Daniel Jess Gibson
6th February 2005, 04:04 AM
[Ranma][NGE][HPL][AMG][Fusion][Fanfic] Sic Semper Morituri Chapter 41 -
The War Situation Has Developed Not Necessarily to Japan's Advantage
Disclaimer:
I do not own any of the characters from Ranma 1 / 2, Neon Genesis
Evangelion, Ah My Goddess, or the Lovecraft Cycle involved in these
stories.
C&C, MSTs are welcome
E-mail: dan_s.comments@worldnet.att.net
Stories are available in Rich Text Format and HTML at:
http://home.att.net/~danjess.gibson
(these are the most updated versions)
Stories are available in Plain ASCII at:
http://archives.eyrie.org/anime/Ranma/Sic-Semper-Morituri/
ftp://ftp.cs.ubc.ca/pub/archive/anime-fan-works/Ranma/Sic-Semper-Morituri/
http://www.cs.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/ftp/archive/anime-fan-works/Ranma/type/Sic-Semper-Morituri
(these are the original versions)
What has gone before:
About Book 11 of the Tankoubon Manga, Akane and Soun Tendo throw
Ranma out of the house. Nabiki, in the guise of a wish, follows him.
They meet EVA pilots Shinji Ikari, Rei Ayanami, Asuka Soryu Langley and
Jeffrey Davis.
With the return of NERV Tokyo from the Great White Space, everyone is
celebrating, except Asuka who realizes their enemies are taking a direct
interest in the pilots. Nabiki and Rei are returned to Tokyo separately,
Rei by express, Nabiki aboard the Spruce Goose with cargo for the EVAs.
Shinji, Asuka, Toji and Hikari meet with Yumiwashi.
Rei locates and confronts Jeff on the anniversary of Samuel's death.
She remembers her feelings on the death of Yui Ikari, and how she arranged
Naoko Akagi's death. Jeff wants to be left alone, Rei decides he needs to
talk about events, and doesn't take no for an answer. Including revealing
how he killed her years earlier in Boston.
At the welcome home party for Nabiki and Rei, the Azores mission is
revealed. Ranma will move in with Asuka and Sammi. Three shoggoths, once
fragments of Ritsuko, fight and are defeated by combining Ritsuko, Ranma
and Jeff, there are some side-effects as the trio's personalities
temporarily bleed into each other. Among them: Jeff, under the influence
of Ranma, confronts Belldandy sending her, then her sisters, into a tizzy,
Keiichi managed to defuse it. Ranko, under the influence of the others,
gives Jeff the passionate kiss from the bet he lost to Asuka at the
carnival. Then Asuka and Jeff tickle Nabiki remorselessly. Rei begins
calling Asuka mein Grossfeldmarschall {Groe}. All the pilots are giddy
from recent events.
To help Misato and Hiro's relationship, Asuka, Rei and Shinji throw
together a Sunday in the park picnic. Asuka invites Keiichi, Belldandy
and Megumi. Megumi volunteers her services and Belldandy's as caterers.
They work through the night to get everything ready.
The baseball captain Usagi and her allies are introduced, and what
they worship before their softball games.
The picnic is a success until Usagi and Yuki decide to test the
pilots. Ranma easily intercepts the batted ball, but transforms and must
leave. The picnic ends. Asuka and Ranma are sulky after the failed
picnic. Asuka also has a letter from Anna reminding her of home, to which
she can never return.
With the aid of a narrow board and two sawhorses, Asuka begins
teaching Ranma both sword fighting, and how to teach. Only he believes
his first class with the others was an unmitigated disaster.
Asuka contracts Keiichi and his sister to construct several bicycles
for the pilots. She shoots a bug and has her second clash with Skuld.
All four senators from Wyoming and Massachusetts begin investigating
the Boston incident and Misato's part in it. Admiral Simson scrambles to
begin his own investigation of what has been happening in NERV before and
after the war. Shinji and Rei console and watch over Misato.
Asuka and Ranma wash each others hair, Shinji washes Rei's. They
discuss children while doing this. Asuka doesn't want the responsibility,
Rei appreciates her advice.
Aboard the Bennington, Jeff meets with one of his patrons and
receives an update on Sharon. Nabiki is coming to realize the differences
in the way the military treats her and the other pilots.
Major ggreg and Adam Smith arrive, to cover their `spying` on NERV,
they will teach Nabiki and Jeff about explosives. Ritsuko investigates
the unusual way Jeff syncs with the EVA, she is terrified by the contact.
Later she realizes the spirits power the EVAs. Nabiki and Maya train to
operate firearms.
Jeff and the Scholarly Dragon teach Nabiki about control of her
dreams, the Scholarly Dragon prevents a dream attack by Usagi and company.
Admiral Simson asks about Jeff siccing the Senators on Misato, he did
so because the Navy stonewalled his investigation.
Nabiki adds hand-to-hand training with the rifle.
Nabiki discusses Hiroko's death with several of her instructors.
Ritsuko looks over Jeff and Nabiki as Nabiki comes under dream attack.
Joma and Ritsuko discuss the desires of made things for their
creators/users.
The pilots and guards reminisce about the events of the previous
weeks with Belldandy, Sora and Megumi while taking a cooking lesson. The
day ends with a bug attack on Keiichi's home being destroyed by the pilots
and their guards.
And they say 'You don't tug on Superman's cape, You don't spit into the
wind, You don't pull the mask on that old Lone Ranger, and you don't mess
around with Jim'
You Don't Mess Around With Jim - Jim Croce
And When the Bad Folks All Get Together at Night
July 18, 1947
They had assembled at midnight. Not for the symbolism, although most
of them delighted in it, but for concealment. Usagi did _not_ want to get
caught, considering what they were planning.
The forest was dark and tightly wooded, again for concealment. The
depressed bowl would hide their actions and disguise the sounds they made.
The ridge that rose steeply in front of them allowed them to climb to the
top to gain an unobstructed view of their handiwork when the time came.
Usagi wore plain, brown robes over her clothes. Others stripped off
their robes and reversed them. The `mystic` symbols, the gilt and lace,
the fancy stones and other shiny bits made Usagi smile. It showed how
little they understood about the power they revered. Glistening junk and
magical pretensions made little difference. She glanced at Yuki and
remembered how the girl had lobbied to perform their rituals 'sky-clad'.
Usagi thought Yuki enjoyed flaunting her body a little too much. She
hadn't needed to stifle the impulse, the others had universally refused.
It had still taken a lot of Usagi's efforts to smooth over that
disagreement. The dark brown robes had been a compromise, Yuki could be
naked under her robes if she wished, Usagi didn't want to consider if that
was what she was doing.
The ingredients had been slowly collected and hoarded for a long time,
there was no better time to use them. She rejected the idea that NERV,
the EVA pilots and the EVAs themselves should be annihilated. They might
be needed later if one of the other `gods` proved difficult. Besides,
NERV wrongly believed that 'clear the Earth' meant nothing would be
brought back. The chosen would spend a time within the Goddess to be
reborn to repopulate the planet. She lamented the arrogant stupidity of
people and some doctrines, false and/or merely malicious.
Tomoe looked around with disdain, Usagi could never figure out how
her little sister could be so different from her. She never knew why
Tomoe was so nasty, she'd never learned that a threat or a negotiation
achieved the same results as her methods. And, you were vastly less
likely to a) get caught b) try to beat up something far stronger than you
were, and c) manipulating people was so much more satisfying when only
_you_ knew you'd beaten them.
The fire pit drew her attention. The ingredients were assembled
there, awaiting her orders and instructions.
This was the perfect time, she could give in to the bloodthirsty
demands of the others and still not destroy all of their `enemies`,
~Misguided rivals,~ she thought. One EVA and three pilots would remain,
an ample counterforce if needed, an easy target on the impossible chance
she was wrong. Also, the sudden loss of three colleagues would make the
fourth available pilot and the two reservists more amenable, she might be
able to recruit all three to the Goddess and then there would be no need
to take further action against them. It would also allow her to finally
bring boys under the Goddess's aegis, another goal she had long and
unsuccessfully argued for.
As such, she had arranged things so there would be no dissent here,
now. All were firm in their purpose. She set the carrier down, heard the
faint scratching at the metal walls.
"Patience, you're getting as bad as Tomoe!" she cooed to it.
"I don't see why we need that . . . thing." Tomoe was so unnerved
she'd completely missed the insult.
"We need 'that thing' to help with the spells and insure the
Goddess's blessings on out endeavors. And afterwards it needs to get out
and hunt, unless you want to catch things and feed them - " More
scratching interrupted her. "Yes, you're hungry, little darling, soon,
soon." She turned back to Tomoe. "And we need to be in accord for the
ritual. We aren't exactly calling up a bunch of sugar plum fairies."
Usagi heard the laughter, saw the anger in Tomoe's eyes. The girl hated
being teased, and any ritual that included their Goddess's greatest
blessing always worried Tomoe.
~Too bad,~ Usagi thought, ~That is why I'm still the leader.~
The other girls had even less understanding than Tomoe, but time was
not on their side, they needed to move quickly or surprise would be lost.
While she had no doubt they were deploying an overwhelming force, they
still needed the element of surprise.
----------------------------------------
The brown robed girls circled the cold fire pit. Again, the lack of
fire was for concealment in the darkness, not for any ceremonial purpose,
Usagi had tried to convince them. Every single one of them, including
Yuki was sure she was just telling them a story.
They chanted the words that were ancient when the world was new.
Fire would draw attention, and the frantic scrabbling in the fire pit of
their Goddess's gift focused their attention on their mission and that
they were succeeding. They wouldn't even have to shed blood, the gift
would do that for them.
Usagi felt an elation beyond her previous experience, saw it mirrored
on the faces of the others. They were performing the mightiest summoning
they had ever attempted, perhaps the mightiest humans had _ever_
attempted, and their Goddess was smiling on them. Proof of that was the
stunning, unearthly chorus that joined their voices as the chanting
reached the climax.
~Soon!~ Usagi thought as she dreamt of all bowing to the Goddess, ~So
very soon.~
----------------------------------------
The figure watched the circle break up, as the girls stumbled away
from the effort of spellcasting. The forest concealed its presence as it
concealed the girls from most watching eyes. The summonings were
complicated, the results would be questionable, the twisted forces curled
farther as he watched. It had thought these would be ideal sacrifices,
now it realized that it would be useful to see the outcome of their
methods. If they were hopeless, it would still be able to sacrifice all of
them for its own plan.
----------------------------------------
"We have a reading!" Aoba shouted, the energy patterns he'd detected
through the Magi were unmistakable. "Correction, two, no - _three_!_
Three separate targets, send the alert, get the Commander and the Admiral
on the line."
