And If That Don't Work?
A Neon Genesis Evangelion fic thingy.
By Josh Temple
Naturally, I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion. So here's the disclaimer:
Neon Genesis Evangelion and its characters and settings belong Gainax and Hideaki Anno
Other works can be found at my fanfiction website.
http://jtemple.florestica.com/
Temporary Backup Site.
Other website
C&C as always is wanted.
Prologue: Use More Gun
A pillar of white light
exploded over the ridge. The over
pressure blast raced out. Shortly the
airflow reversed,
sucking air and debris towards the center of the explosion as air
pressure tried to equalize. The hot air
then rose over the blast center and eventually lost momentum rolling up into a
tell-tale mushroom shape. Even projecting in gigantic proportions in an immense
Atop the highest level of the
room, three JSSDF generals watched the explosion. The one to the left jumped up and hit the
console in front of him. "We did it!"
General
Ishikari looked back where Commander Ikari impassively sat. "Sorry, but there's nothing left for you to do, Ikari."
Various technicians looked up
from their work to gaze at the diluted reflection of the immense
destruction. Lieutenant Ibuki had stayed
at her display. "Incoming shockwave." Her
announcement heralded the displays cutting to static.
"It was such a massive
explosion... It must have been destroyed." Hesitation colored the
rightmost general's statement; he looked to the bank of red phones in front of
him.
"Sensors online," a
male technician announced.
"Energy reading in the
middle of the crater," Lieutenant Ibuki stated.
"What!" General Ishikari's
fist clenched.
"Visual image
restored." The displays turned
on. The valley where the N2 mine had
been positioned was a fiery wasteland.
The Angel's face was knocked up its body far out of position, but it had
grown a replacement. Its body was torn and damaged, but it stood.
The leftmost general slumped
in his seat. "That was our trump
card...."
"Unbelievable..." General
Yubari sighed, and briefly wondered if Ikari had caught Ishikari's
emphasis... not that it mattered.
"Monster!" General Abukuma cried. He looked to Ishikari who gave a slight
nod. The young general swiped his
security pass and picked up one of the red phones. He spoke into it briefly
before handing it to Yubari.
"It's regenerating as
expected," Vice-Commander Fuyutsuki whispered into Gendo's ear.
"Of course, otherwise it
would be useless as an independent weapon," Gendo noted from behind his steepled hands.
Fuyutsuki watched as Sachiel raised an arm and shot out a beam that destroyed
the surveillance VSTOL rotorcraft. "Oh, impressive.
It can enhance its own functions."
A few seconds passed.
Fuyutsuki straightened up from his position behind Ikari and followed his
student's gaze to the... generals.
Ishikari was softly talking into the phone.
"Have you received the
telemetry? Yes, the N2 mine hurt
it. Good luck," Yubari placed the phone back into its
cradle and looked at the screen. It
seemed that his country's luck would not improve.
"Su-33's have entered
Japanese airspace," a technician shouted. "Their vector is on
approach to the Angel."
Behind his tinted glasses,
Gendo's eyes narrowed slightly. "What is this?"
General Yubari sighed.
"They're from the Admiral Kuznetsov. When the target made land they launched their
jets. Just... in
case."
Fuyutsuki's pocket vibrated.
The elder man pulled out a PDA and looked at the display. He then leaned down
and whispered to Gendo. " Captain Katsuragi has
the Third Child. They are enroute, there was some... difficulty..."
Gendo waved him off with
slightly more impatient dismissal than normal. His attention was at the trio of
generals. "That carrier's not part of the UN detachment," Gendo
noted.
General Ishikari had turned
around and faced the Commander. "Quite correct.
This is because of the UN's mandate against certain
arms."
"I see." Gendo's gaze went to the squadron of
fighters.
***************
Captain Andrei Zel'dovich curved his plane in a wide arc. He had been
carefully warned. Orientation was key. His weapon was already well within in range.
Comparing his heading and the prevailing winds, the captain smiled. Amazingly,
the target was actually visible. Though the fiery crater it sat in helped. "In position." His voice was smug, it was a near
thing his wingman Yakov had almost beat him.
After receiving approval, he
depressed the final release and the 8.4 meter long missile slung under his port
wing dropped and shot off as its rocket ignited. The missile broke the sound barrier and its
ramjet kicked on. An exotic engine with
no moving parts, air was literally rammed into the annular intake in the
missile's tip. Fuel was mixed and
ignited. The jump in thrust doubled the
missile's velocity and
then doubled it again.
Hovering at just over Mach 4,
the rocket crossed 1.3 kilometers every second.
Sachiel had enough time to
start turning towards the Moskva IIB. A bare fraction of a second before it
impacted, the missile's proximity fuse triggered
***************
Lavrentiyv Sudoplatov sat down
on the battered chair. It grudgingly
creaked under the large man's weight. He
looked around the office. All the
furniture was heavily worn, even by his country's standards. The only thing not pre-second impact was the
computer terminal. A gross incongruity,
the machine was a splash of technological triumph in a bleak room.
