Chapter Twenty
Shinji felt awkward as he entered the Entry Plug, which he had come to learn was the term for an Eva's cockpit, although, that was an incorrect analogy, since, as far as Shinji knew, no cockpit had ever needed to be inserted into its BattleMech's chest via said 'Mech's spinal cord. Come to think of it, aside from the three Evas that stood here in NERV-HQ, he couldn't think of any BattleMech that
had a spinal cord. This would have been weird enough, but there were several other factors that just made it all the more bizarre. First, there was the fact that the Entry Plug had no windows, although he had been told that instead, they used viewscreens, similar to the ones used on starships. Then, there were the neural clips that he, Rand, and Rei had to put on their heads, in order to achieve a proper neural link with their Evas. These looked sort of like little horns, although, they weren't really that bad.
What was REALLY awkward, however, was the fact that in order to fully properly pilot an Evangelion, they had to wear a skin-tight, form-fitting, one-piece suit called a plugsuit. Granted, it covered the entire body except the head, but that still didn't change the fact that it showed off the natural shape of its wearer's body incredibly well. That would have been bad enough, but the fact that they had to wear nothing under the plugsuit just made it even worse. Thankfully, the plugsuit had been designed to not put emphasis on the crotch area, or an already incredibly awkward situation would have been made even worse.
*Cue Eva-01*
God, this is awkward. It feels like I'm naked, and not in a good way. Shinji thought, as the Entry Plug entered Unit-01's torso.
"Entry complete." Lieutenant Maya Ibuki said, before pressing a few buttons on her console. "Testing, testing, one two three. Can you guys hear me?"
"
Uh, yeah." Shinji's reply came from the speakers.
"
Yes." Rand said.
"
Affirmative." Rei answered, in a voice just barely above a whisper. Maya nodded.
"Good, two-way audio-feed is working properly." Maya said, and turned to Ritsuko. "Shall we begin?" Ritsuko nodded.
"Start activation sequence. Flood the Entry Plugs."
"
WHAT?!?" Shinji and Rand yelled simultaneously.
"Relax." Ritsuko said. "We're flooding the Entry Plugs with a special liquid called LCL. Once it enters your lungs, it will be able to oxygenate your blood directly. In layman's terms, that means you'll be able to breathe when submerged in it." Before either Shinji or Rand could object, the Entry Plugs began filling with the orange liquid. Instinctively, both pilots held their breath, only to inhale the LCL when it became impossible to continue holding. Breathing in the fluid, Shinji and Rand started to adjust to this new medium, when they heard a new voice, this one masculine, come on the speakers.
"
S2 Crystals are properly aligned. Detecting no abnormalities or flaws in their matrices." the man said.
"Who is that?" Shinji asked. "And what's an S2 Crystal?"
"
Lieutenant Frank Stevens, Asha'man in the employ of NERV, at your service." the man replied. "
As for the S2 Crystals, they're the Evas' primary power source. Tell me, do you know what ter'angreal
are?"
"N-no." Shinji replied.
"
They were devices built by the Ancients that would allow normal people to access the energy that Channelers naturally can, albeit for only one specific task. Recently, however, there have been attempts to create our own ter'angreal
, some of which have succeeded. The S2 Crystal is one of those modern ter'angreal
."
"
Of course," Ritsuko began, "
the Evas also have back-up fusion reactors, in the event that you are in an area where Channeling is impossible, like an Ogier stedding
.
"I see." Rand replied. "So, in other words, the Evas are giant magic cyborgs?"
"
Never really thought about it that way, but, I guess you can think of them like that." Ritsuko replied.
Giant magic cyborgs. she thought.
If only it were that simple. But I guess that technically is what they are.
"
Ionizing LCL." Maya said. In an instant, the LCL transformed from an orange translucent liquid into a completely clear one. From the perspective of the pilots, it was as if no liquid had ever entered the Entry Plug, and air alone filled it.
"
Initiating connections between Entry Plug viewscreens and the Evas' optic nerves." Lieutenant Shigeru Aoba began. Images on the viewscreens flashed before the eyes of all three Eva pilots, before finally revealing the interior of NERV-HQ. "
You are now seeing the world through the Evas' eyes, and I do mean that literally." Aoba said.
"These things have eyes." Shinji said. "That's actually really creepy."
You don't know the half of it. Ritsuko thought.
"
Evas are ready to launch." Lieutenant Makoto Hyuga said. "
Awaiting your order, Colonel."
"
Ready launching platforms." Misato said. "
Initiate Launching Sequence. Target: Geofront Interior. Evangelion Units Zero, One, and Seven, MOVE OUT!"
The launching platforms sprung to life, catapulting the three Evas upwards into the subterranean forest that covered the Geofront floor. None of the three Eva pilots felt any of the motion, however, thanks to the combination of the Evas' inertial dampeners, and the LCL that filled the Entry Plugs.
