Alright, I'm rested and ready to go, all assignments have been completed as the education department struggles to cope with this lock-down sure we're doing this online courses but some of my classmates have internet issues which really messes with the whole plan. Hell, my folks are trying to get some of my college fees back as they didn't pay for me to just sit at home and study by my lonesome. The worst part for me is that most of the people I know in my course don't live in my city so we can only do study sessions…..online.
Also, I've redone the last chapter and it should be up and ready to go by the time this is posted. I did so due to some errors I missed the last time so I looked over the whole thing to try and correct as many of them as I could. If I still missed some, please let me know.
Tf330129: Thanks.
Blaze1992: I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't. This drone was more of a low tech flying droid.
Vein Bloodborne: Thanks for that, I'm now fully rested and ready to go.
Dontus –not Donut- Powers: Yes, we have already spoken about your concerns, I hope that the corrected last chapter addressed that.
7: Thanks.
Greer123: Yes, and that will came to pass in this chapter.
Chapter 32: War in Kyushu
27th November 2020 a.t.b. /3 9688 BBY:(Early Morning-around 7am)
Unknown Region:
Milky Way Galaxy:
Earth/Sol-3:
Tokyo Settlement:
Viceroy's Palace:
"What's the situation on the ground?" Cornelia asked her faithful night over a video call, despite the doctor's orders, like Nonette predicted, the man was up and about. This time leading the investigation into the officially classified terrorist attack on one of their chief suppliers in area 11. Currently, she along with her sister and the Knight of Nine were in the viceroy's palace, having been forced to have this meeting at 7 in the damn morning.
"Your highness, things are a downright mess here. Most of the facilities are destroyed or badly damaged." Guilford, who still had some visible bandages over the skin what wasn't covered up in winter gear, replied as he stood in front of the camera to talk with them. The background was nothing but rubble and some still raging fires that their firefighters were battling.
"And the casualties?" Euphemia asked from her seat next to Cornelia's, worried for the civilians that must have been caught in this.
"We're still finding survivors but the plant has over a thousand workers, many of whom are unaccounted for." Guilford answered her question, having helped in the recovery with more than a couple bodies.
"I see." Euphemia stated sadly, already seeing that her hopes for a small loss of life would not come to pass.
"Guilford, in your opinion, what happened there?" Cornelia asked him, wanting to get as much information about this as they could.
"My lady, if I had to give an opinion at this early time, I would say that this attack was expertly planned and carried out, in such a manner befitting our own special forces." Guilford answered honestly, something that caught them off guard as the man had always held their special forces above most others, to compare this to their handiwork showed that it was carefully planned and masterfully carried out.
"Special forces you say?" Nonette spoke up, wearing her full knight of round attire as a way to keep warm, even if the building had central heating.
"Yes, from what survivors say about the attackers, they wore different armour to the regular Black Knight terrorist we face, they also were equipped with what seemed to be jetpacks and an extremely durable body armor, we already have a small group saying that they shoot some of them but they didn't go down." Guilford relayed to them, sound like he was sceptical but at the same time, open to the idea of such a thing being accurate information.
"It's not that Zero is a damned magician, now he had troops with jetpacks?" Cornelia muttered to herself, already feeling a headache coming along from all the stuff Zero pulls seemingly out of no-where, which didn't make thing easier seeing how she still had the whole day in front of her. "Very well, finish your preliminary examination of the site and then return."
"Yes, you highness!" Guilford replied as he cut the connection to get back to his duties on site. At the same time, another soldier, much lower in rank to Guilford, burst into the room and saluted them.
"Your highness!" The soldier cried with a visible nervous sweat.
"What is it now?" Cornelia asked, feeling like she was done with the day.
"Mam, they…" The solider started but paused, as if he was scared of his own message.
"Spit it out already!" She yelled at him, in no mood for this.
"The enemy has destroyed the main bridge into Kyushu!" The soldier reported to them, surprising them at this second act of terrorism so far from the last one.
"What? What would the Black Knights stand to gain from that?!" Nonette questioned.
"The enemy is not the Black Knights, your highness. They came from the sea, the navy is responded but, but they have already completely cut off vehicle access." The soldier relayed to the what he had been told.
"The Chinese? How the hell did they even breach that far in? Where was the naval ships stationed to stop them?!"Cornelia demanded, furious that the vessels who's only task was to keep the Chinese at bay had somehow failed.
"Have they declared war?" Euphemia asked him, having received no such thing from the federation, at least, one that she knew of.
"No your highness, all the craft, they reported to be barring the flag of Japan! Naval command doesn't know what to do, if they fire on the larger Chinese vessels, they'll declare war while the smaller Japanese ships are firing on them!" The soldier reported to them, having been told that their own ships couldn't fire and in turn suffered some losses as they retreated.
"Goddammit, they're using the flag of a dead nation to shield their landing operation and attack us." Cornelia said to herself as she along with her friend and sister got up and walked down from the thrones they say one towards the door. "What are our losses, and the enemy strength?"
"The 2 Helicopter carriers in the area are pulling back lest they suffer an attack, however 6 of the 10 destroyers are in route to try and halt their landing attempts. At this time, we've lost 14 patrol ships, 6 fighters and 16 portmans." The soldier answered as he walked to follow along with them, keeping a respectable distance. "With the reinforcements we stationed there, we have over 1,500 men but they are hopelessly outnumbered 4 to 1 at least."
"Order them to pull back before they all die." Nonette ordered him, surprising Cornelia.
"Nonette?" Euphemia asked her, clearly confused by her order.
"We won't beat them with such small numbers. We didn't plan for the damn Chinese to hide behind another country's flag so we can't really bring down the hammer, at least for now." Nonette told them her reasoning before she went on. "Right now we need to get as much info on this as we can so we can properly plan out counter-offensive."
"Very well, I see your point." Cornelia replied, seeing the logic on her words before she turned to face the solider and gave him her orders. "Get those orders to our troops!"
"Yes, your highness!" The soldier replied with a salute as they ran down another hall to deliver the message.
(6 hours later – With the Black Knights)
"We hereby declare the resurrection of Japan, as a lawful, independent and sovereign nation!" A tall but skinny man in of early 40s announced as he stood in the middle of the screen, behind him were dozens of Chinese made Gun-Rus.
