We are reaching it, the finale of season 1 and no, this will not be the end of the story. There will be more chapters afterwards as I only intend to end this one when the entire world is under their banner, which will take years to do. The sequel will have them be more involved in galactic politics and have to deal with the greater galaxy as a whole, both the good and the bad. As you all read in the last chapter, their attack on Pearl harbour was a complete success, with their forces completely overrunning the base. This chapter will pick up from there and go forward since as you can imagine they have one more attack in mind, Japan.

nliochristou: Yes we are, R1 ended with the first battle of Tokyo and as you guessed, that battle is coming. There will be some chapters to bring R1 and R2 but that's due to the fact that retaking a country from a foreign power is much easier then running one, so those chapters will mostly be politics and slice as life, after-all, by then Reyla would have given birth.

tf330129: Thank you, by the way, if you liked my story, then I recommend that you read the Lens of Truth by Lord22. It's a great read with a unique premise as the plot.

REVANOFSITHLORD: I am undecided on such matters as their currents units are sufficient for the most part. Maybe in my sequel story to this one but for now, they'll make do with what they have.

Perseus12: Yes, the bastard breathed his last and like cannon, it was by the hands of an eleven. The bit about another no-name unit grabbing his leg was something I picked up from zombie movies as there is always that one person who can't escape or dodge in time due to a zombie that they either didn't see or thought was no longer a threat grabbing their leg and biting down. Nice quote by the way.

Vein Bloodborne: I'm glad that my last update was up to standard, I always worry that my work isn't that good but I've received next to no negative feedback about this story other than spelling and grammar. As for his sisters, now that they have their suspect, again they have no actual proof, they are now in quite the difficult spot as they both know that fighting him will not go in their favour but at the same time, they simply can't surrender.

revan193: Well they were attacking the largest and most well defended Britannian naval installation in the Pacific, it was by no means a cake walk. Sure they could have bombarded it from low orbit but that sends the wrong message, they wanted them to know they had a fighting chance….and still lost.

JCarrasco: Thank you.

Dontus -not Donut- Powerus: When the time comes for his next model, I'll try to me more descriptive.

Blaze1992: Attacking such targets is not only barbaric but only works for the short term as all you'll doing is giving your enemy ammo to demonise you in the eyes of their populations and to some extent, on a world stage. It's what Britain did to the German during the great war as they used their vast empire's resources to make sure that all news sources painted the German as monsters despite the fact that they themselves are guilty of many of the 'acts of barbarism' they accused the Kaiser's troops of.

MM Browsing: That reaction is now.

7: Thanks.

Greer123: Thanks about that, I was worried that the battle would be subpar but I've gotten no complaints about it so I will consider that, a win.

Dragoon725: I already sent you a PM.

Chapter 35: A Family of Tragedy

3rd December November 2020 a.t.b. /3 9688 BBY:

Unknown Region:

Milky Way Galaxy:

Earth/Sol-3:

Area 12:

Honolulu Island:

Skies over Pearl Harbour Pacific Imperial Naval command:

"Commander, what are our losses?" Zero, who are present was on the bridge of his flagship as he hovered over the remains of the Britannian naval base, asked the captain as they both looked down towards the taken base.

"They exceeded what we expected sir, 12% more a then expected aircraft were shot down and another 15% extra then planned were damaged." The captain replied, handing him the damage report as he spoke.

"Regrettable but of little concern of the moment. I see that some of our ships took damage." Zero noted as the report highlighted that through they didn't lose a single submarine or ship, some had taken damage.

"Yes sir, one of our heavy cruisers found itself targeted by many of the enemy's missiles and sustain significant damage." The captain replied, as they book out the window and saw the ship in question, it was trailing some smoke from what must be on-board fires but otherwise the damage appeared to be confined to the lower hull.

"Have then retreat to space for now, but ensure they remain close to earth." Zero ordered as they couldn't afford to have one of their ships downed now, as it was, a damaged ship was a liability.

"Yes sir." The ship's captain replied with a quick salute before he handed him another report. This one smaller than the last. "Also, the demolition teams have reported in, they will be done placing bombs on all captured enemy ships within the hour." He informed him as they had no plans to capture the enemy ships not destroyed in the assault, not enough man-power to even provide skeleton crews. So they opted to destroy them before they enemy reinforcements could arrive. To that end, thermal detonators were being placed in every ship's bridge, weapons and engine rooms to cripple them.

