Alright then, I'm finally going to introduce a villain that I've been dreading ever since I started writing this but dammit, he is a threat that must be addressed. This chapter will be the big screen debut of V.V. the little prick deserves the chance to cause some mayhem(Though the actual scene will be a small one, the reason of which will be explained in the post chapter notes). Also, I'm going to try and do a slow burn for whatever Shirley goes with in relations to her growing feelings for the banished prince so be prepared for that. I'm also going to try and fit in some screen time for Kaya and what she's been up to all these mouths.
Chapter 21: V.V. Debut
28th September 2020 a.t.b./3 9688 BBY:
Unknown Region:
Milky Way Galaxy:
Earth/Sol-3:
Area 11:
Tokyo Settlement:
Lamperouge Residence:
'Hello again C.C. It's been a while since the last time we spoke.' C.C heard a familiar voice in her head as she sat and watched some TV.
'Some mouths yes but it's not like it really matters to me, what do you want?' C.C thought back as she flipped through the channels trying to find something good to watch.
'Come now C.C, there's no need to be rude, couldn't I just have called to talk, nothing more?' Marianne asked her, sounding offended but C.C had been alive long enough to know bull when she heard it.
'Like I believe that, you and I both know we only talk when there's something we want to know.' C.C rebuked as she got up and went to get some pizza from the fridge. She would have been worried about of the three homeowners hearing her if they were present. At that moment, all three were out.
'We are the same in that regard, old friend. So…what's been going on with you?' Marianne asked her, not even acknowledging the fact she just wanted information.
'Not much, they don't really tell me much outside what I need to know but I hear them talking every now and then.' C.C said as she looked through the fridge for something to eat.
'And?' The 'dead' consort pressed.
'Besides that big battle in Narita, they're already met with Kyoto and have secured support for expansion. Sounds like you kids just went to the bank to get a loan.' C.C revealed as she finally found a couple slices.
'That's…troubling, the fact they needed aid to accommodate larger numbers means that they were really on the rise in Area 11.' Marianne stated as she figured Charles would want to hear about his latest development. They thought they already had Kyoto's backing, how else would they have access to their equipment.
'No kidding, I was able to get a look at Lelouch's computer, they have over 6,000 active combat personal alone. They've really made it big for themselves.' C.C added as she put the cold pizza onto a plate and moved to the microwave.
'Over 6,000! OSI was only able to find out they had around 3,400!' Oh C.C had a feeling heads in the OSI were going to role for this one. 'Where are they getting all those people...You what? Never-mind.' Marianne started but stopped when she remembered that a good portion of elevens hated their collective guts.
'Yeah, I heard him talking to Suzaku about that. It appears that they are smart enough to have reserve forces, right now they have only 2,000 of those personal active.' At least that was some good news, but still…
'So Nelly doesn't even know what she's getting into?' Marianne asked her old friend.
'No she does not. Maybe you should tell her.' C.C suggested as she took the pizza out of the microwave and went back to the couch.
'Oh right, and how are we going to explain how we know this? Who would we even send? Anya is stuck in since they're still working out the bugs on her knightmare's float system.' Marianne shot down that idea.
'So they finally got around to building the Mordred. I was wondering when they project would get off the ground.' C.C commented as she had heard whispers of it during her time in the imperial court, though the original idea had long since been altered to cope with the changing times.
'Yeah well, Anya had to put her own funds into the project. But I won't be too much stock into it. The damn Hadron cannon still isn't ready. The development team is content to sit back and let Earl Asplund figure the technology out and then just ask him for help.' Marianne complained as it meant that she won't be seeing any active combat for a while. If those idiots had taken the initiative and done the work themselves, she would have been able to assist in capturing thought elevators.
'Oh yes, I heard the boys talking about him. His Lancelot is really quite something.' C.C replied, she wasn't really listening to the two boys but from their tones, she could tell they wanted to capture such a machine.
'How much do they know?' Marianne asked, wary of the answer.
'Not much, Schneizel R&D don't use the regular servers so they haven't been able to get much on it other than accounted from soldiers they kidnap.' C.C said, basically revealing that her son had already hacked into the lesser networks or otherwise bugged them.
'…You know….it this point, I'm not even surprised they kidnap people.' Marianne muttered, sounding both frustrated and tired at the latest news, kidnapping wasn't even the worse thing her son and daughter had done, in fact it was on the lesser side of their growing list of crimes against their family.
'Well he's his father son, though he'll sooner die than admit that. How's old Charles dealt with all this?' C.C said as she went back to channel flipping
'Oh he's trying….but not hard enough. He and that troll V.V still can't find out anything about how my kids are even funding any of this, let alone their supplier!' Marianne yelled in her head as she could almost feel the women walking back and forth in anger. But she did have to hand it to those two, keeping most of their secrets from both the Directorate and the OSI was no small easy feat.
'So we know an attack against them right in their own home might not go as planned. We don't know their strength, nor their funds, equipment and etc…is that about right?' C.C listed off.
'Charles was thinking of sending a geass agent after them.' Marianne stated thought C.C just laughed at the notion.
'That would be a very stupid move.' C.C replied as she paused on one channel playing an old drama.
'Explain, are they that capable?' Marianne asked her.
'I do not know but if this agent was to be responsible for the injury or death of Reyla, whose still pregnant with his child or little Alice…then I can assure you Charles will have more to worry about than a simply rebellion, the boy may very well fight his way to Pendragon to kill him on live television.' C.C bluntly explained as she could see that there was darkness in that boy's heart, going after the things that brought him joy would not end well for anybody.
'Surely you jest C.C. that would mean fighting his way through the entire Pacific theatre!' Marianne interjected, she knew her children were strong but there were limits!
'What can I say, those three have broken every other expectation on them. And don't forget we still don't know where they disappeared to for nearly a decade, we don't know who they have as allies to their cause that could help them.' C.C reminded her as that part of their lives was still a blank slate for them as C.C couldn't just up and ask them about it.