"Atsushi Sawasaki, leader of the forces that have occupied the Fukuoka military base and large parts of Kyushu, was chief cabinet minister in the Kururugi administration in the former nation of Japan." The newscaster stated as they showed picures of Sawasaki dating back to Genbu winning the office of Prime Minister. "After the war, he fled to the Chinese Federation with a small portion of the former government but us apparently making his move due to large civil unrest caused by Zero." They went on as they showed one of the many archive pictures of Zero on the side of the screen.
"Whether the Black Knights have played a role in these unfolding events is still under investigation." The second newscaster announced which was when the TV was paused by a gloved hand.
"So, they've made their move." S.K spoke up as he along with the rest of the Black Knight command staff, watched the news in the main board room on-board their flagship. Form what they knew of the situation, it was around 1pm in Japan.
"Sir, we just got word from Kyoto. They had no knowledge of Sawasaki's plan. They were just notified about his unilateral claim over the sakuradite mining rights." Tierra read out the report off his data-pad as he pushed up his glasses.
"Zero it's our move. What are your orders?" Kallen asked as they faced their leader, who was not wearing his mask/helmet as the helm sat on the table next to him.
"I admit, this government in exile pitch is something I didn't foresee but it won't matter much." Lelouch replied as he touched a few buttons on his control panel to get a more in-depth view of the battle from their satellites. "We're heading down to earth, Kallen, you are to remain here, on board the Sakura." He gave out his orders as he stood up.
"But sir-" Kallen was quirk to stand as well as the rest of them got up from their seats as well.
"I understand your desire to fight off these invaders but your new machine is still going through the final testing process, you wouldn't want to throw away all of Kaya and Rakshata's hard work, would you?" He asked her as Rakshata and kaya had spent almost all their time building a brand new knightmare for the girl once their machines had arrived the other day. Last he checked, the had barely ate or slept because of it.
"…No sir." Kallen conceded as she knew that she didn't even have a machine at present, seeing how those two removed the RWS from the Guren to study it.
"Fret not, it should be ready by the time operation Island Getaway is ready to begin." Lelouch said as he laid a comforting hand on her shoulder before he reached for his helmet. "The rest of us will depart in two hours, be ready by then."
'Sir!" They all replied as the begun to leave to carry out their orders.
"Have our naval contingent move assets into the area but keep them under both the Britannian and Chinese radars. It's time we test out our own submersible frames." He ordered as he placed his helmet onto his head and let the thing lock into place with a satisfying hiss.
"I can already tell that the naval command will be pleased about that, they've been itching for some actions for a while now." Lockon joked as they all left the room to get ready.
"Up till this point, it wasn't their place to attack." Tierra told him, not at all effected by their need to fight.
"Enough chatter, we have an invasion to repel." S.K. said as he walked right on passed them along with L.M. they weren't going to help with this Sawasaki affair as they had their own objectives to ready for.
27th November 2020 a.t.b. /3 9688 BBY:
Unknown Region:
Milky Way Galaxy:
Earth/Sol-3:
Train heading down south.
"Cecile, what do we know about this?" Nonette requested as she along with the Glaston Knights and the A.S.E.E.C. travelled down south via a military train.
"My lord, it appears that the Sawasaki's forces are working together with a small terrorist cell operating in Kyushu, when the naval operation begun, they cut off vehicle access from Honshu and Shikoku which we believe was done to prevent reinforcements from quickly reaching our forces." Cecile reported back to her as she along with some other engineers did some maintenance on both the Bors and the Vincents. Lloyd was on the other end of the car working on the Lancelot. "That combined with Chinese federation support from the Leodong Military district, they have already occupied Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki and Oita and are expanding their control into Kumamoto and Kagoshima."
"Dammit, it's only been less than a day and already they've taken almost the entire of Kyūshū." Nonette cursed as she looked towards the overhead clock and saw that it was only 3pm. At that time, Lloyd walked right into the car, followed by Rai who was in his pilot gear.
"Well, we didn't have that much military assets on the ground, did we? We were so focused on the Black Knights, who operate mainly in Honshu that we didn't reinforce them there." Lloyd said as he grabbed some papers from the desk he passed to read about how far they were. "There's also the issue of using this government in exile as a shield as the boys in the navy can't just blow them up wholesale like we planned."
"Speaking of which, what's the word about the Chinese presence?" Rai asked, having been wondering about that ever since he first heard of this.
"According to General Cao, the Chinese Federation is merely providing humanitarian support and is not acting in violation of their pact of non-aggression with Britannia." Cecile told him what the official statement had been, though they could all guess the real meaning of those words.
"Which means we can't attack them under international law. Oh, they really did think of everything." Lloyd said with a smirk as he could only imagine how pissed their naval captains must be at not being able to do much of anything other than monitor the enemy.
"Lloyd, now's not the time." Cecile scolded him with a glare.
"Oh sure, sure." Lloyd waved her off before he looked up towards the Vincents but didn't see their pilots in the car. "How are the Glaston knights?"
"They are being prepped now." Nonette replied, having left the boys to themselves so they could get dressed. She follow suite later. "Are you sure your new flight systems are combat ready." She turned her attention the self-proclaimed sociopath as their units were fitted with float systems of his design.
"Honestly, no. I didn't have time to properly test them with all their regular combat systems operational. They'll fly but they'll suck up a massive amount of energy to do so and keep up combat performance. That does most of all for my Lancelot." Lloyd told her honestly, not bothering to sugar coat things.
"And why is that?" Nonette inquired with an angry looking glare, having recalled that he had supposedly been doing nothing but working.
"Schneizel put in a top priority request for us to aid another branch of A.S.E.E.C. in finishing the personal knightmare for the Knight of Ten." Cecile interjected, shocking the knight of round while disgusting her at once.
"Bradley, that blood crazed weasel?" She asked them, having had few meetings with the so called Vampire of Britannia and each and every one of them left her with a bad taste in her mouth.
"Right you are, he also requested that I supervise the construction of his Valkyrie Squadron Vincents, all that took quite a bit of our time and I was unable to properly adjust their float units." Lloyd finished the explanation with a sour look to his face. He never enjoyed working over a screen, especially since Bradley and his Valkyrie were in Hawaii.
