Dark Prince Chapter 37, a code geass fanfic

Chapter 37

Dark Prince

Helltanz's notes: Well not much I can do really until the invasion starts I've got about thirty pages of disjointed notes in regards to that.

Okay to clarify Suzaku's knighthood isn't pissing Lelouch off, it did annoy Cornelia to have her 'darling sister Euphie' appoint the special corps guinea pig Eleven pilot. Lelouch is more annoyed at the fact everything is starting to go downhill, considering it seems likely some one in Kyoto is working against him, plus the Invasion of Kyoto that is drawing close.

Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass.

Chapter begin

"The Day was August tenth, of the year two thousand ten of the imperial calendar the Holy Britannian Empire had just declared war up on Japan. Confronted by Britanian's newest weapon the formidable Knight Mare Frame Japan fell to its enemy in less than a month the conquered nation was stripped of its freedom, its rights, its culture, its dignity, and finally even its name was taken away. Eleven the name of Japan and its people was replaced with a mere number."

Right now they really couldn't do much other than wait, all of them it was not simply just the Black Knights who were unable to act either, Kyoto and Britannia could ill afford further losses as they knew what was coming.

Cornelia was still annoyed though considering Euphemia had gotten a hold of one of those damn pictures apparently as some manner of counter to Cornelia's complaints about Suzaku, he would surmise. Lelouch wasn't sure if he should be making any further appearances any time soon that would just be inviting trouble.

"Lelouch,"

The prince craned his head to glance at the Britannian Major, and Euphemia's new knight, goodness that would take some getting used to, "Suzaku I have to congratulate you for pissing off every traditionalist and racist bigot in the entire whole of Area 11," he remarked stifling a laugh spotting the dirty looks from the usual trio of troublemaker students. "Right now however probably isn't the best time,"
"I disagree, can we speak privately,"
With a shrug the leader of the black knights stood, "Fine, fine, the roof should still be open right now,"

As expected the area was clear of any one else, so it was fairly secure place to hold a conversation.

He glanced around the area of the campus, right now Suzaku wasn't the only one people were gossiping about, but it was the main subject.

"Lelouch I have to know what exactly is your relationship with the Black Knights? Why are you affiliated with people like them?
How foolishly naïve, it seemed he had yet to change. "Suzaku quite foolish of you this world is corrupt, it is not simply Britannian under Charles that can not be changed from within. The whole world is at the Sanguine Abyss, this whole world may well soon dissolve into war, no its only a matter of time. As to the Black Knights Cornelia hasn't told you I am their sire, the Black Knights were born from my thoughts and actions I created the Black Knights." He stated.

"But…" This response seemed to have not been one that Suzaku had expected to come from the dark prince's mouth. "How is that? Viceroy Cornelia is aware of this?" He asked just as surprised by that statement.

Lelouch wanted to laugh, "Oh she knows, and yes she doesn't like you much right now after the little debacle with Euphemia. For all her skill as a general she has been exposed quite a bit to the policies in regards to numbers." He shrugged noncommittally, "I can't really say I can fault her for after this is the fault of the corruption, its impossible to change something so ingrained from the inside, not realistically at least."

"I disagree Lelouch," Suzaku protested, he didn't really seem to care about Cornelia's slightly racist beliefs, "what your doing is the wrong way."

Sighing the dark prince didn't make for an immediate response, "Suzaku short of the extremely unlikely route of Euphemia becoming Empress the change and betterment your proposing cannot be accomplished with your passive method." His idealism was never to achieve anything at the current state of the world, neither did the eleventh prince delude himself into thinking Suzaku could with that view of change that he could join the Black Knights. Even while childhood friends the path they would walk differed, perhaps they could work together perhaps not. "Don't antagonize Cornelia further, she's already pretty irate over the situations as they stand,"
"But I," He spluttered in surprise, "I haven't done anything to provoke the Viceroy to be angry with me," Euphemia's knight protested,

Lelouch might have been tempted to point that was not the most fair of people, something that Suzaku seemed to be failing to grasp. "First of all your not really well lets put it this way Euphemia's choice of knights raises issues, admittedly though you are more than skilled enough in a Knightmare, but a Royal Knight typically also has command responsibilities to address as well, look at Guildford." He stated neutrally, the dark prince had no intention of mentioning that his elder sister the first princess's choice of a knight was perhaps even worse than Euphemia's decision, in both his and Cornelia's mind. "Its not to say your unsuited it is her choice who she appoints but Cornelia at least was expecting to be consulted on the matter, it'd be like me getting married and not telling you about it."