'I see…then I'll talk to Charles about cancelling the order. But we did make some progress.' Marianne revealed.
'Oh?'
'No, we had a break the other day, V.V has people going over the tanks they captured. I haven't seen the full report but those machines….they're something else.' Marianne said as she saw the same footage Charles did.
'And now we got this Chinese business to deal with. Things this side sure are going to get more interesting.' C.C said just as the news channel she flipped started to talk about the build-up of federation forces near Area 11 was an unexpected move that might be a sign for war.
'That's for sure.' Marianne agreed with her before she cut the mental connection.
(Imperial Bureau – A.S.E.E.C. Provided Research Zone)
"Lloyd."
.
.
.
"Lloyd."
.
.
.
"[sign]…Lloyd!" Cecile yelled as she finally ran out of patience. It had been over two weeks since they got back from their field studies in Narita and almost as much time since they were able to move most of the destroyed or abandoned Black Knight equipment to their specially modified floor of the Imperial Bureau. She was mad because Lloyd had been working on them near none stop since they got back.
"What, that!" The man in question yelped as he jumped up in fright before he turned and saw it was only his assistant. "Oh, Cecile, how are you this fine morning?"
"It's 3 in the afternoon sir. You've been working on that knightmare for the past 18 hours without break." Cecile flatly told him as she looked over the mono-eyed war machine and true to her words, it was the same one she saw him working on before she left the previous night.
"I have?" Lloyd blinked in confusion as he looked down at his wrist watch and sure enough, she wasn't lying. "When then, why didn't anyone tell me?"
"Uhhh….We did sir…but you didn't listen so…" One of the mechanics said as they had attempted to draw his attention but all efforts had proven fruitless.
"They left you to your devices, my orders." Cecile told him as she took a sip of her coffee to both keep her energy up and annoyance with her boss down. She called off their effort when the 8th one which involved an air horn and some chocolate pudding, failed. "Any who….Have you completed Dane Enneagram knightmare yet?"
"No I have not." Lloyd responded as he went over to his computer desk and sat down.
"And why is that? She placed the order for it over two weeks ago!" Cecile yelled at him, she was this close to smacking him over the head. You didn't just…blow off a knight of round and got away with it!
"It's because she's a knight of round that there have been delays. If she was anyone else, I'll would have just slapped an upgraded pair of servo motors on a Gloucester, given it a new OS and handed that to her." Lloyd shamelessly admitted as she started up the device and started typing some more notes.
"Ignoring the part where you wouldn't be bothered to give the client a good machine," Cecile said slowly as she messaged her forehead. "What's your plan then?"
"Welllll…I was thinking of giving her something on par with the Lancelot but we don't have the parts needed to build another one from scratch so I put in an order to have some shipped in from Area 6 but then." Lloyd explained as she knew that part. "I had the wonderful idea of seeing if I can't use some of these bits and pieces to make it even better!" And then Lloyd lost her again as he gestured over to the pile of parts that had gotten from disassembling another BK knightmare.
"So let me get this straight…" She said as she turned to face the pile of spare parts. "…You want, to use, captured but untested enemy equipment, to build the knightmare that you plan on giving to a Knight of the Round?"
"Of course I do." Lloyd answer sealed his fate.
SLAP!
"OW! Cecile, what was that for!?" Lloyd yelled as she held his red cheek. Cecile had turned around so fast he didn't have time to see it before she landed the mother of all slaps on his face, knocking him to the fall from his seat.
"For not thinking this through!" The usually calmed and collected woman yelled back at him as she pointed to the pile of spare parts. "We don't even fully understand how it works and you want to put it in the personal unit for a Knight of Round!"
"Well how else are we going to find out how it functions in combat?" Lloyd answered and asked at the same time, thought this time he was fast enough to avoid another slap.
"At ease Cecile, as much as the Earl is loose a few screws, he isn't wrong there." A new member of the conversation said out of the blue, interrupting the two just as Cecile reached for a crowbar.
"My Lord!" Cecile yelped as she dropped as weapon and immediately bowed to the approaching knight of round. She didn't question how she got in without making and sound though.
"I said at ease," Nonette repeated as she came up to them. "I already heard everything, I'm going to ignore the part about the Gloucester and skip right to what I want to hear, you say that you can use this," She asked as she pointed to a partially dismantled BK knightmare. "To design me a better knightmare?"
"Without a doubt, even if we can't use all of what we learned, the bare minimum is still quite the lovely addition to my plans." Lloyd answered her as he got back up to his feet, the slap forgotten.
'Anything that'll help me get back at that masked bastard.' Nonette thought to herself as she replayed her humiliation of a battle against their masked foe. She was powerless against him and only alive because he let her live. "See it down, I'll send you additional 35,000 pounds this afternoon but be warned…" She started but paused as her expression turned dark, making a chill go down both the scientist backs. "You better deliver my money's worth or I'll make sure the only projects your will be working on for the rest of your life…is the Ferris wheel in New York, are we clear?" She asked them, both knowing that it was not only possible for someone with her sway but also a mercy as she could easily have them arrested, a flaw in the justice system that favours the nobility which was carried over from medieval time Lloyd just realized.
"Crystal…" Lloyd answered as he gathered his wits about himself.
"Good, I'll hate for there to be a misunderstanding of some kind, have a good afternoon." Nonette responded as she dropped the dark aura to her person and gave them both a smirk before she turned on her heel and left the lad. Both waited for a couple of moments after she left before they spoke.
.
.
.
"Cecile, remind me to never cross that woman." Lloyd said as she fell back into his seat, the fear of losing his job bringing dread to his soul.
"Noted sir…"
(Imperial Bureau – Lower Levels)
"I see that things didn't go as you expected." Euphemia greeted the knight of round at the door.
