Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction ❯ Who Said They're Right ❯ The 1st Nephil Attack ( Chapter 2 )

Desert War:

 

The striped creature was seventeen meters high and slightly anthropomorphic, that being a result of its distant blood-bond with humanity. It was anthropomorphic in the sense of it having two hands, two legs and a central frame, not being even slightly of the correct shape or proportion as a human being. The first and most disturbing feature of the critter was the visible lack of head as a separate part of the body. Instead, it had an insect looking head sprouting form about 2/3 up form the place the legs joined into the body on it. On top of that, in the place where in humans one will find a neck and head, this thing had a muzzle which reminded most of all a flamethrower.

 

Seven kilometers off the Giza refugee camp it walked slowly, almost dragging its frame over the sands towards the camp. Forty thousand refugees lived there, rebuilding the city of Cairo on higher grounds and working on the six solar desalination plats which provided most of the fresh water to the reclamation of much needed land form the desert. A single "Raccoon" reconnaissance jeep followed it with its set of sensors, allowing the ATBASH to follow it.

 

Yet ATBASH did not only that, and two of its pilots where being airlifted to fight it, while on route, they where listening to the best briefing the ops officer Saar had produced for them.

 

"Debra, you will be dropped two kilometers away form the camp and try to estimate the capabilities of the Nephil by drawing its attention".

 

"You want me to draw him away form the refugees? Is this thing I'm riding even armed"?

 

"Your weapons are fully loaded and operational, but we need to estimate if they will do you any good".

 

"If??? You want to tell me that this whole marionette is just that? What then am I supposed to do to it, spit at it? You think that the best punches I can throw…" she "Yelled" at the operators.

 

"Not quite right, you still have the untested Fibro-Blade in the side holder and the biotic energy generator".

 

"The rabbi might be a genius in the torah, but I rather have something more solid than faith".

 

"Nothing is more solid than faith, it can reinforce flesh to resist iron, and flame" Interjected the Rabbi.

 

"Says you, uncle, I'm ready".

 

"Ok, Bearer One this is Angle Zero, Drop Raven".

 

Harness off, and the Bio-robot did its personal equivalent to a low altitude helicopter born infantry drop. It came to a halt kneeling and folded, its clocks showing 9:54.

 

"Go!" the operator shouted.

 

The Nephil noticed the unit, and took his time to examine it and decide what it shall do first, stomp it or use its arsenal on it. Being sadistic and evil to its core (the S2 organ) it decided first to disable its opponent, and then destroy it, slowly, as it understood that this opponent was alive and potentially lethal. It brought its upper left appendage to bear and leveling it onto the unit it did something, which was followed very soon by a high power particle beam. It missed the unit by 250 meters at least, glassing the sand dune it hit.

 

"LaAzzazael! An energy beam that potent might have disrupted my systems" yelled Debra, taking aim with the rocket system, unfolding the units "wings". "Ata margish bar mazal, Efes"? She asked, pulling the trigger. Two rockets exploded form the unit's chest and in two seconds connected with some unseen barrier twenty meters off in front of the enemy. "What the hell was that"?

 

"It's a bio-energy field designated AT, Anti-Technical shortened, and it's armed with ion cannon about 1.1 megawatts in strength. Take caution and bring your own field to bear" offered an operator who was in charge of tactics.

 

"Maybe we should launch B?" Asked the other tactical operator gently, hoping that the ops officer will provide an answer.

 

"Not yet, the pilot and unit are not in a grate state of agreement right now" he said, pointing at the synch counter, showing 45%. "He won't able to bring the bio-generator to bear against the Nephil".

 

"OK, I'll try the generator" Debra concentrated, envisioning a wall between her and the enemy.

 

The Nephil fired again, this time its beam deflecting form the AT field of the unit.

 

"Good, now close onto him and negate the enemy's field!" yelled the operator

 

"Charge" she mouthed without sound into the liquid in her capsule, she launched the unit on a collision course with the Nephil. It reacted by using it's muzzle, and a ball of what seemed as pure energy hit the unit up front, stopping it in its tracks and almost knocked out the pilot by the power of the biofeedback.