"Wait? What?"
The dark prince sighed, "Perhaps a bad analogy. What I mean to say is Cornelia isn't exactly pleased by Euphemia's-" He stopped mid sentence and marched purposefully toward the door and wrenched it open, "Shit," Lelouch groaned as two people ran off down the stairs. His cell phone picked now of all times to ring as well, "Oh dear this is going to be unpleasant." They couldn't have been there long but still this was still going to be a troublesome mess even if all they heard was the constant references to Euphemia and Cornelia.

The music at the club, which one of several fronts for the Black Knights both as an economic venue and meeting location as well as a place to crash, had reached absurdly throbbing levels in volume.

Luckily for Lelouch's hearing the private box he was currently occupying was thoroughly sound proofed. He grumbled somewhat annoyed at the impromptu meeting, especially considering the events at Ashford, with Oliver, who was the proprietor of the club and also one of the Black Knights Thorian chain of command for him to arrange this so suddenly after whatever had been said with one of his contacts was well quite a surprise, especially considering the steadily decreasing amount of time until the Chinese Invasion.

Everyone was supposed to be working together though that had as of late proven to indeed not to be the case.

"Heard about the issue with the Six Royal Houses of Kyoto," Ollie commented as he settled into the booth., "Well if there coordinating with the Chinese their being bloody good at concealing that kind of activity." He paused to have a sip of his fruity drink, "no communications that we can discern originating from Kyoto or the Chinese Federation least not through any of the outlets were watching." That was somewhat better news, when compared to recent circumstances. "However our infiltrators have traces increasing shipments of supplies and intelligence broadcasts to the radical forces."
The dark prince nodded so perhaps they weren't helping the Chinese Federation, however confirming the supply routes proved the interactions between members of Kyoto and the nationalists who had become such a problem.

In any case the movements were hampering preparations for invasion. Not simply because of the risk of loosing critical assets but the chance the radicals would affect a coup after the invasion against the Chinese Federation depleted the forces of the more moderate forces, and obviously those of Britannia.

Unfortunately that could be a problem, Geass was one solution but unlikely to work given the fanaticism of the enemy, and the fact he wasn't sure how reliable his Geass would be in the near future.

Also at present they didn't have the resources to destroy this threat and wouldn't until around a week or two before the New Year.

What they needed was an utterly decisive win against the Chinese Federation more than that they needed a colossal show of force such that it would make the terrorists put their plans on hold.

Unfortunately, Lelouch was running out of aces to play only recently had the Ashford family gotten back on its feet and resumed manufacturing Knightmares rather they were producing currently RPI 13 Es. Britannia's fifth generation was not as good as it had once been on the battlefield. The RPI 203 Gloucester, 603 Manchester, and 999 Edinburgh all broke the numbering order yes that was true but they were all significant pieces. What Britannia needed however was a mass produced frame which could be built upon the successes of the Sutherland not a hard thing to do as he had already discussed this with varying parties.

In consideration of this task the RPI 15 Sutherland II, as the development project was tentatively being called, incorporated much of the same vein of improvements as the original Sutherland included over the Glasgow.

Though it was really nothing more than a stop gap measure something that could be thrown into production. The machine would be slightly better fit though the major critical flaws of the preceding model wouldn't be addressed; range.

However it would by them time to build a better mass production Knightmare, which would hopefully be even the odds against the final production type Panzer Hummel. At range the machines would devastate Britannia's more close quarter battle types and close range it would really depend on skill.

Whatever the case was the EU were meeting up and massing their forces for an offensive both sides were right now pouring Knightmares into Africa where the majority of the fighting was taking place at present.

