Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or any of its Canon Characters.
AN: This episode brought to you by Sabaton, Guinness, and Espresso.
I've been playing a bit more of Guild Wars 2 recently. Quite a bit of fun running around with a railgun, grenades, and a flamethrower, when the enemy consists of sword wielding bandits and vicious plant monsters.
If the formatting appears all screwed up somewhere, please let me know. Copypaste did some wierd things with Oath of Blood 22, and I didn't find out until I went and read the live version on the site a few weeks later. Hopefully I fixed it all, but something may always slip through.
This was it, a day seven years in the making. A day that in all likelihood would alter the course of world history. Today, she would accomplish was her former, incomplete self attempted to prior to the invasion.
But that was only one stage of the operation currently underway. Luna vi Britannia leaned against the wall in the Viceroy's empty office, staring out over the city as she sent out last minute orders to her black ops team.
It was certainly different this time around. Unlike the conflict that Lelouch had faced during the rise of the Black Knights, the situation in Japan was far more volatile. Reality was no longer as simple as "the rebels" against the Holy Britannian Empire. The Blood of the Samurai had thrown quite a wrench in that dynamic, being a far more brutal terrorist organization than anything from the First World. The Federation also had a much bigger role to play, with their conquest and occupation of Kyushu. Even so, Luna was confident in her strategy. None of those issues were insurmountable, no matter how bothersome.
Her thoughts drifted back to the past, to what could have been if time had "simply" been rewinded, and Lelouch given a second chance at life. What if he had used Geass to dominate Clovis and his royal guard, thereby taking over the colonial government at the onset? The knowledge of Marianne's true colors would certainly have excluded a repeat of the decision to waste time and Geass on searching for answers.
In a way, she was about to find out. She may no longer have access to Absolute Obedience, but she never needed such a supernatural power to impose her will upon others. It was just a convenience that too frequently became a crutch, at times resulting in disastrous outcomes.
"You're scheming again, my dear." She looked over toward the large desk in the center of the room. There, in her brother's luxurious leather chair, CC was thoroughly enjoying herself. The immortal had decided to, rather uncharacteristically, dress in a suit for the occasion. However, she had her legs up on the desk, reclining in his chair, and was busy sipping on Clovis's collection of wine. She poured another glass from a bottle that likely cost over a thousand pounds, and looked over at her timeless partner.
"Scheming is what I do. After all, Clovis is only one part of my plan. There are far more variables to account for than how long it's going to take for him to piss himself after he finds out how thoroughly beaten he is."
"Oh I know. We learned that lesson the hard way last time. I just like the way you look when you do that; staring off into space with the intent to make it submit to your designs. It's such a beautiful cross of cute and sinister." CC teased.
"Says the one sitting there as if she's already the queen of this island."
"I don't particularly want to be queen of the whole island. I just want to turn your brother into my plaything. A full reversal of roles would only be fair."
"I honestly wouldn't mind that, CC, except for the fact that he cannot regenerate like we can. You can humiliate him all you want, but I do need him intact and functional to play his part."
"A girl can dream, can't she?"
"You can do more than dream about it. When he outlives his usefulness, you can do whatever you want to him. Clovis is only my brother by genetics, nothing more. There will not be any forgiveness from me. After what he has done to you, and the people of Japan, he deserves to suffer your worst." Luna replied with a smile.
"Shields read as fully charged and ready." Euphemia reported to the Lancelot from behind her console. Her first thought as she glanced up and saw the white knightmare imprisoned within the green luminescence was that the green glow looked quite nice on the frame's white armor.
This was another one of Lloyd's crazy ideas. Since Ashford Academy obviously did not have an area large enough to safely test knightmare sized weapons, the slightly mad scientist had the idea of building a test chamber inside the warehouse they were using. Of course, what better to make it out of than shield generators.
Euphemia watched as the array of Blaze Luminous emitters sealed off half of the warehouse from the external environment with walls of green light. Inside the shields stood two knightmare frames. Closest to her was the familiar form of the Lancelot, holding a new, experimental rifle. On the other end of the shield chamber was a remotely operated Sutherland, serving as the target for the weapons test.