Alarms sounded through the complex, although at this hour few heard
them. Outside, air raid sirens wailed, there they had a much wider
audience.
One thing Aoba had always loved about the night shift was the enemy
almost never attacked at night, night shift normally only supervised
maintenance. He hoped the 'day' crew got here before the pilots. He
wasn't looking forward to having to do the hand off in the middle of the
battle. He really didn't want to try to manage the battle himself.
----------------------------------------
Shinji was still waiting. Misato hadn't gotten home yet, being
interrogated seemed to encourage her drinking. He didn't understand why
she was so depressed, they seemed to be gathering intelligence. Not
trying to arrest her. He'd sat in on the hearing today, they didn't seem
so bad. He had already put away dinner, gotten a nap and waited.
He didn't know what else to do. He had asked Megorofeld-chan, and
she'd suggested 'Give her a kick'. He decided not to ask Megorofeld-chan
for advice on Misato-san and her behavior in the future. He had a bad
feeling Rei-chan was supporting Misato-san because he was, and she was
unlikely to provide him much help making his decision.
He wished he could talk with Nabiki, Akagi-sensei or Raccoon, they
might understand.
He was happy when Hiro arrived and knocked on the door. He was less
happy that he was carrying Misato, who was bemoaning her fate. Shinji
acted as if she wasn't doing anything embarrassing, or saying anything
embarrassing. He fended off her grabs, as Hiro was doing, until they sat
her in a chair at the table, where she put her head on the table and began
to weep uncontrollably. He had brewed some strong tea, he reheated it,
offering a cup with milk and sugar to Hiro who looked tired and a little
disgusted, Misato refused to drink hers. Shinji and Hiro accepted her
drunken denials, until Hiro had enough.
"I bet you can't drink it," Hiro suggested, "Don't feel bad."
She lifted her head, stared hatefully at him with bloodshot eyes.
She grabbed the tea and downed it all in one gulp. She returned the cup
to the table with a look of triumph. The triumphant look froze on her
face with a woozy grin as she collapsed bonelessly back onto the table.
Shinji sighed. "I don't think we'll be able to wake her before
morning," Shinji admitted.
Hiro nodded his agreement, looked like he regretted moving his head.
"Might be a good idea to let her sleep it off."
"Where did you find her?" Shinji asked, he was getting a little tired
of her getting drunk to escape her problems, because he could see the
problems didn't go away. Either someone _else_ had to solve it, or it
didn't get solved and often it got worse. They rarely if ever went away,
and having someone else solve the symptom, didn't solve the problem behind
it. No matter how skilled or elegant the solution, because the person
would resent her or know they were owed.
Shinji glanced at Pen Pen, who'd come out of his fridge to watch the
proceedings. Once he saw no food was forthcoming and there was nothing to
be done, he promptly returned to his fridge. Shinji couldn't blame him,
he was a little bored with the situation as well.
"It isn't as if it's as bad as she thinks."
Hiro glanced at him. "How much have you heard?"
"I went to see. They were questioning her about a Japanese
submarine. She just answered their questions. They weren't even mean
about it. Kensuke, that's a guy in my class who's a military nut, he could
have answered most of the questions," Shinji said, not daring to voice his
real question: 'Why does she keep doing this?'
Hiro only shrugged.
Then Shinji heard the klaxons, "They never attack at night?!" he
exclaimed as he headed for the phone. He'd be told exactly what to do,
they'd drilled him on this.
"Pilot Ikari, I need transport."
"This is Aoba, uh, I, - " came the uncertain voice at the other end,
and the sound of flipping pages. Shinji waited impatiently, he knew what
to expect, but he didn't want to suggest it to the man.
"Transport is being sent, Tomiyo Tendo will be with it."
That _still_ didn't answer Shinji's principal question. "Is this a
drill?" he asked in an exasperated tone.
"No, it's real."
He heard the phone disconnect at the other end. He replaced the
handset on the cradle. "I have to wake her," he told Hiro about the
snoring Misato, "The alert is real."
Hiro paled, glanced desperately at Misato, then back at Shinji.
Shinji sighed, thought of all the stories of how to wake up and sober
up a drunk.
"Cold shower," Hiro suggested, picking her up easily. Shinji jogged
ahead to open the door to the bathroom. Hiro set her in the shower stall
and Shinji sprayed her with icy water. Misato moved weakly.
Both heard Tomiyo's voice.
"Go, I'll help her along," Hiro told him.
Shinji dashed from the room.
----------------------------------------
~This command car has concrete shocks and no springs worth mentioning,
~ Asuka thought as they raced for the base, pausing only to bounce over
every pothole in Tokyo. Her bones shaking, she idly wondered between
bounces whether they were shaking her brain loose, and who would be going
out. ~Me, of course, but what about the others?~ It bothered her that
the others could command multiple EVAs. She was the best with Unit 02 by
a wide margin, she was the best overall, also by a wide margin, but she
could _only_ command Unit 02. ~It isn't fair,~ she thought as she looked
over Sammi, Erin and Horseface. There seemed no bounds to Horseface's
enthusiasm. ~He gets to defend the Earth and become more of a monster
while he does it. Maybe he thinks he can become the 'Angel of Martial
Arts' and become one with the cosmos,~ Asuka lamented, ~But who else would
do it? Anna, Curly? Raccoon or Ice Princess? Better we do it, then go
on from there, rather than destroying anyone else.~ She turned away from
the others.
They entered the base and drove through the wide corridors. The
shocked looks as the car drove through the pristine corridors made Asuka
smile. "Make way for the Heroes!" Asuka called out. She got a dark look
from Horseface. "Cheer up! You may get a chance to die honorably," she
told him, "That will make your day."
He looked even more put out. She laughed at him.
The car abruptly stopped in from of the locker room. Asuka thought
if Erin stopped quicker, she would have pitched them right into the locker
room itself. She staunchly _refused_ to mention this possibility to Erin,
for fear she'd try it next time. As they entered, the view shocked Asuka,
there was Wondergirl, already there, already suited up and ready.
"Should I even ask?" Asuka was shocked. Horseface just shook his
head.
"I ran," Wondergirl told her, "Mein Grossfeldmarschall would not have
it any other way."
Asuka just shook her head as she headed to her locker.
----------------------------------------
You Know They All Call Big Jim Boss . . . Just Because . . .
~Where are the others?~ Aoba thought as he adjusted his console, and
his mind set, he was going to have to help manage this battle. "EVA Units
00, 01, 02 launching. Three targets on widely different vectors."
"Send Unit 02 to engage the target heading for the harbor, send Unit
01 to intercept the target heading towards the Navy Fuel Depot," Gendo
ordered, "Send Unit 00 to engage the flying target. Order Rei to standby
in the ready room."
Aoba gave the orders. "Commander, these are by far the largest
enemies we've encountered," Baker reported, "The one heading to the harbor
is easily three times the size of the first Angel we fought." He got no
answer, and no rebuke.
~I guess that's the best we can hope for,~ Aoba thought, glancing at
Baker.
Asuka in Unit 02, was sprinting to the harbor, Shinji in Unit 01
placed himself between the fuel depot and the attacker. Ranma in Unit 00,
headed towards the flying cloud. Aoba glanced around, he didn't know how
this worked, but he'd let the kids have their head and he'd keep them
aware of the situation and their mission. They knew what they were doing
better than he did. He didn't even know what the targets looked like, and
wouldn't until the Units got close. The command staff was in the dark.
It made him wonder where Katsuragi was, and Hyuga. The kids would be in
combat in a few moments.
"I have visual," Asuka announced, "Switching over. I wasn't able to
intercept them before they entered the harbor, request assistance from the
Navy in a water intercept."
Aoba felt a lump in his throat, two of the immense worms Shinji
fought had slid into the water in front of Unit 02. The Navy was already
maneuvering, along with every merchant vessel, fishing boat and sampan in
the harbor. Some were running toward, some were running away, some were
just running. Aoba heard nothing from Ikari, so he authorized the water
intercept and sent Asuka's request to the Navy. He suspected they had a
lot on their minds right now. The sudden explosion of a coal ship
punctuated that in a way that defied contradiction.
Some nightfighters were up, but their radar couldn't find what the
NERV sensors could clearly `see`. The EVAs continued to advance towards
their targets.
----------------------------------------
"Our enemies are getting wise," Fuyutsuki leaned close to Gendo, who
nodded.
"We've dealt with dholes before, but I don't remember any other
creatures large enough to engage an EVA, we should be able to destroy them
one at a time," he told his old friend. He noted Katsuragi's and Hyuga's
arrival. "I am concerned they must have thought of that."
"Ranma," Katsuragi commanded, "Open fire immediately."
"I figured that. I just want to see what I'm shooting at," Saotome
replied, "Firing."
Gendo stared at the screen, he couldn't pick the target out of the
darkness, but the shining gold ball of Saotome's attack slowly illuminated
the quarry. Like golden sunlight, Saotome's sphere sailed up into the
flying swarm, for that's what it was, many different targets, rather than
a single one.
~That's better news, ~ Gendo thought as the glowing ball revealed
more details. First bit as the ball passed, searching for its target,
were dozens of shantaks, great horse-headed birds on the scale of the
legendary elephant hunting roc, the ball passed dozens of them.
Then it passed something else, like a huge, winged rope, black as
night, invisible in the darkness, Hunting Horrors. The creature reacted
violently to the nearness of the light, although it wasn't even the target.
Gendo noted that, wondering if the creature's phobia of light, or
something else, elicited the reaction. He filed it away for later
analysis. Shantaks were barely-intelligent beasts of burden, the Hunting
Horrors were the harriers of the Outer Gods, both would pursue prey
relentlessly, the Horrors would do so with a cruel intelligence. That
also meant that an Outer God was involved, they were vastly more powerful
than the Great Old Ones. Gendo had hoped to avoid confrontations with
those creatures until the Children and the EVAs had grown in power.
The ball ignored all those it passed and homed in unerringly on the
target, closing along the shortest line. The shantak initially targeted
had climbed, now it dove for the ground, dragging the golden ball along
through anything that got in the way. As soon as it passed, darkness
returned. Gendo hoped the pilots' vision was better than what they were
getting through the Magi.
Gendo watched quietly as the target of the projectile broke from the
rest of the swarm and drew away, luring the weapon into collisions with
trees and buildings, eroding its power.
Only Shinji's target, or possibly targets, remained unknown.
"This doesn't bode well," Gendo commented neutrally.
----------------------------------------
Shinji watched the swarm of flying things scatter when faced by
Saotome-san. The golden glowing ball selected one target and pursued
relentlessly, while the others closed in on Unit 00. Megorofeld-chan was
facing two of what he'd fought on his first sortie, if she was even half
as good as her boasting, she'd win that fight.
