Chain Lightning Studios Presents Together We Stand Intermission By T. L. Webb Bring the boys back home Bring the boys back home Don't leave the Children of the earth on their own Bring the boys back home Bring the boys back home Pink Floyd, The Wall []===============================[] Four days before the Ritual of Red Earth []===============================[] The silent day over Japan was shattered as three bulky craft descended from the clouds with more grace than one would expect from their appearance. Their armor was painted in gray and blue with white trimming. Their monstrous appearance was that of a tailless lizard which had been given wings. The wings in question were attached to their metallic frames in a way that would have seemed an afterthought had it not been so effective. Would that a westerner had observed them flying overhead they might have commented that the craft looked like dragons. As they continued to descend, the three craft split and as two entered the heart of the Tokyo Three metropolis, one dived into the lake that was at it's southern point. The two inland slowed as huge legs unfolded from beneath their frames. As they landed, their size became apparent. Each craft was easily over a hundred feet tall. The pilots of these strange craft were all under the age of seventeen. They had been in training for months for a operation such as this. Their ages had been deliberate as their opponents would be similarly youthful. The operations director had theorized that the similar ages would make it easier for the pilots to match and overcome their opposite numbers. Where an older pilot might be baffled by the actions, these pilots would have a higher chance to understand the minds of their opponents. "Mana, watch your nine," the pilot of Trident Zero-One announced over the intercom system, "I don't like the looks of that office building" In the cramped and--in her opinion-- smelly pilot compartment of Trident Zero-Two, Mana Kirishima switched to thermal sensors and zoomed in on the area that Lee Strasburg Musashi was referring to. Sure enough, she could see a odd clumping of warmth just under the building off to her left. "I'm getting an abnormal heat signature. I think we have either another foxhole, or one of those armament buildings." "Tag it and keep going. At the rate those gates open we'll have plenty of time for evasive maneuvers." "Maybe not, my right engine is getting an idiot light--- oh crap, I'm overheating!" "Go ahead and shift to amphibian-- I'll stick to the high road and you can surprise them with Keita from the lake" "Acknowledged, am heading towards the waterfront." "Trident Zero-Three, status report?" "Nothing on radar and getting zip on Sonar. I don't like it." "Me neither, lets get into position and wait for the next reconnaissance drone to do a fly-by. I don't like being this open a target." Trident Zero-Two lumbered down the street and Mana could just make out the bay when another light began to blink. "Lee, I've got movement over across the lake, going amphibious now." "Acknowledged, and--- oh crap!" As Trident Zero-Two plunged into the lake, Mana activated her rear monitor and was shocked to see that Tokyo Three was descending into the earth! "Lee! Keita! They're going into battle formation, keep your eye out for those Evas!" "I've got something on Sonar down here," Keita Asari told them, "looks like... oh no!" The line went dead and Mana screamed for Trident Zero- Three's pilot to respond even as a blinding light shot over her head into the city-- which had just finished lowering into the armored shelter of the ground. "What the hell?" Mana shouted as Musashi began shouting that he'd been hit. "Particle beam!" he announced as he dodged another blazing round. From across the bay, Mana's viewer singled out the red Eva taking aim again--followed by another blast that streaked past her head. 'They were luring us in,' Mana realized as she kicked her submerged Trident into overdrive, 'they wanted us in the city so they'd have a clear shot when they lowered it!' "I'm down to auxiliary power!" Musashi shouted, "someone take out that sniper!" Mana raised her trident to the surface to gain more speed. If they knew where Lee and Keita where then they no doubt knew where she was as well-- there was no point in evasive maneuvers. She toggled all her missiles and was about to open fire when something lunged out of the water in front of her. It was the purple Evangelion, and she barely had time to blink before she ran headlong into it's force-field. The impact winded her, and she was mercifully out of sorts when the other two Eva's descended upon her and began tearing her Trident apart like ravenous monsters. As her monitors went blank, the hatch above her opened and she removed her helmet. Dr. Yami stood as always with his clipboard and the sour expression they'd long come to expect after their training