She stepped into a second Sutherland cockpit block, rigged up to operate as if it were attached to the unit inside the shields, and got the target frame up and running. The drone frame stood up and activated a Blaze Luminous generator attached to its left wrist.
"Activating the energy links. Weapon is charging." Suzaku reported. The Lancelot's right hand docked with the experimental weapon, feeding power directly from the frame to the rifle. It was the only way to make it work, short of installing a full sized energy filler into the weapon itself.
"Suzaku, please set the first shot for 25% power. You are cleared to fire." Cecile instructed. On command, Lancelot responded. The seventh generation frame raised the dull blue weapon and aimed at the target Sutherland. A second later, a bright flash filled the test chamber.
"Target's shield reduced to 62%." Euphemia declared the result as her drone frame took a direct hit. "Amazing. At full power, it would probably overpenetrate the shield and kill the Sutherland in one shot."
"Deactivate the Sutherland's shield. Let's see how the armor performs. Maintain the same energy output, Suzaku. We should try to not cause too much destruction in here." Cecile directed from behind a wall of monitors.
"Understood. Firing again." Suzaku watched as the Sutherland's shield dissipated, and it crossed its arms in front of its chest. He aimed at the wrists, giving the target frame a bit of a chance by having to penetrate the arms before striking the chest armor.
Again, a bright flash filled the building. The shot penetrated both arms, blasting the hands off of the target. Given the low power setting, the shot did not have quite enough energy to defeat the Sutherland's chest armor, although it came pretty close from the size of the crater it left. Suzaku had a smile on his face. Even holding back this much, he had no doubt that Lloyd's newest creation could down a Sutherland quality unit in one or two shots. At full power, they wouldn't stand a chance.
"That, ladies and gentlemen, is what I would call a success." Lloyd cheered at the demonstration. Apparently he was right once again.
"I agree. The VARIS is definitely the future of direct fire knightmare weapons. There's still plenty of work to be done on it, but the potential is obvious." Cecile agreed. Unlike the Lancelot itself, the particle beam rifle it was holding was entirely a product of Lloyd's mind. While others argued that miniaturizing magnetic accelerator weapons was the next logical step in knightmare weapons development, Lloyd, being his usual self, decided to let other work on that line of development. They were right, of course, but Lloyd Asplund did not care about the next logical step. He decided to just skip a generation, with very promising results.
Their attention was drawn away from the bright future of particle beam weapons as the soldiers guarding the main entrance let a large truck into the building. After a quick exchange with sergeant standing at the driver side door, the vehicle detached its trailer and promptly left.
Curious, Euphemia dropped the shielding, and let Suzaku out to inspect the large shipping container it was transporting.
"Suzaku, go break the lock and see what's inside." The princess told him. With no objections from Cecile or Lloyd, the Lancelot approached the container and snapped the locked chains securing the door. He opened the container up, and instinctively raised one of his wrist shields.
Inside the container sat the unmistakable form of a JLF Gekka. It took him a second to lower the shield as he realized the frame was not powered on. The deactivated unit was sitting in a seiza position, with one of its trademark chain swords secured to the floor in front of it. Behind the unit, Suzaku could make out what appeared to be boxes of ammunition, most likely for its wrist mounted autocannon.
Lloyd, looking like a child who had just been informed that he would be Santa's supply chain manager, rushed over to the delivery. He was practically radiating energy as he started inspecting the frame.
It was not surprising to see his reaction. This was the only intact Gekka known to not be in JLF hands. Britannia had never had a chance to even figure out who designed it, much less how advanced it actually was. Even though this one was quite old, probably an early Isshiki, it could still reveal a lot about the more current versions.
"Umm, Lloyd, let me get it out of there before you start trying to take it apart." Suzaku hit the Lancelot's external speakers as he gripped the hip slash harkens with the frame's hands.
"Oh, right, right. Do make it quick though. I've waited long enough for this."
Suzaku crouched the Lancelot down, slowly moving into the shipping container and gently anchoring the tethers on the idle knightmare. After removing the sword from in front of the unit, he slowly began to pull it out. A few seconds later, the Gekka was free of the container.
As Lloyd ran over to fawn over the machine, a few of the others went to start moving the included munitions to a more secure location. It certainly wouldn't do to have several hundred unsecured light cannon rounds sitting on school property.