He was worried that his enemy, or enemies, were playing a coy game:
they would advance rapidly, until he could intercept, then run away again,
forcing him to close in, at a point not of his choosing. That was okay,
he could also decide not to confront them directly, and keep them away
from the fuel tanks. With the new S type engines, he and the others had
six hours, there was no need for the headlong charges anymore, they could
play a more careful game.
He heard Misato-san's orders to Ranma, and to Megorofeld-chan, for
the moment she seemed to have forgotten him. He approached as he'd seen
Megorofeld-chan move, run then stop, run then see what the enemy did. His
enemy seemed unwilling to let him get a good look at them, he'd only just
been able to discover there were several of them, or it was a really big
one. Some half a mile from end to end. He hoped it was several smaller
targets.
"Why are you hanging back?" Misato-san's voice and image cut through
his considerations.
"I don't want them to get to the fuel dump," he explained.
"Never mind that! It's only two kilometers ahead. Go after it!"
He charged as ordered. The target shifted right as several targets
appeared to the left, he'd run past them and they'd be behind him. He
wished they'd appear long enough for him to get a good look at them.
~Doesn't the military have flares or something?~ he wondered.
"Don't let them get behind you, cut to the left."
Shinji shifted course, he hoped Megorofeld-chan was enjoying her swim,
he was no longer enjoying his run.
He considered the problem, he wished Misato-san would order a switch,
let Megorofeld-chan handle the fliers, as she had against Cthugha's
servants, let Ranma deal with this in and out actions by these things, and
let him deal with the dholes, he'd fought them once, he had ideas on how
to do it again. Ways that didn't involve getting eaten and slicing them
open from the inside.
----------------------------------------
"Can sonar give me a fix?" Asuka asked as she walked through Tokyo
Harbor. She was hampered by the need to avoid colliding with any of the
warships, not for the damage she might do to them, but the damage they
might do to Unit 02. She hated not being able to see her prey, she also
disliked how big it was. Like everybody else, probably in the world,
she'd seen the newsreel footage of Spineless's first battle, getting eaten
and killing the thing from the inside. She'd thought it was an innovative
tactic, then she'd learned it was an accident. That had been pathetic,
but now she had to beat two of them, hiding in water.
She felt more than saw the depth charge launchers and the explosions.
She wished the harbor was empty of civilians, the shock of the blast might
wreck a poorly-made boat. She also didn't want to think about the effect
of a nearby explosion on anyone unprotected in the water. She remembered
Hiroko's warning to Wondergirl.
~That probably goes double for depth charges,~ Asuka thought.
The flashes of gunfire she could clearly see, what the gun flashes
revealed was not encouraging. A few burning ships did not illuminate the
scope of the damaged or crippled boats, the people bobbing in the water.
None of it would prevent her from destroying the enemy, because more,
far more, would be killed by her inaction. That didn't make her happy
about the helpless victims and putting them in greater danger. One reason
she hated these things, she could understand destroying for a purpose,
destroying just to destroy was irrationality.
~I just love my life,~ she thought. One of those things could
flatten a battleship, but the battleships, cruisers and destroyers might
be able to help with their guns and torpedoes. ~If they can _find_ it,~
Asuka thought, Unit 02 walked forward slowly, a sonic glaive at the ready.
She wished she had some trick to detect the things. She had her AT field
formed into dozens of long thin spines extending out into the water, below
the surface. If one of the monsters charged her, she'd know it when it
impaled itself. While that defended her, she reminded herself that an EVA
wasn't to defend just itself. The fleet was here, so were the fishing
boats and the merchant vessels that fed and clothed and powered the city.
She had to defend them too.
She hated this, was that ripple the creature, or just where several
wakes overlapped for a moment. Asuka watched another explosion, a tanker
this time. The fire continued to form the slick spreading out from the
stricken ship, illuminating the area around it. The few fireboats, all in
U.S. Navy livery, poured water into the vessel. Asuka knew the casualty
count was ratcheting up steadily as she failed to corner and kill these
things. She watched waves capsize several smaller boats, other vessels
dodged the worms and the previous victims, sometimes collisions between or
even among the potential victims. It was a disaster. And she walked
through it like a dispassionate god, ignoring the lesser concerns of
mortals, intent on a `greater` purpose. She moved through the harbor, she
was aware her own wake might swamp the rescue boats, killing those on
board, she was more aware that is she didn't get this thing, they were
going to have a lot of company.
"Sonar, Unit 02, target 353 degrees relative, closing rapidly."
Asuka turned slightly and readied the glaive, she mentally cursed, ~I
should have brought several, then I could throw them.~
The creature shied away, just out of her reach. Asuka chased after
it, only managing to stab at it, then it sped away.
"Maybe getting eaten and slicing the thing open from the inside isn't
as dumb a strategy as I thought," Asuka said as she wracked her brain for
an answer. Asuka stopped and advanced more carefully, waiting for another
opportunity to stab the thing. ~It's comparatively slow,~ she thought,
~Maybe only eight body lengths per minute, but as big as it is that's 240+
kph. I can't move that fast in water, not even at a dash.~ She moved
through the harbor, destroyers and DE's were escorting the fishing boats
and merchantmen out, cruisers moved here and there. She could understand
why, that was the food source for the city. Lose those little boats
and in days the city would starve. She continued to move, continued
to search, trying to sound slightly out of sorts, trying to be bait,
hoping the unusual sound, smell and sight of the EVA would draw the
enemy to her, rather than drive it away.
She heard Misato-`sama` yelling at Spineless, and Horseface shooting
at `birds`. She walked carefully, she admitted to herself that she had
the wrong temperament to be a hunter like this, she needed to be half
buzzard to do that, she'd rather close with it and kill it. If Misato-
`sama` had the smarts everyone said she did, she'd switch Unit 01 for Unit
02. Spineless could stand and wait better than she could.
~About the only thing he can do better than I can,~ she thought.
----------------------------------------
Ranma watched the target dive for the deck, making the ball run
through the trees. The passage didn't seem to harm the trees, but it did
weaken the ball. He could feel that, feel it coming apart. Worse was
when they ducked behind a building and the ball plowed into it. The first
time that happened, Ranma had been apoplectic. But for whatever reason,
the ball, not the building, took the brunt of the damage. Now it was
their standard tactic.
Ranma couldn't figure out how to make the ball go faster, or pick the
nearest target as it flew, or somehow make it less obvious which one it
was going after. He might as well paint a line between himself and his
target, a little flittering around by the swarm and even the horse-birds
figured out who he was aiming at.
~I'm just not devious enough,~ he admitted, ~That's not a bad thing.~
He wished he had someone who might give him a clue. He did _not_ want to
ask Misa-chan, he didn't know what she thought she was doing, but ordering
ole' Spineless around like a marionette wasn't helping anybody, except the
enemy.
Ranma had heard about the hearings about things Gendo and Misa-chan
had done against the Americans in Boston. ~But he wasn't _in_ Boston with
us, and she was with us most of the time, what could she have done?~ Ranma
knew such speculations were useless, but everything else seemed to be
working against him.
Ranma gritted his teeth as he slashed the air. Again they stayed out
of range of his sonic glaive, ~And when I fire, it chases after one of
them,~ he thought. He watched that one dodge and maneuver while the rest
threw stuff at him, until either the ball ran out of power or it would
evade and the ball wouldn't reacquire. ~It seems an AT field ball has a
maximum range,~ he thought, ~Beyond it would quit chasing a target. How'd
they know that?~
Ranma wanted to know how they knew the vagaries of his attacks better
than he did. Right now, without something to dodge, they flew in a tight
formation, they'd swoop close to the ground and then rise into the air
before he could close on them. They'd swirl around his head, high into
the night sky, even his best jumps couldn't get at them. As soon as he
landed, they pelted him with the debris they had collected. From trash
cans and benches, to jeeps and even a whole truck. It was useless, on
both sides. He was getting angrier. He wanted to fill the sky with his AT
field missiles, but the second would vanish rather than the first.
~I need to improve that,~ Ranma lamented silently, he needed to get
them closer. "Come and get me!" he shouted at them.
"Crap!" he shouted as they swarmed him, he prepared the glaive to
catch one or two before they broke off.
"NUTS!" he shouted as he dodged the barrage of rocks, I-beams, small
vehicles, none of the `birds` came within range.
As they flew back out of range, he wished he could make a flyswatter
like Shinji could, or some of Asuka's tricks. He wondered if Asuka would
be willing to trade opponents, he figured he'd be better at hunting worms,
while Asuka would be better at sweeping them from the sky.
~I have to discover a better way to deal with these things,~ he
thought, ~At least Misa-chan is concentrating on driving ole' Shinji crazy,
I've got enough to worry about,~ he wondered if the anti-aircraft guns
could work on these things. He didn't know how to lure them down into
range to find out.
They landed, he charged them, scattering them before they could
collect their missiles to hurl at him. This time many guns tracked and
fired at them, from tanks, to jeeps with machineguns, to individual
soldiers. But all that fire shut off like a spigot once the birds got
above 50 meters, Ranma suddenly realized that his altered eyesight and the
EVA let him see the creatures clearly, but everyone else was blind.
~Oh good grief!~ he cursed, ~That's why I'm not getting any help,
that's why I'm here, Asuka and Shinji couldn't see them either. I guess
Misa-chan isn't so dumb after all,~ he thought morosely. He wondered if
he could keep them `entertained` until it was light enough to see and been
seen.
~Then these things will be in for a surprise,~ he thought, ~In the
meantime, how do I get these things close enough that I can hit them?~
A few of the horse-birds complained loudly back and forth, the black,
ropey serpents made their cries. Ranma had the eerie feeling the ropey
serpents were _directing_ the others. He wished Raccoon were here, he'd
know how smart these things were, and unlike Gendo, he'd tell them. ~And
maybe if there were four EVAs,~ he thought, ~We wouldn't be having the
trouble we're having.~
----------------------------------------
Rei entered the command deck and glanced around, she heard Miss
Katsuragi warn Mein Grossfeldmarschall to watch out behind her, then
Shinji-kun that one of the enemy was trying to get around behind him. It
was obvious, even to Rei, that the older woman was extremely frustrated.
~She shouldn't be here,~ Rei thought, ~She has been relieved of
duty.~ She glanced up at the Commander, if he had no objections, Rei would
not raise the issue.
Rei could understand Miss Katsuragi's frustration, the enemy
typically closed and the EVAs charged, and the battle was over. If the
enemy was unaware of the greater time available due to the S type engines,
their tactics would have been sound.
