know, you actually don’t have to do this.”
‘Too late… down the hatch.’
He tried to not think about it as he put the live worm in his mouth and started to chew. He tried to focus his mind on something he liked, something pleasant but found only the image of Asuka smiling at him. It did the job though, he focused on her smile as he tried to ignore the thought of what it was he was eating.
He tried to think about the normal things you’d think about with food, the texture and the taste. It was crunchy, somewhat salty, and the Klingons had added some sort of sauce, it was slightly tangy but with a good kick to it.
Eventually he got to the end of it and swallowed, the ordeal was over, and it wasn’t as bad as he thought it was going to be. Shinji wouldn’t be ordering a plate of it any time soon, but he might ask about the sauce that was used.
Across from him, Asuka laughed and still looked impressed, “See, not so bad, is it?”
I… I guess not.”
He returned to the comfort of his human food, as Asuka resumed eating her plate of gagh. The two of them had been aboard the nuQanjaj for two days now, after they had been picked up from that arachnid filled hellhole of a planet.
They had since learned why they had ended up there, it was the actions of a being known as Q. Neither knew why Q had targeted them, just that he had been responsible for both stranding them and alerting the nuQanjaj to their location.
His two days on the Klingon ship had been quite an eye-opening experience. Klingons were loud and boisterous. Their voices boomed through the corridors, their laughs echoes in the halls and their songs filled the bridge.
He didn’t hate it here, they were friendly and welcoming, but he longed for just a few moments of peace and quiet, and perhaps a chance to look at food that didn’t look back at him.
Asuka on the other hand seemed to have no difficulty adapting to this strange new environment. She had taken to it like a duck takes to water. Asuka matched their loudness, matched their insults and their boasts. She drank their blood wine and ate their gagh. She had even tried her hand at being a storyteller at one point, amazing the Klingons with the daring tale of both her, and Shinji’s, fight with the arachnid menace.
He couldn’t help but smile to see her the way she was here. It felt like she belonged, and he enjoyed seeing the way she spoke with the Klingons, the way she smiled and seemed more alive. What he had seen of her back on the planet, the fear after that nightmare, the loss of confidence, it had frightened him, even upset him for some reason. He didn’t want to see her like that.
“You know, I don’t mind it here.” Asuka’s words interrupted his thought, “It’s got more of an atmosphere than the Tokyo, don’t you think?”
“Um, it’s very loud and different.” He answered, “I don’t think I could handle it all the time.”
“Hah, of course you couldn’t.” Asuka answered, sounding almost disappointed as she lowered her eyes back to her food.
“Asuka…”
“Mhmm?”
“What’s going to happen to us when we get back?” He asked, “The captain… she’s going to be pretty pissed off with us, isn’t she?”
“For what? Taking the captains yacht? Getting pulled into a wormhole and losing it on a planet?”
“Yeah…”
“Idiot…” She laughed, “You seem to forget, the only reason any of that happened is because we were acting on what we thought were her orders!”
“I know but I’ve been thinking.” He paused, “Shouldn’t we have confirmed first? Been a bit more careful? Checked that that Quinn guy even existed?”
“Not unless you want to get into the habit of checking every crewman exists before you talk to them.” She answered, “Shinji, it’s a big crew, there will be named we don’t know. Besides which, he was a Q, even if we realized Quinn didn’t exist and it was a trick, he’d likely have just forced us onto the shuttle or that planet anyway.”
“I suppose…” he muttered, “Why did he target us?”
“I can only give you the same answer I gave you yesterday. I don’t know!” She sighed, “I’m not exactly an expert on the Q and their motivations. All I know is that where he and any of his kind appear, there’s usually some trouble, followed by some convoluted lesson.”
“Sorry I… I’m not really used to all of this.”
“Join the club, I didn’t really join Starfleet to get whisked away by trickster gods to spider planets!” She shrugged, “Still it beats transporting self-sealing stem bolts.”
“What’s a self-sealing stem bolt?”
“It’s a stem bolt that self seals…”
“Yeah, but… what does it do?”
Asuka shrugged, “Just… you know… bolty things.”
888
Two days had passed since they had stopped the Angel but also lost Shinji and Asuka. Misato had given Kirishima and Ritsuko the order to find another solution to re-opening the stable wormhole, but so far, their efforts had proven fruitless. It was just as they had all feared, the use of the modified torpedo was a one-time thing, enough damage had been caused to subspace that were they to do it again, it would prove disastrous.
She didn’t want to admit it, but she was going to have to admit that the two of them were gone. Or at least out of their reach, she only hoped that Q had been kind with wherever he had sent them.
Their loss did provide some complications though, Shinji was here to pilot that Evangelion ship back down in NERV. Without him, they were down a pilot and whilst Rei was capable, she was only one person and the last Angel had proven very tough. There had been no communication from NERV towards the ship, only to request the return of Rei, something she tried to argue against but ultimately lost out on.
She had complained to Ritsuko, who had been sympathetic but also insistent that NERV was truly the best place for her.
As for Q? He had not been back to visit them. Misato wasn’t afraid to admit that she had tried to beckon him, called for him but he had not appeared. There were no strange occurrences, no speeches about tough sacrifices or getting your nose bloodied. He had been silent.
‘Captain Katsuragi to the bridge, we’re receiving a long-range hail from the Klingon vessel nuQanjaj.’
Misato raised a curious eyebrow, a Klingon vessel, hailing them here? That seemed quite odd. She tapped her combadge, “I’m on my way.”
She marched from her ready room through to the bridge. Ahead of her, she saw Ibuki shifting into the first officer’s seat.
“On screen.” Misato ordered.