"Quite different from anything we have, isn't it?" Euphemia commented as she came up next to Cecile.
"Indeed. I've heard the stories of Rakshata Chawla from Lloyd. They studied together back in the mainland, although on different paths. She was in the field of medical cybernetics, not weapons development."
"Medical cybernetics? I suppose there could be some crossover there. After all, if you can create a mechanical limb good enough to match a natural one, the same principles could be applied to knightmare frames." Euphemia wondered how the internals of the Gekka differed from Britannian knightmare frames.
"I'm sure Lloyd will have every secret that unit possesses within a few days. We have precious little information on the JLF's Gekka series, but we do know that they outperform Sutherlands. Even that beat up, old Gekka will give Lloyd everything he needs to unlock their secrets. Despite all his social quirks, there is not a better engineer in the world."
Jeremiah Gottwald resisted the urge to grin. Exactly as planned, he met Clovis down in the lower levels of building. As they made their way to the private elevator that would bring them up to the floor containing Clovis' private office, he send a short message to alert the special guests waiting within.
The ride up was nothing out of the ordinary. Jeremiah played along with the Viceroy, who had plenty of things to ask him, but refused to discuss the investigation outside of rooms he knew were completely secure. This elevator, although his own private lift through the building, was not among his list of such locations. After the disaster being the assault on the labs, the prince was not willing to take any chance of a leak, no matter how tiny.
When upward momentum stopped, the door dinged as it opened, revealing the hallway to the office. A few short seconds passed as they walked to the double doors before them. Jeremiah, acting as the ever loyal subject he was supposed to be, kindly opened the doors for Clovis, who proceeded to step into the room.
The inside of the office appeared exactly as he left it, with one exception. The large chair behind the desk was turned around, with the back facing the door. Clovis, however, did not immediately notice such a small detail. He took a few steps into the room, only for Jeremiah to close and lock the doors behind him. He did not realize anything was wrong until that chair began to turn around.
Sitting in his chair, at his desk, swirling a glass of his wine, was the one woman he would never have expected to see here. The immortal witch locked eyes with him, a sinister smile upon her lips.
"This is quite the exquisite collection you have here. Although, I expect that you would have nothing less than the best, Clovis la Britannia."
"You! What? How?" Clovis was so thoroughly stunned at the idea that she would somehow manage to turn up here, completely undetected, that forming sentences was a feat temporarily placed beyond his abilities. CC simply grinned and took another sip of the delicious red liquid swirling around in her glass.
"Shouldn't you be praising Jeremiah for a job well done? After all, he did return me to your presence." She poured a new glass and motioned for him to come get it. Jeremiah did, and the betrayal began to hit Clovis as one of his most trusted agents stood in the same field of view beside his number one target.
He had not anticipated this turn of events in the slightest, and was left with no backup plans. It simply made no sense to the Viceroy. Jeremiah Gottwald had always been truly loyal to the royal family, and he had proven it time and again. What the hell could that witch offer him that would allow him to turn against everything he stood for?
"You're working for her?" He asked as calmly as he could. The wave of panic started to subside as reality set in.
"Not really." Jeremiah answered, throwing Clovis's line of thought for a whirl. He had expected that Jeremiah had been seduced, either literally, figuratively, or both, by CC. Therefore, that answer made no sense. How could he not be?
"Truthfully, Clovis, Jeremiah barely knows me. He and I simply share a common loyalty, to someone so far your superior that merely her shadow could devour you."
A third party? Someone entirely unknown to him had orchestrated this? How? They would have to be powerful enough to discover the inner workings of his secret research operation, have access to first rate special forces, and persuade Jeremiah to betray him. It made more sense now. Jeremiah could betray him without compromising himself if he did so in favor of a more powerful member of the royal family. Knowing that this person was female left only one name.
"Guinevere? What did that bitch promise you?" Shock had been replaced by anger at this point. Guinevere su Britannia had been making moves recently, very big moves. Powerful nobles, military commanders, business deals that left her or her agents in control of immense manufacturing capabilities. Now she wanted the supernatural as well? Was there no end to her greed?
CC, upon hearing those words, fell into a state of uncontrolled laughter so intense that she nearly spilled her wine.