~But the normal battery life has long elapsed,~ she thought.
Rei had requested, and received permission to return to the command
deck to observe. Rei was confused by the frantic maneuvering and useless
orders, as if the Miss Katsuragi had forgotten the time/power problem had
been solved, or she had forgotten that the pilots knew their jobs.
Rei noted the men were checking their equipment and looking around,
and looking at each other in frustration. They could no than form a
comment, when Miss Katsuragi would shout something to the pilots that
eliminated what they were trying to do. The exact cause of their
frustration, Rei couldn't guess, being countermanded before they could say
anything, the general helplessness of NERV in assisting the pilots, or
that they were absolutely failing at their task and were thus worse than
useless. Rei decided that she would have to pick one pilot, and directly
support them. She analyzed the three battles and realized there was only
one whom she could immediately benefit.
The one who truly needed continuous updates was Mein
Grossfeldmarschall, whose expertise was needed against the fliers.
Leaving the Fourth's superior speed and hand-to-hand capability against
those playing 'hide-and-seek' against Shinji-kun. She wondered how she
could tell Miss Katsuragi her conclusions.
She dreaded that she couldn't, perhaps if someone told her how to,
she would.
All she could do was support the Commander, she took Analyst Ibuki's
vacant station and plugged in her own A10 nerve clip into the Magi access.
The information suddenly available to her was staggering. Despite
all her time at NERV, she had never interfaced with the Magi system. She
shook her head for a moment to clear it, then she concentrated her efforts
on assisting Mein Grossfeldmarschall's efforts. She evidently had a much
better view of the enemies' positions than the EVA pilot did.
----------------------------------------
Asuka wished she had a professional fisherman or a crocodile hunter,
to give her some guidance on how to read the movement of the water, to
tell her where the things were.
"Mein Grossfeldmarschall, one target north northwest 1800 meters
moving across, second target southeast 3.5 kilometers moving away."
Asuka though Horseface had suddenly changed sexes, then she realized
it was - "Wondergirl? Aren't you back at base?"
"Yes. First target turning towards you."
The image that formed wasn't Wondergirl's insipid face, but a
radar-like screen, the `beam` of the radar was the direction Asuka's Unit
02 was facing, the images of the worms were little green dashes. Asuka
hoped they weren't to scale. The ships around were red if military, blue
if civilian and there was a faint afterimage as all the objects moved,
giving a fading `tail` to indicate course and speed.
Asuka had to admit, it was exactly what she needed. But she wasn't
going to admit that to Wondergirl. Except later. In private.
~Great, now I'm taking orders from Wondergirl,~ Asuka thought
bitterly, ~I'm officially in Hell.~
"First target, northwest 1400 meters, second east southeast 2.5
kilometers. First target closing obliquely, second describing an ellipse.
I believe you and target one are the axes points."
Asuka shrugged. ~I wanted another pair of eyes and some help,~ she
thought, ~I've got them. Next time I should be more specific what I ask
for.~
She hoped Wondergirl's proprietary interest would keep the Major off
her neck. The worms were much faster than anything in the harbor, she
wondered if they could use the sensor system to direct heavy artillery
ashore or afloat down on the things. A time-on-target barrage should be
child's play for the Magi to calculate, but she doubted she could explain
it all to Wondergirl in the time they had.
~Maybe later,~ she thought, ~When I congratulate her.~ She smiled at
the thought of Ice Princess and Raccoon as bridge officers. ~They
couldn't be worse that the idiots we've got now,~ Asuka thought.
"Okay, concentrate on range and bearing on the closing target, but
don't ignore the second one, watch for sudden changes in speed or
direction."
"Jawohl," Wondergirl said, "Northwest 1100 meters and accelerating."
~So it's circling, and it doesn't know how far I can project my AT
field. It's trying to attack my right flank rear,~ Asuka slowly bent her
Unit's knees, she'd leap when the creature made its change.
"Wondergirl, how are the others doing?"
"West southwest 600 meters. You are needed elsewhere," Wondergirl
said.
~OOoo,~ Asuka thought, ~For Wondergirl, that's quite an inditement.~
"Southwest, 400 meters."
Asuka's smile became a snarl, ~Finally coming in, at 200 meters . . .
~ Asuka thought as she got ready.
"South southwest 200 - "
"AAAAHH!" screamed as she leapt, her sonic glaive stabbed into the
worm, her AT field trapped part of it. She couldn't get all of the huge
monster. "It's trapped, and IT'S GOT NO AT FIELD!" she shouted, "Tell
them." Asuka shouted, she hoped they get help here.
Asuka watched a tail the size of a battleship rise out of the water
and head towards her. She dodged out of the way, since her AT field was
otherwise occupied. The creature was writhing and pounding on the
barriers that she'd established that held it fast. She hoped they hurried.
The splashes engulfed the EVA in whatever passed for water in Tokyo Harbor.
"YAAAAA! YUCK!" Asuka shouted angrily, "What genius gave these
things working taste buds!" She found the combination of L.C.L. on her
actual tongue and Tokyo Harbor on the EVA's, created a new and fascinating
taste sensation, somehow worse than Misato's cooking.
"Thanks, Wondergirl." ~Boy does _that_ hurt to say,~ she thought.
"Now get me some artillery support!" she shouted into the pick up.
"I am endeavoring," Wondergirl told her.
While Asuka kept Unit 02 doing the dhole two-step, dodging the
immense tail as it lashed about. She hoped everything else had the good
sense to stay clear.
----------------------------------------
"Pilot Langley has trapped one of the worms," Rei turned and told
Miss Katsuragi and the Commander, "She is requesting artillery assistance,
she has neutralized its AT field." Rei was disappointed that neither Miss
Katsuragi nor the Commander ordered artillery or some other fire support.
Lieutenant Baker relayed Mein Grossfeldmarschall's information and request
to the Navy.
Rei waited, and fumed without showing her irritation. She felt
better when Mein Grossfeldmarschall was demanding something, or she was
relaying the Commander's instructions. Sitting and waiting frustrated her
immensely. Didn't they understand she needed instructions, orders, some
idea of the actions she should be taking?
Shinji-kun was in danger, and no one would tell her how to support
him. The Fourth was bumbling and no one would tell her to help him, and
she couldn't get either Miss Katsuragi's or the Commander's attention to
ask permission, neither was paying her any attention.
So she sat, and seethed, waiting for information that would allow her
to do her job, instructions to do something else to assist, or permission
to speak and advise.
Rei also felt jealousy, she was ashamed of it, but it was there. She
was jealous of the Fourth, even Shinji-kun. She heard the Commander and
Miss Katsuragi giving them such meticulous instructions, such a thorough
understanding of what was expected of them, what actions they were to take,
correcting what they were doing wrong or to an insufficient degree.
_They_ would resent it, while _she_ sat at her station and wished they
could give her such clear instructions in doing her duty here, rather than
giving her such general goals and no clues how they wanted her to achieve
them.
She sat, frustrated, waiting for someone to tell her what to do next.
"Torpedo boats, Tennessee and South Dakota are inbound," Lt. Baker
called back, "The Alaska is maneuvering."
Rei waited for some order from Miss Katsuragi, receiving none, she
relayed the information to Mein Grossfeldmarschall.
" 'Hurry'," she repeated the other pilot's message. Then she looked
at the big status board. "Shinji-kun," she whispered as the enemy charged
him.
----------------------------------------
Shinji watched them charge, they finally closed to visual range.
Shinji had never seen anything like them. Two massive goat's feet/legs
below a barrel that sprouted several tentacles that seemed to vary in
length as they waved in the air. Three of them, each nearly as tall as an
EVA. He'd heard rumors of the army fighting something like them, but he
didn't remember anyone saying they were this big, not the size of an EVA,
but big.
The trio split and charged him from three separate directions. For a
moment Shinji panicked. But he still had some room to retreat, and he bet
he had superior speed.
~And Misato-san won't let me forget about the other ones,~ he thought
as he charged. He was irritated but not surprised when the one he charged
retreated. It didn't turn, it simply ran backwards. He turned rapidly
and headed for the nearest one. Since he was coming in from behind it, he
knew it couldn't retreat, except towards the fuel dump, and he'd catch it
before it arrived.
He closed on the now zigzagging creature and slashed at it with the
glaive. Neither Ranma nor Megorofeld-chan would have approved of his poor
technique, but he severed one of the major tentacles. Shinji grinned as
he closed in. Then the ground leapt up and hit him. He glanced around
and the severed tentacle uncoiled from his legs and headed, like a
sidewinder, after the escaping monster. He stabbed at it, but it evaded
his strikes and increased its rate of retreat as he clambered to his feet.
He glanced around, the other creatures had also retreated. His confusion
now warred with his frustration at these tactics. He knew when the sun
was up, the Army and Navy would have a field day with these creatures, but
until then, he had to `play` with them. He felt his anger growing as he
charged after them.
~When I _catch_ one of these things!~ he thought, ~It is _not_
getting away. It's not going to get back up!~
"Uh, do these normally do that?" Shinji shifted his glaive in his
hand. They'd stopped, `shoulder` to `shoulder`. He refused to be drawn
into a trap, backing away to continue guarding the approaches to the fuel
dump. He worried what he'd do if chopping them into pieces wouldn't stop
them. He had listened to Ranma and Asuka's struggles, if Asuka could kill
hers, he could expect some help.
~Loud, arrogant help,~ he thought, ~But, I'll take it.~
He lunged at one of them, the glaive at maximum extension, it backed
away instantly. He watched the one with the severed tentacle recovered it,
and the tentacle reattached itself.
Shinji's worry grew. He looked at the darkness around them. The
night would prevent the Americans from using much of their army to help
the EVAs. He'd be alone for hours yet.
Shinji wanted to get angry, to let his anger out and ignore
everything except the target, but he also knew he had the fuel dump behind
him, and two other targets. He heard Rei-chan helping Megorofeld-chan, he
decided if he couldn't help, he'd tune out the distraction.
"Shinji, it's moving towards you, move to your left," Misato told him.
Shinji glanced at the position of all three. He feinted to the front
and took one step towards the left. ~I'm not ready to completely ignore
her just yet,~ he thought, ~What did Megorofeld-chan call this . . . a
delaying action.~ He glanced at the power timer, he had over four hours
of power, he could wait.
"I meant more than one step," Misato-san shouted.
"Sorry," he said automatically.
"You're supposed to follow my orders."
"Sorry."
"They're moving right again, get ready."
"Sorry."
"What have you got to be sorry about?"
"I apologize for saying 'Sorry'," he told her, desperately hiding his
smile.
"I expect you to follow directions," Misato-san shouted at him, "Not
apologize."