 

"My chest hurt!" she snarled, her mind blacking out the pain with adrenaline, and setting her back on assault course. A few seconds later, two bio-energetic fields came to contact. Needless to say that the Nephil continued to pound the unit with its energy weapons. But anger took control and Debra wasn't about to give up!

 

"We noticed that it momentarily lowered its field when it fired".

 

"Just like Klingon cloaking device" she understood, and the unit reached down to its left hip, pulling form a sheath on it a mono-blade and sent it forward. When the Nephil came to fire again, blowing away chunks of the battery and armor off, yet not causing any real damage to the body or the arsenal. The knife slipped through the AT field and slashed the Nephil body, between its head and the muzzle. Orange mucus, the creature's blood, LCL, gushed out of the wound and it's AT field collapsed as it lost concentration because of the pain it felt.

 

"Have it your way" Debra hissed, pulling the trigger again, a single rocket, as one launcher was blocked by the bent armor, hit the Nephil form a very close range, its heavy explosive shrapnel warhead ripping a deep crater in the creature, tearing off it's head and sending Nephil flesh and LCL flying in all directions, covering Unit A form head to toe. Then the Nephil fell backward form the power of impact and landed on the sand, dead.

 

"Chief, target is down, I repeat, target is down".

 

The operations center erupted into cheers as the operators and officers congratulated each other on their firs victory. This was a feat achieved in less then five minutes, not a second longer than half time of the battery charge. In addition to this, they also had a body to run tests and evaluations on it, to have even a better idea of what exactly the Nephil where and prepare a countermeasure for them.

 

"Good work, Debra, we'll be picking you and packing you" Saar said, grinning to no-one in particular.

 

"I want an on-route stop in Umbar".

 

"Permission granted, I don't mind even if you take a jeep from here back to HQ, just is here in twelve hours for debriefing and information".

 

Debra pulled the ejection leaver and the unit's anatomy changed to allow the entry plug to be ejected onto the sand. A small explosion propelled the capsule out and the two electric motors which where responsible for rolling the capsule over to opening position did their work. Last of all, Debra turned the handle of the hatch round and round, opening it. Her lungs where filled with oxygenated LPC, which had to be propelled out of there so that she could breath normal air. A disgusting process which looked like vomiting and felt much worse as the air replaced the liquid they mingled and the entire process was accompanied by coughing and spasms. Unlike the ordered pumping out of the liquid form the lungs she had after every training session, this was something she wasn't used to.

 

Completing this inglorious ceremony she sat down on the entry plug and started whistling, as the sun broke the LPC on her clothes to water and CO2 and then evaporating it, Debra waited for the pickup, which took its sweet time to arrive. A Toyota pickup, dyed blue with the UN marks on its doors and roof, the acronym UNMERRA (United Nations Middle East Refugee Rehabilitation Agency) clearly showing its importance. Out of the car came a young man dressed in the blue work uniform of the UN.

 

"Good afternoon, ma'am, I'm First Lieutenant Baruch Mordechai, They sent me to take you to Sinai, and transfer you back to your unit's transport. You said you have some time?" He was clearly trying to catch her attention, being too formal for a normal IDF or ILUNF (Israeli Lease to the United Nations Forces).

 

"Yes, and Baruch, you won't get anywhere with me so give it up right now". Debra hit his ego hard.

 

"Oh…." And the ego deflated back to its normal size.

 

"On your way, stop at Magarabi's. I need a lunch".

 

"Yes…" he said without any real enthusiasm.

 

The fool, thought Debra, a cute and exotic girl like me is asking him out to probably the best restaurant on this side of the Nile! The refugee girls probably made him a perverted lazy sloth who can't even remember how to play the romance game! If he didn't, he didn't deserve the idea of a chance.

 

"You're toast, young man. Get into the seat and drive" she sighed, the Commander's orders where to forbid anyone in ATBASH who was under 22 to drive a car, with the exception of Gabriel having a bike, so anywhere she went, she ether had to use the degrading public transportation, or to hitch-hike with military vehicles. To think they trusted her with a bio-robot worth one and a half billion dollars and didn't trust her with a damn car!

 

To take her mind off the subject, she tried her main asset, her imagination, to amuse herself as she was being driven to the city of Cairo2.