"Oh no, they went as well as you expect with a mad-men being the lead scientist we have." Nonette responded as both women begun walking away from the science division level towards the elevator.
"Give him a break. He's been analysing all the wrecks we brought with all week. I can't imagine he has had any free time." Euphemia defended as they walked passed a window and could look out at the growing flower garden the pink haired princess had started.
"[sign] You're right. I cut them some slack." Nonette conceded as the two reached the elevator. "How's the investigation on your end?"
"It's…not doing so well. We keep hitting brick walls every time we think we have a lead." Euphemia answered as she breathed a sigh of had been weeks since Narita and almost all Black Knight attacks had stopped. The worse part was because they didn't know why.
"What about the terrorist activity in Shinjuku?" Nonette asked as she recalled Jeremiah mentioning it in the earlier meeting.
"Our scouts report that although they are Black Knights," Euphemia confirmed for her as the Elevator rose higher and higher. "They are only operating small medical centres and soup kitchens. Same with the other ghettos." She shot down that hope as Euphemia herself had their agents confirmed this for them. The only Black Knight activity in 7 ghettos were just efforts to assist those living there. How they got the funds and supplies to do so for hundreds of thousands of people was up for debate.
"Wait, wait," Nonette paused her as she reached for her head. "They now do soup kitchens?" She asked the sub-viceroy who nodded her head, making Nonette rub her forehead in impressed annoyance. "They really follow that Robin Hood gimmick, I'll give them that."
"Yes and as you very well know, any attack against such operations will not have my approval," Euphemia stated now as she would never stand for such a cowardly assault on people who aren't even terrorist, much less fight back. "Guilford also pointed out that such an attack would only further demonise us in the eyes of the public and international community." She gave the reason that Guilford came up with as some of than more…gun-oh members of the government wanted them to send in troops to 'inspect them'.
"Politics was something I never really understood. They can call us out for terrible living conditions when they themselves have the same living conditions for large sways of population? That's just a load of BS." Nonette commented as the elevator slowed to a stop and the door opened, allowing them to exit.
"Be that as it may," Euphemia started as they both walked out onto the 11th floor. "We don't need to raise tensions on the international stage. The federations is already planning something. We don't need the EU getting on that band wagon as well." She finished as the thought of a three way war was not something anyone wanted, such a thing could go either way because of all the unknowns.
"Is there anything else I should know about?" Nonette asked as they came to a stop in front of the knight of round's office.
"Well there is one thing that our scouts reported that seemed rather…off." Euphemia replied as she looked away in confusion.
"Oh, do tell."
"It seems that the BK have started to collect rubble from the ruined buildings in three different ghettos and shipping it somewhere." Euphemia started as she explained how their scouts spotted small trains being loaded with the debris and sent of using the old subway lines.
"Rubble? I get that the ghettos are wrecked buy where did they get the time and resources for this?" Nonette agreed with her. That was strange thought there were a couple of applications she could think of.
"That's what intelligence if trying to find out. They think that the NAC has something to do with it but they have yet to find any evidence to substantiate their claims." Euphemia went on as Cornelia wanted all of them shot for their treason but sadly they had absolutely nothing to present as evidence.
"And when has something like that stopped Nelly?" Nonette asked with a raised eyebrow as she could think of a few times when her old friend had someone(all numbers for foreigners) killed under suspicion for serious crimes.
"The bureaucrats convinced her, their argument was without them, the eleven economy would collapse, meaning to tax to send to the homeland." Euphemia clarified for her.
"I doubt the emperor would care all that much about tax. As long as Area 11 can keep up its monthly sakuradite quotas, we should be in the clear." Nonette shot back as she didn't see Charles as a man who would mind a colony such as themselves missing a couple of tax collections.
"The emperor yes, the ministry of finance may have a different take on things." Euphemia countered with a frown, she could swear that most working in that branch were either greedy or heartless.
"By the way…I heard that Jeremiah is in charge of investigating Zero, you think he has any new leads for us?" Nonette asked as the two women walked into her office. It wasn't any different from Cornelia's other than it had less paintings and more maps of the region.
"I don't really know…maybe." Euphemia said as she stopped to consider the offer. "We could always stop by his office and ask."
"Well I got some free time right now so why don't we do just that." Nonette said as she went to her desk to grab a data pad that she had requested earlier.
(Later that day – One of the BK Kanto region's HQs)
"Yes…Yes we will….and we thank you for your support….No we will not continue business with you….well maybe next time, you should deliver our paid for goods on time…good day." Nunnally said over the phone before she cut the call. She was wearing her Jedi robes and was currently seated in her brother's office. She paused for a moment before he rubbed her forehead to ward off the headache she knew was coming.
"Hard day?" Nakamura asked with a sympathy smile as she handed the younger girl a pill for the headache and a small glass of water. Nunnally graciously took the offered goods with a quick 'Thank you'.
"Like you wouldn't believe. We have to get a new medical drugs supplier. Our last one had a habit of delivering things passed the due date." Nunnally replied as she put the pill in her month and took a large sip of water to wash it down. She was the only one of the trio who didn't necessarily wore a mask, just a robe with a hood.
"And we need to set up another factory in China, the rate of recruits passing basic means more uniforms and gear is needed." Nakamura stated as she handed her temporary superior another set of documents from the training camps that reported that another two companies(240) had finished their training regimen and just needed a small time combat mission to break them in.
"We'll set up one in country. The North should do, imperial patrols there are dying down." Nunnally replied as she read through the reports and recalled that Hokkaido had seen a decrease in imperial activity due to the chaos they were causing in the former Kanto and Chubu blocks.
"Okay, that'll mean we need to recruit another 120 workers to man the place. I'll schedule a meeting with HR (Human Resource) and Finance so we can see how we're gonna buy these people." Nakamura replied with a smile which said she enjoyed watching the force user squirm from all the paperwork.
