Enthrallment Colors

Laying the board

Charles Zi Britannia could only chuckle reading the paper laid across his desk. In his seldom visited, opulent, private office Charles Zi Britannia entertained himself with the thought of the audacity of what was written on the paper missive that had been given to him. It had been clear from the beginning that there was more to everything taking place than what he had been aware of. He had his brother dig and experiment to try and find it but only now was it obvious what he had missed. So simple, yet he had ignored the glaring truth simply because of human nativity always thinking things are more interconnected and more romantic than they truly were.

We the Asari, representatives of and member race of the Citadel Council offer to the member states of the Systems Alliance and Humanity the terms for peaceful resolution to the current war with our fellow Citadel Council member species and their Government, The Turian Hierarchy. The Citadel Council offers with Asari mediation the opening of Peace Negotiations. The Turians have laid out their key points for the negotiations to present to the Systems Alliance and Human representatives before the to-be-agreed-upon conference. First, the Systems alliance acknowledges their use of tier three Weapons of Mass Destruction which stands in violation of the Citadel's laws. Second the Member State of the Systems Alliance known as the Empire of Britannia and the rulers of said state stand trial for their use of Tier Two Weapons of Mass Destruction, an act against the laws of the Citadel council and an act seen as a War-crime under the laws of the Systems Alliance Military codes. Lastly the Turian Hierarchy requests that the Systems alliance military be limited by treaty and the Systems Alliance become a protectorate of the Turian Hierarchy. As a fellow Member Species and seated on the Citadel Council the Asari hold the position to ensure that negotiation with the Hierarchy is performed in good faith, and should the Systems Alliance accept outside the points of the Turian Hierarchy's key points of negotiation the Asari would be willing to sponsor and assist the Systems Alliance in becoming a member state of the Citadel.

Naturally the Democratic weaklings of the Alliance will agree. How could they not, their populations voted for their rulers and they always had to put forward a popular front even if such a front ultimately harmed their subjects, stifled their potential, and stripped their subjects of the entirety of their idiotically long list 'Rights and freedoms'. But to Britannia that meant little, their betrayal of the Empire was inevitable. Under these terms it was clear Britannia would cease to exist, or at very least it would become a puppet without any self determination. And of course all those bastards would be more than happy to oblige the Turians, the EU had unsettled and ancient grudges that would finally be resolved, the Chinese Federation would be rid an economic and colonial rival, and the now named Arab League could expand their presence into Africa as well as reclaim territory which Britannia has kept from them for nearly a hundred years. That only left Australia and Japan, the Aussies were so passive they'd just go along with the majority, but Genbu Kururugi would undoubtedly call for as fierce of resistance to the Turians as possible. Though that was to be expected, the Japanese were Democratic in name only, and much like Britannia it was only those truly worthy of their seat who ruled.

All of this lent itself to Emperor Charles Zi Britannia's good humor at the moment. There was no uncertainty that he could not avoid the peace treaty, or the reality of the Systems Alliance's defeat. But he could easily spare at very least Britannia the fate the Asari, the Turians, and the damned Democratic fools had planned for it. But while he had time Charles needed to prepare for the future. The Ashfords, long time allies of Marianne were doomed to fail, already the rest of the nobility were attacking them with the loss of so much recently for them as well as the failure of their Ganymede Knightmares on the battlefield. It was likely the expensive project would suffer until more visionary individuals could think of ways such a machine could be used. The best for their family would be to remain in the Alliance, with the option of eventually reclaiming their nobility, likely with the child of their young heir Milly. Though, Charles laughed at the thought, as he was writing his chain of decrees if the girl was intelligent perhaps she could reclaim the family's nobility early taking advantage of the gift he was leaving them to steal back significant wealth from the Nobles currently eating away at their holdings.

But of course the Ashfords were only a small concern, if Britannia were to do as Charles planned they would still suffer significant losses. In the British Isles the various independence movements and Londinium Globalists would demand and get their separation from the Empire. Likely it'd be demanded that the African holdings were released and in South America the self identified Brazilians would move to steal as much of the continent from their lords as they could. But if Kururugi was as hard-line as the front he was putting forward maybe Britannia might gain an ally or even subject from the move.

Beyond the holdings on Earth, it was the colonies which would see the greatest tribulations. But considering Britannia's push for new colonies then the Empire might find itself positioned for a great revival under his successor, as while there would be great debate over the more contested colonies and likely bloodshed and losses Britannia ultimately would be left with the best colonies for industrial purposes. But only if his successor was talented, but with Britannia as it was, it could be considered foolish to even consider his successor would be incompetent.