"Sorry." He decided to keep one other thing pinned down while the
others dealt with the enemy.
----------------------------------------
The War Situation Has Developed Not Necessarily to Japan's Advantage
Disclaimer:
I do not own any of the characters from Ranma 1 / 2, Neon Genesis
Evangelion, Ah My Goddess, or the Lovecraft Cycle involved in these
stories.
C&C, MSTs are welcome
E-mail: dan_s.comments@worldnet.att.net
Stories are available in Rich Text Format and HTML at:
http://home.att.net/~danjess.gibson
(these are the most updated versions)
Stories are available in Plain ASCII at:
http://archives.eyrie.org/anime/Ranma/Sic-Semper-Morituri/
ftp://ftp.cs.ubc.ca/pub/archive/anime-fan-works/Ranma/Sic-Semper-Morituri/
http://www.cs.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/ftp/archive/anime-fan-works/Ranma/type/Sic-Semper-Morituri
(these are the original versions)
What has gone before:
About Book 11 of the Tankoubon Manga, Akane and Soun Tendo throw
Ranma out of the house. Nabiki, in the guise of a wish, follows him.
They meet EVA pilots Shinji Ikari, Rei Ayanami, Asuka Soryu Langley and
Jeffrey Davis.
With the return of NERV Tokyo from the Great White Space, everyone is
celebrating, except Asuka who realizes their enemies are taking a direct
interest in the pilots. Nabiki and Rei are returned to Tokyo separately,
Rei by express, Nabiki aboard the Spruce Goose with cargo for the EVAs.
Shinji, Asuka, Toji and Hikari meet with Yumiwashi.
Rei locates and confronts Jeff on the anniversary of Samuel's death.
She remembers her feelings on the death of Yui Ikari, and how she arranged
Naoko Akagi's death. Jeff wants to be left alone, Rei decides he needs to
talk about events, and doesn't take no for an answer. Including revealing
how he killed her years earlier in Boston.
At the welcome home party for Nabiki and Rei, the Azores mission is
revealed. Ranma will move in with Asuka and Sammi. Three shoggoths, once
fragments of Ritsuko, fight and are defeated by combining Ritsuko, Ranma
and Jeff, there are some side-effects as the trio's personalities
temporarily bleed into each other. Among them: Jeff, under the influence
of Ranma, confronts Belldandy sending her, then her sisters, into a tizzy,
Keiichi managed to defuse it. Ranko, under the influence of the others,
gives Jeff the passionate kiss from the bet he lost to Asuka at the
carnival. Then Asuka and Jeff tickle Nabiki remorselessly. Rei begins
calling Asuka mein Grossfeldmarschall {Groe}. All the pilots are giddy
from recent events.
To help Misato and Hiro's relationship, Asuka, Rei and Shinji throw
together a Sunday in the park picnic. Asuka invites Keiichi, Belldandy
and Megumi. Megumi volunteers her services and Belldandy's as caterers.
They work through the night to get everything ready.
The baseball captain Usagi and her allies are introduced, and what
they worship before their softball games.
The picnic is a success until Usagi and Yuki decide to test the
pilots. Ranma easily intercepts the batted ball, but transforms and must
leave. The picnic ends. Asuka and Ranma are sulky after the failed
picnic. Asuka also has a letter from Anna reminding her of home, to which
she can never return.
With the aid of a narrow board and two sawhorses, Asuka begins
teaching Ranma both sword fighting, and how to teach. Only he believes
his first class with the others was an unmitigated disaster.
Asuka contracts Keiichi and his sister to construct several bicycles
for the pilots. She shoots a bug and has her second clash with Skuld.
All four senators from Wyoming and Massachusetts begin investigating
the Boston incident and Misato's part in it. Admiral Simson scrambles to
begin his own investigation of what has been happening in NERV before and
after the war. Shinji and Rei console and watch over Misato.
Asuka and Ranma wash each others hair, Shinji washes Rei's. They
discuss children while doing this. Asuka doesn't want the responsibility,
Rei appreciates her advice.
Aboard the Bennington, Jeff meets with one of his patrons and
receives an update on Sharon. Nabiki is coming to realize the differences
in the way the military treats her and the other pilots.
Major ggreg and Adam Smith arrive, to cover their `spying` on NERV,
they will teach Nabiki and Jeff about explosives. Ritsuko investigates
the unusual way Jeff syncs with the EVA, she is terrified by the contact.
Later she realizes the spirits power the EVAs. Nabiki and Maya train to
operate firearms.
Jeff and the Scholarly Dragon teach Nabiki about control of her
dreams, the Scholarly Dragon prevents a dream attack by Usagi and company.
Admiral Simson asks about Jeff siccing the Senators on Misato, he did
so because the Navy stonewalled his investigation.
Nabiki adds hand-to-hand training with the rifle.
Nabiki discusses Hiroko's death with several of her instructors.
Ritsuko looks over Jeff and Nabiki as Nabiki comes under dream attack.
Joma and Ritsuko discuss the desires of made things for their
creators/users.
The pilots and guards reminisce about the events of the previous
weeks with Belldandy, Sora and Megumi while taking a cooking lesson. The
day ends with a bug attack on Keiichi's home being destroyed by the pilots
and their guards.
And they say 'You don't tug on Superman's cape, You don't spit into the
wind, You don't pull the mask on that old Lone Ranger, and you don't mess
around with Jim'
You Don't Mess Around With Jim - Jim Croce
And When the Bad Folks All Get Together at Night
July 18, 1947
They had assembled at midnight. Not for the symbolism, although most
of them delighted in it, but for concealment. Usagi did _not_ want to get
caught, considering what they were planning.
The forest was dark and tightly wooded, again for concealment. The
depressed bowl would hide their actions and disguise the sounds they made.
The ridge that rose steeply in front of them allowed them to climb to the
top to gain an unobstructed view of their handiwork when the time came.
Usagi wore plain, brown robes over her clothes. Others stripped off
their robes and reversed them. The `mystic` symbols, the gilt and lace,
the fancy stones and other shiny bits made Usagi smile. It showed how
little they understood about the power they revered. Glistening junk and
magical pretensions made little difference. She glanced at Yuki and
remembered how the girl had lobbied to perform their rituals 'sky-clad'.
Usagi thought Yuki enjoyed flaunting her body a little too much. She
hadn't needed to stifle the impulse, the others had universally refused.
It had still taken a lot of Usagi's efforts to smooth over that
disagreement. The dark brown robes had been a compromise, Yuki could be
naked under her robes if she wished, Usagi didn't want to consider if that
was what she was doing.
The ingredients had been slowly collected and hoarded for a long time,
there was no better time to use them. She rejected the idea that NERV,
the EVA pilots and the EVAs themselves should be annihilated. They might
be needed later if one of the other `gods` proved difficult. Besides,
NERV wrongly believed that 'clear the Earth' meant nothing would be
brought back. The chosen would spend a time within the Goddess to be
reborn to repopulate the planet. She lamented the arrogant stupidity of
people and some doctrines, false and/or merely malicious.
Tomoe looked around with disdain, Usagi could never figure out how
her little sister could be so different from her. She never knew why
Tomoe was so nasty, she'd never learned that a threat or a negotiation
achieved the same results as her methods. And, you were vastly less
likely to a) get caught b) try to beat up something far stronger than you
were, and c) manipulating people was so much more satisfying when only
_you_ knew you'd beaten them.
The fire pit drew her attention. The ingredients were assembled
there, awaiting her orders and instructions.
This was the perfect time, she could give in to the bloodthirsty
demands of the others and still not destroy all of their `enemies`,
~Misguided rivals,~ she thought. One EVA and three pilots would remain,
an ample counterforce if needed, an easy target on the impossible chance
she was wrong. Also, the sudden loss of three colleagues would make the
fourth available pilot and the two reservists more amenable, she might be
able to recruit all three to the Goddess and then there would be no need
to take further action against them. It would also allow her to finally
bring boys under the Goddess's aegis, another goal she had long and
unsuccessfully argued for.
As such, she had arranged things so there would be no dissent here,
now. All were firm in their purpose. She set the carrier down, heard the
faint scratching at the metal walls.
"Patience, you're getting as bad as Tomoe!" she cooed to it.
"I don't see why we need that . . . thing." Tomoe was so unnerved
she'd completely missed the insult.
"We need 'that thing' to help with the spells and insure the
Goddess's blessings on out endeavors. And afterwards it needs to get out
and hunt, unless you want to catch things and feed them - " More
scratching interrupted her. "Yes, you're hungry, little darling, soon,
soon." She turned back to Tomoe. "And we need to be in accord for the
ritual. We aren't exactly calling up a bunch of sugar plum fairies."
Usagi heard the laughter, saw the anger in Tomoe's eyes. The girl hated
being teased, and any ritual that included their Goddess's greatest
blessing always worried Tomoe.
~Too bad,~ Usagi thought, ~That is why I'm still the leader.~
The other girls had even less understanding than Tomoe, but time was
not on their side, they needed to move quickly or surprise would be lost.
While she had no doubt they were deploying an overwhelming force, they
still needed the element of surprise.
----------------------------------------
The brown robed girls circled the cold fire pit. Again, the lack of
fire was for concealment in the darkness, not for any ceremonial purpose,
Usagi had tried to convince them. Every single one of them, including
Yuki was sure she was just telling them a story.
They chanted the words that were ancient when the world was new.
Fire would draw attention, and the frantic scrabbling in the fire pit of
their Goddess's gift focused their attention on their mission and that
they were succeeding. They wouldn't even have to shed blood, the gift
would do that for them.
Usagi felt an elation beyond her previous experience, saw it mirrored
on the faces of the others. They were performing the mightiest summoning
they had ever attempted, perhaps the mightiest humans had _ever_
attempted, and their Goddess was smiling on them. Proof of that was the
stunning, unearthly chorus that joined their voices as the chanting
reached the climax.
~Soon!~ Usagi thought as she dreamt of all bowing to the Goddess, ~So
very soon.~
----------------------------------------
The figure watched the circle break up, as the girls stumbled away
from the effort of spellcasting. The forest concealed its presence as it
concealed the girls from most watching eyes. The summonings were
complicated, the results would be questionable, the twisted forces curled
farther as he watched. It had thought these would be ideal sacrifices,
now it realized that it would be useful to see the outcome of their
methods. If they were hopeless, it would still be able to sacrifice all of
them for its own plan.
----------------------------------------
"We have a reading!" Aoba shouted, the energy patterns he'd detected
through the Magi were unmistakable. "Correction, two, no - _three_!_
Three separate targets, send the alert, get the Commander and the Admiral
on the line."
