Konnichiwa everyone!

Here's the first half of Part 3 of Angels. Please give me some
constructive comments; I feel as if I'm writing to nobody.

Babylon 5 and its characters with the exception of Epsilon Squad were
created by J. Michael Straczynski and copyrights are held by Warner 
Bros. And TNT. The characters of Epsilon Squad, as well as the 
characters of Rei Ayanami-Miranami and Danielle Asuka Langley are my 
own creation. Please ask for my permission to use them in your own 
fics.

Neon Genesis Evangelion was created by Project Eva and copyrights are 
held by Gainax in Japan and A.D. Vision in the U.S. Please let me know 
if there are any other copyright holders for either series I may have 
missed, as I'm not out to make any sort of material gain; I'm merely 
expressing my interest in both these series. In other words, please 
don't sue me.

Author's Notes:

     This story takes place during Season 5 of Babylon 5, after #99 
"Phoenix Rising" and before #103 "Darkness Ascending."

     To make this story work, I took the events in Evangelion and 
plopped them into the Babylon 5 universe at the same time as they 
actually occurred (2000-2015). The following events occurred in the B5 
universe at the same time as in Eva: Episodes 1-24, followed by the 
events of the Rebirth and End of Evangelion movies. This story takes 
place in 2262. For purposes of this story, episodes 25 and 26 never 
happened.

Previously on Babylon 5:

     Out in Sector 999 near the Rim, the Earthforce Special Operations 
frigate Perry, Rei Ayanami-Miranami commanding, discovered the Angels 
have returned on a planet known as M-235. Afterwards President Luchenko 
gave Earthforce jurisdiction over the Angel situation and has sent the 
Perry to Babylon 5 to request help from the Interstellar Alliance in 
dealing with them. Thirteen, a former Psi Cop who was head of Bureau 13 
and who is now the commander of Nerv, vehemently protests Luchenko's 
actions. Meanwhile the transport Soryu, piloted by Danielle Asuka 
Langley and carrying Evangelion Unit 02, arrives on Babylon 5. 
Danielle was a Starfury pilot aboard the EAS Damocles psychologically
 discharged after seeing the 17th Angel at the battle of Proxima-3. 
Kaworu showed her the fight between him and Eva-01 in Nerv's Terminal 
Dogma back in 2015 from the entry plug of Eva-02. Meanwhile, Sheridan 
and Delenn discussed the Angel situation and the events of the Second 
and Third Impacts. 

Well, enough of the preliminaries, let's get on with it!