"How the hell does he do it? I'm only been doing this for an hour and already I feel a headache coming on." Nunnally complained as she let her head fall to the desk in exhaustion, though she was careful enough to avoid the numerous stacks of paperwork and yellow folders.
"Haha…well Zero is the 'Man of Miracles'. Mere paperwork and the bureaucratic process can't slow him down." Nakamura answered with a fake recruitment officer's bold and loud voice, laughing soon afterwards.
"Please stop."
"Hahaha, sorry I couldn't help it." Nakamura apologised as she wiped the tear from her eye and stood straight again. "Still there is some good news."
"What is it?" Nunnally asked the elder women, they needed some good news.
"Remember those pilots we sent to Southern Africa to practice actual flight?" Nakamura asked her as they had spoken about this the other day. When Nunnally nodded her head, she went on. "Well out of the 410 we sent, 376 passed. Should the remaining 34 remain behind and try again?"
"That is good news, Zero will be pleased that we finally have able bodied people to fly our aircraft." Nunnally stated as she leaned back into the chair and picked up another report to review. "Yes, have then remain behind and try again but if they fail again, they'll be transferred to another branch."
"Done." Nakamura replied as she wrote down that order on her data pad. "Also we another shipment of weapons coming into the country in about two days."
"What's the cargo?" Nunnally asked as she didn't think they had brought anymore weapons and if they did, she would have words with her brother as they were supposed to be placing more funds into their humanitarian efforts in the ghettos.
"Mostly munitions for small arms and a couple hundred anti-tank missiles." Nakamura replied, saving her boss a lengthy lecture as the shipments was what they all agreed to continue bringing into the country.
"Make sure that those supplies are stored properly, I don't want to hear about any injured or death because of mishandling." Nunnally instructed as they had already gotten reports of such incidents in their earlier days, now most of the works at least knew how to handle the crates and boxes. "And what of S.K.? He requested some time with the POWs but I've yet to hear back from him."
"He is still on route to the POW camp mam, it'll take him another hour or so to get there if he's going by road then by sea." Nakamura said as Suzaku had wanted to see if he couldn't get any good intelligence from their POWs from the Narita air strip.
"Then I'll have to wait before I can file that away…" Nunnally said as she placed the report down and looked directly at Rio "And our naval force?" She asked the assistant, all jokes aside and it was now just business.
"We have completed the construction of around 4 missile attack submarines and are testing their stealth capabilities in the Indian Ocean as we speak. The last of the three carrier submarines will be complete before the 17th of November mam." Nakamura responded, her voice and face flat and straight to the point as well. Their true strength was something that had been building up for just over three years. They couldn't afford a delay now of all times.
'Meaning that we'll have the subs needed to transfer everything for Operation: Island Getaway.' Nunnally thought to herself with a cold sweat. Even now the very idea of such a attack was just…awful. If they failed they'll lost more than half their naval fighting strength but if they won….thousands of imperials would die. It was a thought she didn't particularly enjoy. "And the Ballistic Missile Subs?"
"All five have completed their sea trials, we'll be able to arm them by the end of the month." Nakamura reported as she went over to a secure file cabinet and pulled out their reports from the R&D centres before she handed them over to Nunnally. "Now, why don't we get on with matters?" and just like that, the serious attitude left the room as Rio gave the girl a smile that went a shiver down her spine. "The monthly paperwork sent on from the engineering corps activities and an 28 page proposal on why they need a 13% increase in funds."
'Dammit! How does he do it!?' Nunnally thought to herself in despair as she knew she would be stuck here for the rest of the day. She was starting to regret ever volunteering for this so that Lelouch could spend more time with Alice and Reyla.
28th September 2020 a.t.b./3 9688 BBY:
Unknown Region:
Milky Way Galaxy:
Earth/Sol-3:
Somewhere in Area 3:
Unknown Location:
Geass Directorate North American Command:
In a darkened room that served as the pseudo 'throne room' of the massive-(and off the books)-underground complex, V.V sat, contemplating. For the past 10 years, V.V had been the sole leader of the Geass Directorate—a secret initiative to study, manipulate, and enhance the mysterious power of Geass. A power that gave his rather fanatical agents and assassins capabilities more akin to fiction then reality. It was because of the Order and Geass that V.V and Charles not only defeated any opposition to Charles ascent to power, took out any potential rivals to that power and 'took care of' any nosy commoners, nobles, investigators or reporters that would have otherwise blown the whistle one of their many, many illegal and immoral projects.
It was also because of the many uses of Geass that the two had been able to plant spies and gain informants in just about every branch of government and major corporations which allowed them to keep track of almost every dangerous individual in the empire. Those same spies, agent, informants, saboteurs and assassins were spread to almost continent in the world aside from neutral Australia seeing how the large island had no purpose or incentive for any action from them.
But for some God forsaken reason, he was never informed or anticipated the rise of this…Order of the Black Knights.
When he discovered such a force was able to form, organize and attack imperial holding in Area 11…he was less than pleased. How could his agents not for see such? How could this happen? But more importantly, who was this…Zero?
It had been mouths and he had place over a dozen of his Asian agents into investigating him and all they had to show for it was speculation and estimates. Their failing cost that group their lives. It was embarrassing that his niece and that Gottwald had been making more progress than his own seasoned agents. Still, they were getting results and he couldn't complain about that. Because of them, they'll narrowed our elevens from the suspect pool and have narrowed that list down to individuals of imperial birth. However,
The rate of which that masked man and his marry bands of fools were gaining ground and beating back Cornelia was…upsetting to say the least. As much as he hated to admit to himself, his suggestion to send in Cornelia had back fired as he had hoped her sheer presence and military skill would be more than enough to beat down this little uprising before it begun, partly because he was banking in this new group behaving like all the others….
That backfired on him.