"My lord, if I may ask, where is Viceroy Cornelia?" Rai asked, having expected to see the viceroy leading the charge.
"She's prepping to lead the naval counter strike, our job is to try and break through enemy lines and cause as much havoc as we can to aid her." Nonette informed him as she walked over to her Bors.
"But can we really accomplish that with only 6 machines?" Cecile asked, worried that they had too small a force to be of much use.
"We don't have the luxury of having anymore flight capable frames, if we waited for gloucesters and sunderlands to be ferried across, we'll be torn to pieces and if we move inland to destroy any opponents firing on us to clear a landing for them, we'll head up doing most of the job ourselves anyway, at best they'll be the ones to carry out clean up operations." Nonette explained to her, having had the same thought then the viceroy and her brainstormed the plan.
(Same time)
Meanwhile, out at sea, Cornelia was personally commanding a naval task force in its attempt to land near Buzen. Key word being try as with the snowstorm reaching far out into the water, they could not little to aid their landing craft as the Chinese fired on them from ground positions. Their Portmans were having just as much luck as the federation backed troops fired depth charges into the turbulent cold water.
"Princess Cornelia, we're taking too many losses, this blasted snow storm is preventing us from using our air-power." Guilford advised as he along with the Viceroy stood on the bridge of America-class aircraft carrier which was acting as central command for this operation. Along with then were 2 Wasp-class carriers and 3 Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. With the weather as bad as it was, they couldn't use their strike craft to bomb out those enemy positions or land Knightmares via VTOL.
"So you're saying that we'll need to delay our operation?" Cornelia bit back, furious that this day went from bad to worse so quickly, and how it seemed even the ever silent Gods were against them.
"It seems that way, with the way the weather is now, we can't take out those enemy placements hammering our landing forces." Guilford replied as they were informed of another troop transport that was sunk by enemy fire from the shore, which meant they just lost another 30 troops.
(With General Cao and Sawasaki)
"It was a wise move for us to strike just before this storm hit. If the weather forecast is accurate, we have another 9 hours to strengthen our grip on Kyūshū." General Cao commented as they were watched as the Britannian forces trying to come in from the sea were pushed back on the monitor. It seemed it was good foresight to bring along those depth charges launches, despite their age.
"And with our numerical advantage, we're going to prevail in this battle." Sawasaki gloated, already feeling like they had won the day, which got on the nerves of Cao but it was instructed to aid him however he could, so he'll keep his opinions of this pencil thin political nobody to himself.
"Which will be the first step in our plans to take area 11." Cao said as he looked to the side and ordered a solider in federation green to instruct their landing troops to bulk up their defensive lines. If need be, they'll make the imperials bleed for every inch of land in their procession.
(With Euphemia - Viceroy's Palace)
"What measures have you put in place?" While this was going on down south, Euphemia had remained in the capital to coordinate their resources from here. At present, she was in a video-conference with the second most powerful man in the empire, the prime minister.
"We're issued evacuation orders to the surrounding areas and have placed the navy into high alert to try and stop any more ships from entering. They have been ordered to halt any vessel and conduct a search of them, if the vessels don't comply and allow for this search….they'll be considered hostile and dealt with accordingly." Euphemia finished off as if the words left a bitter taste in her mouth. At her answer, Schneizel nodded his head in understanding.
"Cornelia's orders I imagine," He said to her, knowing that she would have never ordered for the intentional sinking of ships in such a manner, she would have wanted them detained and ships taken to imperial ports. "Either way, might I recommended a media blackout the events, we wouldn't this to frighten people or embolden others to arms."
"I'll see it done. In the meantime, could you perhaps try and get into contact with the Chinese Federation leadership?" Euphemia asked of him as she took his advice to heart.
"I'll see what I can do, perhaps the EU foreign Minister can be of some help." Schneizel replied, already waving to Kannon who was off screen to get those arrangements in order. "Truthfully, I was hoping that that wouldn't go through with this, it'll take considerable effort on my part to soothe the emperor, lest he declare war in response to this."
"He wouldn't, we don't even have the troops and equipment on hand to deal with such and the Black Knights." Euphemia protested, knowing that Area 11 would surely became a battlefield if those orders would came down.
"That may be true but the Totomo Agency has been making leaps and bounds in their weapons research, I imagine he'll use a war as one big, weapons test." Schneizel told her honestly, wanting her to understand that his hands were tied and how he himself was displeased with this, especially on how their father knew that his privately backed agency had such armaments in the works. He must have underestimated the OSI. "In any case, I wouldn't worry about the Black Knights too much."
"Why? Wouldn't this be a perfect chance for Zero to strike?" She asked him, she had already ordered that critical sites receive double their regular guard and for the military to be on high alert for any terrorist activity.
"I doubt that they are working with the federation seeing how intelligence suggests they're in bed with the EU. That would explain their weaponry and gear. No, this wasn't something they would partake in." Schneizel assured her, which got a weight off her back as she couldn't imagine how they'll fight both the federation and her estranged brother.
"I see, that makes things easier for the moment." Euphemia replied, sounding relieved by that piece of news as she had been unable to get into contact with Zero or any Black Knight officers. "I'll speak with you soon brother, but right now I have bigger concerns to handle."
"I completely understand, I wish you the best of luck." Schneizel replied to her with a smile as he the call, leaving her to brainstorm how she'll combat this mess.
(With Schneizel – Pendragon)
"Are you sure about this, you highness? Not telling her the full thing?" Kanon asked his prince as the man ended his call with his sister. Like in area 11, it was winter here in Pendragon and it showed with all the snow outside.
"I am Kanon, she has enough to deal with at the moment," Schneizel said as he looked over to the side of his desk where a marble chest board had been set and appeared to be in a middle of a game. "Telling her that there's a high chance that Zero will intervene in this on our side will only complicate things."
"But why are you so sure that he'll do so?" Kanon asked, finding the notions of their enemy aiding them highly unlikely. At his question, Schneizel lifted the black king piece off the board.
"Because," he started as he moved the black king into attack position on the board, along with it was the Black queen and a knight, facing off against a small portion of white pawns that seemed to be by themselves. "He isn't the type of person to appreciate someone else butting in the game."