sessions. []====[] []====[] "So how bad did we screw up this time doc?" Lee asked as he pulled back his skullcap and ran a hand through his hair. His flippant attitude had always annoyed the Doctor, Mana suspected that they allowed it to continue only because of the time he'd threatened to quit after what had happened to Keita. "You actually preformed adequately for a change, Musashi," Yami said, "you showed more restraint than usual and managed to keep your Unit operable until the coup de grace was inevitable. The only mistake I can credit you with is that you are still ignoring threats from beyond your short range radar." "Asari, you were taken out before any of your mistakes could become a factor to the mission's failure, so we'll save them for next week's training sessions." "Kirishima," he continued, "why did you charge the enemy?" "Because there wasn't any other course of action-- I had to get up to speed before I could go airborne and side to side presented too easy and wide of a target." "And what of the threat from below?" "Well it wasn't like I could move much since my own motion was interfering with sonar and with Kieta so easily disabled I preferred the devil I did know, sir." "Acceptable... for now. As you know this is the last simulation for the week. As of 1300 the three of you are on leave of absence. Do I need to go over the rules again?" "The pilots will at no time travel more than eighty kilometers from the base and will carry a GPS at all times," Lee recited. "No contraband will be taken from or returned to the base," continued Kieta. "The pilots will return no later than twenty three hundred hours," finished Mana. "Very good, and almost not patronizing," Yami said with a sigh, "If there is no more inanity? Good, well then I suppose you may go." As he turned and walked out the three grinned at one another. They'd been waiting weeks and weeks for this day! After being cooped up for so long it had almost been a shock to receive permission for a day pass. They'd all made their plans in private-- something Mana had been thankful for. She wasn't too sure just how much trouble she'd get into if the bigwigs got wind that she was going to meet someone who's dad worked for Nerv. As the boys yammered and talked about the movies, junk food, and magazines they planed on buying she took the opportunity to slip away and pack her bag for the following day's trip. She'd timed it to the hour and she was sure she could make her destination and still be back in time for curfew. As she changed for bed she glanced at the picture of her date that she'd printed and pined to her wall. She really didn't need the photo, she'd memorized Kensuke's face months ago. It was actually a little dangerous, considering how closely they were watched sometimes. It was amusing that they'd stopped watching her internet activity so long ago. Now that she was actually doing something they might object to they were long bored with her inane banter in the chatrooms. By the time she'd met Kensuke they'd merely placed a low level monitor on her keyed to certain words. She had figured how to get around it in a day. The only thing she'd had trouble with-- and still had-- was that she was still unable to send images. If she had a more powerful system she might have been able to rig something ,but the laptop she'd been given simply didn't have that kind of processing power. She drifted to sleep slowly, her mind still alive with thoughts of the following day. When she did finally fall asleep, she dreamt of the Evangelions. []================================[] Three days before the Ritual of Red Earth []================================[] Kensuke stood on the deck of the old aircraft carrier and looked out a the bay. He'd picked the USS Cabot as their meeting place because it was military, and that was one of the main things he knew he had in common with the girl he'd be meeting any moment. He'd been amazed to find the ship had been docked there in the first place. Mostly because it was one of the only remaining seaworthy craft left from the second world war. The fact that it wasn't a Japanese boat had also been a curiosity. A quick search on the net had answered those questions. Back at the turn of the century, the ship had been falling apart. As it went up for auction, it had been purchased by a man who'd made his fortune in internet technology. The ship had been painstakingly restored, and the millionaire had used it on hundreds of humanitarian missions-- shipping food and supplies all over the world. Recently, the owner had run out of money, and had retired both himself and the ship in Japan. It now served as a floating museum and a restaurant of sorts. He was glad to have had a chance to study up on it the night before. Not only would it give him something to talk about with his date, but it kept his mind from drifting back to what might be happening in Tokyo Three. Ever since he