Zero has proven to be far more capable than any other rebel group that has risen since Washington, hell it was like the two were one and the same since they both were of imperial blood but chose to foolishly rebel. Cornelia was no match for him as Zero clearly leaned towards asymmetrical warfare and guerrilla tactics combined with state of the art equipment and knightmares V.V never thought an enemy would have before they did.
Narita, his subsequent victory over a knight of round and hand in the death of an imperial general as skilled, seasoned and popular as Dalton…it was just the bloody nail in the coffin. His niece may not know it yet but he did. Central Japan was a lost cause at this point. She just wasn't suited for this, if Zero came out in the open and fought like a legitimate army, maybe but if things kept on going on as they were…
He didn't like to think about that.
The way things were going, he had three options open to him:
Option 1 – Have Cornelia replace with her sister, Marrybell, who just so happens to be counterterrorism and if available now that the riots against their rule have finally calmed down in Area 17.
Option 2 – Send in his best upcoming assassin/slash spies Rolo and Reginald. Even though he knew next to nothing about their targets and they might be needed for their summer offensive if his spies in France were right about a military build-up occurring that side.
Option 3 – Send Cornelia some of his Directorate's more experimental knightmares and pilots so that she had a better chance against such a threat.
Either way, he didn't have a lot of time to think about this. They could not afford to lose Area 11. He and Charles has been waging wars for the past decade to secure the Thought Elevators they needed to kill 'God' and purge the world of lies. Without them, his and Charles' dream of uniting humanity would never be realized. This was the same with that wretched woman. She was getting in the way of things, she was distracting Charles from their contract. If he simply done nothing, he would have been left all alone.
So he'd killed the woman. Right in her own home. Charles clearly agreed with him as he helped to cover it up with little Nunna, still it was a shame she needed to be shot as well but the story needed some proof to it.
The fact that she and her brother have been missing for the better part of a decade was another, lesser matter as he called off the search after year 4. As far as he knew, they'll probably are in the EU somewhere since they'll stick out like sore thumbs in the federation. Maybe they found a hideout somewhere in Australia.
V.V chuckled to himself as he pulled up reports on the progress of the Britannian military build-up in Area 4(Alaska), Area 13(Iceland) and Area 15(Gibraltar). If their plans were successful, the EU would launch a foolish attack against their newly acquired North African holdings, while they attack mainland Europe itself. Recapturing the British Isles would be the greatest comeback the empire could think of. And with a dual invasion keeping the bulk of the Russian forces busy in the east, the lack of Russian troops would leave EU extremely vulnerable to attack via France and Belgium. With his agents spreading chaos and discord and Knights of Round leading the charge, it'll be over before winter sets in.
As he reclined in his chair, specially built for someone of his build, he closed his eyes and let himself relax. Things on the board of life were shifting, moving in ways he didn't foresee coming but in the long run, they still had time to move and pieces to sacrifice to keep their strength up.
The phone rang.
Like a viper, V.V's hand reached out and snatched it. The phone in his office was only to be used in case of emergencies, and he'd just given orders that he was not to be disturbed.
"What is it?" V.V demanded.
"Sir, we have movement in India."
"Movement? What kind?" He asked. What could have been big enough happening in the former imperial holding for him to be informed of so soon?
"Sir, we've received word that Rakshata Chawla and her research team are leaving the country. A possible destination is Area 11."
'Area 11? Zero. Only he has the importance for such a journey to be warranted.' V.V thought to himself as he put the dots together pretty quickly. "Can you take her out?"
"Negative, there's too much safety measures. We don't even know which airstrip they'll using. It seems this wasn't planned."
'Damn. It seems she'll live to see Area 11 then.' V.V thought to himself as he would rather killed her now if they had the chance but it seems she lucked out this time. "Have our people monitor any port of entry in Area 11."
"It shall be done, Lord V.V."
"Let's see who things play out, Zero." V.V said to himself as he got up from his chair and walked over to the side of the room where a hidden door opened up and allowed him to walk into a secret passage, leaving the throne room bar of any living creature.
29th September 2020 a.t.b./3 9688 BBY:
Unknown Region:
Milky Way Galaxy:
Earth/Sol-3:
Area 11:
Skies over Central Japan:
"My Lord, we're approaching the air strip now. We'll be on the ground in 20 minutes." The captain of the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III announced over the intercom to the cabin behind him.
"It's fine, just be sure to watch out for anything and get us safely down." Edgar N. Dalton, second eldest son of Andreas Dalton replied. He along with the rest of the Glaston Knights has on route to Area 11 to aid Princess Cornelia in quelling the eleven uprising taking place. There were originally on leave at home in Area 1(Kansas) which then turned into family leave as they stayed for an extended period to give their father a proper burial. Soon afterwards they received orders to transfer to the region where their father met his end.
"Yes, My Lord." The captain replied before the intercom cut as the crew went back to flying the plane.
"Finally, I've been itching to pay back those damn numbers." Alfred G. Dalton stated as she leaned back into his seat. The long flight from Muscat to Tokyo hadn't been the most comfortable one in the cargo hold of a transport plane but they all insisted they travel with their respective machines and gear.
"Just be sure to save some for me, will yeah?" Bart L. Dalton replied with a smirk, thought like his brother, he too was filled with a desire to destroy the Black Knights and avenge their father's death.
"Quiet," The youngest of the bunch spoke up as he kept on reading the information they had on their enemy off his data pad. "We shouldn't be underestimating the elevens." Claudio S. Darlton told them all as he could imagine that they were over central Area 11 at this point and no more than 30 minutes away from landing.
"Yeah right, what they can really do when it comes down to it than besides run and hide like cowards?" The second youngest and quick tempered, David T. Darlton rebuked.
"You forget that we buried our father because those same cowards managed to kill him. I will not bury anymore family because they let pride get the best of them." Claudio countered, it was a fact that none of them wanted to accept but it was a truth they had too. And if there was one thing that their father drilled into their collective heads, it was to take truth and facts as gospel on the battlefield. Pride and Anger were the faster ways to defeat, he woul-…he always said.