"Guinevere? That little girl that thinks she can rule the world? All she knows how to do is plot and scheme. There's no follow up, no real power in her. She expects that everyone will just bow their heads and reduce their vocabularies to 'Yes, Mistress.'
No, Clovis. I answer to someone so great, so worthy of ruling this planet, that the royal family is just going to be a speed bump on her path to ascension. Even worse, she's been standing right behind you this entire time." CC finished with a predatory smirk. You Lose, it said, more effectively than words ever could.
Clovis slowly turned around, unsure of who he would see. Leaning against the wall beside one of the room's 30 cm thick reinforced windows, was a student. At least, that's what the Ashford Academy uniform told him. He had seen Euphemia wearing one enough times to know he was not looking at a fake.
Violet eyes stared back at him, reaching into his soul. Clovis stared unblinking for five seconds, his mind trying to decrypt the unnerving familiarity. On the sixth, it finally hit him, and he knew whose presence he was in.
Reaper 1-3 double checked his weapon. 1-1 had just received confirmation from Phantom that the target was en route and the operation was cleared to proceed. Along with Reaper 1-4, they were armed with 20mm anti material rifles. Absurdly powerful for most applications, these weapons were one of the only handheld rifle designs that could reliably damage knightmare frames.
They would be critical in the coming minutes, as without their covering fire, team two would likely be cut to pieces by the Sutherlands they were expecting to be escorting the target. Stationed nearly two kilometers away in a well prepared elevated firing position, Reaper 1-3 and 1-4 would be able to get nearly a dozen shots off before they would have to exfil.
Down at the operation point, the second half of Luna's Reapers waited to strike. Having long since finished their preparations the night before, their role would be to spring the trap, directly engaging the enemy only if necessary to accomplish the mission.
"Reaper 2-2 to all elements, target in sight, following predicted route. Force composition is as follows: Four Sutherlands bracketing a column of three identical limousines. Primary target is the black limo at the center of the formation." The team's forward scout informed the rest over a secure channel. He was in a prime position to observe, and crucially, give enough notice if anything appeared to be wrong.
"1-1 Acknowledging. Everything is going exactly as Phantom predicted it would. No alterations necessary. Execute as planned." The team leader smiled behind his mask as the report came in. It was exactly what he wanted to hear. "
On the ground, the target drew ever closer to death. Because this was not a publically announced military convoy, there was no order to have local police clear the streets in advance of their arrival. In a situation such as this, speed and surprise were meant to be the best defense against any potential attack. Of course, this methodology failed spectacularly if the attacking force had reliable inside information.
The convoy entered the engagement zone, and Reaper 1-1 gave the order to execute. On command, two car bombs went off as soon as the lead Sutherlands came alongside them. These were primarily for shock and awe, as it was simply not enough explosive power to render Sutherlands combat ineffective. Which is precisely why team one opened fire simultaneously, destroying the knightmares' fact spheres with their first set of shots, and striking their assault weapons with the second set.
The attack forced all the vehicles to stop, their way forward cut off by the explosions and crippled knightmare frames. Expecting a followup attack, the doors on limos 1 and 3 opened, with Britannian troops quickly moving to take defensive positions. This was typical of what a Blood of the Samurai attack would look like. They would strike with explosives or rocket fire followed up by a close range infantry attack to exploit the chaos.
Blue infantry barely finished getting out of their vehicles when a second set of car bombs detonated behind the formation. These only did minor damage to the rear pair of Sutherlands, but it was also followed up with another set of rapid heavy AM rifle shots to critical components. More importantly, it cut off the logical route of retreat with a wall of fire and twisted metal.
Unfortunately for the Britannians present, this was not a real Blood of the Samurai terrorist attack. Therefore, there would be no follow up gun and grenade attack by infantry in the surrounding buildings. Instead, there was a garbage collection truck parked on the side of the road. Inside this particular, ordinary looking vehicle, was a deadly surprise.
With the front and back cut off, the Britannian targets were trapped in front of what was essentially a giant Claymore mine. Ten thousand ball bearings backed up with 500 kilograms of C4 explosives responded to the signal given by Reaper 2-1. The explosives triggered, and the weapon detonated with apocalyptic power. All of the target limousines ceased to exist in a fraction of a second. The entire street was destroyed, including the target and all of his guards. There would likely be no bodies to identify once the smoke and dust cleared.