and Touji had left he'd become more and more overcome by a feeling of helplessness. With virtually no chance of ever being able to pilot an Eva, and no longer to be there for his friends to offer emotional support he felt lost. If he hadn't been spending so much time online he doubted he'd even be feeling up to this outing. As he leaned against the safety rails, a pair of hands slipped over his eyes and he heard a feminine giggle. "If you're going to ask me to guess who," he said with a smile, "you might want to remember you still haven't told me your name." The hands slipped away and he turned to find a stunningly cute girl smiling back at him. She was wearing a white sundress and hat. The hair sticking out beneath the hat was brown, and her eyes were deep blue. He gaped for a few moments longer before she reached out and gently pressed a finger against his nose and made a beeping sound. "Its not polite to stare Ken... um, you _are_ Kensuke Aida, right?" she asked with a grin, "because I'd hate to be flirting with the wrong guy it might start rumors and I'd hate for that to happen because I barely have a rep in the first place and that would ruin it." "That's me," he said-- trying not to blush as he also tried to keep up with the fast-speaking young lady before him, "and I'm glad to finally meet you, miss Iron." "Oh! I'm sorry," she said, clasping her hands behind her back, "I should have said that right after I covered your eyes. I'm Mana, Mana Kirishima. Please to meet you as well, and oh! By the way, this is such a cool place! I didn't know there was one of these around here." "Its kind of new," Kensuke said as she took his arm and they walked across the deck-- actually she practically dragged him but he wasn't complaining-- to where the cafe was set up, "I think that they would have been opened long ago but they had some trouble with the government when they arrived here. Something to do with the second world war I think. Apparently there were people who didn't want this here because it was used then." "Geez, my I don't even know if my grandparents were alive back then-- I mean, if that's how long governments hold grudges its no wonder things are in such bad shape." "I suppose," Kensuke said with a shrug, "I never did understand people over thirty." "So are we going to go on the tour I saw?" Mana asked as they reached the cafe and were seated. "If you want to then there's no question about it," Kensuke said, "I am at your service for the afternoon." "Ah!" she replied with a smile that sent a pleasant shiver down his spine, "well then I shall have to take advantage of your generosity, shall we eat?" "Lets," Kensuke replied as she took his arm and again pulled him towards the cafe. []====[] []====[] "But I thought you loved the military, Kensuke," Mana said as they ate. "I don't know anymore... its not that I'm becoming a hippie or anything-- more that I'm starting to rethink things." "Like what?" "Well, how do you place the blind faith in a government when you know that they've made massive screwups in the past?" he said as he picked at his meal, "you can look at just about any country in the world and find wars that were masses of stupidity. America in Vietnam, us in World War two, Russia in Afghanistan... the list goes on and on and round and round. I believe in defending your country from danger and attack, but most countries use their armies so stupidly-- look at the fighting before the valentine treaty! And now everyone's grumbling at Nerv. Its just a big jumbled mess and I don't know what to think anymore." "You don't have much faith in your country, huh?" "No, I do, but I have to wonder nowadays, who's pulling the strings?" Kensuke adjusted his glasses, "if they ordered it, Japan would have to turn over a good chunk of the JSSDF to the UN for operations under their authority. Same goes for the Federated States of the Americas and the German Republic. Everything's gone weird, and I think it runs past the UN." "Oh, you mean the conspiracy stuff about a shadow government?" "Well... sort of," Kensuke grinned, "I've been talking to some people lately, and they know things-- you'd be surprised what." "Try me." "Okay, did you know that the committee over Nerv is just a front for a man named Kiel? And other than his name on various forms and bills, no official documents of his existence exist?" "I never heard that, can you prove it?" "Not yet." "What do you mean 'yet'? "I'm not really supposed to talk about it," Kensuke said with a frown. "Pweeese?" Mana pleaded-- going into 'ultra-cute-n- sweet-girlie-girl-mode'. Kensuke-- like most males-- was defenseless against this tactic. "Okay, but I can't tell you much," he said as he scooted over closer and whispered, "I know some _really_ good hackers, and in a few days they're planing on pulling of what might be the biggest hack since the crash of 2002. If they find what they think they'll