(Ashford)
"I can't believe that after the work we put into the end of year festival, it's getting cancelled." Shirley bemoaned as she looked towards the cloak hanging from above the doorway, it was 3:15 but they still had a lot of work to go through.
"I wouldn't think too much about that when we're at war." Rivalz said as he went through some documentation on his laptop.
"War?" Nina meekly asked from seat on the other side of the table.
"This 'government in exile' is just some smoke and distractions, this is just the Chinese federation getting the first punch in." Rivalz explained as he pointed towards the TV in the corner playing the news, only muted so that they could work.
"But we're be on the frontlines then?" Nina replied, getting scared at the notions of war breaking out.
"Afraid so, they've already started to take Kyushu, who's to say that they don't try and take Honshu as well." Rivalz stated, sounding worried himself.
"But Cornelia has a whole bunch of troops her, and there's even a knight of round." Shirley spoke up to try and counter him.
"A lot of good that's done against Zero." Rivalz muttered to himself, though they all heard it which didn't help the mood.
"Nina, about the paintings we're requested from the museum." Milly spoke up, dispelling the negative mood and redirecting them towards less depressing topics.
"Oh, I'll be heading there in the afternoon. I still need to finish my project." Nina replied, all but forgetting the previous conversation for the sake of keeping herself calm and steady.
"Project?" Milly questioned with a curious glint to her eyes.
"Yeah, it's the one I've been working in since high school." Nina informed her, which was surprising as they thought she finished it a while ago.
"Oh yeah, didn't you get a scholarship to study at the Imperial Colchester Institute? Why you turn it down again?" Rivalz asked as she had received send scholarship in her final year of high school after some talent scouts saw her presentation.
"Well, I….I wasn't too sure if I would cope, Nina nervously tried to explain as she finished the rest with a whisper and blush. "Being away from my friends for so long."
"Thanks Nina, we'll miss you too, but you shouldn't not look into this, just imagine all you could get done in their science department." Shirley told her as she came forward and gave the meek girl a big hug, one that looked she was both enjoying while being uncomfortable.
"Lloyd attended there and look at him, a head knightmare researcher and developer under prince Schneizel himself." Milly pointed as her husband didn't really speak of his time there but he did admit it's a great institution.
"Okay, I'll look into it, but no promises." Nina agreed as Shirley stopped hugging her and went back to doing her own pile of paperwork.
"Agreed, by the way, Rivalz, how's that paperwork going?" Milly asked their secretary.
"I'm still knew deep in it, Kallen out sick so we'll a man down. I sent Lelouch and Suzaku their copies in an email but Lelouch says he'll only be done by the end of the day." Rivalz moaned as he felt like his shoulders were made of lead.
'I'm meeting with Reyla today, maybe after we'll talk, I'll know what to do with these feelings of mine.' Shirley thought to herself as she nervously worked through her portion, she had held this off for as long as she could but she realized that she needed to address this now, before something big came up.
27th November 2020 a.t.b. /3 9688 BBY:
Unknown Region:
Milky Way Galaxy:
Earth/Sol-3:
Chūgoku block:
Yamaguchi Prefecture:
Ube:
"That's amazing, you got a score of 85% on the float simulator." Cecile praised Rai as he sat in the cockpit of the Lancelot as they lowered the red float unit onto the state of the art knightmare. They had reached their destination just as it went dark and were now currently prepping for their units to fly over to Kyushu to partake in the operation.
"Thank you, I thought that'll I'll would have done worse. It was quite challenging." Rai replied to her as like the engineer, he was wearing a jacket over his pilot gear while she wore think boots, gloves, a coat and some hear muffs to keep warm.
"Don't feel so bad about it, the average with the Glaston knights was 78%" Nonette said as she walked up to them, holding a hot cup of tea or coffee, Cecile didn't know. "You have a real future as pilot, Kid. Who knows, maybe you'll become a knight of round like me some day." She finished as she took a sip of her drink to keep herself warm as she was still wearing the full gear of a knight of round, cape and all.
"I don't think that would happen, my lord. You may be my patron but-" Rai tied to speak up by Nonette cut him off.
"But nothing, you have shown skills and loyalty Rai. With a good word from me, maybe the emperor will be willing to consider it." The Knight of Nine told him, giving him hope of a promotion that no number could dream of.
"Alright, final preparations will be done in about one hour but the weather will only clear up in four. I suggest you all use the bathrooms before you go since this will be a long affair." Lloyd informed everybody as he walked over to them, wearing full on winter gear which made him look like a total tool, not that he cared as he pulled out a pocket watch and saw that it was just past 8pm
"Lloyd!" Cecile walked to him with a hand raised to give him a piece of her mind as he slowly moved away with his hands raised to try and plea for a mercy that would never came.
27th November 2020 a.t.b. /3 9688 BBY:
Unknown Region:
Milky Way Galaxy:
Earth/Sol-3:
East China Sea:
450km North-West of Fukuoka
"You all understand your orders?" At the same time this was happening, Zero along with several others were on-board a submarine cruising under the waves towards the epicentre of this whole mess. At present, Zero was giving his final order to some knightmare pilots.
"Yes, Zero." The group of trained naval pilots saluted him, to which he nodded his head.
"Good, then get to your machines, the operation begins in 3 and a half hours, we'll use the last vestiges of the storm to mask our approach into the combat area." Zero ordered them as they all saluted him one last time.
"Sir!" And with that, they walked out of the command station of the sub, leaving Zero along with the submarine commander to speak with the JLF, having requested this teleconference to request that they stay out of this.
"Sir, if I may," The captain started but paused mid-way when Zero turned to face him.
"Speak." He told the man as he walked over to one of officer's stations and observed them carry out their task on their terminal. It didn't help that the lights had been turned off, leaving the command centre bathed in red lights which made the man appear more frightening than usual.
"Are you sure that this is the correct course of action?" The captain asked him.
"Yes, we will not work with Sawasaki, he's only a means to an end for the Chinese." Zero said as he moved to the centre of the room and observed the enemy positions on the tactical screen built into the table top.
"But he was once a part of the government, wouldn't his word about fighting got Japan be more creditable?" The captain asked, though he himself wasn't Japanese, some of the crew stationed on-board were and had similar concerns.