"Good, be sure to remind them that none military and civilians ships are not to be touch, if even a single one goes up in smoke, they'll have to answer to me." Zero reminded him as he looked at him over his shoulder, his faceless gaze burrowing into captain who could only gulp down his fear.

"Yes sir." With this, the man walked off to address some other matter, at that same time, Both SK and Lm entered the bridge.

"Running a tight ship, I see." SK said as he looked around at all the activity around the place, even though they won, there was still much to do.

"SK, LM, you succeeded in your goals?" Zero didn't bother giving that a reply, only asking for what was important.

"Sure did, the field test for the GFBD-03 and GFHMBD-02 was a complete success. Each one took down at least 40 people before they went down." SK replied, having just completed recalling all their active battle droids and doing a quick check-up.

"I thought that the number was supposed to be 60." LM asked, having been told that one of those droids was worth its weight in gold when it came to combat.

"They're still under development, I understand some of them had software malfunctions mid battle and got shot to pieces." LM responded, not that worried about it as his lover could always look them over for any serious problems.

"Then see to it that they are looked over, once they is complete, we'll begin mass production of them to make up for our lacking manpower." Zero said as he looked on the island base that had just taken. They were banking on those droids to make up for their serious lack of man-power as even when they took Area 11, it simply doesn't have people or industry.

"We're gonna need thousands if you really intend to wage a war against all three superpowers." LM said as she looked at him, wondering what was going through his head.

"Tens of thousands and no, I have no intention of fighting the EU, with Russia as our backer and some support from Poland, Sweden and Norway, it will be better to adsorb those three and cripple them." Zero explained to the two of them his plan for the EU. "They'll yield once it's made clear it is their only option."

"Suit yourself, less bloodshed will be a good thing." SK said as he didn't really mind the underhanded nature of the plan, it beat hundreds if not thousands having to die on the battlefields.

"Quite, that is why I can happily report that my mission to capture the enemy commanders was a success. Along with their unconditional surrender, they ordered all forces to cease fighting and lay down their arms." LM said as she had just returned from having their ranking commanders taken care of.

"That is good. They were proving to be quite ferocious fighters." Zero replied as he looked through the report he had been given, they really did lose more than they thought. "I have been told that there was more?"

"Yes, two of the command staff that were captured are highly ranked. The commander of the base, Fleet Admiral Wilson Chesters and one of his lower admirals, one Red Admiral Samantha Winchester were both taken into custody." LM replied as they had found quite the prize in Chesters, the man was a decorated naval man. "We would have taken Rear Admiral Alfred Smith but,"

"He was killed in combat, wasn't he?" Zero could already tell that was a likely possibility.

"Yes, he was aboard one of the carriers when it was bombed. He died from his injuries not too long ago." LM reported as they had done a full sweep of the wrecked vessel and found remains that closely matches Smith but until they could have their labs look into it, they could to be sure.

"They are in holding aboard the ship and are confined to the brig." LM finished her report before looking at him with a questioning air to her. "What shall we do with them?"

"I shall have a talk with the two of them before we have them transferred to a POW facility." Zero responded. They couldn't torture them for information for obvious reasons but maybe he could get something out of them using privacy breaking but completely legal unconventional methods

"Where is the zero squad right now?" SK asked, noting that he hadn't seen any of them since coming aboard.

"Supervising everything on the ground, the battle may have ended but we need to finish things up and move on." Zero responded as he had left Tierra in charge in his absence.

"That shouldn't take too long, we have a solid three hours before any other Britannian ships can even get close enough to launch fighters." LM stated as they didn't have all that left to do in here before they moved on.

"Get it down, once we are done, we will return to space to resupply and conduct minor repairs." Zero said as he turned to walk off, the two of them following suite. "We'll move on Tokyo in 30 hours."

"Yes sir!" They, along with the rest of the command staff close enough to hear him replied.

"Is the press statement ready?" He asked as he walked on past the operations table towards the door.

"Yes, we have finished preparing everything." LM confirmed as they had pre-recorded a speech this time around. All that was needed for their people to splice in actual combat footage to really make it real

"Good once, we leave, make sure to send copies to every news agency in the empire and abroad." He ordered them as they stopped following him once he reached the door which opened for him.