"Still, I wonder why Princess Cornelia hasn't been able to stamp them out by now. They even have a knight of round here." Edgar N. Darlton thought aloud. The middle child of the group thinking over what they knew about the situation on the ground. "Makes me wonder if we're just overkill."
"The fact that they haven't been able to should be an indication that this…Zero knows what he's doing." Claudio answered him.
"Oh please, he's been using hit and run mostly, what could he possibly do against the might of-!" One once more, David would have argued that statement if not for the loud and very serious announcement that interrupted him.
"Attention, this is the captain, all passengers' brace for emergency manoeuvres, Anti-air ordnance has locked onto us." The captain stated over the intercom as they could hear the warnings going off in the cockpit through the speaker.
"What the hell?" Bart asked as he got up to his feet.
"Surface to Air missiles? Here?" Alfred asked himself as he buckled himself in before he told his brothers to do the same.
(Moments earlier)
"Yes, My Lord." The captain replied over the speaker before she cut the connection and put the microphone down. "Well, here's to making the trip without shit from the Federation."
"Still can't believe they let us fly over their air-space, saved us a lot of time." The co-pilot stated, he still couldn't believe that had gotten clearance to do such.
"They just want to act all nice to help draw attention away from this little invasion attempt they have going on." The captain replied as she went back to reading the instruments for any problems and regular checked vital flight systems in case of issues. The plane may be in autopilot but she didn't become a man with 7,000 flight hours without issue by being lax.
"Honestly I don't care so long as I get to spend some R&R with some local girls." The first officer and co-pilot of the plane retorted with a chuckle as he kept his hands on the control column, even if he wasn't the one flying.
"What, you mean elevens?" The captain asked him with a raised eyebrow.
"Course not, why would I want to even touch a number? I'm taking about this club my buddy told me about, you'll love it." The first officer answered as if he thought the actual locals were some kind of animal.
"Haha, I'm sure I will, you tend to know the best spots abroad." The captain laughed as she saw that they had a speed of around 833km/k and were still has a flight level of 6,000m. Much too high and fast to land but they still had room to change that.
"What can I say, I'm a seasoned pilot and I've seen the world." The first officer replied as he reached for the radio switch. "Why don't we call in, we should be close enough."
"Got it," The captain agreed with him before he turned the radio to that of their destination's channel for her. "Aerodrome control tower, this is Flight IMF-G12, requesting permission to descend to a flight level of 3,000m in preparation for landing." The captain requested over the radio. They had to wait a couple seconds before they got a response.
"Flight IMF-G12, this is Aerodrome control tower. We see you on our scope. Permission granted for a new flight level of 3,000m." The air traffic controller at the military compound they were scheduled to land at responded.
"Thank you control. Also, we're requesting permission to land on runway 04L." The captain went on as the first officer looked over the dials and screen for any problems as he input the new flight altitude into the autopilot, allowing the plane to begin to drop to the lower setting as well as reducing the power of the engines to 55 percent.
"Flight IMF-G12, runway 04L is open and clear. You have permission to land." The flight controller confirmed for them before a warning went off.
Alert, Alert! Lock-on attempt detected, Lock-on attempt detected!
"What's that?" The first officer asked, yes he was a military man but he flew transports and supply flights and had never actually been fired at. The captain on the other hand, was a former fighter pilot and knew that warning meant dread to the unprepared.
"Oh shit! Evasive manoeuvres now!" She ordered as she immediately disengaged the autopilot and took control.
"Captain, what's going on?!" The first officer asked but before she could give him an answer, another much more serious warning went off.
Alert, Alert! Lock-on detected, Lock-on detected!
"Shit," The captain swore as she would look out the window every couple of seconds in hopes of spotting the threat. After the 4th look, she decided to announce it. "Attention, this is the captain, all passengers' brace for emergency manoeuvres, Anti-air ordnance has locked onto us."
"Wait, what!" Finally the first officer caught up with the situation. "How? No-one told us we'll be flying over hostile air-space!"
"Worry about getting this plane on the ground! Give me 80 percent engine thrust!" The captain ordered him as they both spotted a streak of fire heading towards them from the left hand side of the windscreen.
"Yes sir, increasing engine thrust to 80 percent." The first officer's training kicked in and he immediately did what his captain had asked of him.
Alert, Alert Missile Inbound! Missile Inbound!
"Shit, deploy flares!" The captain ordered, hoping they had such an option to call upon.
"Deploying!" Lucky for them, the mechanics back in Muscat had forget to remove them which meant that when the first officer pressed the button, 12 blinding flares were released from the wings and body of the plane, throwing off the missile which instead flew off after of the flares.
Alert, Alert Missile Inbound! Missile Inbound!
"Another one!" The first officer yelled as they saw another one on the radar heading right towards them. Clearly whoever was firing on them wanted them dead.
"Bank! Bank!" The captain ordered as she ordered the plane to bank to the left to help avoid the deadly threat. "Deploy flares!" She ordered and just like the first, the missile veered off course but it also came much closer than the first one.
"Captain, the hell is going on?" Bart demanded over the speaker.
"We're under attack from an unknown enemy SAM site. My Lord, with all due respect, please you and the rest of the Glaston Knights must board your machine. If needed, we'll jettison the knightmares." The captain replied. As sad as it was for them, they knew there plane wasn't built for such an attack at relatively low attitudes.
"You're not serious, we're thousands of meters in the air! There's no way we'll survive landing!" Alfred replied, sounding like he thought the very idea was crazy which by all accounts, it was.
"We'll try to bring us lower to the ground but that's all I can do. If need be, you'll all have to eject from your knightmares and hope the cockpit blocks can get you safely to the ground!" The captain yelled back, in any other situation she would have been concerned about her future after that but right now wasn't one of those situations.