"In most instances, including this one, no. Whenever other countries give aid to people like him, it's only because they gain a large advantage. All that would change is Japan's master as we'll go from a colony of Britannia to a 'member state' of the federation." Zero stated with a shake of the head, leaving them to all imagine life under the federation.
"I see, I have family in the federation. They say that living among the people is living in near crippling levels of poverty." The captain spoke up, seeing the logic on his words.
"So what you want for us to do, is play dead when Britannia strikes back? Even though we have assets in Kyushu?" General Tatewaki asked, as he along with Tohdoh and his holy swords were on screen discussing this very thing.
"That is correct, General Tatewaki. It is these times that one must show what principles they abide to and what they give merit to." Zero replied as he turned to face the screens.
"Still, I find this difficult to do, the enemy will be exposed and yet, we must do nothing." Asahina spoke up, his face may have had a smile but he was angry about the fact that were being asked to stand down at a time like this.
"He's got a point, Zero. What's you real objective, your mid-term goal?" Chiba spoke up. To her question, all Zero did was chuckle before he answered the question.
"That's easy, to make Japan its own independent nation." Zero replied to them, shocking all that heard this proclamation, even the crew on duty paused in their duties to look at him.
"Independent?" Senba repeated.
"A nation? Are you serious right now?" The old general asked him, wondering if Lelouch/Zero was indeed crazy.
"But sir, is that even possible? Even with the swell of members and new equipment." The captain jumped in, sounding nervous about taking on an empire like Britannia.
"Our enemy is an empire that controls a third the world, how would be even begin to match that?" Chiba asked him, it was impossible was not even the EU could match them in terms of logistics, especially now that they've lost most of their African holdings.
"She's right, what you saying is simply impossible." Urabe hated to admit, but she was right. A war with the empire would become one of attrition no matter what you plan was, and that was one aspect that they simply couldn't match.
"Then answer me this: Are you all content to just angering the colonial government, winning a few small-scale battles every now and then? Waiting for someone else to do what you say is impossible?" Zero asked them, speaking down to them as if they were mere children, something that got on their nerves as the recalled how he was of the same family that oppressed them, it seemed that even he had an air of arrogance to him but at the same time, when a guy would catch bullets and choke people to death with nothing but his mind, he had the right to be a cocky bastard.
"Who? The EU? The Federation?" He went on, stepping forward towards the screen as if glaring into their very souls. "Do you honestly believe that if you wait long enough, that some great chance will come? Don't make me laugh!" He yelled at them as he took a step back and waved at the communications officer to end to the call, but not before he left them with a final message. "If we don't stand up and do it ourselves, that chance will never came! We have to make our own chances."
"My, you might have just left them with a good impression." Liu Mei spoke up from the side of the room, being the only member of the Zero squad present as the rest made sure their machines were ready and prepped for launch.
"It matters little right now, came. We have a battle to ready for." Zero replied as he along with his personal squad member walked out of the room towards the hangar bay.
"Sir yes sir. I'm been itching to shoot at something again." he replied as she followed in step behind the man.
"I trust that S.K and L.M. are on route?" Zero asked her, having made plans for those two to reach the main island without issue.
"Sure thing boss. They'll be ready to kick off operation Island Getaway as soon as we finish up here." Liu Mei replied, having heard from Alleujah that they along with the men they needed, had made it safely without delay.
"Good, we'll moving into the grand finale of this whole Area 11 operation. Even if the colonials catch wing of our plans, they'll too far along for them to do anything about them." Zero stated with a ghost of smile as his eyes flashed crimson for a moment as his connection to the dark side made his blood leap at the prospect of battle and proving his superiority over his enemies, of making them heel to his power, of destroying all that stood in his way. At that same moment, they reach the hangar and along with their own machines, they saw another type of knightmare being prepped for battle.
This one built for naval combat.
27th November 2020 a.t.b. /3 9688 BBY:(5 hours later – 11pm)
Unknown Region:
Milky Way Galaxy:
Earth/Sol-3:
East China Sea:
275km North-West of Fukuoka
"GOOhN team, prepare to launch." The captain looked down at his watch and saw that it was 11pm on the dot, meaning it was time to begin the operation so gave the other. Within specially built launch tubes, water was slowly pumped into them while the each individual GOOhNs sat inside one of them.
"GOOhN team, preparing to launch." The GOOhN team commander replied as he went through final preparations for launch as his tube filled with sea water, already at 45% capacity.
"GOOhN team, your mission orders are as follow: You are to launch from the submarine and make your way towards the Chinese federation naval forces. Your job is to sink at least 2 carriers and 7 other large vessels in addition to causing havoc among the remaining vessels." Zero gave them their orders over the com channel from the submarine.
"Yes sir. We're get it done sir." The commander replied as he sat back and waited for the tube to fill, having reached 60%.
"You are also to try and block any additional forces from reaching the shore, you have full permission to sink any and all vessels of your choice." The masked man added in at the end, wanting to cause maximum damage with this attack as a means of demonstrating that the Chinese should think twice to return after this.
"Yes sir!"
"GOOhN team, launching!" The launch operator stated as the tube reached 100% capacity, allowing them to open them even at this depth of 60m without issue.
"This is GOOhN commander, launching." The commander called out as he swam out of his tube towards their target, not far behind him were the rest of the GOOhNs assigned to the mission. As the last one launched, the sub changed directions and instead begun to move for the heart of the enemy formation.
"Alright people, once the last GOOhN has launched and five minutes has passed, we're surface and launch as well." Zero said as he and his personal squad boarded their machines and awaited for the time that they surface so that they could join in on the fun.
"Roger that." Tierra confirmed over their private channel.
"I just hope I don't get shot down." Alleujah stated as he got comfortable in his seat, only to see Lockon laugh at him.
"If you did, I'll make sure you never forget it." The Irish sharpshooter stated as they went silent.
(With Cornelia – 30 minutes later)
"Finally, the weather has finally cleared. Which means we can resume the landing operation." Guilford stated as he looked out the window and saw the storm had finally passed, leaving only light snow-fall but that wouldn't be a problem.
"Get those birds in the air, I want those enemy hard points bombed out and burning husks on the double!" Cornelia yelled as she turned to one of the officers on deck.