find then we'll have all that proof I was talking about." "They'll... we'll... you're not going to be helping them do this, are you?" "Not directly," he told her, "but if they find anything illegal is going in, then I'll be assisting them transfer files to law enforcement and stuff." "Well, as long as you're not trying to do anything yourself," she said with a sigh, "I don't like the idea of you going to jail so soon after I've met you." "Believe me, neither do I. But don't worry, I'm not good enough to be directly involved. Most of the actual work is so far above my level of skill that I didn't believe it was possible at first." "These guys sound kind of scary." "Not really, they're a pretty moral group-- for hackers. To be honest, they take more precautions to protect people than you'd think. They spend most of their time doing watchdog profiles on corporations and stuff like that." "So how'd they find out about you?" "I think one of them was a fan of my website," Kensuke said with an embarrassed grin, "but to be honest I really don't know. They go way out of their way to keep their anonymity." "Again, I'll have to go with them sounding scary." "Well, I do understand... but they're no more frightening than some of the groups that the UN set up to keep the 'peace'. Things aren't pretty out there, Mana, and to be honest, the idea like the Alliance is something of a comfort to me." "If you say so... but I still don't see why you're so distrustful of the government." "You haven't seen what Nerv's done to my friends," Kensuke said-- his tone suddenly darkening, "I've seen them get torn apart in body and soul fighting these damn Angels, and no one seems to care that they're a heartbeat from breaking completely so long as they can keep fighting. If that's what being a soldier is all about then I have serious doubts that I want to be one anymore." Mana looked at him in surprise. She'd had thoughts like that months back just before the Tridents were finished... but it had never reached anywhere close to the bitterness she heard in Kensuke's voice. But even as they changed topics to something more lighthearted, what he said stuck in her mind... what if she was just blindly following orders? Or worse, what if she was on the wrong side when the Tridents were finally used? Could she live with herself if she was? []====[] []====[] As the sun started to set over the bay, they both sat on a bench and watched it in comfortable silence. Finally, Kensuke spoke up. "After everything that's happened in the past year this is definitely the best day I've had," he said with a sidelong grin. "Well it is a good one," Mana said," I'd rate it right after that night we both downloaded and watched The Princess Bride." "That was a good one," Kensuke said with a smile. Out in the bay, the orange light flickered of the water like a thousand candles. "Hey dummy," Mana said with a grin, "you're supposed to get all offended about me rating this in second place and then subtly talk me into a kiss to raise it to the top of the list." Kensuke took a moment to translate what she'd just said into a coherent sentence, then turned red as Unit Two, "oh... right... that." "Don't worry so much," Mana said as she leaned her head against his shoulder, "It's my first date too, I might not act like it but I'm a nervous wreck," she giggled as he tentatively reached down and took her hand. "Well its kind of a new experience for me," Kensuke said with a chuckle, "this may surprise you, but military otaku don't exactly attract women left and right." "Then I won't have to worry about anyone stealing you away from me before we can do this again," Mana said as she sat up. Kensuke again, needed a second to realize what she meant by that, but before he could say anything she stole a quick kiss. "When you're finished flustering," Mana said primly, "we can do that properly." Kensuke laughed at that, "nervous wreck, huh?" "Totally," she replied with a grin as he leaned in and they kissed just as the sun slipped behind the hills. []====[] []====[] Almost from the moment Mana arrived back and stepped off of the train, she knew that something was wrong. It wasn't anything serious at first, merely a premonition that she'd forgotten something. A few seconds after she stepped out of the building, however, she realized that there might be more to that hunch than she'd given credit. A jeep pulled up and a soldier told her to get in. They rode back mostly in silence-- in her experience the MP were not good conversationalists in the first place. When they neared the base, Mana suddenly became aware that there were an unusually large amount of aircraft and helicopters in the air. The closer to the base they came, the busier they skies became. Finally, she broke the silence. "What's happening?" she wanted to know, "I don't remember seeing this many helicopters and VTOL since that first fight at Tokyo Three." "You