"Sir!" They both saluted him, to which he nodded his head at them before turning on his heel and walking off, the door closing behind him.

(Pendragon – Court Conference Room)

"Have you been able to get a control plane up?" Meanwhile, while the Black Knights were planning their next move, the imperial government was struggling to figure out the extant from their last one. The one who had just spoken was the emperor himself as he sat in a meeting with both his eldest sons and other heads of government and the military.

"Yes your majesty, it should make it to pearl in about 30 minutes. We'll know more then." The minister of war replied to him, having spent his time wisely in contacting private and government contractors to see if one of them had a plane with good communication and could carry cameras. The goal being to use that as a method of scouting the base.

"What of our satellites?" Odysseus asked.

"We have shut them down for now, until we can get a team into orbit to inspect them, we cannot trust them to function as designed." The minister of the interior replied as with things as they were, using them when they're been compromised would be a bad idea.

"What of the settlements?" Charles asked from his own seat, which like the throne was much better than the rest of them.

"All three are still under our control, local authorities have declared martial law. The twelves haven't don't anything noteworthy as of late." The minister of policing replied as she had to personally give the order to ensure that the situation in Hawaii didn't sour anymore then it had already.

"Right now, we need to keep a lid on this. God knows what the Federation will pull if they learned of this." The minister for communications reminded them all as they had just finished that little chapter with the federation, if they knew of this, then all their holdings in the pacific would be at risk.

"More importantly, we need a way to deal with these Black Knights once and for all! This attack was unacceptable!" The minister of war slammed his hand onto the table, the main issue of the discussion coming to light.

"And what would you suggest we do? We still don't even know how they crossed the western pacific in the first place." The minister of policing asked him.

"Have a third of the remaining ships we do have contact with set sail for Area 11. Have the remaining continue with their duties." Charles spoke up before his ministers started to bicker like children.

"Yes, your majesty!" They all replied to him with a small bow of the head, even his two sons did the same.

"What I'm concerned about is their second move. There is little doubt that they planning another attack in Area 11, the only question is when. If they were using conventional ships, I would say that it would take 5 days at least." Schneizel pointed as a map of the western pacific was presented on all their screens. They could all see the sizable distance that zero and his men would have needed to cover was in excess of 6,000km.

"But if unconventional means are used?" Charles inquired of his rather dubious son.

"Then I would give it 3 days at the maximum as we are still unsure how they covered such a distance. Reports indicate that they had been silent in Area 11 for some time so we have only a time-frame of when they could have left." Schneizel replied as reports from both Nonette and Cornelia both stated that days prior to this, there was little Black Knight activity, hinting that was the timeframe they left in.

"How are we going to address, is my worry. There should have been no way that simple terrorist could conduct a successful raid on Pearl." Odysseus asked as kept mostly to himself to try and come up with a solution for this massive problem.

"Did they have support from the EU? The federation?" The minister of the interior asked.

"It's not impossible, with our state of the art surveillance network compromised, they could have sailed a small fleet into the pacific without our knowledge." The minister of communications seemed to agree with him on that point.

"Are you an idiot? Even if those ships were from EU holdings in southern Africa, intelligence would have noticed that. Even now, our agents in both Madagascar and French South Africa have not reported any significant naval movements." The minister of war asked the two of them as many others at the table seemed to agree with his assessment. Even then, if one of those powers supplied the assault, it would be grounds for war.

"There is also the fact that after the stunt they pulled, we have been watching every move the federation makes and keeping diplomatic pressure on them. They know that if we take India, their military industrial complex will implode." The minister of police reminded them as with their forces so close to the Indian border, the federation would think twice before doing anything stupid.

"So where did you think traitors and elevens got their hands on enough fire-power to attack Pearl? We still don't have contact with anyone there, not even Sir Bradley!" Another pointed out.

"You don't think that they can match him, don't you?"

"Zero and his group have already survive multiple confrontations with Dame Enneagram, the knight of nine. I will not allow this mockery to continue because of your ignorance to them." Charles reminded them as he never accepted defeat or incompetence from those who served directly under him, some of them knew that well as they replaced those he had axed.

"Yes, your majesty."

