Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction / Vandread Fan Fiction ❯ VANEVA v2 ❯ SHOCK ( Chapter 3 )

Disclaimer:  I do not own `Neon Genesis Evangelion,' nor do I own `Vandread.'  They are the sole properties of Gainax Studios and Gonzo respectively.

 

o o o

 

 

VANEVA

 

By Northridge

 

Chapter 3

 

 

SHOCK

 

o o o

 

Two Eva are on the deck ofone of NERV's assault carriers; one Eva battered, the other broken beyond recognition.Two hands are trying to pry open the hatch of atwistedentry plug.LCL leaked onto the deck, butLilith's blood did not drip alone.Rescue workers surroundedthe battered capsule, ready to interrupt the owner of those two hands should his efforts prove fruitless. Shinji had done this act before with another entry plug. The young pilot only hoped that this was a similar situation where the pilot inside the plug is still alive.

 

"ASUKA!"

 

o o o

 

Much to Shinji's continued surprise at his new surroundings, he suddenly spotted a little girl's head in the corner of his eye while he was still eating his food. He turned his head to address her presence.

 

'She look's like a nurse.' Shinji thought as he saw that she shared the same tilted red cross patch as the doctor, Duero. 'But she's just a kid!'

 

"Hello, my name's Shinji. What's your name little girl?" he asked in his nicest manner possible with a smile. However the strange little girl just stared back at him as an opponent would size up an adversary. She leaned in closer to his face and talked in an unfriendly manner.

 

"You're a strange looking male. Do all the men dress like you where you come from?" The little girl was inquiring about his plugsuit as she took out a pad and pencil.

 

Shinji was surprised at her demeanor. "What?"

 

"Paiway, that's no way to greet our guest!" Parfet exclaimed.

 

Shinji was further confused when the little girl held up her frog-like bag from her waist and used it as a puppet.

 

"Meia should keep an eye on this male. He looks dangerous. RIBBIT!" she mimed. The little girl then flashed a camera right in Shinji's face.

 

"Pai-check!" Paiway said as she made her getaway from the mess hall.

 

"Ah!" Shinji gasped in shock, while his hands covered his eyes.

 

"Are you alright?" Parfet asked as she got up from her seat.

 

"I'm fine. I'm fine. Just...why did that kid do that?" Shinji asked as he rubbed his eyes in frustration.

 

"Paiway always does that to the other males." Meia answered as she took a sip of her coffee. She regarded the situation as nothing out of the ordinary.

 

Shinji was beginning to understand that gender is a big issue on the Nirvana. "I get the feeling men aren't exactly welcomed on this ship." Shinji stated as his eyes came back into focus.

 

"It's a long story" Parfet said as she sat back down.

 

A confusing three minutes later...

 

Shinji just sat there, staring with disbelief at the women. Parfet had gone in-depth about the relationship between men and women in this time. But Shinji was quite shocked.

 

"Let me get this straight: men are from Tarak; women are from Mejere; and men and women hate each other."

 

"More or less." Meia replied as she took another sip of her coffee.

 

'That's messedup.' Shinji thought with bafflement.

 

"So why are there men on this ship?" Shinji asked, thinking of the doctor.

 

Meia placed her coffee cup back on the table before replying. "Our pirate group did a raid on the Tarak's new battleship. We picked the men up by mistake and made them our prisoners." Meia said.

 

Shinji became a little afraid of his predicament. "So I'm a prisoner?"

 

The Dread pilot shook her head. "Not in the strictest sense. We recently threw all the men in the brig again. But that's old history now."

 

Suddenly the mess hall doors swished open to a crewmember similarly dressed as Parfet. "Parfet!" the new arrival screamed, "we need you in engineering right now!"

 

"Gotta go! See you two later!" Parfet screeched at Shinji and Meia as she raced for the exit from their table.

 

Shinji and Meia continued to remain seated at the table, Meia drinking her coffee and Shinji nimbling at his eggs. Finally, Shinji spoke up. "So...what now."

 

Meia looked at him for a few seconds before replying. "Finish your food and I'll take you to see the Captain."

 

"Sure. And...sorry, but is there anything else for me to wear. Wearing this plugsuit for 700 years is getting really uncomfortable."

 

Meia stared at this male with renewed annoyance. "Finish your food and I'll take you to the hangar bay. We should have something for you to wear from the colonial ship."