Within minutes, they opened up computers and began posting on a list of sites, claiming responsibility for the attack as members of BOTS. As they did, Reaper 1-1 sent a reply to Phantom, indicating that the operation was a complete success.
Clovis was pulled away from the revelation about the girl standing before him by an event violent enough to be felt half way across the city. The explosions and subsequently rising columns of smoke were clearly visible from the window beside them. Of all the things to make this cataclysmically bad day worse, terrorists just had to add a bombing.
"Right on time." She spoke, more toward the blast than toward Clovis. "I don't suppose that Bartley Asprius managed to figure out a way to duplicate immortality, did he? If so, I probably should have ordered a few hundred more kilograms of explosives."
"Bartley is dead?" Clovis asked dully. Luna figured he was probably at shock saturation already. A shame, really. After all, despite all of his blunders, Bartley had been one of the prince's oldest and most loyal supporters. Losing him should have generated more of a reaction than a weak sounding three word question.
"Of course. I have no use for that incompetent, oversized cockroach. Since his services were not required, and he is stubbornly loyal to you, it was not worth the trouble to keep him around. I'm sure Kusakabe will appreciate the credit.
"Kusakabe? What do the Blood of the Samurai have to do with that operation?" Jeremiah wondered, this being the first he had heard of it. Luna hated them, that was beyond certain, so how was that barbarian involved?
"I had my Reapers dress up the assassination to look enough like a Blood of the Samurai attack that few, if any, will question it when I make it appear as if his goons were the ambushers." She explained.
Clovis simply stood there in shock as he tried to process the events of the last ten minutes. Jeremiah had betrayed him, Luna was alive, CC was allied with them, and now Bartley was supposedly dead. He truly had nothing left. There was no emergency plan or secret assets to rely on. He was thoroughly and utterly beaten. There were no words to be found as the three simply conversed as if he were already dead.
"Oh how devious, Lulu. I wonder if Kusakabe has enough intelligence to realize that you've called him out." CC added in.
"I would certainly hope so. Even he must realize that it is not an everyday occurrence that he is given the credit when a Britannian general is assassinated in a perfectly executed strike that none of his men performed. Of course, being the savage brute that he is, he may just see it as an unexpected windfall and miss the subtlety behind the move entirely." Luna explained. "That would be...disappointing, to say the least."
"Why...why are you doing this to me?" Clovis finally managed to ask. If anyone had told him yesterday that Luna vi Britannia would return from the grave as an enemy powerful enough to crush him in less than a half hour, he would have had the fool permanently removed from his presence post haste. Now? It was as if his office has become the confluence of all his nightmares.
"Tell me, Clovis la Britannia, do you know what nemesis means?" She asked in a cold, terrifying tone.
"Luna…"
"Nunnally is dead, murdered by your girlfriend." Nunnally was actually dead? Clovis half fell, half sat down against the wall. He looked up at his formerly dead sister, who was now staring down at him. "The building my sister was in took a direct hit from a Jackhammer missile. Given that it was one of the first shots of the war, they likely launched it on her orders. She may be dead, but you're not."
"I didn't kill Nunnally!" Clovis yelled. There was no chance he was going to accept being blamed for the death of his little sister. The sheer insanity of the idea was enough to break the stun he was locked in.
"Not intentionally. However, no real efforts were made to ensure our safety. We were, for all true intents and purposes, left to die in the invasion. Either to clean up loose ends from my mother's assassination, or to act as martyrs to paint the Japanese as savage barbarians."
"Cornelia tried to save you! She sent hundreds of her men to their deaths just to figure out where you were."
"Honestly, at the time, I wasn't sure if they were a trap or not. The thought crossed my mind more than once that she may have given them orders to rescue us instead of capture us simply because they would be more motivated to do so. Regardless, Nunnally was dead before they appeared, therefore if they truly were sent to rescue us, they failed in their mission before they even left their aircraft."
"And so you blame me for it? I had no real say in how the military conducted the invasion. I swear I had nothing to do with it."
"I know, Clovis. It would be a stretch to lay the blame for my sister's death upon you. However, there are things I can blame you for, things far worse than Nunnally's quick death." Clovis felt cold, as if her voice was chilling the air around him.