'Dammed children, now that Pearl harbour is lost, it will be hard to check any move they make. Even with Schneizel's little pet project, it doesn't have any long ranged capabilities. The best it can do is fly there but then what?' Charles thought to himself as he thought about the massive headache his wayward children were causing for him.

'And it just my luck that Marianne is on deployment in Area 15.' And it was only made worse by the fact that his confidant was not hear with them, like the rest of the rounds, they were deployed to some spot of the empire and in her case, she was sent to keep the EU from trying to take Gibraltar.

3rd December November 2020 a.t.b. /3 9688 BBY:

Unknown Region:

Milky Way Galaxy:

Earth/Sol-3:

Area of space over western Pacific – 660km North West of Hawaii

"Hurry up with that! I want this done quickly!" Hours later, sometime after the sun had set on the western pacific, aboard the flagship of their small but powerful navy, flight crewmen and deck officers rushed about the flight deck, managing all the happenings that needed to get done before their next this case, someone was yelling about reloading the munitions banks for a fighter which saw action earlier that day.

"Someone pass me a screwdriver!" Someone yelled as she and 4 others were busy doing maintenance on a GINN that took a hit and needed minor repairs.

"We're almost done refuelling these 6. We'll start on the next group in a bit!" One person called out as they gestured to a group of medium bombers which were just about done getting refuelled.

"No, we don't need EMP bombs, just general use, thermobaric and bunker buster!" Another yelled at someone who was leading a small group as they brought some EMP bombs towards some bombers.

"We're done loading theses ones!" Kallen turned her eyes to another corner where they had just finished fuelling and loading the bombs into some bombers. The person in question was signing the necessary forms so they they'll know which were combat ready and which weren't.

"Those ones don't need maintenance, focus on the others!" Another mechanic said as they finished looking over some GINNS and concluded that they weren't in need of any repair, she didn't know much about machines but from where she was standing, they only needed their paintjobs redone.

"Enjoying the sights?" Lockon asked as he walked up to her on the overhead walkway which pilots used to board their machines.

"Lockon." Kallen said aloud, she didn't hear him walk up.

"In the flesh. But you didn't answer the question." Lockon teased her as he took a spot next to watch the hive of activity happening below him. Both having recently returned from their duties at Pearl.

"I just, never thought we'll….I'll get this far. It hasn't even a full year since I was running around with a beat up Glasgow." Kallen told him, being honest with him as he had been with her.

"And now, you pilot one of the best machines in the world and are part of a group with more funds and resources then you thought possible." Lockon finished for her, understanding her feelings as only two years prior was he an construction worker in Ireland. Sure he wished to fight against Britannia but as the former United Kingdom was a puppet to France, he couldn't do much then.

"Yeah, it's kinda only catching up with me now, don't know why." Kallen replied as she did find it odd that only months after joining, after all the fighting and success they had enjoyed, was this feeling settling in deep.

"Well that kinda thing happens, we can't really explain it." Lockon joked as humans were an odd bunch. They could not comprehend something in all its nature for long periods of time.

"By the way, are you okay? I heard that you took some damage." Kallen asked as near the end of the fighting, just before they Britannian surrendered, she had heard his unit had taken a serious blow.

"Oh no, it was nothing too bad. Some guy with a rocket launcher got lucky and took out my sniper rifle." Lockon waved off her concerns as what people were saying was completely false. Sure he was pissed at the time but that was mainly due to the fact he was a sniper so losing his main weapon really stung his pride.

"Oh, that's great, your unit suffered no damage?" Kallen asked him with a small smile, happy that he didn't suffer any damage.

"Only to the paint, kinda like yours. They'll be able to pull my spare rifle from storage in the hour, they said that they want to focus on," Lockon said as he gestured towards all the activity happening below them. "All of this first."

"In just over a day, we'll be back in Japan." Kallen noted as they had been informed of their leader's plans to get them back to the land of the rising sun soon. With the ability to fly and even enter space, they were easily able to make the trip that would take most conventional ships 4 days at the minimum, they could easily make within the hour. However, they were taking their time to rest and ensure everything was in working order.

"And with our performance record as is, we don't have that much to worry about." Lockon said in response they had such a great record in combat, he didn't fear defeat anymore.