 

o o o

 

"We have salvaged many useful items from the colonial ship. In particular the food rations, though old, are still edible. The Nirvana should be fine for some time. Concerning our position, the space charts shows we've gotten to where we are 90 days from Mejale. Concerning information of Earth's plan to harvest organs, we've already sent communication pods…to our homeland of Mejale and the men's planet of Tarak."

 

Magno nodded to herself as BC briefed her on the ongoing situation with Earth. The Captain, her Sub-commander BC, and the ship's chief supply register Gascogne are currently sitting in the captain's meeting room. Plans are discussed and problems being conversed.

 

"What happened to the message we sent before that?" Magno asked.

 

BC replied almost apologetically. "It should have arrived by now, but there still has been no contact from Mejale or Tarak."

 

Gascogne let loose a small laugh from her chair. "Looks like we've been ignored."

 

Magno closed her eyes. "Well, of all things, the information we have this time will turn them upside down. Especially since their objective is to take our reproductive organs."

 

At that moment, the communications monitor beeped and Parfet appeared on the screen. Engineers are seen screaming and running around in chaos in the background.

 

"Engine room, Parfet here!"

 

Magno opened her eyes and turned her head towards the monitor. "What's wrong, Parfet?"

 

Parfet was frantic in her response. "Well…It's this morning's abnormality in the Paksis. I have no idea what's causing it! We're continuing with the control procedure, but the output is down to 80% of normal!"

 

A computer panel suddenly bursted sparks in the background of the monitor.

 

"Everything is going hay-wired!" Parfet wailed in uncontrollable anguish.

 

Magno sighed in frustration. "Jeez, this crap again?"

 

BC interrupted her captain's dissatisfaction of the state of things. "Perhaps the systems are still showing signs of rejection from when the female ship and the male ship fused together."

 

"Or maybe the Nirvana likes to screw with us" Magno sneered as she rubbed her temple with a hand. "Parfet, just fix it. Magno out." she stated as the monitor went blank.

 

"What else do we have to deal with?" the captain asked her subordinates. At that moment Shinji and Meia entered the room.

 

"I just had to jinx myself." Magno rubbed her temple again.

 

o o o

 

Two female crew members are currently in the bathroom, discussing the males and applying make-up. One of the stall doors swished open to reveal Barnette, one of the Dread pilots, leaving. She could not help but listen in on the other two's conversation.

 

"Things sure have changed. Maybe we've gotten used to them."

 

"And it doesn't bother us that much when we eat meals together."

 

"I used to believe that men were all bacteria."

 

"But to be told suddenly that men and women were both from Earth…"

 

"And that new male...what's his name again?

"Shinji."

 

"Yeah, Shinji! He doesn't seem anything like the other males, except for the doctor maybe."

 

Barnette chose that moment to butt in on the conversation. "A prisoner is a prisoner. The new male is no exception! If we go easy on them, the men will let it go to their heads!" Barnette stated as she exited the bathroom.

 

The two crewmembers went into a panic.

 

"W-What now?"

 

"Is she going to start another riot like before?"

 

"M-Maybe we should inform the captain or the sub-com…"

 

Barnette poked her head back into the bathroom. "SHUT UP YOU TWO. I'M NOT GOING TO DO ANYTHING!"

 

The two crewmembers breathed a sigh of relief when they were sure the Dread pilot left.

 

o o o

 

"Ah, young man, how are you feeling?"

 

"I'm feeling better, Captain Vivan."

 

It took a while for Shinji and Meia to sort through the supply boxes from the colonial ship. Eventually they came across a storage container full of dull grey uniforms and black boots. It took an even longer while for Shinji to find a set that fitted him. His new attire fitted his thin body loosely, but comfortably. At the moment, Shinji stood before Magno, BC, and Gascogne in the meeting room while Meia went off to do her own business.

 

The old woman gave Shinji a slight smile before replying. "Just Magno will do."

 

Shinji gave a nod. "Sorry."

 

"Well, I'm hoping you can explain the circumstances of your stasis. It's not everyday we come across a 700 year old man."

 

Shinji had thought this out before hand and decided not to reveal everything to them. He still wasn't sure if he could trust them. "I'm not really sure. My mind is still a little hazy. I was a soldier on the side of NERV in the Eva Wars."

 

The three women didn't give any indication of any knowledge about the global conflict and nor did Magno believe Shinji when he said his mind was "hazy."