Alarms sounded through the complex, although at this hour few heard
them. Outside, air raid sirens wailed, there they had a much wider
audience.
One thing Aoba had always loved about the night shift was the enemy
almost never attacked at night, night shift normally only supervised
maintenance. He hoped the 'day' crew got here before the pilots. He
wasn't looking forward to having to do the hand off in the middle of the
battle. He really didn't want to try to manage the battle himself.
----------------------------------------
Shinji was still waiting. Misato hadn't gotten home yet, being
interrogated seemed to encourage her drinking. He didn't understand why
she was so depressed, they seemed to be gathering intelligence. Not
trying to arrest her. He'd sat in on the hearing today, they didn't seem
so bad. He had already put away dinner, gotten a nap and waited.
He didn't know what else to do. He had asked Megorofeld-chan, and
she'd suggested 'Give her a kick'. He decided not to ask Megorofeld-chan
for advice on Misato-san and her behavior in the future. He had a bad
feeling Rei-chan was supporting Misato-san because he was, and she was
unlikely to provide him much help making his decision.
He wished he could talk with Nabiki, Akagi-sensei or Raccoon, they
might understand.
He was happy when Hiro arrived and knocked on the door. He was less
happy that he was carrying Misato, who was bemoaning her fate. Shinji
acted as if she wasn't doing anything embarrassing, or saying anything
embarrassing. He fended off her grabs, as Hiro was doing, until they sat
her in a chair at the table, where she put her head on the table and began
to weep uncontrollably. He had brewed some strong tea, he reheated it,
offering a cup with milk and sugar to Hiro who looked tired and a little
disgusted, Misato refused to drink hers. Shinji and Hiro accepted her
drunken denials, until Hiro had enough.
"I bet you can't drink it," Hiro suggested, "Don't feel bad."
She lifted her head, stared hatefully at him with bloodshot eyes.
She grabbed the tea and downed it all in one gulp. She returned the cup
to the table with a look of triumph. The triumphant look froze on her
face with a woozy grin as she collapsed bonelessly back onto the table.
Shinji sighed. "I don't think we'll be able to wake her before
morning," Shinji admitted.
Hiro nodded his agreement, looked like he regretted moving his head.
"Might be a good idea to let her sleep it off."
"Where did you find her?" Shinji asked, he was getting a little tired
of her getting drunk to escape her problems, because he could see the
problems didn't go away. Either someone _else_ had to solve it, or it
didn't get solved and often it got worse. They rarely if ever went away,
and having someone else solve the symptom, didn't solve the problem behind
it. No matter how skilled or elegant the solution, because the person
would resent her or know they were owed.
Shinji glanced at Pen Pen, who'd come out of his fridge to watch the
proceedings. Once he saw no food was forthcoming and there was nothing to
be done, he promptly returned to his fridge. Shinji couldn't blame him,
he was a little bored with the situation as well.
"It isn't as if it's as bad as she thinks."
Hiro glanced at him. "How much have you heard?"
"I went to see. They were questioning her about a Japanese
submarine. She just answered their questions. They weren't even mean
about it. Kensuke, that's a guy in my class who's a military nut, he could
have answered most of the questions," Shinji said, not daring to voice his
real question: 'Why does she keep doing this?'
Hiro only shrugged.
Then Shinji heard the klaxons, "They never attack at night?!" he
exclaimed as he headed for the phone. He'd be told exactly what to do,
they'd drilled him on this.
"Pilot Ikari, I need transport."
"This is Aoba, uh, I, - " came the uncertain voice at the other end,
and the sound of flipping pages. Shinji waited impatiently, he knew what
to expect, but he didn't want to suggest it to the man.
"Transport is being sent, Tomiyo Tendo will be with it."
That _still_ didn't answer Shinji's principal question. "Is this a
drill?" he asked in an exasperated tone.
"No, it's real."
He heard the phone disconnect at the other end. He replaced the
handset on the cradle. "I have to wake her," he told Hiro about the
snoring Misato, "The alert is real."
Hiro paled, glanced desperately at Misato, then back at Shinji.
Shinji sighed, thought of all the stories of how to wake up and sober
up a drunk.
"Cold shower," Hiro suggested, picking her up easily. Shinji jogged
ahead to open the door to the bathroom. Hiro set her in the shower stall
and Shinji sprayed her with icy water. Misato moved weakly.
Both heard Tomiyo's voice.
"Go, I'll help her along," Hiro told him.
Shinji dashed from the room.
----------------------------------------
~This command car has concrete shocks and no springs worth mentioning,
~ Asuka thought as they raced for the base, pausing only to bounce over
every pothole in Tokyo. Her bones shaking, she idly wondered between
bounces whether they were shaking her brain loose, and who would be going
out. ~Me, of course, but what about the others?~ It bothered her that
the others could command multiple EVAs. She was the best with Unit 02 by
a wide margin, she was the best overall, also by a wide margin, but she
could _only_ command Unit 02. ~It isn't fair,~ she thought as she looked
over Sammi, Erin and Horseface. There seemed no bounds to Horseface's
enthusiasm. ~He gets to defend the Earth and become more of a monster
while he does it. Maybe he thinks he can become the 'Angel of Martial
Arts' and become one with the cosmos,~ Asuka lamented, ~But who else would
do it? Anna, Curly? Raccoon or Ice Princess? Better we do it, then go
on from there, rather than destroying anyone else.~ She turned away from
the others.
They entered the base and drove through the wide corridors. The
shocked looks as the car drove through the pristine corridors made Asuka
smile. "Make way for the Heroes!" Asuka called out. She got a dark look
from Horseface. "Cheer up! You may get a chance to die honorably," she
told him, "That will make your day."
He looked even more put out. She laughed at him.
The car abruptly stopped in from of the locker room. Asuka thought
if Erin stopped quicker, she would have pitched them right into the locker
room itself. She staunchly _refused_ to mention this possibility to Erin,
for fear she'd try it next time. As they entered, the view shocked Asuka,
there was Wondergirl, already there, already suited up and ready.
"Should I even ask?" Asuka was shocked. Horseface just shook his
head.
"I ran," Wondergirl told her, "Mein Grossfeldmarschall would not have
it any other way."
Asuka just shook her head as she headed to her locker.
----------------------------------------
You Know They All Call Big Jim Boss . . . Just Because . . .
~Where are the others?~ Aoba thought as he adjusted his console, and
his mind set, he was going to have to help manage this battle. "EVA Units
00, 01, 02 launching. Three targets on widely different vectors."
"Send Unit 02 to engage the target heading for the harbor, send Unit
01 to intercept the target heading towards the Navy Fuel Depot," Gendo
ordered, "Send Unit 00 to engage the flying target. Order Rei to standby
in the ready room."
Aoba gave the orders. "Commander, these are by far the largest
enemies we've encountered," Baker reported, "The one heading to the harbor
is easily three times the size of the first Angel we fought." He got no
answer, and no rebuke.
~I guess that's the best we can hope for,~ Aoba thought, glancing at
Baker.
Asuka in Unit 02, was sprinting to the harbor, Shinji in Unit 01
placed himself between the fuel depot and the attacker. Ranma in Unit 00,
headed towards the flying cloud. Aoba glanced around, he didn't know how
this worked, but he'd let the kids have their head and he'd keep them
aware of the situation and their mission. They knew what they were doing
better than he did. He didn't even know what the targets looked like, and
wouldn't until the Units got close. The command staff was in the dark.
It made him wonder where Katsuragi was, and Hyuga. The kids would be in
combat in a few moments.
"I have visual," Asuka announced, "Switching over. I wasn't able to
intercept them before they entered the harbor, request assistance from the
Navy in a water intercept."
Aoba felt a lump in his throat, two of the immense worms Shinji
fought had slid into the water in front of Unit 02. The Navy was already
maneuvering, along with every merchant vessel, fishing boat and sampan in
the harbor. Some were running toward, some were running away, some were
just running. Aoba heard nothing from Ikari, so he authorized the water
intercept and sent Asuka's request to the Navy. He suspected they had a
lot on their minds right now. The sudden explosion of a coal ship
punctuated that in a way that defied contradiction.
Some nightfighters were up, but their radar couldn't find what the
NERV sensors could clearly `see`. The EVAs continued to advance towards
their targets.
----------------------------------------
"Our enemies are getting wise," Fuyutsuki leaned close to Gendo, who
nodded.
"We've dealt with dholes before, but I don't remember any other
creatures large enough to engage an EVA, we should be able to destroy them
one at a time," he told his old friend. He noted Katsuragi's and Hyuga's
arrival. "I am concerned they must have thought of that."
"Ranma," Katsuragi commanded, "Open fire immediately."
"I figured that. I just want to see what I'm shooting at," Saotome
replied, "Firing."
Gendo stared at the screen, he couldn't pick the target out of the
darkness, but the shining gold ball of Saotome's attack slowly illuminated
the quarry. Like golden sunlight, Saotome's sphere sailed up into the
flying swarm, for that's what it was, many different targets, rather than
a single one.
~That's better news, ~ Gendo thought as the glowing ball revealed
more details. First bit as the ball passed, searching for its target,
were dozens of shantaks, great horse-headed birds on the scale of the
legendary elephant hunting roc, the ball passed dozens of them.
Then it passed something else, like a huge, winged rope, black as
night, invisible in the darkness, Hunting Horrors. The creature reacted
violently to the nearness of the light, although it wasn't even the target.
Gendo noted that, wondering if the creature's phobia of light, or
something else, elicited the reaction. He filed it away for later
analysis. Shantaks were barely-intelligent beasts of burden, the Hunting
Horrors were the harriers of the Outer Gods, both would pursue prey
relentlessly, the Horrors would do so with a cruel intelligence. That
also meant that an Outer God was involved, they were vastly more powerful
than the Great Old Ones. Gendo had hoped to avoid confrontations with
those creatures until the Children and the EVAs had grown in power.
The ball ignored all those it passed and homed in unerringly on the
target, closing along the shortest line. The shantak initially targeted
had climbed, now it dove for the ground, dragging the golden ball along
through anything that got in the way. As soon as it passed, darkness
returned. Gendo hoped the pilots' vision was better than what they were
getting through the Magi.
Gendo watched quietly as the target of the projectile broke from the
rest of the swarm and drew away, luring the weapon into collisions with
trees and buildings, eroding its power.
Only Shinji's target, or possibly targets, remained unknown.
"This doesn't bode well," Gendo commented neutrally.
----------------------------------------
Shinji watched the swarm of flying things scatter when faced by
Saotome-san. The golden glowing ball selected one target and pursued
relentlessly, while the others closed in on Unit 00. Megorofeld-chan was
facing two of what he'd fought on his first sortie, if she was even half
as good as her boasting, she'd win that fight.