"I wouldn't be too sure," Someone else stated as they walked up to them. "The area 11 defences are sure to be much stronger than those of Pearl." Tierra finished as he came up.

"Tierra." Lockon waved towards him while Kallen offered a small head nod to their stoic teammate.

"When out next target has no doubt figure out something is wrong and has more men and machines to call upon, no, no you can't." Tierra continued as he fixed his glasses. He wasn't one to show arrogance and appeared to be thinking about this coming operation in all its nature.

"But I heard not everyone will be involved in the assault." Kallen asked as she heard Zero talking about not using their full strength for this.

"That is correct, a portion of our forces will be despatched to ensure that the federation doesn't try anything. They will have permission to sink any aircraft or ships that try to pass them without permission." Tierra informed them as a couple of their ships will head over to Area 11's west coast to keep the Federation back….by raining down red hot turbolaser fire on anyone dumb enough to try.

"But then, how will we be able to retake Tokyo?" Lockon asked him.

"That's what those bombers are for. That along with our plans to cut off the city from the outside. A siege." Tierra told them as they were planning for either long siege, which they'll win or a quick surrender when the enemy realised that they had no real hope to combat them.

"But that could take weeks to work." Kallen pointed as Tokyo was sure to have enough supplies to hold out long enough for the empire to send in reinforcements.

"They'll surrender once they realise there is no hope for victory." Tierra assured her as he personally thought that the colonial government would have to be insane to resist.

4th December November 2020 a.t.b. /3 9688 BBY:

Unknown Region:

Milky Way Galaxy:

Earth/Sol-3:

Area 11/Japan:

Viceroy Imperial Bureau Building:

"How are the area's defences?" Cornelia asked the room of military leaders she had gathered. All around Area 11, she had ordered all personal to be ready for an attack. But as they knew nothing of where this attack was coming from, they had to divide their forces across all likely battle zones.

"Your highness, all systems have been double checked and are online." One of her commanders replied as they had taken this time to jury-rig their own secondary communication and surveillance network in case the primary failed them in anyway.

"We have also been able to mobilise all our forces and have dug them in across all major sea ports and cities." Another replied as they had just returned from the front lines where they had dug in tanks and mobile artillery to protect the settlement from attack.

"The navy has informed us that they'll stationed ships and material in all major ports." One of them, this one being of their naval forces, informed them as they had all major maritime access routes into the country blocked, no-one in, no-one out.

"All air divisions have also been prepped and are ready to launch at your command." Claudio of the Glaston knights reported as they had ordered all their airfield to make all available craft ready for action. Even their small bomber force was being made ready.

"Civilians have been informed that they will be escorted to shelters for their own protection if fighting should reach the settlement." Bart informed the gathering as he and the rest of his brothers had been busy making sure everyone in the streets knew to stay at home. It was so chaotic to close down schools and businesses that the police had to get involved.

"What are you talking about? Fighting will reach the settlement." One of the commanders spoke up, sure that they will meet and crush these uprising before it got that close. As far as he was concerned, this was only being cautious.

"You don't know that, we might be able to stop them before they can make it here." Edgar had to bite his tongue and admit to that as they had no real victories against these insurgents. Even when they caught them off guard, they had still inflicted heavy damage to their own forces.

"No, he is right." Nonette spoke up for the first time in the meeting, her gaze staying squarely on Euphemia and Cornelia, much to their silent confusion. "Zero and his Black Knights will get here. One way or another."

"Do we have any intel on what went down at Pearl?" Euphemia asked as they had no real clue what to prepare for which was the real scary part.

"We still don't have any word from there and Pendragon hasn't said anything about it." Nonette replied as she had tried to get something, anything from Bismarck but he was not helpful at all and seeing how big this situation was, she could only assume it was because he didn't have any useful information to pass along.

"But we can't hold back this information forever, sooner or later this will get out. I can't imagine that Zero will keep quiet about it for long either." Claudio said as they had already dealing with citizens calling phone and internet services about not being able to contact friends or family outside Area 11. Local communications were still good but international were a giant mess.

"And when he does go public with this, the people will panic." Cornelia spoke her as they knew that that masked terrorist would do doubt make a media circus on this. "We can't even give our own statement since we know too little about what is happening there, it would be too easy for us to say something he'll just prove wrong." She finished as she looked out the window towards the settlement. At that same time, an attack helicopter flew up the window, booming out instructions for the public to listen to.

