Chapter 48

"They were behind schedule, but now everything seems to be in order," Maya Ibuki finished her report on the video screen. She looked frazzled, her short brown hair a tousled mop, and there was no hiding the shadows under her eyes.

"How long?" Misato asked. She had expected delays. It was one of the reasons she had sent her own team to oversee the deployment.

"An hour," Maya said. "Maybe two."

"That's cutting it kinda close," Misato said. "Is Rei there yet?"

"Section 2 dropped her off a few minutes ago. I'll give her a quick update on what the plans are, but I doubt there will be time for her to take some shots with the rifle. She's going to have to learn as she goes."

"Rei is good at that." Misato wondered if she should just tell Maya to have Rei read the manual-if there was a manual. "Anything else?"

Maya shook her head on the screen. "Not at the moment."

Given the way things were going, Misato couldn't hope for better. "Good luck then, and tell Rei I wish her luck too."

"Will do, Major." Maya saluted, and turned off the connection. The screen went blank.

Misato slumped down on the nearest chair and slowly rubbed her forearm against her eyes. She felt exhausted. After nearly twelve hours of continuous and increasingly mounting tension, the pressure was getting to her. And while she could not remember sleeping or eating since the crisis began, the emotional stress was proving much worse and the physical.

Briefing Shinji and seeing his reaction to her plan had left her drained. She had anticipated his objections-how could she not when she knew what he was like? But actually hearing the quiver in his voice, seeing the look of grief on his face, had destroyed whatever courage and certainty she had managed to muster. That had been hard, harder even than briefing the Commander.

Misato looked around her, studying the tense faces of everyone in the control room. Everyone was doing their duty, and she was proud of them for it. They knew what was at stake.

Shinji and Asuka must be waiting in their Evas by now, Misato thought. She hoped that it would not come down to putting them in the line of battle. If they could be safe then maybe that would validate her decision to send out Rei. Otherwise …

"Major Katsuragi?"

She turned toward the familiar voice. "What is it, Hyuga?"

"The UN Army has reported that they have taken their positions as requested. They would like for us to submit a set of orders for them to follow," the operator said. "UN Command has told its commanding officers to take orders from NERV. I have a full set of operational orders for them that have already been approved by the Commander, but you are the tactical officer…"

"Then I approve," Misato said.

He was surprised. "But I haven't told you what they are."

"I don't care. It's not as if the UN will have a vital role in this, anyway. We just need to keep them busy and out of the way."

Hyuga nodded. "I understand."

Misato stood, suddenly unable to stay put, and walked over to the center of the huge deck, looking over the large holographic display that filled up the front of the cavernous room with a three-dimensional topographical outline of the terrain. Half a dozen screens were laid out in front, each showing separate images. On the deck below the MAGI supercomputers hummed quietly, processing the terabytes of data required for the displays, their information transfer capabilities and, basically, everything else.

Folding her arms across her chest, Misato turned to the crew. "All right, people. It's about that time, isn't it? Haruna, has the MAGI been able to get a lock on the Angel's energy pattern?"

"No, ma'am," Haruna answered from Maya's old terminal. "The pattern has been continually changing from orange to blue and back. MAGI has decided to label the target as unidentifiable."

"That's just great," Misato replied. "What's the ETA on our airspace?"

"Two hours, sixteen minutes," Aoba said. He had only returned from the main cage ten Minutes before, but Misato was glad someone she trusted had seen Shinji and Asuka into their Evas. "The target will be entering Japanese air space within the next twenty minutes. It's slowed down considerably."

"Do we have an image?"

"Yes." Hyuga pressed a button on a nearby console and the huge screen in front of the room changed from the topographical map of Tokyo-3 to Angel's image.

Misato recoiled in disgust as soon as her brain was able to process the image. Unit-A was ugly, with a long snout and fat lips, and more beastial than any Eva she had ever seen. But the eyes … the eyes looked almost human.

"Why are they still escorting it?" Misato asked, noticing the large crowd of aircraft in the picture. "The UN was supposed to pull back. Have they finally decided to switch sides?"

"No, things are not that bad yet," Hyuga said, and with a few key pressed pulled up a list debrief of actions taken against the Angel. "These are Russian fighters clearing a path for it over international waters. There isn't much of a point in getting in front of something you can't stop. At 9:23 the UN began a full scale missile assault on the target. Here's the video feed…"

A small square appeared on the lower left corner of the screen. On the bottom, the square read: USS H. M. JACKSON (SSBN 730). At first nothing could be seen, but then a mountain of white foam emerged from the sea like a white pillar materializing out of thin air.

The missile appeared suspended for a few seconds before its solid fuel booster ignited in a thick jet of orange flame and the steel casing which protected it from the salt water was ejected. The bright fiery column ascended into the blue morning sky and was soon followed nearly a dozen others. They leveled off as the camera zoomed in. Misato saw their wings deploy.

"What are those?" she asked with a frown of curiosity. "Tomahawks?"