Alert, Alert Missile Inbound! Missile Inbound!
"Sir, we have another, we inbound! We can't shake it!" The first officer yelled as she released the flares but the missile stayed on course.
"Goddammit!"
(With the Glaston Knights)
"What' you mean we gotta board our knightmares? In these conditions?!" Claudio asked as they all unbuckled themselves and run for their respective machines.
"We don't have a choice! Get to your machines, on the double!" Edgar shot that question down.
"Dammit, we haven't even landed yet and we gotta deal with this shit!" David swore must as they all felt the explosion from a neat impact.
BOOM!
"The Hell!" Alfred asked as he stopped for a moment before Edgar pushed him forward.
"Keep moving!" The light blue haired boy yelled at him.
'Never thought I'll do a combat drop like this.' David thought to himself as he powered up his knightmare and secured the hatch and seatbelts. "Is everyone online?"
"I'm here." Alfred said over the radio.
"So am I." Claudio was the next to confirm.
"Everything is in the green, I'm good to go!" Bart was the third one.
"I'm having trouble with mine! The latches won't disengage!" Edgar yelled over the channel as he tried and tried again to remove the cables keeping his knightmare in place.
(On the ground)
"How we doing with the target?" A BK officer asked as he stood in an S-300 Missile System vehicle. There were three present with two acting as the actual SAM whole the third was a fitted with a radar dish for tracking the targets.
"Missiles 1 through 3 have missed their mark. Shall we fire a forth?" A soldier replied as they got a fifth one ready just in case.
"Do it. We got orders to make sure the Glaston Knights don't become a thorn in master Zero's plans." The commanding officer replied. They had been sent out here for the soul purpose of shooting down that transport after all.
"Yes sir," The soldier replied before he turned back to the computers and input the necessary codes "Target lock-on still confirmed…and firing." And with last input placed in, the soldier fired off another missile.
(With the pilots)
"Aerodrome control tower, this is Flight IMF-G12. Code Yellow. I repeat, Code Yellow! We're under attack, requesting immediate aid!" The captain called out over the radio as they struggled to control the plane as the previous missile explosion had lodged shrapnel into the number two engines, forcing them to shut it down or risk it blowing up.
"Flight IMF-G12, this is Aerodrome control. Fighters are being scrambled to your aid but they'll ETA is 370 seconds." The air traffic controller responded to their request with an answer they didn't like.
"370-!" The captain started as such a lengthy waiting period registered. "We won't last that long!"
Alert, Alert Missile Inbound! Missile Inbound!
"Shit, Deploy flares!" She ordered as they both saw the next one coming right for them at high speeds. Sadly for them, their luck just ran out.
"We can't! Don't have anymore!" The first officer replied as he pressed the button but nothing happened, getting him to look down at the gauges and see that the warning light for 'No flares' lights up every time he pressed the button.
"Shit, everyone brace for impact!" The Captain yelled out just before impact.
BOOM!
"Shit, we're hit, we're hit!" The first officer reported as though he couldn't see it, that missile had torn a hole in the hull, leading to decompression on the cabin. The only reason the Glaston Knights weren't affected was because their cockpits were air tight and had their own self pressurization system.
"Aerodrome control. This is Flight IMF-G12, we're declaring an emergency. I repeat, we're declaring an emergency. We need an airstrip to land at fast!" The captain demanded as she saw that some of the flight systems started going haywire, forcing the first officer to conduct emergency shut-downs of them.
"Flight IMF-G12, this is Aerodrome control, the closet airfield I can give you is Maebashi but the private runway is only 1,800m." The ATC replied to their inquiry.
"It's fine, what's the heading?" The captain replied, happy that they got some good news as their plane only needed a runway of little under 920m, 1,800m was more than enough.
"New heading is-!" The ATC started to relay to them but another warning went off, drowning out his voice.
Alert, Alert Missile Inbound! Missile Inbound!
"Crap!" The first officer cursed as they saw no way out of this.
"Brace, Brace!" The captain ordered as they both held onto the controls for dear left just as the fifth and final missile struck home and struck home hard. The missile having hit the right wing and just wrecking most of it.
BOOM!
"We're been hit! Engines 2 and 4 are not responding, major fuel leakage! Oh God," The first officer reported as he saw the gauges for those two engines go dead. He looked out the window and immediately saw why "We're lost most of the right wing!" He reported as he saw that most of the wing was on fire and one of the two engines was still going but only adding to the problem as bits and pieces were falling off the think.
"We're rolling, dammit I can't stop it!" The captain said as she fought with all her might to keep the plane level but was losing more and more ground as time went on. "What's our altitude?"
"2,200m and falling sir!" The first officer responded as he checked their altitude meter and saw they were quite a ways up. There was no way they'll get their cargo and passengers on the ground.
"Let's hope that's enough." The captain said as she reached for the microphone to give what might just be her last announcement. "My Lords, we're opening the cargo bay doors, you have to jump!"
"We can't! Edgar can't unclamp his machine!" Bart replied as he and Edgar tried to dislodge the final damn clamp to no avail. They couldn't even use their knightmares without compromising the structural integrity of the already falling apart plane.
"Then he rides with one of you, hurry! We can't hold her steady much longer!" Alfred yelled at the two who quickly abandoned Edgar's machine in favour and sharing Bart's for the journey down. Just in the nick of time to as at that moment, the number 2 engine broke off its fixing and rolled over the wing, smashing into the tail rudder and basically destroying the right rudder surface.
"We're rolling, I got no control!" The first officer yelled in fear as they plane started to bank and roll with next to nothing they could do to save their burning plane.
"Jump, Jump now!" The captain yelled at that as they saw the altitude gage falling more and more as their gage reading for the horizon started to slope to the side.
