----------

Misato returned to the living room to find the new arrivals seated
together on the second couch and prodding Shinji into a description of
his last mission.

Asuka's eyebrow twitched, a warning sign if Misato had ever seen
one. "Eh, not bad," she allowed.

"But you could've done better," Han supplied the unspoken part of
Asuka's comment.

Asuka shrugged. "Sure. Look at the next time Ayanami went out.
That tin can shouldn't have been able to touch a well-handled Eva, but
look what happened."

Shinji looked mutinous at that remark. "I don't see how you could
have, in an Eva you'd never piloted before, with half its weapons
offline," he replied quietly.

"I'd start by not standing still in front of God and radar inside
my enemy's effective range!"

"She didn't have much choice," Nami broke in. "We tried it
afterwards in a sim, and neither of us could hit the joint reliably on
the move."

"Evas don't seem to be very good gun platforms at a dead run," Han
added dryly.

Misato took advantage of Asuka's annoyed sidelong look at the pair
to head off further discussion. "Speaking of, your qualifiers will be
this Wednesday afternoon. You'll hear more tomorrow at the official
orientation."

"What are we being tested on?"

"Pretty much like you'd expect. Marksmanship, basic maneuvering,
some melee." Misato grinned wickedly. "But that's just the warm-up.
Afterwards, you have the Challenge Course." At their curious/worried
looks, she continued with relish. "It's a something we cooked up as a
kind of final exam, sort of a cross between an obstacle course and a
shooting house, to test everything you're supposed to have learned
before you came. I hope you studied," she finished with a low chuckle.

"We were going to run you through just as a baseline reading about
six weeks ago, but..." Misato answered Shinji's questioning look, too
quietly for the others to catch, and shrugged.

Shinji nodded in understanding. The Fourth Angel. After that
he'd been pulled out of class for nearly two weeks for a crash course
in Eva piloting, often being given 'special' attention by the very girl
sitting not a meter from him, even now beginning the story of her
latest, and first, mission. And of course after that there'd never
seemed to be time.

----------

"So let me make sure I understand." Han asked some time later, in
a neutral voice suspicious to anyone who knew him. "After Ayanami took
me down, you continued to pursue Testarossa."

"Of course," Asuka agreed, frowning at Nami's light touch on his
hand, ceasing only when withdrawing to pick up a drink. "I couldn't
afford to lose contact with her. Besides, she was still engaged, there
was every reason to think you were still in the fight," she continued in
building outrage at the implied criticism.

"Like the total lack of communications?"

"We've had comm failures before!" Asuka snapped at Han.

Misato broke in before he could retort. "That's enough. Everyone
makes mistakes, the trick is not to make the same one twice," she
finished with a significant look at Asuka.

The doorbell chimed in the lull, and Misato's voice carried from
the entryway once she and Shinji had answered.

"Well, well! The prodigal Doctor arrives at last!"

"Some of us actually do something about it when our inbox is
overflowing," a female voice replied in a tone that just had to have an
amused smirk attached. "Hi, Shinji."

"Hello, Doctor Akagi." Shinji continued more shyly, "Hello,
Ayanami." Nami unsuccessfully fought a urchin-like grin at the second
greeting, Han merely raised an eyebrow at her.

"Good evening, Ikari," a soft, flat voice replied, "Major
Katsuragi."

"Come in, come in. We have goodies for all." Misato replied
cheerfully over the soft rustle presumably of Shinji taking whatever
outerwear the two women had had.

"And enough beer to float a battleship, I'd imagine." the blonde
replied over one shoulder as she entered the living room, lacking only
her white lab coat from her usual attire of a blue sleeveless zip top
and black skirt. "And speaking of. Welcome to Japan, Asuka."

Asuka replied automatically, locked onto the girl trailing behind
Misato. The bluenette in question was looking around the Major's
apartment in mild curiosity, dressed in what Asuka devoutly hoped to be
a school uniform of some sort, and not a demonstration of utter tone
deafness for anything resembling fashion. Misato handled introductions
again, while Shinji fetched drinks for the new arrivals.