"
Okay. Rand, Shinji? I'll go over the basics of the Eva with you." Ritsuko began. "
If you need any help actually seeing something in action, get Rei to help you, since she has the most experience piloting one of these." she said. "
Now then. The Evas' armor is composed of a tritanium-trinium-duranium alloy, the same kind used to make starship hulls, as well as space-worthy BattleMechs. The other defenses include primary and secondary deflector shields, as well as something called an A.T. Field. I want you to focus on creating an A.T. Field."
"What? How?" Rand asked.
"
Envision a barrier in your mind. Separating yourself from the outside world. From all harm. The Eva will do the rest." Ritsuko said. Rand focused. In his mind, he saw a great wall, surrounding himself and Unit-07. Enemies were hacking and shooting at the wall, to no avail. Slowly, but surely, he could sense something forming.
Is this it? Is this the A.T. Field? It seems... familiar somehow. Rand thought. His mind flashed back to the Trolloc attack on Emond's Field, and the arcane energy that had come from Unit-00 when it rescued them.
Was that? That was! So, that's what the A.T. Field is like.
"Unit-07 has successfully erected an A.T. Field." Aoba said, informing everyone observing the Evas. "Unit-00 has as well. Still waiting on Unit-01 to. Frank, how are those S2 Crystals holding up?"
"So far, so good." The Asha'man replied. "No power fluctuations, at least, none that I can sense. Crystalline structure is stable for all of them." Then a beeping came from Aoba's console.
"Unit-01 has erected an A.T. Field." he said.
"Good." Ritsuko began. "Now, I want you all to focus on walking..."
******************************************************************
Tartarus. The Uncovered Stargate.
"So," O'Neill started. "This is where the Breen just dug up a Stargate. All for the purpose of fighting some supposed demons."
"We don't actually know if it's merely 'supposed', or if they actually were demons." Daniel countered. "I mean, consider Channelers, Dragh'kar, Ascended Beings, the Bajoran Prophets, and - "
"Okay, I get it." O'Neill said. "We live in a world with a lot of strange stuff. Still, that doesn't mean that this 'Burning Legion' isn't just some Goa'uld trick. Remember Sokar?"
"How could any of us forget?" Daniel replied. They all remembered the Goa'uld System Lord Sokar, who had terraformed the moon Netu into a vision of hell, and who had posed as Satan in order to intimidate less technologically advanced and more religious human populations into following him. And of how Sokar met his end when Netu was destroyed by a To'kra bomb placed into its core. "However, you also have to remember that Sokar is dead, along with most of the System Lords. The only one left who has any real power is Ba'al, and this really doesn't seem like something he'd do."
"Yeah, could we not mention him?" O'Neil asked, remembering the horrific torture he had suffered at the hands of that particular Goa'uld. Being tortured to death and resurrected via Sarcophagus repeatedly at the hands of Ba'al had left O'Neill rather bitter when it came to the last System Lord. "Anyway, wanna see how far our Breen friends have gotten?" The two men started walking towards the Stargate.
[Chevron Five encoded.] the Breen operating the Stargate's control panel announced. The primary ring of the Stargate shifted around, until another constellation symbol locked itself in place. [Chevron Six encoded.] O'Neill and Daniel walked up to Carter and Teal'c, who were checking the drone rover that would go through the Stargate before any humans or Breen, and study the local environment.
"So, Carter, how we doin'?" O'Neill asked.
"Pretty Good, sir." she replied. "So far, all the systems on the probe check out as green. Now, all we need to do is wait for the wormhole to open, and see what's on the other side, and hopefully, where it is."
"Where?"
"Well, you see sir, the probe has a subspace star-tracker on it. At night, it sends out pulses to scan the visible stars, and checks them to see where in the galaxy it is. It then - "
"Okay, I get it." O'Neill said. "It'll tell us how to get there by starship, is that it?"
"Basically, yes."
[Chevron Seven encoded, and locked.] the Breen at the control panel said. All at the site turned and faced the Stargate, as the event horizon of a wormhole formed, and the familiar surge of energy shot out and receded back into the wormhole - now ready to transport matter across the great distances that would certainly separate Tartarus and this unknown world in the blink of an eye. Carter grabbed the control of the probe, and activated it, sending the rover through the Stargate. The probe's sensors quickly went to work, analyzing the planetary atmosphere, and stellar arrangements. Carter checked the atmospheric sensors readouts that were being sent back to Tartarus.
"Nitrogen, oxygen, argon, water vapor, carbon dioxide. It looks like we've got an M-class atmosphere here. Gravity sensors report 1.02 gs on the surface. The star maps are being sent to the
Kennedy right now. They're running it through astrometrics. They've positively identified three supergiants and twelve pulsars..." Carter whistled. "Sir, it looks like this planet is roughly ten thousand light-years away. Deep in the Beta Quadrant."
"But we know where it is, right?" O'Neill asked.
"Yeah."
"Well then, let's get going." he replied, as he stepped forward through the Gate. Soon, everyone at the Gate location - human (genetically engineered and otherwise), Jaffa, and Breen - had stepped through the wormhole, across ten thousand light-years of space, and onto a new and unknown world.