Rakshata Chawla nearly dropped her oh so precious pipe as she entered the JLF's titanic underground facility beneath the rugged terrain of Hokkaido. More specifically, a fifteen hundred meter long cavern housing the largest single construction project she had ever seen.
It actually took her a few seconds to realize she was looking at the hull of a ship, which when completed would be without question the largest ever. There were few things truly awe inspiring to the Indian genius, but this unborn monstrosity easily made the top half of her list.
"How exactly do you plan to get that thing to the sea, if you're constructing it underground?" Rakshata turned and asked the JLF major giving her the tour of the facilities.
"If that ship ever touches the sea, something has gone quite wrong." Rakshata felt a jolt down her spine, fully understanding the implications of his words. She looked over the port side of the nearly finished hull, watching as teams of knightmare frames, the Gekka units made from modifying her original design, worked to install an enormous magnetic cannon. It was odd, however. They were installing it in a location that would be flooded with seawater, unless...
"An airship? I didn't think current Float Systems were good enough to lift something of that size." The unfinished ship in an instant made it all the way to the top of the list.
"The technology in our systems is improved from what Britannia employs. Right now, the vessel is attached to the base power system, which can provide more than enough to test the engines. 27% is the minimum power necessary to get the hull off the ground and maintain a hover. We expect that to increase to 35% once all systems and weapons are installed." He continued to explain, making the incredible scale of the thing sound so ordinary.
"So what is it that you need to finish it?"
"The actual powerplant. The ship will be run on energy generated by a network of five nuclear fission reactors. We have already proven that the technology works, however we lack the expertise necessary to complete the system to the quality that the design demands."
"I'm sure that I can help, but I cannot claim that nuclear physics is my strongest field." That was an odd request. The Japanese obviously knew what they were doing, so there was no way she should have been their first choice for this task.
"The design issues we need to solve are practical engineering problems, not theoretical physics. Our own teams have been working on the technology since before we even began to construct the hull. We created a scale model from a treasure trove of theoretical research obtained from an undisclosed source. The test reactor actually performs slightly better than expected." He explained as Rakshata took another puff from the long pipe.
"Well that's reassuring. It would have been quite foolish to construct this thing if you without a guarantee that you could power it."
"Don't worry Dr. Chawla, you'll get to familiarize yourself with the technology by building a smaller scale reactor before constructing the ship scale versions."
"What will it power?" She asked, the JLF officer responded by handing her his tablet. On the screen was something amazing. A knightmare frame design took her thoughts away from everything else, even the giant airship hull. It was an incredible, and ambitious frame, which if constructed would likely be worth calling the first eighth generation unit.
"That is the design for what we are calling Project Harbinger. Its intended function is to act as a command and control unit with extensive ranged combat capabilities both on land and in the air. The design is unique in that will feature a revolving energy filler system, recharged internally by a compact fission reactor."
"Who designed it? It does not seem like Lloyd's work, yet it has striking similarities to both his and my own styles. This knightmare is a monstrosity; equal parts brilliant and terrifying." Rakshata marvelled at the advanced knightmare frame on the screen that was practically begging her to be born into the world. What gave her chills was not the machine itself, but minor design elements incorporated throughout it. It was as if she had a child with Lloyd Asplund. An abomination, yet so beautifully advanced and powerful. Rakshata knew that Lloyd himself could not have done this, for he was far too particular to just apply her methodology himself.
An unknown variable. It had to be someone else, someone that knew the work thought processes of each of them intimately. No names immediately came to mind, at least no names that could produce such a masterpiece of a design.
"I do not actually know."
"Hmm? You have what is likely most advanced knightmare frame design in the world, and you don't know who produced it?"
"Allow me to clarify. All I know is that Project Harbinger was created and designed by Phantom. She is a substantial benefactor of the JLF, and most of what you see here is the result of her ideas and financial backing. While everyone in the JLF knows the of existence of Phantom, supposedly only Colonel Tohdoh, the Four Holy Swords, and General Katase himself know her true identity."