Babylon 5: Angels
A Babylon 5 / Neon Genesis Evangelion crossover
by Mark Craig

Part 3A - Arrival

     Lt. Commander Jesa Marason was having another of those days not 
worth writing home about. Responding to distress calls from Alliance 
merchant ships under attack by Raiders had that effect. In the wake of 
a series of attacks from an unknown adversary on Alliance shipping 
lanes, everyone in the Alliance was becoming more and more on edge with 
each passing day. And with each new attack came an even greater 
possibility that the Interstellar Alliance would be no more after less 
than a year. Great, he thought demurely. Something good comes out of 
all this mess with the Shadows, the Vorlons, and Earthforce and now we 
got this unknown whatsitsface jumping our shipping lanes.
     Jesa led Epsilon Squad out of the jumpgate in Sector 15. Epsilon 2 
determined the transport's position at 135x21x35, only a few minutes at 
maximum burn from the gate.
     "Epsilon 2, are you still getting transmissions from the 
transport?"
     "Confirmed, Epsilon Leader," Epsilon 2, piloted by Lt. Philip 
Castro, replied. "They report the Raiders have intensified their 
weapons fire."
     Raiders. It figured. I wondered when their scum would try and take 
advantage of the shipping lanes situation. They had to come back sooner 
or later. "All right, boys and girls, we're going in weapons hot. 
Epsilon 8 and 9, stay at the gate in case anyone tries to make a break 
for it."
     "Will do," they both replied. 
     "Everyone else, follow me, maximum burn. Stay in formation until 
we have visual, then break and attack. Epsilon 4 and 7, you'll be my 
wingmen."
     Jesa hated Raiders. He always had. His father was a transport 
pilot before the Earth-Minbari War, and Raiders were a constant 
problem. One day, he was hauling some Quantium-40 for construction of a 
jumpgate in Sector 843 when he was jumped by several Raider ships. But 
Duke Marason was nothing if not resourceful. He powered up some on-
board pulse cannons and nailed five of the bastards, but there were 
just too many of them, and they got him in the end. They spaced him and 
stripped the ship of everything remotely valuable it had. That's what 
the Raiders always did. Profit was all that motivated them. As a result 
Jesa had no tolerance for Raiders. Absolutely none. Jesa reflected on 
his Raider-elimination missions while stationed aboard the Churchill.
He killed a number of them back then, and it was during this campaign 
he was given command of Epsilon Squad.
     Minutes later the squad made visual contact with the transport. At 
least a dozen triangular Raider ships circled around the transport like 
vultures, firing sporadically.
     Caught you with your hands in the cookie jar this time, Jesa 
thought as he opened a channel to the Raiders. "This is Lt. Commander 
Jesa Marason of Babylon 5 to raiding parties. Surrender your vessels or 
be destroyed."
     Several of the Raider ships veered off and headed straight for the 
approaching Starfuries under maximum power. Jesa could see the fight 
would begin at any moment.
     "I repeat, surrender your vessels or be destroyed."
     "No way, Earthforce scum," a Raider replied. "That cargo's worth 
millions to us. We're not giving it up."
     "Well, now, that's too bad, guys, and I use the term loosely 
because there's no way in hell you can possibly be human, but you're 
not getting it. I command you to surrender your vessels or be 
destroyed. I've dealt with your kind before. If you force me to, I'll 
gladly deal with you as I did your predecessors, and send you straight 
to hell where you belong."
     "Jesa," Lt. Rico Vazquez in Epsilon 7 broke in on a private 
channel, "are you by chance taking this a bit personally?"
     "Damn right I am," he retorted. Come on, scum, give me a reason to 
fire. I dare you.
     Sure enough, the Raiders obliged him, firing first. Their opening 
shots missed everyone in the squad. Will they ever learn their 
targeting systems are so out of date you could foil them with teddy 
bears?
     "Break and attack, everyone," Jesa called out, "These guys are 
designed for atmospheric flight as well. Target their exhaust ports, 
that's where they're most vulnerable."
     "Will do," everyone replied at once.
     Jesa engaged the lead Raider. He cut his thrust to let the Raider 
go by him. He spun his Starfury around and planted two sets of plasma 
rounds in the Raider's backside, blowing it with a plume of flame. 
Splash one.
     Jesa turned around and saw Epsilon 4, piloted by Lt. Laura 
D'Amico, engaging another Raider. He then saw two others converging on 
top of her. Immediately he thrust at them, putting the Starfury in a 
series of barrel rolls, trying to engage them before they could fire on 
her. "Laura," he called. "You've got two of them almost on top of you.
Break off, break off!"
     She did so, spinning around and taking out both ships with a pair 
of pinpoint blasts. She then thrust above Jesa to take out another 
Raider closing in on Jesa's tail. Splash four. Jesa then saw Rico 
forming back on his wing and the three of them went around the 
transport hunting more prey. Four more Raider ships awaited them as 
three others engaged the other Epsilon Starfuries.
     "Now we're even, again," she said.
     "We've got one to our left and one to our right, boss," Rico said.
     "Two more passing between us," Jesa added. "Starburst break on 
three."
     "Right," they both said.
     "One...two...three...break!"
     Jesa thrust upward and back towards the Raiders while Rico and 
Laura crossed paths and flanked him. They opened fire on the slower-
turning Raiders and obliterated all four of them.
     The rest of the squad mopped up the remaining Raiders in fairly 
short order as they were too stupid to realize they were outclassed. 
They didn't even have time to make peace with whatever God they served 
before they were destroyed. When it was all said and done, all the 
Starfuries surrounded the transport.
     "Transport Aristotle, this is Epsilon Squad from Babylon 5," Jesa 
said over the link in satisfaction, "your Raider friends are gone. I 
doubt they'll bother us again for a while. We'll escort you to the 
station."
     "Thank you," said the relieved pilot. "A few more seconds and we'd 
not be having this conversation right now."
     "Our pleasure," Jesa said. "Okay, Epsilon Wing, our job's done, 
let's lead the transport back to the barn."