What depressed Lavrentiyv the
most was that this was still the best furnished office in the complex. Getting supplies to the Institute was...
difficult in even the best of times. The
effort was worth it, but then the accountants had begun their purge. Stymied at the inability to cut research
equipment, they took their rage on the things they could.
Lavrentiyv could see their
point: moving desks and mattresses and fresh food was expensive, especially when
there was "officially" serviceable equipment already in stock. At
least the Institute still got enough money to maintain its technical skills. The
expertise here had ensured his country's sovereignty for decades. He looked up
at the stout balding
man sitting behind the rickety desk. "I trust you've read the
briefing."
Director Pavel Beria nodded
and looked to his left. A large, faded
poster of a wheat field stood in for a window. "I must say I'm
disappointed; it's been four years since the Impact," he said in a faraway
voice.
"There were complications
with our assets," Lavrentiyv tersely said.
Beria waved it off. "I suspected.
Manpower is short. Metaphysical Biology is an emergent field." He tapped his fingers on the peeling edge of
the desk.
"You will need additional
staff," Lavrentiyv noted.
"The physics is... murky
at best." Beria's eyes wandered back to his poster. "So this is to be
taken into production?"
"You saw the footage. Our
satellites were able to capture it. A giant made out of light rising from the
bottom of the earth. You've read Gehirn's
theories."
"And I weep at their lack
of rigor. Biologists," Pavel shook his head
"You know who I
represent. Can it be done?"
Pavel shrugged. "This
isn't like smashing through six-hundred meters of granite from another
hemisphere. There's not going to be an
elegant solution."
Lavrentiyv's
chuckle died when he saw that the engineer was being serious. "Are you
resting on your laurels then? This is more than decapitating-" he gave a
wry grin. "- capitalists. This time we're facing a true threat. One that will exterminate
all life, down to bacteria."
"And so the Motherland is
faced with rumors of an enemy with an unyielding defense. You have come to the right place. We have not forgotten our duty."
"You have a
solution?"
Director Beria smiled.
"Force is always a solution, the question is how
to apply it."
***************
This time the explosion was
larger, much larger, as was the incipient mushroom. Like the N2 mine the
sensors were knocked down. The Generals
sweated; Ishikari had already picked up one of the red phones. Gendo watched
impassively. His curiosity was on how
such a development had been concealed from him.
He had underestimated the JSSDF and the Russians.
"Sensors
online." Maya Ibuki stated. She blinked. "No energy
reading."
Just before
camera footage resumed. General Abukuma gave a silent prayer. The gigantic displays revealed a
twice-ravaged crater and nothing else.
Ishikari held his
composure. "Do we have
confirmation? Make sure it didn't
simply escape."
"No sign of Pattern Blue
on sensors," one of the technicians said.
Yubari wiped his brow.
"They did it. We won."
"Old
"Even
with the fallout. It had to be done" General Ishikari sighed. They
had to prove that it was possible.
"Yes, now we just have to
worry about the Russians," General Yubari noted shooting Ikari a
glance. Frustratingly, the Commander was
his normal impassive self. Doubtless
this had somehow all been part of his plan.
Fuyutsuki leaned to Gendo. His
hand clenched his PDA. At least things
on that front were... stable. He would start with the more...variable news
first. "What do you make of this?"
"You should be more
concerned what the Old Men make of this," Gendo quietly muttered.
"You've said that '
"This was no normal
weapon." Gendo's eyes went from Sachiel's empty
grave to the older man.
Fuyutsuki nodded. Ikari wanted
to find out exactly how this was not a normal weapon. "Understood. However, what do you think of all this?"
He hesitated, wondering if Gendo would broach the subject.
"A
convenient surprise. We were down
a Pilot, and the replacement might not have agreed."
Fuyutsuki cleared his throat.
"About that,
there's been a complication."
Gendo's eyes widened slightly.
"What happened?"
"They weren't killed in
the second blast; they're very lucky. The Third Child and the Captain are
alive. Unfortunately...
" Fuyutsuki knew why the JSSDF had tried an N2
mine first.
For a fraction of a second
Fuyutsuki saw Gendo's expression... shift. "Get Akagi,
tell her to find a solution."
"Already have, Sir."
Gendo turned back to the view
screen and stared at the crater. "Then you should just told
me that."
End Prologue:
Author's notes: I'd like to thank Pale Wolf for being the first sounding board on developing this idea. She and DCG were right there from the start. Also, I'd like to thank my pre-readers. They read through my most egregious mistakes so you don't have to. DGC, J St C Patrick, Pale Wolf, Wray, Kevin Hammel, Ikarus, and Jerry Starfire.
The Story Title comes from the "Meet the Engineer" promotional video for the computer game Team Fortress 2. In it the Engineer Class explains his views on life:
Hey look buddy,
I'm an engineer, that means I solve problems. Not problems like 'What is
beauty?', because that would fall within the purview of your conundrums of
philosophy.
I solve practical problems.
Fr' instance, how am I going
to stop some big mean mother-hubbard from tearing me
a structurally superfluous new behind? The answer: Use a gun. And if that don't work? Use more gun.