Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction ❯ Evangelion meets Robotech ❯ Chapter 2

Neon Genesis Evangelion meets Robotech: Two

For the first time in many generations, the Zentradi knew fear. Two aces, seemingly death personified, flew with the enemy's forces, and none could stand against the two of them The fighter bearing the skull and crossbones emblem, and the fighter edged in icy blue were fearsome alone, and together were nearly unstoppable.

Even the Angels, the greatest aces of the Zentradi forces, seemed unable to stop them. Of the thirteen three had already been slain, casting a spell of fear over the entire army. The only thing that gave them any hope was that a leader had been unable to harness these Angels of Death as a weapon against all enemies. If he or she arose from the enemy ranks, they were likely doomed.

Suddenly, and without warning, Lt. Asuka Langley sneezed loudly. "Excuse me," she wiped at her nose as she looked the bulky fighter over dubiously.

Gendo Ikari's latest creation rested on it's special the launch bay, the armored Evangelion. Nearly twice the size of the previous generation of mobile fighter, it was laden with a new kind of lightweight, advanced protective armor.

"Isn't it magnificent?" Gendo's eyes were oddly wild.

Asuka looked at him dubiously then back at the fighter, "Are the engines powerful enough to carry all the extra weight?"

Gendo looked at the plane a moment, "Hmm, good point." He took her by the arm, and Asuka sighed with relief as they moved away from the first prototype to another one. "The strike Evangelion," he said proudly.

Asuka's eyes widened as she circled the sleek craft. It actually looked lighter that the previous Evangelions, but the cannon it carried was impressive. Instead of standard missile racks, stylized pods of mini- missiles were mounted on the wings. She climbed up to look into the cockpit, and sighed dreamily at the advanced control systems. She frowned suddenly.

Hopping down from the plane Asuka asked him pointedly, "OK, what's wrong with it?"

"What do you mean, what's wrong with it?" Gendo said defensively.

"This is the prototype that got that other pilot, Hunter, killed isn't it," Asuka gestured to the deadly looking fighter plane.

"Well, yes," Gendo admitted glumly. He perked up, "But I'm sure we've worked out that little problem with the missile launchers jamming that destroyed the last prototype."

Asuka looked at him and sweatdropped, "I need a beer."

"Ahh, that hit the spot," Misato sighed happily.

"Captain!" Ritsuko scolded her.

Misato put the can of beer down by her command chair, being very careful not to spill any. "You know if I don't have my beer I get cranky," she defended herself, "and if I'm cranky, I don't make decisions well."

"You are such a lush," Ritsuko sighed.

Maya sweatdropped. A alarm sounded on her board, and Maya quickly worked to bring up the crisis data. "Enemy ships, inbound," she reported.

Fully professional Misato crisply asked, "Class of ships?"

"Just two light cruisers," Maya reported, "but they've brought along two full compliments of fighters with them!"

Over a thousand enemy fighters. Their pilots would be operating at a grave disadvantage, outnumbered nearly three to one. Ritsuko began to give the fighter launch commands even as she asked Maya, "Are there any Angels in the mix?"

"Two," Maya reported grimly.

The Angels were an unusual class of fighter the Zentradi possessed, much faster and more powerful than any of the normal Evangelion fighters. So far, only a few human pilots had survived against them, but thankfully there only seemed to be a very small number of the Angel fighters in the enemy force.

"Make sure Ayanami and Ikari are directed to where the Angels are," Misato ordered grimly. The Angels of Death had survived against the enemy Angels before, they might once again.

"Is Langley still assigned to them?" Ritsuko asked as she passed on another set of orders.

"She's still over with Gendo," Maya reported, "you authorized her transfer a week ago."

"Too bad," Misato frowned as she snuck a slurp of her warm can of beer, "I think we could use her help out there."

The battle raged wildly outside the ship, Ayanami bobbing and weaving as she tried to shake the bandit on her tail. Rei punched the velocity higher, curling up and over, then cut her power as if she had stalled out. The enemy swooped in for the easy kill only to be blown away by her rail gun as she shifted into EVA mode.

Hovering on her boot thrusters Rei tried to access the overall battlefield, and didn't much like what she was seeing. They were badly outnumbered, and while the human pilots were fighting valiantly, they were ultimately losing. The light blue haired girl shifted back to the fighter mode, and tried to reach their newly assigned lieutenant. No answer.