"Mystery seems to be a recurring theme with you Japanese. I suppose it's intentional though? Someone, perhaps this Phantom, must know I would be too curious to turn away. " The displaced scientist felt a sudden urge to meet this person, this fellow woman, if the JLF man was to be believed, and certainly a fellow genius from the designs in her hand.
"How about the millions dead? Or the tens of millions more living in crushing poverty or pseudo slavery under your rule? You're a terrible governor, Clovis, and as such I can most certainly blame you for their suffering. The Japanese people deserve much better than this nightmarish existence they are forced to endure." He could feel the malice in her words.
"But… the Emperor's orders were…" He tried to begin, but Luna would have none of it. The very mention of that man served as a fresh injection of rage. The things he had done were simply not forgivable. Although it was true that Lelouch had unleashed untold horrors upon the world as the Demon Emperor, it was with noble intent. Charles zi Britannia had attempted to destroy the very foundations of what it meant to be human, all in a mad pursuit of perfection.
She had often wondered if it were the same in this world. There were enough differences that it was not inconceivable, but from a distance it appeared that nothing had changed with the man. He was still the brutal racist darwinian overlord she remembered him as.
"Fuck the Emperor." She silenced him with conviction. "Is he here, holding your hand and micromanaging your every move? I don't think so. His delusions are on the other side of the Pacific. My opinion of the man has not changed since the day I marched into the throne room.
Although, I suppose you can thank him for your continued survival. The only reason I'm not going to just kill the entire colonial government, you included, and take over directly is that it keeps the Federation in check. The Chinese are afraid of what he would do if they tried to invade while Britannian flags still flew over Tokyo. They won't move so long as this remains imperial territory."
Across the room, Jeremiah watched the exchange with fascination. It was a stroke of brilliance to rebel without actually rebelling. The knight could not help but imagine that this was what she had in mind for the former Japanese government. They certainly would not have accepted the direct rule of a ten year old Britannian Princess. However, if she made a puppet out of the government, she could have made it work. From what he knew, it had almost become a reality, stopped only by the invasion.
The same strategy was unfolding before his eyes. Luna vi Britannia was angry at the empire, she had every right to be considering what happened to her and Nunnally. But by subverting Pendragon's control without actually trying to overthrow the government, there was little that even the Emperor could openly do to stop her. By the time anyone on the mainland discovered the extent of her takeover, she could entrench her power base to the point that attempting to dislodge her could cause an actual rebellion.
There was also the fact that there was no better way to return from death and exile than hijacking an Area. A bold move indeed.
As Luna and Clovis continued their fairly one sided exchange, it became clear to Jeremiah that the invasion and subsequent destructive transformation of Japan had left a permanent imprint on her. Her rage against the Emperor and the Britannian establishment, he expected. What Jeremiah did not anticipate was how vehemently pro Japanese she really had become.
He made a mental note to keep his own behavior in check. As the leader of the Purist Faction, he had done his fair share of brutal and terrible things to the Elevens. That had fallen off a bit after he handed leadership over to Lord Kewell, but his reputation endured. If anything, he understood Luna's reaction during their meeting in the Yellow Flag a bit better now. She must have automatically assumed that he had hurt her Japanese friend.
Jeremiah internally decided that he would have to change himself. It would do no good to view the regard the natives as weak, near subhumans when it was obvious that the princess he had sworn himself to felt the opposite.
"I am the Viceroy now." Luna concluded her invective tirade. Clovis quivered from his position on the floor. What was he supposed to counter with? Everything she had accused him of was true, even if he was supposed to be above it given his position and rank.
"He really is about to piss himself, Lulu." CC commented from behind the desk. Three empty bottles stood beside her, with a fourth freshly opened. "You should take a break and let me have some fun with him."
"All in due time, love." She returned, smiling that her victory was as certain as could be. Clovis was a wreck that probably had not even managed to process the fact that his dead sister had just pulled the most perfect coup on him. "You know, Clovis, there is still a way you can come out of this in one piece."
Clovis perked up slightly, even the idea of a way to save himself being irresistible bait.
"What...do I have to do?"
"Be my puppet viceroy. I will rule these islands by proxy, and if you do your job well enough, perhaps there can be a future for you yet." Luna turned and looked back out of the window. "The alternative, if you refuse or disobey, is worse than death." She glanced over at the witch behind the desk. "You get to spend your nights at the mercy of CC, and I can barely imagine what she wants to do to you."