"Yes. Modified TLAMs by the looks of them," Hyuga answered. Then he shook his head. "Couldn't tell you what it might have taken to convince the Americans to give up the position of one of their boomers. A small African country, maybe."

Sure enough, the submarine's coordinated were now locked into the satellite as it was being tracked. Americans did not give up national secrets for free, and their missile submarines were at the top of that list, so for them to actually agree to launch in support of a NERV operation likely meant they had been promised something worthwhile in return.

"Maybe they just don't want to be left out of the party. It's a shooting gallery out there, bring your own firepower," Misato joked. Nobody laughed. "Any hits?"

The next image on the small square showed each and every one of the missiles smashing against the Angel's AT Field.

"All direct hits," Hyuga said. He seemed impressed. "Amazing fire control, that's for sure. But no visible damage to the target. After that, the Angel entered Korean peninsular airspace. The Russians, fearing that the UN might try a nuclear assault, issued an ultimatum warning them not to fire anything over Korea and set up an escort with fighters out of Vladivostok. Technically, the Far East Umbrella does allow them to do that. The escorts have been instructed to pull out as soon as the Angel leaves the international airspace," he checked the clock, "in about three minutes."

Misato scratched the back of her head. Another number caught her eye. "How did it figure out it should change course?"

"Well, the original Unit-A had a full communication array," Hyuga said. "Assuming the Angel could figure out how to use it and understand it, it wouldn't take much to eavesdrop on the radio traffic out there. A better question would be how it managed to deduct that it'd be safer over Korea instead of over the open ocean."

"It's a smart little bastard, isn't it?" Misato uncrossed her arms and leaned forward into the safety rail to get a better look at the screens. "Its parents would be proud."

"I don't know about it being little, but it's definitely smart," Hyuga said.

Misato nodded. "We may have to shift our defensive stance."

The image on the screen changed to the map of Japan, surrounded by the Pacific Ocean and the land masses of the Russian Far East, the Eastern Chinese seaboard and Korea. A small triangle marked the Angel's position on the map.

"The UN is already aware of that. So is Maya," Hyuga said. "Unit-00 can be repositioned to the northwest if necessary, but military equipment doesn't travel as easily as ours. We'd be looking at another lengthy delay."

Maya knows what she's doing, Misato thought. She won't reposition if it means losing the intercept window.

"I trust Maya," she said firmly. "What's the situation in Beijing?"

The screen changed again, and this time it showed the smoking ruins of Beijing. Almost half the city was reduced to a charred, black wasteland. Black smoke rose in thick clouds into the sky, covering everything with a blackened gloom. A deep crater was all that remained of NERV's Chinese Branch, surrounded by demolished buildings and twisted railway lines. The surveillance satellites and aircraft flew too high for the images to show any bodies.

Misato was thankful for that.

Hyuga looked away as he spoke. "The UN has diverted most of its land forces in the region to assist the Chinese government with recovery operations. The Russians have done so as well, however the Red Army is reluctant to cross the border without explicit permission. They are simply taking care of some refugees and sending supplies. Because of the magnitude of the catastrophe, NERV can no longer rely on its China Branch, nor can we depend on the Chinese government. No word yet as to what the total number of casualties is, but the UN and the Chinese government are being conservative on the estimates. Every self-respecting government in the world is sending or promising aid, though no doubt they expect something in return."

"It's too bad that there is nothing we can do for those people," Misato said, her tone low and grim. "We have enough things to worry about already."

"Speaking of which," Aoba began, "the civilian authorities want to know what we plan to do about the innocent people in the city."

Misato mused that one over for a few seconds, but in the end there was not a whole lot she could do.

"Is the general alarm not enough?" she said. "Taking care of those people is their responsibility."

The people in the city should already know the drill. The local government had originally been planning to begin evacuating the whole area surrounding the city, but they had lost so much time on the arrangements that the only place the people would be able to go were the underground shelters. With all the budget cuts, nobody had bothered keeping those up and there was no telling what sort of conditions they might be in, though certainly they would be safer than being outside.

"Major Katsuragi?"

Misato immediately recognized the voice of Ritsuko Akagi. The dark-haired Major turned as the blonde woman walked across the deck towards her. Like everyone else, Ritsuko looked tired. Her lab coat was wrinkled, with the sleeves rolled up to reveal nicotine patches on her forearms, and the lines under her eyes spoke of sleeplessness.

"What now, Ritsuko?" Misato said, narrowing her eyes. She leaned back and slumped against the rail behind her. "More problems?"

"Not really," the doctor replied. "Shinji and Asuka are prepped and ready, and Unit-01 has been cleared for combat status. I thought you might want to know."

"Thanks. Two less issues to worry about," Misato said, trying not to sound as concerned as she felt. "We'll have a great show shortly. Would you care to stay? I could sure use your help up here."

"How can I refuse such an invitation?"

Misato forced a smile at her, but it was a meaningless gesture and Ritsuko ignored it. Tired as they already were, they both knew the worst was yet to come.