The only question the Emperor faced was which of his children should he support as his successor? Schneizel? While brilliant the man was more suited to playing the political games of the Alliance and reducing them to puppets of the Empire, Odysious while decent could not rule Britannia suitably for the condition Charles was leaving it in. The decision kept going in circles, The Emperor writing a few decrees to help set the stage for what was to come, trying to see who should succeed him, but despite his many children, and one-hundred and eight... no one hundred and seven, wives suitable replacements were far too few. One-hundred and Seven wives and the only one competent enough to rule the state was the one his brother had to murder.

However after a moment of silent contemplation Charles began to laugh again. "Yes, he might just be worthy of being called my child. And if Celina does as I've asked properly then he truly would be able to do just about anything." With such a personal revelation Charles pulled out the paper signing the name of the child he thought would best be his successor as, 'Lelouch Vi Britannia'. And with that he then pulled out his final documents, the first stating:

I, Charles Zi Britannia hereby formally declare the immediate secession of the Holy Britannian Empire from the Systems alliance. I leave it up to my children to oversee the Empire's total secession from the Alliance and I authorize them to take any measures they deem necessary to complete this decree. Any action to delay the secession or prevent it is to be insinuated as a act of treason against the state and punished by hanging by the neck until dead.

And the second reading as:

I, Charles Zi Britannia hereby surrender myself to the Systems alliance and abdicate my throne. I take all responsibilities for decrees made under my rule with me and will willingly participate with the Peace Delegations with the Turians and Asari as the sole remaining member of the State of Britannia within the sphere of the Systems Alliance.

Charles smiled as he signed the documents and prepared to submit the electronic copies to his subjects to distribute and follow. Let those pretenders squatting on the legacy of the Protheans, and those Democratic idiots try to steal Britannia's destiny now, with the secretive research project the Geass Order's discoveries they'd have to rip their own galaxy asunder to stop Lelouch.

EC

A continent away several officials were huddled, desperate to plan around immediate events. Earlier that day, Genbu Kururugi, Prime Minister of Japan, had been murdered by his own son Susaku Kururugi, the child insisting that Japan should not initiate do-or-die resistance against the Turians, that the killing must stop.

"If we reveal this to the public the Kururugi name will be permanently tarnished, and the five houses will lose our absolute authority over the people."

"And what about the boy? He's murdered his father and now he's making demands that go entirely against the man's wishes! "

"But knowledge of Genbu's death is already spreading, yet the man had already insisted on something that we could not profit from. If we make it look like he committed Seppuku in protest of the Military actions of the Alliance and position ourselves properly we can retain significant power and wealth, which will allow us to ensure Japan's dominance in the future. As for Susaku, the boy will just have to live with the guilt. If we take any action against him things might unravel. "

"Are we doing this for Japan or ourselves?"

"At a time like this it's perhaps more honest to say we are doing it for both."

EC

Celina gasped in pain, how she was so arrogant to assume the prat didn't have a gun on him was still beyond her. She'd attribute it to old age if she wasn't still so young, barely in her twenties and looking much younger. Still, for a woman using nothing but a sword and a Kinetic barrier she had made a good showing for herself. Vincent lay twenty feet back, her sword still jutting from his chest, the rifle he had been holding laying next to him, and just beyond that corpse, over twenty others, scientists and loyal Britannian soldiers who had been in her way.

But now Celina was dying, and she couldn't let that happen. Out of medical gear to patch herself with, the blood loss would take her within minutes, maybe less. Another gasp of pain, another effort to throw herself forward, she finally made it to the side of the machine.

Here it was, the test product of all of her,and Vincent's years of hard work, the Prothean technology and their secrets of Indoctrination, which her research suggested was turned against them, somehow leaving their empire a crumbled and lifeless husk. This product, after so many test cases, so many hollowed out shells that had once been the Numbers, so many experiments on her, Vincent and her majesties' own interest, should allow Celina to access and form her own networked consciousness from the one they had formed together

Laying into the bed, the world fading, Celina knew that her only hope of escaping death, her only hope of fulfilling the promise she made to herself to watch over Marianne's children was to escape into the network and form her own world inside. Death would mean nothing and life would be eternal, but... Would such a life have meaning? No. Not now. Celina couldn't die. She didn't want to die. That was all she knew as her body trembled, finally flipping the switch. With that, the spike shot itself through her skull and deep into the brain, the Body letting one last startled gasp of pain.