The screen came to life and two Klingons appeared before her, both of which she recognized and both of which she was very surprised to see. The first was General G’Bakh, the Klingon she had encountered when she first came to NERV, the second was Worf, the famed first Klingon in Starfleet.
“This is Captain Katsuragi, I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting to hear from you again G’Bakh.” She half smiled, “What can I do for you?”
“It is more what we can do for you captain!” G’Bakh exclaimed, “Worf suggested we contact you as soon as we were within range, we have something here that belongs to you, that we thought you might want returning.”
Misato raised a curious eyebrow now quite understanding what the Klingon meant, and then it suddenly hit her. She knew exactly what he meant, and she was doing everything in her power to not suddenly jump for joy, “You have them? Are they okay?”
“They are both alive and well.” G’Bakh replied, “And they have quite the story for you. I would advise listening to and enjoying it well.”
Misato smiled, “I’m sure I will but… how did you come across them.”
Worf was the one who answered, “We were alerted to their present by the annoyance that is Q. He told us where they would be so that we could bring them back to you.”
“You should be proud of them captain.” G’Bakh cut in, “What they went through wasn’t easy for two so young, but they are strong.”
“I look forward to hearing it. I… don’t know how to thank you both.”
“No thanks are necessary, the only thanks I need is an assurance that should you need someone to fight alongside, you think of the nuQanjaj first.”
“I will, thank you.”
With those words the link was severed, and silence fell over the bridge.
“Well, you heard what he said.” Misato spoke, “Ibuki, contact NERV and let them know we’re expecting Shinji back within a day. Kirishima, go and speak to Akagi, stand down on trying to reopen that damn wormhole. The rest of you, business as usual.”
There were various calls of aye captain, and yes captain back as her as she turned to Ibuki, “You have the bridge again Ibuki, I have a funny feeling about my ready room.”
“Do you think he’s returned?”
“I’d bet a significant amount of latinum on it.”
“Good luck not punching him.” Ibuki remarked.
“He’s a god, he can take it.”
Misato moved back into her ready room and sure enough, Q was there. Sat in her seat and grinning from ear to ear.
“My dear Katsuragi, I hear celebrations are in order! What’ll it be? Mariachi el Q? Cigars? One of those old-fashioned British parties, a knees up I think they call it?”
He clicked his fingers just in time to avoid Misato’s fist making contact with his face. Misato fell forward, Q appeared again behind her, wearing a ridiculous conical party hat.
“Now come on! There is no need for that!” He remarked, “I thought you humans had moved beyond your primitive need for violence! I’d expect something like that from Worf!”
“You!” She spun around to face him, “You come here! You abduct two of my crew members! You endanger by entire crew! You endanger everyone on that planet! And for what? To prove some silly point in your sick little game?”
He clicked his fingers again and the party hat was gone. His expression changed from a grin to something more serious and suddenly Misato was no longer angry, she was frightened. It was dawning on her just what Q was, and he was no longer playing around.
“Because I had to.” He finally spoke, “Because I had to do what you couldn’t.”
“I didn’t have- “
He raised his hand and she fell silent, “What you were unable to do. Not through any fault of your own, but because you had been set up to fail. You needed my intervention, because I could do what you can’t, and even if you could, would you have done?”
“And what exactly is it that you’ve done?”
“I’ve accelerated a process that would have taken weeks, that may not have happened at all.” He remarked, “You needed more co-operation between those two, well I’ve given you that.”
“By putting their lives in danger?”
“What better way to bring people together. It isn’t until you’re pushed to extremes that you really start to figure things out.” He answered.
“They haven’t even been out of the academy for a year! Hell, Shinji was never even in the academy!”
“And on any day the Borg could attack and destroy any starship your federation has.” He said coldly, “You accepted them onto your ship, you accepted the risks that they could be in danger. Sometimes, it’s beyond your control.”
She hated to hear his words because she knew, deep down that he was right. Everyone on that ship had accepted the risks that exploring the so-called final frontier came with.
“Don’t worry captain, I’m not so cold that I would have let them die. I was watching over them, I even sent in the rescue party, what better group to be rescued by than Klingons desperate for their first battle.”
“You could have been more up front about what you were doing!”
“Why? So, you could make some sort of plan?” He asked, “So what happens in the future when you can’t make a plan? When you have to improvise, when they have to improvise? You’ve been around long enough my dear Katsuragi, you know full well you can’t always plan for things.”
She hated to admit it, but he was right again. In his own smug, self-satisfied way, he was completely correct. She wasn’t getting the progress she needed from Asuka and Shinji, they couldn’t plan for what was to come and they needed something a bit more drastic.
“And the Angel, was that your doing too?”
“Coincidence.”
“What if we had failed?” She asked, “Would you have stepped in?”
“I took a leap of faith.” He answered, “I had every confidence that you and your crew would come through. Just as I did in Asuka and Shinji’s abilities.”
“A leap of faith? You, but you’re omnipotent?”
“You humans really have some funny ideas about us Q.” He laughed, “You think in such linear terms, I may know a great deal but even I don’t know my own future, and your future and my future are now entwined my dear Katsuragi, therefore, I had to put my fate in your hands.”
“So, you wouldn’t have jumped in?”
“Would that I do, but alas, even us Q are governed by some forces greater than us.” He paused, “Make your preparations to welcome your crew back Katsuragi, I’ve already done more than I should have. I expect I’ll have a lot of questions asked of me when I return to the continuum, but I’ll just use some of the ol’ Q charm and get it ironed out.”
“What do you mean powers greater than you?”
“Oh, is that really what’s important right now?” He sighed, “Not every mystery has to be solved you know! Don’t expect me again my dear Katsuragi and don’t let me down. My fate is in your hands.”
With a simple snap of his fingers, he was gone.