He was worried that his enemy, or enemies, were playing a coy game:
they would advance rapidly, until he could intercept, then run away again,
forcing him to close in, at a point not of his choosing. That was okay,
he could also decide not to confront them directly, and keep them away
from the fuel tanks. With the new S type engines, he and the others had
six hours, there was no need for the headlong charges anymore, they could
play a more careful game.
He heard Misato-san's orders to Ranma, and to Megorofeld-chan, for
the moment she seemed to have forgotten him. He approached as he'd seen
Megorofeld-chan move, run then stop, run then see what the enemy did. His
enemy seemed unwilling to let him get a good look at them, he'd only just
been able to discover there were several of them, or it was a really big
one. Some half a mile from end to end. He hoped it was several smaller
targets.
"Why are you hanging back?" Misato-san's voice and image cut through
his considerations.
"I don't want them to get to the fuel dump," he explained.
"Never mind that! It's only two kilometers ahead. Go after it!"
He charged as ordered. The target shifted right as several targets
appeared to the left, he'd run past them and they'd be behind him. He
wished they'd appear long enough for him to get a good look at them.
~Doesn't the military have flares or something?~ he wondered.
"Don't let them get behind you, cut to the left."
Shinji shifted course, he hoped Megorofeld-chan was enjoying her swim,
he was no longer enjoying his run.
He considered the problem, he wished Misato-san would order a switch,
let Megorofeld-chan handle the fliers, as she had against Cthugha's
servants, let Ranma deal with this in and out actions by these things, and
let him deal with the dholes, he'd fought them once, he had ideas on how
to do it again. Ways that didn't involve getting eaten and slicing them
open from the inside.
----------------------------------------
"Can sonar give me a fix?" Asuka asked as she walked through Tokyo
Harbor. She was hampered by the need to avoid colliding with any of the
warships, not for the damage she might do to them, but the damage they
might do to Unit 02. She hated not being able to see her prey, she also
disliked how big it was. Like everybody else, probably in the world,
she'd seen the newsreel footage of Spineless's first battle, getting eaten
and killing the thing from the inside. She'd thought it was an innovative
tactic, then she'd learned it was an accident. That had been pathetic,
but now she had to beat two of them, hiding in water.
She felt more than saw the depth charge launchers and the explosions.
She wished the harbor was empty of civilians, the shock of the blast might
wreck a poorly-made boat. She also didn't want to think about the effect
of a nearby explosion on anyone unprotected in the water. She remembered
Hiroko's warning to Wondergirl.
~That probably goes double for depth charges,~ Asuka thought.
The flashes of gunfire she could clearly see, what the gun flashes
revealed was not encouraging. A few burning ships did not illuminate the
scope of the damaged or crippled boats, the people bobbing in the water.
None of it would prevent her from destroying the enemy, because more,
far more, would be killed by her inaction. That didn't make her happy
about the helpless victims and putting them in greater danger. One reason
she hated these things, she could understand destroying for a purpose,
destroying just to destroy was irrationality.
~I just love my life,~ she thought. One of those things could
flatten a battleship, but the battleships, cruisers and destroyers might
be able to help with their guns and torpedoes. ~If they can _find_ it,~
Asuka thought, Unit 02 walked forward slowly, a sonic glaive at the ready.
She wished she had some trick to detect the things. She had her AT field
formed into dozens of long thin spines extending out into the water, below
the surface. If one of the monsters charged her, she'd know it when it
impaled itself. While that defended her, she reminded herself that an EVA
wasn't to defend just itself. The fleet was here, so were the fishing
boats and the merchant vessels that fed and clothed and powered the city.
She had to defend them too.
She hated this, was that ripple the creature, or just where several
wakes overlapped for a moment. Asuka watched another explosion, a tanker
this time. The fire continued to form the slick spreading out from the
stricken ship, illuminating the area around it. The few fireboats, all in
U.S. Navy livery, poured water into the vessel. Asuka knew the casualty
count was ratcheting up steadily as she failed to corner and kill these
things. She watched waves capsize several smaller boats, other vessels
dodged the worms and the previous victims, sometimes collisions between or
even among the potential victims. It was a disaster. And she walked
through it like a dispassionate god, ignoring the lesser concerns of
mortals, intent on a `greater` purpose. She moved through the harbor, she
was aware her own wake might swamp the rescue boats, killing those on
board, she was more aware that is she didn't get this thing, they were
going to have a lot of company.
"Sonar, Unit 02, target 353 degrees relative, closing rapidly."
Asuka turned slightly and readied the glaive, she mentally cursed, ~I
should have brought several, then I could throw them.~
The creature shied away, just out of her reach. Asuka chased after
it, only managing to stab at it, then it sped away.
"Maybe getting eaten and slicing the thing open from the inside isn't
as dumb a strategy as I thought," Asuka said as she wracked her brain for
an answer. Asuka stopped and advanced more carefully, waiting for another
opportunity to stab the thing. ~It's comparatively slow,~ she thought,
~Maybe only eight body lengths per minute, but as big as it is that's 240+
kph. I can't move that fast in water, not even at a dash.~ She moved
through the harbor, destroyers and DE's were escorting the fishing boats
and merchantmen out, cruisers moved here and there. She could understand
why, that was the food source for the city. Lose those little boats
and in days the city would starve. She continued to move, continued
to search, trying to sound slightly out of sorts, trying to be bait,
hoping the unusual sound, smell and sight of the EVA would draw the
enemy to her, rather than drive it away.
She heard Misato-`sama` yelling at Spineless, and Horseface shooting
at `birds`. She walked carefully, she admitted to herself that she had
the wrong temperament to be a hunter like this, she needed to be half
buzzard to do that, she'd rather close with it and kill it. If Misato-
`sama` had the smarts everyone said she did, she'd switch Unit 01 for Unit
02. Spineless could stand and wait better than she could.
~About the only thing he can do better than I can,~ she thought.
----------------------------------------
Ranma watched the target dive for the deck, making the ball run
through the trees. The passage didn't seem to harm the trees, but it did
weaken the ball. He could feel that, feel it coming apart. Worse was
when they ducked behind a building and the ball plowed into it. The first
time that happened, Ranma had been apoplectic. But for whatever reason,
the ball, not the building, took the brunt of the damage. Now it was
their standard tactic.
Ranma couldn't figure out how to make the ball go faster, or pick the
nearest target as it flew, or somehow make it less obvious which one it
was going after. He might as well paint a line between himself and his
target, a little flittering around by the swarm and even the horse-birds
figured out who he was aiming at.
~I'm just not devious enough,~ he admitted, ~That's not a bad thing.~
He wished he had someone who might give him a clue. He did _not_ want to
ask Misa-chan, he didn't know what she thought she was doing, but ordering
ole' Spineless around like a marionette wasn't helping anybody, except the
enemy.
Ranma had heard about the hearings about things Gendo and Misa-chan
had done against the Americans in Boston. ~But he wasn't _in_ Boston with
us, and she was with us most of the time, what could she have done?~ Ranma
knew such speculations were useless, but everything else seemed to be
working against him.
Ranma gritted his teeth as he slashed the air. Again they stayed out
of range of his sonic glaive, ~And when I fire, it chases after one of
them,~ he thought. He watched that one dodge and maneuver while the rest
threw stuff at him, until either the ball ran out of power or it would
evade and the ball wouldn't reacquire. ~It seems an AT field ball has a
maximum range,~ he thought, ~Beyond it would quit chasing a target. How'd
they know that?~
Ranma wanted to know how they knew the vagaries of his attacks better
than he did. Right now, without something to dodge, they flew in a tight
formation, they'd swoop close to the ground and then rise into the air
before he could close on them. They'd swirl around his head, high into
the night sky, even his best jumps couldn't get at them. As soon as he
landed, they pelted him with the debris they had collected. From trash
cans and benches, to jeeps and even a whole truck. It was useless, on
both sides. He was getting angrier. He wanted to fill the sky with his AT
field missiles, but the second would vanish rather than the first.
~I need to improve that,~ Ranma lamented silently, he needed to get
them closer. "Come and get me!" he shouted at them.
"Crap!" he shouted as they swarmed him, he prepared the glaive to
catch one or two before they broke off.
"NUTS!" he shouted as he dodged the barrage of rocks, I-beams, small
vehicles, none of the `birds` came within range.
As they flew back out of range, he wished he could make a flyswatter
like Shinji could, or some of Asuka's tricks. He wondered if Asuka would
be willing to trade opponents, he figured he'd be better at hunting worms,
while Asuka would be better at sweeping them from the sky.
~I have to discover a better way to deal with these things,~ he
thought, ~At least Misa-chan is concentrating on driving ole' Shinji crazy,
I've got enough to worry about,~ he wondered if the anti-aircraft guns
could work on these things. He didn't know how to lure them down into
range to find out.
They landed, he charged them, scattering them before they could
collect their missiles to hurl at him. This time many guns tracked and
fired at them, from tanks, to jeeps with machineguns, to individual
soldiers. But all that fire shut off like a spigot once the birds got
above 50 meters, Ranma suddenly realized that his altered eyesight and the
EVA let him see the creatures clearly, but everyone else was blind.
~Oh good grief!~ he cursed, ~That's why I'm not getting any help,
that's why I'm here, Asuka and Shinji couldn't see them either. I guess
Misa-chan isn't so dumb after all,~ he thought morosely. He wondered if
he could keep them `entertained` until it was light enough to see and been
seen.
~Then these things will be in for a surprise,~ he thought, ~In the
meantime, how do I get these things close enough that I can hit them?~
A few of the horse-birds complained loudly back and forth, the black,
ropey serpents made their cries. Ranma had the eerie feeling the ropey
serpents were _directing_ the others. He wished Raccoon were here, he'd
know how smart these things were, and unlike Gendo, he'd tell them. ~And
maybe if there were four EVAs,~ he thought, ~We wouldn't be having the
trouble we're having.~
----------------------------------------
Rei entered the command deck and glanced around, she heard Miss
Katsuragi warn Mein Grossfeldmarschall to watch out behind her, then
Shinji-kun that one of the enemy was trying to get around behind him. It
was obvious, even to Rei, that the older woman was extremely frustrated.
~She shouldn't be here,~ Rei thought, ~She has been relieved of
duty.~ She glanced up at the Commander, if he had no objections, Rei would
not raise the issue.
Rei could understand Miss Katsuragi's frustration, the enemy
typically closed and the EVAs charged, and the battle was over. If the
enemy was unaware of the greater time available due to the S type engines,
their tactics would have been sound.
~But the normal battery life has long elapsed,~ she thought.