Rakshata and her team quickly got to work on their new projects for their new employers. The JLF had been exceedingly generous, and that trend continued with the resources she had been provided. Unlike the groups in India, they did not hand her a pile of scrap metal and ask when the Aircraft Carrier would be finished.
In addition to the raw materials and state of the art tools and machinery, Five unarmed Burai knightmare frames had been provided to assist. It was a welcome sight that would definitely speed up progress.
As the JLF expected, Project Harbinger would be the Indian genius's first contribution. They got to work constructing the component parts that would make up the amazing machine. A few minor improvements were incorporated along the way with knowledge and experience gained designing and building 7th generation high performance frames such as the Guren series.
The power core would be quite the challenge. Nuclear Fission technology was an entirely new field from an engineering perspective. Designing and building such a reactor was vastly different from making a fusion device. Although nobody had ever managed to get net positive energy out of nuclear fusion, the technology had been around for over twenty years. Splitting atoms was far more dangerous, and explosive, if mistakes were made.
Part of her was glad that nobody had tried anything this crazy twenty years ago. Even with advanced technology, some of it her own, Rakshata was not particularly excited with the idea of using atomic fission as an energy source. The downsides almost outweighed the enormous energy potential. Containment of deadly radiation, buildup of radioactive waste products, and the prospect of poisoning a wide area for decades if the reactor core were destroyed in combat.
Even so, it was the only available option to power the weapons the JLF wanted to build. They were expected to be so power hungry in combat that even the most efficient energy storage systems used in Britannian airships would not be sufficient. After all, it did not matter how good the weapons and tech were if the whole thing fell out of the sky when the batteries ran out. This dirty solution would put the Japanese ahead of the Britannians, who had not yet developed a practical power generator to be mounted on a combat airship.
Putting such a reactor inside a knightmare frame was overkill, at least she thought so until she got into the specifics of what it was supposed to be armed with. The Japanese energy solution for the design was excellent, and building it would likely provide answers to problems with the airship reactors.
As she got into the thick of it, she began to wonder if the JLF would want to explore the second route this technology could take them on. It was obvious to anyone with even a basic understanding of the physics at work that an uncontrolled fission chain reaction would release so much energy that any modern explosive weapon would look laughably weak by comparison.
A few quick calculations showed that with the materials available on hand, she could build a bomb that theoretically would explode with energy of quadrillions of joules upon detonation. It would be as if the target area was hit with the hammer of an angry god. It made her shiver to think what Britannia would do with such a weapon. Or even what the Japanese would do with that power against the empire that conquered them. Millions would die, no matter who got it first. So why not build it before they did?
It was late in the afternoon when it was announced that Viceroy Clovis would be making an announcement. It was not a pre planned event, and nobody really knew what he would be speaking about. They were simply informed that the Viceroy had an announcement to make at 1930 hours.
In the two hours leading up to the start of the broadcast, speculation ran wild. What would he be addressing? A response to the terrorist bombings that occurred earlier in the day?
When it finally came, it was strange beyond expectation. The media people, that knew this kind of Clovis, who had always been known for his uncaring view of the Elevens, gave a passionate speech in which he announced a set of uncharacteristic pro Japanese legislation had been drafted and soon would come into effect.
Among the completely unexpected measures to be swiftly implemented, checks on police powers to hold arrested Elevens without charges, incentives for construction companies to repair utilities in the ghettos, and an announcement that Clovisland would be opened to all, Elevens included, with admission fees slashed in half for the foreseeable future.
However, in the same speech, he made a declaration that could only be interpreted as the intention to wage total war upon the Blood of the Samurai. The assassination of General Bartley was apparently the last straw, according to the news analysts trying to make sense of it all.
A full military mobilization would be underway by the next morning, and the fury of the Britannian war machine would be unleashed upon the Blood of the Samurai. This half of the Viceroy's speech was more in line with with something the Emperor would deliver; a declaration that the terrorists were inhuman barbarians to be exterminated without mercy. And so it was, that Clovis told Kusakabe that he and all who followed him would be annihilated to the last, the last man, the last child if necessary. Britannia would hit them with might and power feared the world over.