 

"I see." Magno replied, "Well, that's all in the past now. Your old life is over and there is no going back. You're going to have to adjust to this time, and right now, there is a war going on."

 

'More war...' Shinji thought grimly.

 

"And while you're here, you'll have to earn your keep. What skills do you have?"

 

Shinji thought about his battle experiences in the Eva Wars, things he didn't want to ever do again. "I can cook." Which was true, but not the whole truth.

 

"We've got plenty of cooks, half the women on this ship cook. Which leaves register duty."

 

"Register duty?" Shinji asked.

 

"Register duty." interjected Gascogne as she stood up from the table to walk over to Shinji, "And there's a mop and bucket with your name on it. My names Gascogne and your ass is now mine."

 

Shinji became very intimidated at this muscular woman towering over him. "Yes ma'am."

 

After Gascogne dragged Shinji off to the register bay, BC confided her concerns about the new male with the captain.

 

“He's hiding something." Magno nodded in agreement.

 

“Yes. I noticed too. We're going to have to keep an eye on our new guest. Make sure Meia or one of the others keeps tabs on him at all times. If he is a threat, we'll have to place him in a holding cell. I don't want another Rabat causing trouble on my ship.”

 

o o o

 

"Repair Eva-02 and have all of our bases on battle alert. SEELEwill retaliate soon. Dismissed."

 

And that was it.

 

After the fall of NERV Beijing, Eva-01 arrived back at NERVheadquartersin Tokyo-3 with what remained of EVA-02. The battletook a terrible toll on NERV; however, this fact was lost on itsleader.

 

Everyone filed out of the meeting room, already useto the Commander's cold objective orders. However, one person remained seated at the conference table. Normally, this person would follow orders to the letter; butthis time was an exception.

 

"Well, what is it?" Commander Ikari asked from the head of the table.His hands were in their usual contemplativeposition.Shinji glared at his father from his seat near the other end of the table.

 

"She's in a coma." Shinji whispered tersely.

 

His father showed no grief. "That is of little concern."

 

"She's in a coma." Shinji repeated.

 

"If you have nothing else to say, then leave."

 

Shinji abruptly stood up. His chair crashed to the floor.

 

"SHE'S IN A COMA! Her Eva had been repeatedly stabbed with Longinus Spears. Her body has thirty-three separate entry-points!One thousand NERV personnelin Beijing areeitherdeador prisoner!A lot of your subordinates are dead! Why the fuck don't you give a damn?"

 

The Commander looked at his son as if all sense had left the younger Ikari'shead. "What do you expect? People die in war."

 

"That's it?"Shinji angrily threw his question at his estranged father, yet the elder Ikari wasn't affected. He responded callously."What else is there?Pilot Sohryu is no longer able to carry out her duties.Despite her failure, it's fortunate you were able to retreat with Eva -02."

 

Shinji wasn't surprised at thisresponse,but pressed on with his questioning."The intelligence on the location of the MP EVAswhile we were at Beijingwas flawed! We have always anticipatedwhere the MP EVAswould go nextwith a certain degree of accuracy. How was this time different?"

 

His father's response was even crueler than usual."We needed new data on their capabilities. Our base at Beijing would have eventually been overrun.It's fortunate it hadbecome less strategic.This was a perfect opportunity for the test.The battle-data collected from fighting all nine will be invaluable.It also proved to be an effective decoy; as you have already learned from the briefing, Pilot Ayanami's mission in Saudi Arabia was a complete success."

 

Shinji remembered the details. Rei's EVA had successfully crippled SEELE's oil producing facilities and destroyed the enemy's fleet docked in the Arabian Gulf. But none of these victories were a comfort to Shinji.

 

"Is the battle-data anddestroying theiroil moreimportant than Asuka'sand the others' lives?"Shinji was almost screaming at his father.

 

However, Gendo Ikari was notin the least hesitant in deliveringhis reply."Yes."

 

Shinji gave him the evil eye before standing up."Don't ever play with our lives like that again."

 

As Shinji stormed out of the meeting room, he ran intoLieutenantMaya Ibuki who was escorting a blond-haired child.

 

"Shinji, this is Hans. He's the new pilot of Unit 02. I need you to show him arou-"

 

Maya never finished her request. Shinji shoved the boy into the wall before he told the kid to go screwhimself.The emotionally distraught EVA pilotthen sauntered offto get another shot of whiskey in his room.

 

o o o

 

To be continued....