 

Despite being a shabby refugee camp for the most part, the city was also a huge and well planned construction yard with skyscrapers rising form the sand towards the sky, this new part of town was called Heliopolis, Sun City for the potent desert sun hit the translucent photovoltaic plates which served this area as windows and walls and generated the power for the rest of the city. Such was the extent of the solar infrastructure all over the former Arabic Republic of Egypt that it exported solar energy in form of hydrogen to Europe and the cheap power served as the blood in the reconstruction of the nation. Solar power distilled sea water and irrigated the desert, making it bloom and provided foods; it powered the Metals Reclamation Industry which was one of the most advanced in the world. In fact, in all extents I2 did Egypt a favor. Especially on the spiritual level, as the promise of Israel's destruction given by the Islamic clergy of Al-Zuhara University as a proof of the fact that Allah stands with his people went nowhere. The death caused by I2 and the war drove some back into the faith of their ancestors, Ancient Egyptian Polytheism. At first these where a few and very hunted people, but with time and the Israeli occupation, this cult grew into what now was a state religion of New Egypt. So much they now despised their Arabic period in their past, that they returned to the language of the last civilized rulers of Egypt, Coptic. By this they gave an example which now meant only Arabians, Bedouin and other such people who where Arabs for sure, by culture, geography, descent and faith still retained that name.

 

Some claimed that Unification is the route to stability but the truth is that Diversity and tolerance are the right way and history had proven that many times over, especially with the case of I2.

 

Now the Old University, the seat power of Islam lay at the bottom of the Firth of 'Ten, at least twenty three meters below the sea level, a Pantheon for the Deities of Egypt was erected with Pylons of concrete and walls hand painted with the first real art made by Egyptians since the coming of Christianity. A few restaurants where opened, because the main establishment for eating and drinking remained the tea and coffee shops, Magrabi's serving a fusion Mediterranean-East African food was by far the place to eat, as the parking lot, packed with local government official's, UN, IDF and other cars. Too expansive to allow the normal population to eat in it, it was the center of the local Jet Club.

 

Debra dragged the unenthusiastic lieutenant in, ordered "Hathor Turkey" and let the fool pay for her, as he needed (by her opinion) to be reminded of how a proper gentlemen should treat a lady. While she decimated the fancy dish (worth well over 50$) she had small talk with the patrons present, not revealing her part in the events which took place only an hour ago. Local Federalist Party bosses tried to get her drunk enough for her to give ATBASH policy for Egypt, only the fact that Debra could hold her drink and the astronomic prices of liquor brought their plan to a grinding halt.

 

"What is ATBASH having in mind for us? You have no instillations in Sinai, no agents in the valley. What are you up to?"

 

"I think you'll have to ask your chairman to ask the Rabbi or Miki, only they can and now to talk to you".

 

"Lady, could you please at least give us a bit of information about it?"

 

"Ar-Horus, if that's your name, do you know Japanese?"

 

"Yes, why do you ask?"

 

"The answer to you is "Sore wa himitsu des', Yotsu".

(This is a secret, Four. Four as a naming means Eta, a human with no rights and no status in the cast system in Japan, an animal, something dirty. Debra called the politician a dirty animal).

 

She took then off form that place as soon as she could and leaving the shocked and almost with half his paycheck gone lieutenant Debra switched transportation is Sinai, arriving at the base six hours after leaving it.

 

**********************

 

Palestinian schoolboy 1: Let's go throw Molotov Bottles at the Yahud!

Palestinian schoolboy 2: But if they catch us, they'll give us to the IGS and they'll beat us!

Boy 1: They can't, there's a new law that the IGS can't hit anyone.

Boy 2: That's cool, but what if they start asking questions?

Boy 1: We'll think something up!!!

 

Result: Two Palestinian boys caught throwing bottles on the road (they forgot the light at home so they just threw them), when they where asked why they did it, they said it was so that the IDF will declare curfew in their village, so they won't have to go to school. A good excuse for the Israeli, but when the Israeli told it to the boys parents, they hit them like the IGS never could…

 

Lesson learned: If you're going to lie, think and plan well so the lying won't make saying the truth like a favorable option.