North Africa was a war zone in the entirety, the open landscape was given the EU an advantage with the range of their Knightmares however both sides were pressing, feeling for any possible weakness or flaw. Neither side had found one as of yet, so even with the advantage in range and the constant conflict the European's hadn't really made any gains past the El Alamien front, not yet at least.

Suzaku's impending ceremony of knighthood raised another issue. It would have boded ill for the Black Knights in some regards, since Suzaku was a Japanese he would become a symbol of hope for what was possible. That didn't matter once the Chinese were stopped at Kyushu and their forces were refreshed and the nationalists were dealt with the land formerly known as Japan would be stable for a period…

Suzaku's so called progress of change from with in would in the end mean nothing in the grand scheme of things.

Though Diethard had even gone so far as to assassinate the honorary Britannian, not now of course, if they did it now it might alienate the populous, but say during the invasion perhaps or in the aftermath, well that would be easier.

He would have to address the matter and soon before the over zealous reporter tried to take matters into his own hands a turn of events that Lelouch found highly likely.

In any event Cornelia would likely continue to complain about the appointment, whether that was wholly just because it was Euphemia or that indeed it was because of the fact that Suzaku was a number remained to be seen.

He glanced at Oliver, "Would it be possible to track these shipments or possibly to even outright intercept them?" The dark prince asked his eyes in the low lighting of the club gleamed like a particularly vicious lion's. Not only would such an action deprive the nationalists of supplies it would add resources to the coffers of the Black Knights. "I'll be calling off Allan concerning the hunt for Katase." They had only continued just to make so they could clear up the last handful of leads but right now there were more important things to worry about than a single Japanese general, who was in all likelihood dead already.

The trip back to Ashford hadn't been any particular bother, of course it still had the typical attitude of the school. Then again the student body like most in the populous had no idea of the impending invasion.

Kallen's step mother was the typical high society wife, meaning the Dark Prince thought she acted like a stuck up bitch though in slightly more elegant language. In any event Mrs. Stadtfeld had shown at Ashford for whatever reason, which of course meant Kallen was more tense than was typical.

Millie was her typical cheery, almost ditzy outwardly self for the most part though she seemed to recognize something was up.

Shirley was continuing to act slightly strange but not in such a way that Lelouch deemed the matter urgent enough given the dwindling time until the invasion.

Rivalz apparently had been having bike troubles so he and Suzaku had been occupied with that task.

As to Kallen herself she seemed more annoyed at her step mother's impromptu showing up than anything else, though as he had noted earlier seemed tense because of the unannounced visit to the school, which was mildly surprisingly given the upcoming meeting not to mention the invasion.

Nina was still obsessing over Euphemia and hadn't changed much other than warming up to Suzaku as of late.

"So Lelouch your siblings have been over more recently," Millie remarked as if that was as normal as could be, which for the teen it in fact was not. "So is something going on that I should know about."
He continued to slouch against the column, "My secret is still intact at least for the time being, however there is a more pressing issue.

"That doesn't sound like you Lelouch," She commented in disbelief, "You've put a lot of effort in keeping your secret,"

It was true enough but the dark prince had been well aware that he would not be able to keep his identity a secret nor that he would be able to remain in Japan forever, or even in all likelihood another few years. He tapped her lips, "The Chinese Federation intends to invade the southern island of the Japanese Archipelago."

She gasped. Area 11 was a strategic location, mainly due to its large supply of easily accessible Sakuradite, while the Chinese Federation was not on particularly good terms with the EU it was not to say they were allies of Britannia by a long shot, but to invade a colony of the Empire was surprising.

Lelouch nodded confirming that he wasn't kidding. "Thus you can understand my reluctance to be concerned about my own secret," he remarked not even bothering to stand up straight,

"The family has had a lot of business lately," Millie remarked looking up towards the sky. "Princess Cornelia even paid Grandfather a visit."

Given the state of affairs in Japan such a visit wasn't really going to surprise the dark prince. "Knightmare production is important for defense, and all that." He commented with little thought, "The action will help Ashford get back in the game of the defense industry." Lelouch craned his head to look at the Knightmare frames that were defending the Tokyo settlement.