Shinji Ikari's face came on the screen. Pushing dark hair out of his eyes he casually reported, "Looks like the new lieutenant flamed out on us."

Rei felt a bit of pity for the slain young man, and oddly wished that Asuka Langley were still flying along with them. The redhead had been the first commanding officer to keep up with them in ages, and she found that she missed that. Missed it quite alot. A tactical alert came up on her view screen, and Rei cursed softly.

"Two Angels, incoming," Shinji confirmed what she had picked up.

Rei switched back to EVA mode, hefting the heavy main gun. Her red eyes narrowed as she quietly said to Shinji, "I wish Asuka were here."

Asuka took the headphones off, an odd look on her face. She had been trying to get a feel for what was going on outside, but she hadn't expected to hear that. She ran back to the prototypes lab and burst in, yelling, "Dr. Ikari?"

The rather eccentric looking scientist was using a crowbar to peel hunks of armor off of the first Evangelion he had shown her. "Yes?" Dr. Ikari asked mildly.

"Is the Strike ready to go?" He nodded, so Asuka continued, "I want to take it out, test it under actual battle conditions."

"You want to.." Dr. Ikari echoed. Suddenly, really scary large throbbing hearts appeared in his eyes, "No test pilot's ever said they WANTED to take one of my prototypes out before! I always have to order them."

Asuka gave him a wary look, "If you try to hug me, I'll hurt you."

"Right," Dr. Ikari called the tech teams to help get the fighter ready to launch. After giving her a quick rundown on the controls he quietly asked Asuka, "Are you sure you don't want to try this in a simulator, first?"

"No time," Asuka said crisply as she ran through the pre-flight checklist, "my wingmen are in trouble, and I'm going to help them."

"Good luck," Dr. Ikari brought the canopy down and moved away from the plane.

'Let's see what this baby can do,' Asuka thought. She brought the engines on, made sure the launch bay doors were open, and opened up the throttle. Only to be thrust right back into the seat as the plane rocketed out of the ship and right into the firestorm outside.

"Wha-HOO!" Asuka laughed as she swiftly ripped through enemy formations, the new auto-cannon tearing battlepods apart, often with a single shot. She connected with the bridge and crisply asked, "Where are Ayanami and Ikari?"

Maya quickly called up the tactical data, even as Misato and Ritsuko exchanged a surprised glance. "Was that Lieutenant Langley?" Misato asked.

"Sounded like her," Ritsuko agreed.

Rei scowled as the dance went on, her weapon firing at the enemy Angel who managed to stay ahead, barely. Previously, she and Shinji had worked together to slay the Angels, something the enemy had obviously figured out. A screening flight of battlepods kept their allies away, while two Angels fought her and Shinji at the same time.

A near miss rocked her cockpit, and Rei softly muttered, "If we don't get some support soon, we're as good as dead."

A burst of fire blossomed in the battlepod line as a sleek, deadly fighter tore through, leaving them in disarray. Homing in on Rei's EVA it transformed, moving in synch with her fighter. The two humanoid robots bracketed the stunned Angel, then their combined firepower blew it away.

Almost as if they were reading each other's minds they switched to the fighter mode simultaneously, rocketing off to back up Shinji. The Angel realized it's danger and broke off, accelerating away from them at high speed.

"Out of the auto-cannon's range," Asuka muttered, looking rather warily at the new missile launch system. She brought it on-line, lined up the Angel in the cross-hairs, and opened fire. The missiles launched perfectly, but a flight of Battlepods blocked their path, sacrificing themselves to that the Angel could escape.

"Damn," Asuka muttered softly. She activated the communications system to ask them, "Ayanami, Ikari, you two all right?"

"Yeah," Shinji smiled wryly, "thanks to you."

Ayanami was actually smiling a bit, "Good to see you."

"Couldn't let you hog all the glory," Asuka shrugged uncomfortably.

The battle raged on around them, but with the departure of the Angels the spirit of the enemy pilots seemed to have fled as well. Oddly, when Rei, Shinji and Asuka's Evangelions arrived to offer support, the enemy all but turned tail and ran.

Kagi's chin was still covered with stubble as Asuka Langley reported to his office. With her stunning victory the other day, the young redhead could likely request anything she wanted, and have a very good likelihood of getting it. She opened her mouth to speak, and he braced himself.

"I want Ayanami and Shinji assigned to me as my wingmen," Asuka said.

"What?" Kagi blurted.

To be continued...