     Jesa was back on the station a little over an hour later without 
further incident. It turned out the Aristotle was carrying medical 
supplies bound for Babylon 5. The drugs contained on that ship would've 
brought millions on the black market. It gave Jesa a feeling of 
satisfaction whenever he was able to put an end to any Raider 
operation. Maybe this would help things around here. But it's not 
Raiders doing the attacks on the shipping lanes. Something else is out 
there. But what the hell is it? Could it be the Centauri? If so, what 
would they have to gain by attacking fellow members of the Alliance? It 
makes no sense.
     Oh to be back in my quarters again, he thought as he exited the 
transport tube on Blue-7. Just me and my soda propped up on my couch 
watching vids. His quarters were only a short distance from the tube, 
that was part of the reason he selected these quarters after his 
promotion. He briskly walked toward his quarters, running a 20th-
century rock tune in his head, he couldn't remember which, when he 
reached an intersection with a short hall leading towards the center of 
the station. A woman came out of the hall and slammed into him wearing 
a reddish-brown outfit which Jesa thought had seen better days and 
carrying a backpack. She looked at him with a rather distressed look on 
her face.
     "Sorry," she said, sounding a bit embarrassed. "I didn't realize 
where I was going."
     "It's all right," Jesa assured her.
     "I am a bit lost, actually. I think I'm on the wrong level. I'm 
looking for the Guest Quarters Requisition office."
     He nodded. "That's on Blue-14, Suite 27, I think. You're on Blue-
7." He indicated behind him. "Transport Tube 5 is just down that way."
     She shook her head. "Thank you. I never thought this place could 
be so big."
     "Your first time here," Jesa guessed.
     "Is it really that obvious? I just haul goods and materials to the 
Alliance worlds. I thought I'd rest up a couple of days before moving 
on."
     "Where?"
     "The Rim," she said. Suddenly she clutched her head and gritted 
her teeth against something. Jesa looked at her in concern. What's with 
all this? "Hey, are you all right?"
     "No, not again," she cried, doubling over. "You've done enough to 
me already, haven't you?"
     What the hell is she talking about? Who the hell is she talking 
to? Looking around, Jesa could see he was the only other person in this 
part of Blue-7. It was after midnight station time, after all. Still, 
he was about to activate his link to call Medlab when she rose back up,
looking at him with a wild, darting gaze. Her very demeanor seemed to 
change right before his eyes.
     Even her voice seemed to change slightly, like it was touched with 
something. "Always with Angels will our struggles begin," she began, 
almost like she was reciting something. But what? "Six by three they 
would come and the universe shall know pain like no other. The Impact 
will come as never before."
     Jesa didn't like where this was going. "What are you talking 
about?" he said as calmly as possible. "What Impact."
     "The Impact prophesied by G'Qeth. The Impact which has happened 
times three," she replied, now in near hysteria. "Do you understand? It 
is happening as we speak, exactly as it was written long ago. It will 
come to pass, and you are all dead."
     Slowly Jesa backed away from this strange woman and activated his 
link. "Marason to Security, I've got a disturbed woman on Blue-7 near 
Suite 33."
     "We're on our way."
     Jesa closed the link and warily faced the woman again. She was 
still staring at him with the wild look of a madman, mouthing something 
to herself he couldn't make out.
     "I don't understand," he said, trying to make some sense out of 
this, if that was possible. "What exactly are you talking about?"
     "The Impact!" she cried, grabbing his uniform with both hands like 
vises. "The Impact is coming! Angels always with Angels does the Impact 
come. Always with Angels did the Impact come last, and so shall it be 
again."
     This was going absolutely nowhere. The woman was obviously 
demented. Nothing of what she was saying made any sense at all. She 
backed up against the wall and slumped down to the deck, burying her 
face in her hands. "I'm sorry, G'Qeth," she whimpered. "I have failed 