'So, you're the wunderkind they sent instead of me.' Ikari had
been bad enough, but at least she could console herself with the
knowledge that the first two Evas weren't capable of handling her. 'But
Eva-02 wasn't that far behind -06 readiness-wise, and Stuttgart is a
-hell- of a lot closer to Moscow than Tokyo is!'

The effusive praise Ayanami had gotten afterwards had only
soured a bad situation further. -She- could've hit the damned cannon
and then peeled open that mech like a lobster!

Instead, she got to hear about not only the deadly Third Child,
but -also- the First's 'coolheaded response to a perilous situation' and
'commendable refusal to endanger innocent lives.' Asuka snorted. 'As if
those pilots and commandos hadn't known what they were getting into when
they signed up.'

Ayanami ignored Asuka's baleful look and took the seat between her
and Ikari, before responding to Han's question about Eva-00's readiness.

"Commander Mardukas believes it would be worthwhile to upgrade
Eva-00 to combat standards, given it is already in the process of being
repaired. Though given the additional mass of its skeleton, he was not
optimistic about its performance." The decision to use readily available
and cheaper, though heavier, materials in the prototype seemed to have
bitten them once again.

"Better some Eva than no Eva, I guess," Misato sighed. "But if
nothing else we'll be at nearly full strength once it's ready."

"Why is it taking so long to fix? -01 and -06 were both a lot
faster than that," Nami asked, coloring slightly once she realized how
the question could be taken.

"Part of it is that Eva-00 was never designed for battle."
Ritsuko answered with a small smile to put her questioner at ease,
before she shot Misato the look of a craftswoman watching another misuse
-her- tools. "So it isn't designed with any 'plug and play' abilities
the way the others are. Eva-01 does have them because it was the
testbed for most of the essential systems of the production models."
Ritsuko continued, anticipating her follow up question. 'In more ways
than one.' "Also, steel is an excellent heat conductor, unlike the
production grade armor. Much of the musculature was damaged as a
result, and that takes time to repair."

The new pilots nodded understanding. Asuka saw Shinji shiver
slightly at what being an 'excellent heat conductor' had nearly meant
for the girl between them.

"But, that's enough Nerv for a while." Misato announced. "We'll
all be sick to death of it soon anyway," At the unspoken question in
her listener's expressions, she smirked in a way that awoke old and fond
memories in both blonde and redhead.

"What -I- have in mind is a little game called SongStar," she
continued with an evil cackle, producing a microphone from under the
couch. "Its time to get this party started!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Author's Notes

Before the screams of 'Mary Sue!' get too loud, I'd like to
state for the record that Tessa's missile trick was taken directly from
life. David Morris in _Storm on the Horizon_ describes an incident
during the first Gulf War in which a Saudi missile gunner engaged and
destroyed an Iraqi tank by curve balling his missile past several palm
trees and around a street corner. What can I say, truth is stranger than
fiction.

I'd like to thank Himonky of Evafics.org for proofing this
chapter, I can confidently say it wouldn't be nearly as good without his
help.

I'll also say it will be hot day in Antarctica before any warship
in one of my stories is named 'Over the Rainbow,' never mind a fleet
flagship. To cover this grave breach of sanity on Gainax's part, I
borrowed from one of my favorite sci-fi series. All of the ships listed
by name in this chapter, excepting Othello, are ones Honor Harrington
served on at one time or another.

Finally, my other comment is that the theme for Asuka's battle
should really be an instrumental version of "Ride the Lightning" from
the same album, but since that version doesn't seem to exist you get
what's listed below.

Until next time.

Soundtrack
0000- Pat Benatar "Invincible" _Greatest Hits_
0593- Glen Larson & Stu Phillips "Battlestar Galactica theme" _100
Greatest TV Themes_
0947- Metallica "The Call of Ktulu" _Ride the Lightning_
1276- Sammy Hagar "I Can't Drive 55" _Unboxed_
End- Joe Satriani "Big Bad Moon" _Live in San Francisco_