"Yes, you highness!" The officer replied as she relayed those orders to the flight deck crew, who were already clearing the runway of any frost and snow to allow for take-offs.
"Do you think that'll they break through?" Guilford asked her, looking at the clock and seeing that Nonette and her people would be beginning their attack any time now.
"As painful as it is to admit, the Lancelot has proven effective in battle. With Nonette and the Glaston Knights backing, I can't see them failing." Cornelia replied, swallowing her pride as the thought of needing the Lancelot. She had been through too much because of these god-forsaken islands to not be able to adapt.
(With the A.S.E.E.C unit)
"I hope you boys are ready, we launch in 30 seconds." Nonette told the Glaston Knights and Lancelot as they all stood in formation near the waterline, facing Kyūshū.
"We're prepared and ready to do our part." Claudio replied as he reached for his order's signature glasses and placed them on.
"Especially since these Chinese bugs think they can mess with us and get away with it." David added in, itching to get into combat.
"Keep your head about this, David. We can't afford mistakes. Not with our float units consuming as much power as I've been told they will." Edgar reminded him as he checked his float attachment on the monitor and saw everything was all green.
"He's right, we need to strike and strike fast. If we can take out their main base and capture Sawasaki, the rest of their forces will lose their excuse for being here and will have to withdraw." Rai spoke up as he gripped the control columns.
"I can't believe we're working with an eleven." Bart muttered to himself, before he found himself cut off by the Knight of Nine.
"What was that Bart? Last I checked, that eleven has been producing better results than the rest of you combined." Nonette cut him off with a harsh reminder. One that brought back memories of their fallen father and brother.
"10 seconds." Cecile announced to them, breaking up any fight before it could start. With only seconds to go, Nonette merely chose to breathe in….and out before focusing her eyes on the mission ahead.
"Bors unit, now launching!" Cecile announced as the countdown hit zero.
"Launching!" Nonette yelled back as she punched it, firing up the float unit and taking to the skies. Seconds behind her, the rest of them took out and formed up behind her as they made their way towards their objective.
"Alright, let's go!" David cried as they rocketed towards Kyūshū.
(Kyūshū Military base)
"The Enemy has appeared to have launched a squadron of bombers but they're moving just as fast a fighters." One of the people manning the radar reported as they picked up the small flight of knightmares heading towards them.
"I have picture." Another reported as the main tactical screen changed to show the live images being sent to them from their forces. The sight of 6 flying knightmares both bringing awe and fear to them.
"Knightmares." Sawasaki observed, rather confused and slightly intimidated by such an advancement in knightmare tech.
"They're not being transported, you mean to tell me that they're flying on their own?" Cao asked furious about this new development.
"Wait, zoom in on the white one." Sawasaki ordered as he pointed towards the Lancelot in the back of the formation.
"Yes sir." One of the officers replied before they zoomed in the best they could on said unit. Yes, now he was sure that was the unit.
"Is that?" Cao asked, having come to the same conclusion that Sawasaki did.
"That weapons report we received. So it's really is true. This so called Lancelot really exists." Sawasaki muttered to himself as he felt a nervous sweat form. They had wished that the reports of a 7th gen machine had been misleading but now they will have to contend with 6 of them from the looks of things.
(With Lloyd)
"Rai was correct about that last thing, the military force trying to occupy Kyūshū block is fighting under the former minister Atsushi Sawasaki, if they lose him, then the new Japanese government would collapse almost immediately, and with that the Chinese forces will lose their excuse for being her and have to retreat or risk siting a war." Lloyd spoke up as he and Cecile monitored the systems of all 6 machine from the safety of the train car, out of the cold.
"But they still have to fight through a small army to get to him." Cecile pointed out as they were expected to be outnumbered 12 to one at the very least.
"With the knightmare thy have, it shouldn't be too difficult. I did design them after all." Lloyd brushed her worries aside, having faith that his masterful designs will make up for the numbers gap.
"Except the Bors, as you mainly reverse engineered captured enemy tech to build it." Cecile reminded him with a smile, enjoying how he visible deflated at that one.
(Back with the fighters)
"This is proving to be easier than I thought." David said as he danced around the missile fire from the enemy attack copters before firing on them with his rifle, blasting apart 3 before they scattered.
"Well these float packs may be energy pigs, but they sure can make you move!" Edgar agreed with him as he fired off his slash harkens and was able to strike two other copters, downing them.
"Keep on task, we need to break through this before we go below 60%!" Nonette reminded them as she dodge around the enemy fire, never breaking her stride towards their goal as she fired her VARIS every now and then whenever an attack copter got too close, completely destroying them.
"Yes, my lord!" They all replied as they worked their way through the enemy counter-attacks, scoring more and more kills as time went on and they closed the gap between them and the base.
(Back on the base)
"They're broken through the third attack wave!"
"We've lost 35 attack helicopters!"
"Dammit, how the hell can a knightmare more so well in the air?!" Cao yelled at them as they stood there and listened to update after update which did little to help with their moods.
"Send up the forth attack wave, have our anti-air unit pepper the skies with missiles and shells if you have to!" Sawasaki ordered , not caring that those same attack copters may become victims of friendly fire, all that mattered as taking out those knightmares!
"Yes sir!"
"Sir, report from the 3rd naval strike force." Someone ran up to Cao and whispered the information into his ear. Which seemed to be bad news based on his reaction.
"What you do mean they're under attack?! Those ships are clearly marked and registered as Chinese Federation Navy!" Cao yelled in fury.
"The Britannians are going after our ships still at sea? Why? Don't they realise such an act can lead to war?" Sawasaki asked him, what were they thinking? If the empire was willing to go this far, then their whole plan would be ruined!
"Sir, the enemy is unidentified but we can confirm that they are not Britannian." The solider told them both, before informing them of the rest of the message.
(Out at sea)
"I see large submarine, most likely ballistic missile. Taking it out." GOOhN 3 said over the radio as he zeroed in on a large submarine which appeared to have noticed him based on how it was trying to get away.
"Roger, ballistic missile submarine to be destroyed." GOOhN Commander repeated as GOOhN 3 aimed one of its arms towards the sub and form its forearm-mounted launcher, it fired two torpedoes towards the submerged target. The sub try to avoid it but within less than 20 seconds, both torpedoes impacted and detonated on the side of the hull near the stern, causing a chain reaction which lead to the one or two of the missile payloads to blow up while on-board.