(With the Glaston Knights)
'Let's hope we survive..." Claudio said to himself as he mentally prepared himself for what could be the dumbest thing he's ever done. "Jump boys, jump cause your lives depend on it!" And just like that, four out of the five machines in the hold jumped out of the burning planes cargo hold and started to fall to earth. As they did so, all of them took a glance at the crushing craft since it the burning fuselage provided enough light got them to keep track of it.
"Good Lord…" Alfred said as they watch the plane go down as they themselves fell to earth.
"There's no way they'll survive that…" Bart noted with some grief in his voice.
"Alright, on three we all eject to that pre-set coordinates." David got them all to focus as even without an altitude reader, he could see from the lights of the surrounding roads that they were still well over 1,000m up. "One…Two…Three!" He finished the countdown as he pulled the ejection levels and hoped that his cockpit block could survive a crash from such a height. Sure they had parachutes but he had heard more than a few airborne troops joke about those things not deploying or otherwise failing. They all gave a silent prayer for the outstanding crew they had flown them this far as the large jet crashed into the wilderness of the former Chichibu-Tama-Kai National park, well over 80km west from their destination.
.
.
.
.
CRASH!
(On the ground)
"Status?" The officer asked as the plane disappeared from the radar after it dropped below 40m.
"Target was destroyed. We're sending a small team to investigate the wreckage now." The soldier replied as he asked their satellite overhead to confirm for them such.
"Good," The officer replied as he turned to the rest of the BK troops. "Send that in to command. They're going to be quite pleased with us."
"Yes sir." The soldier manning communications replied as she turned to report the success of their mission to command.
"Alright boys, pack it up! This area will soon be crawling with imperials!" The commanding officer yelled at them as he could already see the helicopters flying towards the direction of the crash site in the distance. The man's only regret was that they were forbidden from making radio contact with the plane as he really wanted the message 'Welcome to Japan' to have been broadcasted just before the first missile was launched.
.
.
.
And that is that. That last part was a last minute thing as it seemed interesting to me to have a scene where the Glaston Knights are shot down and one of them dies but I changed that at the last minute as that seemed a bit too much. Another scenario was that they get shot down by BK jets making their combat debut but like with many of my surprises, that'll have to wait till Operation Island Getaway. And before you all google it, yes a Globemaster III is not only capable of carrying the load of five machines and their gear but also of making the flight from the middle east to Japan.
Forgive me for not writing in the scene with Lelouch and his family enjoying a day out, I decided to move that to a future chapter since my world count was passed 8,5 k words at that point and I don't particularly like writing long chapters. I still kept the scene where we see Nunna in a position of power as whenever she is shown in that role in cannon, it's always overshadowed by others or even the 'assistant' she always has with her. As for future chapters, I'll try to show her in the leadership of things she'll enjoy such as he aid in the ghettoes or medical.
In other news, the scene with V.V was shorter then I imagined it to be but I wanted to show that he isn't a total idiot. I can see how situations play out and he is capable of planning for them. As big a bad V.V is, he isn't the type to make many appearances as in cannon, he appears like twice in season 1 and makes four,maybe five appearances in season 2. We know he's important, we see his handiwork in the form of that bastard Rolo and other agents but we rarely actually see him as he prefers to work from the shadows. I also wanted to highlight that like Lelouch, Charles lied to V.V since he knew who killed Marianne and how it went down.
V.V would think that Charles agreed with him when he used his geass on Nunnally and others to make it seem like it went down differently-(How could he not? He knew that geass was a thing and that Charles' power allowed him to screw with memories by either suppressing and replacing memories, everyone remembering the wrong chain of events leading up to Marianne's death such as Lelouch would be a massive clue as to how's handiwork that was)-. His second act of banishing Marianne children to a foreign land would also make V.V think he saw things his way, though even if that act was to protect them from V.V, it was a cold and uncaring thing nonetheless as no-one was even sent to retrieve or protect them during the one month war(I mean, like really. If you really wanted to 'protect' them, why did you send them to a country you had full intentions of invading for its Thought Elevator?
If they really cared about them, then they could have easily been sent off to the countryside or some other far off corner of the empire stripped of their noble privileges where they would be out of sight and out of mind or even Australia, the famously neutral country of the Code Geass universe that Charles and V.V had no plans for and is never attacked or attacking in any of the Code Geass spine-offs or main story)
We also know that although V.V who to set up Nunnally as a false witness, how did he plan on doing that? Besides Charles and Lelouch, we know of no other geass user who could make her believe she saw something that never happened. Charles admits that he rewrote Anya and Nunnally's memories of that night as he chose to protect their selfish desire to 'Kill God which means that he must have had a hand in Nunnally being crippled as Geass can make one think they can't walk but I can't imagine that during their seven years with the Ashfords that Lelouch or Reuben never had specialist look her over and discover that her legs are fine, just malnourished or something so we know her disability is real.
So to sum it up, he knew how killed one of his wives. Did nothing to bring him to justice, helped that same murderer get away with it and when his son questioned him for it, he along with his still recovering sister were shipped off to a country that the father and murderer had plans to invade.
At this point I'll be hard press to declare him a monster but this is the same man that made his own children fight, steal, compete and kill one another just to keep up appearances while doing absolutely nothing to stop the extreme discrimination and ultra-nationalism that plagues Britannian society. Which in of itself proves his and V.V self-centred world view as these very factors are what lead to the death of their own mother but they do nothing but promote that very same ideology. Hell when he got word of what occurred in the SAZ, the bastard laughed out loud and declared that and I quote: 'Yes your worthy of being called my child now', as for who he was speaking of between Lelouch(if he knew that this was the work of geass and thought that Lelouch actually planned it) and Euphemia(If he legitimately thought she organized a major backstab and mass murder the likes of which comparable to what Justinian I carried out to quell the Nika riots of 532) is not important, the point is that he thought that such a horrific act of barbarism and bloodshed was something that made them…worthy to be his child! There's no defending this man, like no plausible way that doesn't out the advocate as an ultranationalist and racist themselves.