"So you're planning on leaving then?" She inquired, "You've got that I'm somewhere else look on your face," She'd know outside the royal family, well to be correct on the subject just Nunnally, Euphemia, Clovis or even Cornelia to a lesser extent, the Ashford's had been really the only real contact he had had that had been in depth, well other than those people who were tutored with him or at the Aries Villa under Marianne they had really been the only people he had known during his stay at the Palace.

Reluctantly the dark nodded, "Yes I'll be leaving Japan in a relatively short period of time probably before the new semester starts."

"…" Millie didn't really have much of a response to the announcement of his plans to at last leave Japan for what was likely going to be a while, "Don't do anything rash Lelouch," She remarked regaining some of her cheer.

The Prince didn't respond, he had no intention of doing anything that he would consider rash if he could avoid, of course some of the things he didn't consider rash would easily fall into that category of most people.

"You aren't going to do anything rash are you?" She pressed after he didn't answer her reply.

He turned away from the Knightmares, "Nothing rash," The leader of the Black Knights stated finally.

"Lelouch," She exclaimed, "You are planning something rash aren't you." The buxom blonde seemed startled at the idea.

Snorting at the idea, he answered, "I said I wasn't doing anything rash my plans are meticulously thought out with contingencies in place."

"Is that why you've got an immense war machine parked on school grounds?" She inquired with an amused smile. "Your completion of the Ganymede, that's what it is isn't it?"

That was true enough compared to most Knightmares the Merlin was rather immense with a head height that was nearly a meter taller than even the Tiger, to say nothing of the seventh generation frame's pylons, which were in fact even taller than the head. Indeed the machine was the seventh generation successor to the Ganymede piloted by the late empress Marianne.
With the completion of testing for the float system both the integrated version of the system on the Birmingham and the detachable version which had been tested on the Ector he expected the machine would even be able to use that in the battle at Kyushu not that it mattered the existing VTOL system would suffice if not.

Of course there wouldn't be enough float systems to go around, hell there wouldn't be enough of the lesser VTOL system to outfit even one of the three factions much less all of them, and Lelouch was aware of that but it didn't matter the deployment of the system in the upcoming invasion would be used for tactical response to changing situations on the battlefield and that was the goal greater tactical flexibility.

Lelouch stood up straight, "You could say that is true on both counts the Merlin is the completion of the Ganymede, and yes I have the machine here as a contingency in the event of an attack." He stated. "How are things with Lloyd going, I know the man is a tad eccentric?"

"Hmm," Millie smiled deviously and took a few steps backward. "Oh things are alright he admits that he is strange though, its not the best but he's better than the previous suitors mother attempted to pair me up with. Say why don't I go show Nina your big toy?" She remarked before running off.

The prince blinked, "Millie! That's not funny in the slightest." He shouted before with a grumble setting off after her. This was all that he needed especially with the final meetings coming up the one in Hokaido for the Black Knights and then the impromptu meeting with Cornelia in the settlement.

Final preparations were pretty much on schedule and probability was in their favor in regards to fighting off the Chinese Federation and kicking them out of Japan but percentages and pulling it off were two totally different things, after all the probability really relied on the assumption of good coordination and cooperation between the 'three' members of the anti invasion coalition.

In the event they did manage to decisively defeat the Chinese Invasion force there was also the issue of the Nationalists and the potential chance they would attempt something in the aftermath before the forces could be repaired.

Right now the Black Knights operating overseas in combat couldn't afford to be weakened number or supply wise especially with the chance of another front opening up in the near future along Arabia.
On the up sides after the Chinese were repulsed it would be easier to put into place his plans to distract the superpower with an uprising, Project Yellow Turban as he was calling it after Millie's favorite work of literature, of course his intention was for the rebellion to fail but its success wasn't the point.

Hopefully the blonde wouldn't decide to spring any surprises on him in an attempt to get him to lighten up or relax.

Chapter conclusion

Helltanz's notes I'm tempted to blow off the Island of God but I might use the Geass ruins later, GAHHH I don't know is sleepy now, anyway the next update will definitely be after Christmas the only reason I got this up was due to needing to address the confusion over the last chapter.