"Shame they can't fight back." GOOhN 5 said as she cruised on the surface towards an enemy destroyer, using the cover of night to fire her back-mounted anti-ship missile towards. Lucky for them, their CIWS spotted the thing and was able to blast it apart before it did damaged but by then, she had already dived again.
"Don't feel shame, just fire." GOOhN commander reminded them as he fired off his own torpedo volley.
"I'm heading up, there's a destroyer just waiting to be destroyed." GOOhN 6 reported as she spotted a lone destroyer trying to escape. Not on their watch.
"Don't get cocky." GOOhN commander told her as she raced to the surface but rather then used cruise along it, she jumped out of the water and landed on the ship's deck, right in front of its main gun which was facing the wrong way.
"Sorry bout this, but you're all about to go for nice little swim." She teased as she locked onto all the sailors on deck with her Chest-mounted 12.7x108mm DShK before spraying them, blasting them to bits as she aimed her torpedoes towards the main gun and bridge, firing them at such close range that she was nearly caught in the explosions before she turned around and jumped right on back into the water.
"Knightmares? From the water?" Meanwhile, they the Black Knights machines were going to town on them, the commanding officer of the whole naval strike force was being filled in to the scope of the attack.
"Yes sir, a force of 15 knightmares are attacking us. We have already lost a Helicopter carrier, 2 destroyers and a frigate." The crewman reported as they could make out their ships firing missiles and cannons towards the waterline, trying to destroy this attacking force.
"Tell those idiots to focus on anti-submarine warfare, force them to the surface and destroy them!" The Commodore yelled as he watched as the other ship commanders wasted munitions like this.
"But sir, one surfaced and boarded a destroyer, it destroyed the bridge before jumping back into the water!" The same crewman reported to him, having just received word of the damaged ships fate.
"What, since when can a Portman do that?!" The yelled as he knew that Portmans could climb ships using their slash harkens but jumping onto one was impossible! However, before he could question the truth of the report, something else came up.
"Incoming contacts on the radar!" A crewman called out as they picked a small group of unknown heading right for them.
"What now?!" The aging commodore yelled as he walked over to the radar station to see for himself.
"They're fast, faster than a fighter….They're knightmares!" The crewmen informed them as he tried to identify what was approaching.
"Since when do knightmares fly?!" How the hell did their intelligence fail so miserably as to now know that the Britannians had flying knightmares!?
"They'll be on top of is 20 seconds!"
(With the knightmares)
"Targeting enemy carrier." Tierra said as he locked into a smaller ship. "Firing." He said as he pulled the trigger, firing a powerful blast aimed for the rear of the vessel, blasting through armour and deck before causing an explosion down below.
"Nice shot Tierra, but we still have more to clear of." Lockon said as he took aim and started firing, aiming for the visible CIWS he could make out to destroy their capacity to fight back against such high speed targets. "Let's see how well you with a few holes in your hull."
"Heads up, we have fighters inbound." Liu Mei picked up on her radar as she looked to the side to see 23 Chinese fighters heading for them.
"Alright, we have a job to do. Wang Liu Mei and I will deal with the fighters, you three focus on sinking those ships!" Zero ordered as he and Liu Mei turned their machines and flew toward the new threat, firing as they did.
"Yes sir!"
"Just like piloting an interceptor through space." Zero breathed out as he recalled all the flight training he did for this type of thing before he opened up his missile pods and aimed his railguns at the approaching fighters. "You know, you shouldn't bunch up like that, it almost makes this too easy." He mocked them as he fired away, his barrage managing to destroy 5 of the fighters and damage another 7, forcing the rest to scatter to avoid another hit like that.
"Spread them out and blast tem out of the sky." Zero called out as he chased after one and shot it down with his rifle before swinging round and bringing up his shield to block a missile strike from another chasing him.
"You don't need to tell me twice, these guys are amateurs." Liu Mei responded as she dodged an attack from three fighters before aiming her MMI-M1001 190mm anti-aircraft shotgun at them and pulling the trigger, sending dozens of steel balls at near Mach speed towards them, shredding through all three and causing them to explode mid-flight.
"They sure are putting up a solid fight." Alleujah said as he flew around the Chinese ships, firing with both his rifle and 35mm vulcan cannon hidden in his shield.
"That shouldn't stop you from completing your mission." Tierra informed him as fired on a ballistic missile submarine that had been forced to the surface, destroying it with a single shot.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Just saying." Alleujah replied as he spotted a new target. "I'm going to that carrier, it looks like they're trying to get more birds into the air."
"Go for it, I'll cover you." Lockon responded from his position high up in the clouds as he turned his attention to assisting Alleujah as he flew in fast and low. Soon he had covered the distance was about the fly by the carrier at deck level, so he levelled both his weapons as the fighters and crew he could see.
"Sorry about this, but we never said you may launch." Alleujah said over the speaker as he fired on them, ripping apart people and causing the aircraft to blow up, adding to the carnage. "I see another one, I'm going for it." He said as he picked up another one, it had no fighters ready to take off which must have meant they were still underdeck or they had already taken off. Either way, he was sinking this one.
"Hold on a sec," Lockon said as he fired on it, his shot hitting near the rear, under the waterline. Causing a rush of water to explode out of the water. "That should slow them down."
"What you hit?" Alleujah asked as he saw that ship begin to slow down.
"Their main rudder. They won't be making any quirk turns now." Lockon replied, like it was no big deal that he pulled off that shot but knowing him, it probably was.
"Looks like they've handling thing fine here. Shall we make out way to the base and end this farce?" Liu Mei asked as she fired her shotgun at another group of fighters, managing to it most of them.
"Let's. You three, once you're done, head back the sub." Zero said as he saw this happening as he slashed a fighter in half from above with one of his blades.
"You sure?" Lockon asked as he fired on the missile banks on a frigate, causing the entire mid-section of the ship to explode in a fiery ball of metal and smoke as the two broken halves started to sink beneath the waves.
"If their forces are as strong as these ones," Zero said and without looking, he was able to shoot and hit an enemy fighter coming up from behind just before it could fire its missiles at him. "We shouldn't have too many problems." Oh, this was too easy for him, but then again, having the foresight of a force user make these kind of things….predictable.