"As it stands right now, our forces in the settlement are quite sizable with over 25,000 infantry alone." David reminded them all as they had gathered the bulk of their forces in the settlement. This same force that had lead the charge across North Africa. "That combined with the hundreds of tanks and knightmares makes this the most secure location in all of Area 11." He finished as their battle hardened and experienced troops would have the advantage if Zero tried a frontal assault.

"Why do I have a feeling that won't mean much?" Nonette thought aloud as past battles had brutally shown them that they needed to be absolutely sure.

(Later)

"Cornelia, Euphemia. May I have a word?" Nonette asked as the rest of the people present left the room, leaving only the three women present.

"We don't really have much time but," Euphemia said as she looked towards her sister before turning back towards Nonette. "We can talk."

"Thanks, I'll cut right to the point." Nonette said as she retook her seat, this time sitting closer to the two of them. "What are your plans?"

"What do you mean?" Cornelia asked her, they had just spent three whole hours discussing their plans.

"I mean," Nonette said as she leaned forward, her eyes as serious as the grave. "Are you going to surrender when Zero gets here?"

"Nonette, you can't think that he'll have the forces needed to take the settlement, never mind the area." Cornelia asked her, to take the entire country took an army and a nation backing that force. There was no way that Zero had that kind of industry or capital.

"The settlement, I'm pretty sure he'll pull something we don't see coming that gives him the advantage." Nonette said as she had been going over it in her head over and over for days now and though she couldn't tell if there was some weakness, something they overlooked that Zero could use, she did know that they didn't call him the man of miracles for nothing. "The entire area? I'm not too sure about it but that's not the problem here."

"Then what is?" Euphemia asked her, drawing blanks on what their old friend could want.

"The fact I don't think you two have it in you to fight," Nonette said as she looked over towards the younger princess. "Not when Zero is your brother." At that statement, the two of them felt their hearts cease and ice flow through their veins.

"What?" Euphemia asked as she felt like this was the worst possible scenario for them.

"How did you-?" Cornelia tried to get more information about this but Nonette cut her off.

"You should really make sure where you talk is private. I came back to talk with Cornelia last time when I heard your discussion." Nonette told them as she had forgotten that there was an issue she wanted to discuss with the viceroy last time and had turned back to go speak with her. It was pure chance that she found herself there as the two talked about a secret that they didn't want to get out.

"You can't tell-" Euphemia was already working on ensuing that she didn't tell a soul because if she did, she didn't want to imagine what would happen.

"Tell anyone? I haven't. I admit, that I never met Marianne or her kids but I do know that you seem to love them both, so I won't do anything to jeopardise that." Nonette put their minds at ease as she revealed that she had kept this information to herself.

"Thank you, Nonette. You have no idea how much that means to us." Cornelia found herself cooling down from what was a near panic attack. She didn't dare wonder to herself what would had happened if Nonette had reported this to her father.

"But that's where the problem arises, you two love him too much to be able to fight him. The prince on the other hand, as repeatedly shown himself capable of outsmarting and outmatching us at nearly every turn. A lot of people want payback for Narita among other things." Nonette explained herself as she looked at the two of them and how they hadn't won a single time against Zero, stopped him from winning as well? Yes but there hadn't been a significant victory.

"The point I'm trying to make here is that, you need to make a choice now. Fight or Not. It's that simple." Nonette said as she refused for their leaders to send out men and machine half-hearted.

"If only it was. You just said it yourself, a great many of our own forces want payback. How are we even going to begin this?" Cornelia asked her as she messaged her forehead as she and her sister had been debating that point for a while now.

"Lucky for you, you know me." Nonette said with a smirk as she caught both their attentions.

"What are you talking about?" Euphemia asked her.

"I mean is that I started my own little investigation into the Black Knights some time ago and found something we can use. Someone willing to help us in exchange for a lighter sentence." Nonette revealed as she had started her own off the books investigation which had bared fruit.

"Really? But we though-" Euphemia tried to ask but she was cut off again.

"Oh it was hard but we worked in the end. So, you two think you can get your brother to the negotiations table?" Nonette asked the two of them as this could be their only chance to get a line out to Zero without revealing to the people that they were trying to make contact.