will be briefed upon arrival," the grunt told her, "we're expecting the other two pilots to be returning within the hour as well." "Really?" she said, surprised, she'd expected to have an hour or two once she'd returned to do a little shopping. If that was the case then it might be even more serious than she'd thought-- and she'd thought it considerably serious "they canceled leave completely? I thought we had a few more hours before we had to be back on site." "Listen kid, " the grunt said, "all I know is that the higher ups are freaking out over something. As far as why you kids are being called back... well I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say that they want you on hand in case they need those big tin cans in the hanger." Mana sat back in her seat and began to think about that. This would be... a real mission. They'd test flown the huge robots last when they modified them for flight, but that had hardly counted as anything more than mere practice-- this would be for real. She suddenly found herself thinking about her conversation with Kensuke. She knew how deadly the Tridents could be... what if this had nothing to do with the Angels? It was no secret that the leaders of the JSSDF despised Nerv... what if the long rumored takeover was about to happen? It was something that had been whispered about since the beginning. Could a Trident take down an Evangelion? The boys were convinced that if they could get around the AT Field then there would be little contest. To that end they had spent hours and hours of freetime in the simulators coming up with tactics and plans should they ever actually get a shot at it. While they goofed around a lot, they'd had a few good ideas. Mana had joined them a few times, but had stopped after realizing that Kensuke's friends would be piloting. Aside from the official simulations she'd found that she wanted less and less to do with it. Now with what Kensuke had told her those doubts were only growing stronger. She didn't know if that was why the base was going crazy-- if they were really going to be sent out like that-- but the idea frightened her. It was hard enough facing the possibility that she might eventually have to kill someone... the idea that it might be someone she could have been friends with was a horrible one. As they reached the first checkpoint, Mana began to wonder if maybe she shouldn't have convinced the others not to run away several months back. Entering the base, Mana sunk into a deeper and deeper dread of what was to come. []==========================================[] To be Continued... []==========================================[] This chapter deticated to the brave souls who served on the USS Cabot from 1943-- 1989. In December of 2000 the ship was sold for scrap and dismantled. While the body of the 'Iron Woman' is gone, history will remember her spirit. []==========================================[] Author's Incoherent Babbling []==========================================[] Gah!! This was one of the hardest chapters to write! Maybe it was because I did it out of sequence, or maybe it was because I had such a hard time figuring out where to take the two on the date... but it took almost three times as long to write this chapter as any of the other ones. Now, a word of explanation. While I wouldn't really call myself a military Otaku, I do find the tools of the trade fascinating, and one of my favorite vacation memories was when I got to go for a tour of the USS Lexington where it's been retired down in Corpus Christi, Texas. I was just finishing up the first half of this chapter and getting ready to start on this babbling when I saw an article in the Dallas Morning News announcing the Cabot's sad fate. Upon discovering her nickname-- that of the Iron Woman-- I couldn't _not_ use it in this story somehow. So I went back and through a couple of revisions worked in the scene on the ship. Originally I planed to jump around the timeline in this chapter-- going back to when the Prometheus alliance contacted Maya and Kaji's meeting with his superiors. After considering it a bit more, I ended up cutting it entirely. I'll be expanding some of the ideas in those scenes a little in Carpe Diem, but not by a huge factor. In the end I decided to focus on Kensuke and Mana here. I almost added a scene with Touji, but it just wouldn't seem to fit in the chapter the way I wanted it, so I've sadly had to further reduce our favorite jock's roll in the story, I apologize to fans, and I'll try to do something cool with him down the road in a fic to make up for it. Well, now I need to get back to work on some of my other projects. Thank all of you for your support and encouragement-- and for the umpteenth time, thank you Lara for creating the EFML. This fanfic would NOT be what it is today without this mailing list. Snoogins Hotwire Chain Lightning Studios www.chainlightningstudios.com