you. They didn't listen. They never listen."
     Jesa heard footsteps behind him and Security Chief Zack Allen 
appeared with two of his officers, PPG's drawn. Zack gave a nod to the 
officers picked up the sobbing woman. He then turned his attention to 
Jesa.
     "What happened here, Commander?" he asked.
     "I was on my way back to my quarters after fighting Raiders when I 
accidentally bumped into her," Jesa explained. "She seemed rational 
enough at first but after a moment she grabbed her head like she was in 
some kind of pain. Then she looked back at me with this wild look in 
her eyes. She started ranting about angels and impacts and G'Qeth and 
on and on. It didn't make any sense, really. Then she broke down when I 
failed to understand her, and that's when you and your people appeared."
     Zack nodded. "All right. I may have to come by your quarters 
sometime today to take a statement from you. We'll check her belongings 
and her identicard and see exactly who it is we're dealing with." He 
turned to the officers. "Take her to Medlab. See if the Doc can figure 
her out."
     "Right, Chief," one said and they took her away.
     "My guess is she's either on something or she's had some sort of 
mental and nervous breakdown," Zack continued, giving Jesa a slightly 
concerned look. "You okay, Commander? You look a bit pale."
     Jesa nodded. "Yeah, Zack, I think so. To think, an hour ago I was 
fighting Raiders and I come back to a lady's dementia. It just shook me 
up a little. A not-so-perfect ending to a not-so-perfect day."
     "Look, why don't you go to your quarters and rest up? We'll take 
care of this from here. I'll stop by for your statement later this 
afternoon."
     "Thanks, I might just do that," Jesa said, heading to his quarters 
again.
     He pulled the keycard out and opened the door to his quarters. He 
got out a can of his usual soda pop. He had long since found it to be 
the best for calming one's nerves, even better than alcohol.
     I could use some calming now, he thought, sitting down at the 
small computer terminal on his desk. Man, that unnerved me to no end. 
Even if the woman was demented, what she said freaked me out. A thought 
suddenly came to Jesa. Impact. Angels. She couldn't mean the Second and 
Third Impacts, could she? Well, there was one way to find out. He 
activated the terminal.
     "Command?" said the voice of the Babylon 5 central computer.
     "Computer, initiate multiple keyword search. Designated keywords: 
Angels and Impact. Locate all files containing those keywords. Include 
all Earthforce historical records in the search."
     "Commencing."
     "While you're running that, initiate second keyword search on Narn 
language for G'Qeth."
     "One reference. G'Qeth, Narn philosopher. Born Earth Year 1987, 
Died Earth Year 2105. Author of the Book of G'Qeth. Information 
follows."
     Jesa saw additional information on the Book of G'Qeth appear on 
the display. Much mention was made of the Second and Third Impacts on 
Earth, though that was not what G'Qeth called them. The Book spoke of 
entities beyond comprehension wandering the heavens, entities even 
older than the Vorlons, even older than the Shadows.  G'Qeth wrote that 
he even foresaw the Third Impact. How could a Narn philosopher know 
about events on a world his race would not encounter for over 200 
years? Maybe Ambassador G'Kar might know. The Book also mentioned a 
cataclysm which would ravage the universe itself were it to take place.
     "Multiple keyword search will take 1.2 hours to compile all 
requested information."
     Jesa inserted a data crystal into the port next to the terminal. 
"Transfer all information to crystal port once it has been compiled."
     "Confirmed."
     As the computer began its work, Jesa had only one thing on his 
mind as he headed for his bed. His curiosity would wait until morning, 
but what the hell's going on around here?

Comments can be directed via private e-mail to mcanime@swbell.net. 
Constructive comments are welcome and will be read. Non-constructive 
Flames will be used for PPG target practice.

-- 

-Mark
Eternally Lost Member of Oklahoma Megazone / Babylon 5 Fan / Follower of
Ivanova's Recommendations / Friend of the People / Enemy of the State / 
In the Memory of the Nine and the One / "I have always been here."