"Roger, we'll finish up here and return to the sub." Tierra answered as he directed traffic with their GOOhN team as they mercilessly attacked the vessels from below while they fired from above.
"Let's go." Zero stated as he and Lie Mei turned around and blasted off towards Kyūshū to settle things.
(Back with the Britannian)
"What?" As this went down, their actions soon reached the Britannian command as Cornelia, Guilford and others were informed of this attack.
"Someone is making a move against the Chinese fleet?" Guilford questioned the message.
"Who is attacking? I gave no order." Cornelia demanded, wanting to find and personally punish this fool for disobeying orders.
"Your highness, we believe it to be the Black Knights." The crewmen reported to them as their scouts and own ships reported that the machines flying in and attacking the Chinese were the same model as machines already classified to be of terrorist origin.
"The Black Knights?" Cornelia felt her eyes widen at that.
(With the Lancelot)
"Zero?" Rai repeated as he destroyed another attack copter while blocking the fire from another with his blaze.
(In Tokyo Settlement)
"Lelouch?" Euphemia whispered to herself as she heard this news.
(In Pendragon)
"Zero." Schneizel said, being the only one not surprised by this latest development as he chuckled to himself. "You made your move. I was beginning to think that you wouldn't show. How faithless of me to think that." He said as he moved the black king towards the white rook placed in the middle of three white pieces. Looks like the enemy fort would fall before sunrise.
(Back on the battlefield)
"What's the situation then?" Nonette asked as they found themselves within sight of the base itself, even with all this enemy fire.
"My lord, the Black Knights are engaging the Chinese ships using a mix of their land knightmares and unknown submersible frames." One of the officers on board one of their ships close to the actions reported back to them.
"So they have machines that can swim, do you?" Nonette laughed to herself, thinking about how prepared this Zero is for war and how much he must want them to burn to have spent so much effort preparing. "Makes me feel you you've been holding out in us, those machines could fly and yet they've never made use of it before today."
"It would seem that Zero really is a man that always has another trick up his sleeve. However why is he working with us?" Guilford asked the big question. The man himself had stated that he'll never work with them in the past, so what's changed?
"I don't think the 'why' is important right now, his attack is spreading even more chaos through the enemy lines and with their ships under attack, they can't protect the smaller ones boasting the Japanese flag. Which means," She started as she saw the info dawn on her friend's face.
"Which means that our ships can fire on them unchallenged. You all heard that, Fire on those supply ships! I won't every single one of them at the bottom of the sea!" Cornelia ordered their ships to move in and as much as she hated to say it, but to aid the Black Knights in wiping out the rest of the enemy force.
"Yes, you highness!"
"You do that, we'll continue making our way to their main base and end this whole invasion with one fell swoop." Nonette said as she fired on one of the tanks on the ground that was trying to shot them down.
"Good luck, Nonette." Cornelia told her, showing some emotions in the form of worry for her, which she was grateful for as there weren't a lot of people Cornelia actually cared for in this world.
"You too, Nelly." Nonette answered as she cut the line just as they landed on the outskirts of the base. They were in the final stretch now, by daybreak, one way or another, this would be over.
She would make sure of it
Sorry about this but I'll cut the chapter here, though I didn't expect for things to be this long as planned for this whole thing to be over and done with the one chapter but now it seems it'll spill into the next one. Still, it was very exciting to right about this as I was able to really bring the Black Knights into full swing with their submarines and GOOhNs. It would normally be bad for them to show off that kind of power but as I stated earlier in the chapter, this plans have reached the point where that doesn't matter.
We don't know much about the Float unit used by knightmares but according to the people manning the radar in the occupied Britannian base, the Lancelot appeared to be moving faster than a fighter plane. As all they all had different maximum speeds at different altitudes and configurations, to get a baseline, I'll had to establish an average speed which worked out to be around 2,454.2km/h or Mach(SI standard) 2.311. Since they say the Lancelot is moving faster than that, I added 10% of the total speed to itself and got 2,699.62km/h or Mach(SI standard) 2,542. I know that's a pretty high speed for something that shouldn't even be aerodynamic enough to even more past the speed of sound but its anime, so we'll let that slide.
Just for more detail, the Bors is larger and therefore, it's the slowest of the bunch with the Vincents being the middle ground. The Vincents are around 15% slower(top speed for them is 2,294.68km/h) and the Bors is 20% slower(top speed would be 2,159.69km/h) So it's accurate to say that they were flying towards the base at the fastest speed the Bors could manage.
The battle as you all just read, is going down different to cannon Sawasaki wouldn't even bother talking to them as unlike before when he knew Suzaku and the fact he was young and relatively inexperienced, he had no idea the identity of the pilots as the Bors is still new to the field, so are the Vincents and the Lancelot never received the same notoriety as cannon due to events that make the unit and its pilot famous simply not happening.
By the way; here's the info on the Bors as I forget to put in the last chapter.
Model Number: ZEOP-01
Unit Type: Prototype
Overall Height: 5.74m
Gross Weight: 8.09 metric tons
Power Source: Yggdrasil Drive, Energy Filler
Armour Material: Tungsten; Unknown metallic alloy recovered from captured Black Knight frames
Manufacturer: A.S.E.E.C
Operators: Holy Britannian Empire
KMF Generation: 7th
Role: Trial Unit; Multi-purpose
Developed from: GINN; Lancelot Club
Equipment:
Standard: Blaze Luminous Great Shield; Factsphere Sensor; Landspinner propulsion system.
Optional: Float system
Armaments:
Fixed: 2x Slash Harkens
Optional: 1x Master Vibration Double Bladed Axe; 1x VARIS rifle
UMF-4A GOOhN
Overall height: 4.87m
Weight: 8.01 Metric Tons
Weapons(All fixed): 2x Forearm-mounted torpedo launchers – 7 per pack; 1 x Back-mounted forward facing 42mm Anti-air heavy blaster cannon; 1 x Chest-mounted 12.7x108mm DShK; 2 x Back-mounted forward facing 135mm Submersible launched SAM; SSM Anti-ship missiles packs– 4 per pack; 2 x Shoulder-mounted 35mm anti-armour blaster cannons