Rei had requested, and received permission to return to the command
deck to observe. Rei was confused by the frantic maneuvering and useless
orders, as if the Miss Katsuragi had forgotten the time/power problem had
been solved, or she had forgotten that the pilots knew their jobs.
Rei noted the men were checking their equipment and looking around,
and looking at each other in frustration. They could no than form a
comment, when Miss Katsuragi would shout something to the pilots that
eliminated what they were trying to do. The exact cause of their
frustration, Rei couldn't guess, being countermanded before they could say
anything, the general helplessness of NERV in assisting the pilots, or
that they were absolutely failing at their task and were thus worse than
useless. Rei decided that she would have to pick one pilot, and directly
support them. She analyzed the three battles and realized there was only
one whom she could immediately benefit.
The one who truly needed continuous updates was Mein
Grossfeldmarschall, whose expertise was needed against the fliers.
Leaving the Fourth's superior speed and hand-to-hand capability against
those playing 'hide-and-seek' against Shinji-kun. She wondered how she
could tell Miss Katsuragi her conclusions.
She dreaded that she couldn't, perhaps if someone told her how to,
she would.
All she could do was support the Commander, she took Analyst Ibuki's
vacant station and plugged in her own A10 nerve clip into the Magi access.
The information suddenly available to her was staggering. Despite
all her time at NERV, she had never interfaced with the Magi system. She
shook her head for a moment to clear it, then she concentrated her efforts
on assisting Mein Grossfeldmarschall's efforts. She evidently had a much
better view of the enemies' positions than the EVA pilot did.
----------------------------------------
Asuka wished she had a professional fisherman or a crocodile hunter,
to give her some guidance on how to read the movement of the water, to
tell her where the things were.
"Mein Grossfeldmarschall, one target north northwest 1800 meters
moving across, second target southeast 3.5 kilometers moving away."
Asuka though Horseface had suddenly changed sexes, then she realized
it was - "Wondergirl? Aren't you back at base?"
"Yes. First target turning towards you."
The image that formed wasn't Wondergirl's insipid face, but a
radar-like screen, the `beam` of the radar was the direction Asuka's Unit
02 was facing, the images of the worms were little green dashes. Asuka
hoped they weren't to scale. The ships around were red if military, blue
if civilian and there was a faint afterimage as all the objects moved,
giving a fading `tail` to indicate course and speed.
Asuka had to admit, it was exactly what she needed. But she wasn't
going to admit that to Wondergirl. Except later. In private.
~Great, now I'm taking orders from Wondergirl,~ Asuka thought
bitterly, ~I'm officially in Hell.~
"First target, northwest 1400 meters, second east southeast 2.5
kilometers. First target closing obliquely, second describing an ellipse.
I believe you and target one are the axes points."
Asuka shrugged. ~I wanted another pair of eyes and some help,~ she
thought, ~I've got them. Next time I should be more specific what I ask
for.~
She hoped Wondergirl's proprietary interest would keep the Major off
her neck. The worms were much faster than anything in the harbor, she
wondered if they could use the sensor system to direct heavy artillery
ashore or afloat down on the things. A time-on-target barrage should be
child's play for the Magi to calculate, but she doubted she could explain
it all to Wondergirl in the time they had.
~Maybe later,~ she thought, ~When I congratulate her.~ She smiled at
the thought of Ice Princess and Raccoon as bridge officers. ~They
couldn't be worse that the idiots we've got now,~ Asuka thought.
"Okay, concentrate on range and bearing on the closing target, but
don't ignore the second one, watch for sudden changes in speed or
direction."
"Jawohl," Wondergirl said, "Northwest 1100 meters and accelerating."
~So it's circling, and it doesn't know how far I can project my AT
field. It's trying to attack my right flank rear,~ Asuka slowly bent her
Unit's knees, she'd leap when the creature made its change.
"Wondergirl, how are the others doing?"
"West southwest 600 meters. You are needed elsewhere," Wondergirl
said.
~OOoo,~ Asuka thought, ~For Wondergirl, that's quite an inditement.~
"Southwest, 400 meters."
Asuka's smile became a snarl, ~Finally coming in, at 200 meters . . .
~ Asuka thought as she got ready.
"South southwest 200 - "
"AAAAHH!" screamed as she leapt, her sonic glaive stabbed into the
worm, her AT field trapped part of it. She couldn't get all of the huge
monster. "It's trapped, and IT'S GOT NO AT FIELD!" she shouted, "Tell
them." Asuka shouted, she hoped they get help here.
Asuka watched a tail the size of a battleship rise out of the water
and head towards her. She dodged out of the way, since her AT field was
otherwise occupied. The creature was writhing and pounding on the
barriers that she'd established that held it fast. She hoped they hurried.
The splashes engulfed the EVA in whatever passed for water in Tokyo Harbor.
"YAAAAA! YUCK!" Asuka shouted angrily, "What genius gave these
things working taste buds!" She found the combination of L.C.L. on her
actual tongue and Tokyo Harbor on the EVA's, created a new and fascinating
taste sensation, somehow worse than Misato's cooking.
"Thanks, Wondergirl." ~Boy does _that_ hurt to say,~ she thought.
"Now get me some artillery support!" she shouted into the pick up.
"I am endeavoring," Wondergirl told her.
While Asuka kept Unit 02 doing the dhole two-step, dodging the
immense tail as it lashed about. She hoped everything else had the good
sense to stay clear.
----------------------------------------
"Pilot Langley has trapped one of the worms," Rei turned and told
Miss Katsuragi and the Commander, "She is requesting artillery assistance,
she has neutralized its AT field." Rei was disappointed that neither Miss
Katsuragi nor the Commander ordered artillery or some other fire support.
Lieutenant Baker relayed Mein Grossfeldmarschall's information and request
to the Navy.
Rei waited, and fumed without showing her irritation. She felt
better when Mein Grossfeldmarschall was demanding something, or she was
relaying the Commander's instructions. Sitting and waiting frustrated her
immensely. Didn't they understand she needed instructions, orders, some
idea of the actions she should be taking?
Shinji-kun was in danger, and no one would tell her how to support
him. The Fourth was bumbling and no one would tell her to help him, and
she couldn't get either Miss Katsuragi's or the Commander's attention to
ask permission, neither was paying her any attention.
So she sat, and seethed, waiting for information that would allow her
to do her job, instructions to do something else to assist, or permission
to speak and advise.
Rei also felt jealousy, she was ashamed of it, but it was there. She
was jealous of the Fourth, even Shinji-kun. She heard the Commander and
Miss Katsuragi giving them such meticulous instructions, such a thorough
understanding of what was expected of them, what actions they were to take,
correcting what they were doing wrong or to an insufficient degree.
_They_ would resent it, while _she_ sat at her station and wished they
could give her such clear instructions in doing her duty here, rather than
giving her such general goals and no clues how they wanted her to achieve
them.
She sat, frustrated, waiting for someone to tell her what to do next.
"Torpedo boats, Tennessee and South Dakota are inbound," Lt. Baker
called back, "The Alaska is maneuvering."
Rei waited for some order from Miss Katsuragi, receiving none, she
relayed the information to Mein Grossfeldmarschall.
" 'Hurry'," she repeated the other pilot's message. Then she looked
at the big status board. "Shinji-kun," she whispered as the enemy charged
him.
----------------------------------------
Shinji watched them charge, they finally closed to visual range.
Shinji had never seen anything like them. Two massive goat's feet/legs
below a barrel that sprouted several tentacles that seemed to vary in
length as they waved in the air. Three of them, each nearly as tall as an
EVA. He'd heard rumors of the army fighting something like them, but he
didn't remember anyone saying they were this big, not the size of an EVA,
but big.
The trio split and charged him from three separate directions. For a
moment Shinji panicked. But he still had some room to retreat, and he bet
he had superior speed.
~And Misato-san won't let me forget about the other ones,~ he thought
as he charged. He was irritated but not surprised when the one he charged
retreated. It didn't turn, it simply ran backwards. He turned rapidly
and headed for the nearest one. Since he was coming in from behind it, he
knew it couldn't retreat, except towards the fuel dump, and he'd catch it
before it arrived.
He closed on the now zigzagging creature and slashed at it with the
glaive. Neither Ranma nor Megorofeld-chan would have approved of his poor
technique, but he severed one of the major tentacles. Shinji grinned as
he closed in. Then the ground leapt up and hit him. He glanced around
and the severed tentacle uncoiled from his legs and headed, like a
sidewinder, after the escaping monster. He stabbed at it, but it evaded
his strikes and increased its rate of retreat as he clambered to his feet.
He glanced around, the other creatures had also retreated. His confusion
now warred with his frustration at these tactics. He knew when the sun
was up, the Army and Navy would have a field day with these creatures, but
until then, he had to `play` with them. He felt his anger growing as he
charged after them.
~When I _catch_ one of these things!~ he thought, ~It is _not_
getting away. It's not going to get back up!~
"Uh, do these normally do that?" Shinji shifted his glaive in his
hand. They'd stopped, `shoulder` to `shoulder`. He refused to be drawn
into a trap, backing away to continue guarding the approaches to the fuel
dump. He worried what he'd do if chopping them into pieces wouldn't stop
them. He had listened to Ranma and Asuka's struggles, if Asuka could kill
hers, he could expect some help.
~Loud, arrogant help,~ he thought, ~But, I'll take it.~
He lunged at one of them, the glaive at maximum extension, it backed
away instantly. He watched the one with the severed tentacle recovered it,
and the tentacle reattached itself.
Shinji's worry grew. He looked at the darkness around them. The
night would prevent the Americans from using much of their army to help
the EVAs. He'd be alone for hours yet.
Shinji wanted to get angry, to let his anger out and ignore
everything except the target, but he also knew he had the fuel dump behind
him, and two other targets. He heard Rei-chan helping Megorofeld-chan, he
decided if he couldn't help, he'd tune out the distraction.
"Shinji, it's moving towards you, move to your left," Misato told him.
Shinji glanced at the position of all three. He feinted to the front
and took one step towards the left. ~I'm not ready to completely ignore
her just yet,~ he thought, ~What did Megorofeld-chan call this . . . a
delaying action.~ He glanced at the power timer, he had over four hours
of power, he could wait.
"I meant more than one step," Misato-san shouted.
"Sorry," he said automatically.
"You're supposed to follow my orders."
"Sorry."
"They're moving right again, get ready."
"Sorry."
"What have you got to be sorry about?"
"I apologize for saying 'Sorry'," he told her, desperately hiding his
smile.
"I expect you to follow directions," Misato-san shouted at him, "Not
apologize."
"Sorry." He decided to keep one other thing pinned down while the
others dealt with the enemy.
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