(With Reyla)

"Alice, sweetie. Can you came to the kitchen real quick?" Reyla asked as she sat in the kitchen, watching as the pot cooking soup boiled. Her hand holding their house phone.

"What's up mom?" Alice said as she ran into the kitchen. She was carrying with her a cute little white dog she had picked up the other day. Funny enough she had named him Zero.

"Your father is on the phone, he'll like to speak with you." Reyla said as she handed the little girl the phone. At the mention of her father, Alice's eyes sparkled as she quickly brought the phone to her ear.

"Really?" Alice asked as she took the phone. "Dad, is that you?"

"Why who else would know the number for a pretty little lady?" Lelouch joked over the phone, getting a chuckle out of the young girl.

"Dad, stop it." Alive said as she felt herself blush at her father's teasing.

"I can't help it Alice, you're just as cute as a button. I wanted to call and tell you myself that I'll be home soon." Lelouch told her, sounding giddy himself.

"Really, your business trip is over?" Alice asked him, really happy that he was coming home soon.

"That's right. Sorry that I've been really busy lately, I know you wanted us to hang out more." Lelouch apologised as he did wish to be around more but duty called very often.

"It's okay, mom says your work is important." Alice said to her father, having had this conversation with her mother figure some time ago.

(With Lelouch)

"True, but I man's first priority should always be his family, when I get back, I'll be home more so we can bond. How does that sound?" Lelouch said to his daughter as he sat in his office aboard the Sakura. His mask/helmet removed and positioned on his desk, facing him.

"It sounds amazing, Mom! Dad says he'll be home more when he gets back!" Alice seemed very excited as he could hear her telling her mother the news, though he had already told Reyla before he started speaking with his daughter.

'Oh yes, I'll be Japan a lot more after this last operation.' He thought to himself as he looked over to a map of the world on the world, more precisely he was looking at Japan. "Sweetie, you don't have to yell, you can tell your mother after we finish talking. Speaking of which, have your two been doing alright?" He asked, wishing to learn more about what had happened while he was gone.

"Yeah, we've been doing just great. I was playing with Ms. CC and she was showing me all these cool games she knows." Alice told her father something he didn't see coming, and it showed.

'CC Why the hell is she hanging around my kid?' Lelouch thought to himself as he didn't recall the women having any interest in children and he didn't like that she was that close to his little angel. "Is that right, I had no idea she knew so many games. Maybe I can see them for myself when I get home." He would have to speak with her when he got back, make sure that things were as innocent as they sounded.

"That'll be great! We can have a third player." Alice seemed really excited over the prospect of having her father around to play with him more, especially after seeing what he can do.

"That would be great, sweetheart." Lelouch said with a smile, before a knock on the door wiped the smile off his face as he looked towards it. "Oh, it looks like I'm have to end the call honey, I have to get back to finishing up work."

"Really, so soon?" Alice asked, sounding sad that their call was ending so soon. Dammit, how he wished he could just ignore whatever needed his attention, at least for another 5 minutes.

"Afraid so kiddo, but don't worry. I'll be home soon." Lelouch said as he reached for his helmet, he was needed soon.

"Okay, bye dad." Alice said over the line.

"Bye, Alice, please give my love to your mother." Lelouch said as he ended the call with an irritated sigh before he put his helmet back on and buzzed the trooper in.

"I had ordered that all information be forwarded to SK and LM. This had better be important." Zero said to him, sounding as irritated as he felt.

"A thousand apologies sir but, Lieutenant General L.M. she, she requested that you be brought into this." The trooper said with a nervous gulp, not wanting to be the guy to anger their boss but he was given a task and he needed to complete it.

"Is that right?" Zero responded, not speaking for a couple tense moments before he got up from his chair and walked towards the door. "Well then, lead the way." He instructed as the trooper wisely stepped aside to allow his commander to walk past him.

"Y-yes sir." The nervous soldier replied as he quickly lead the man towards the main communications room, siting that LM didn't want just anyone hearing what they had to talk about.

"I hope that this is important. I don't not get nearly enough time to speak with my family." Zero said as he walked into the communications room and found that aside from Akito, LM and SK, there was only two other communications officers' present.

"It is. About two hours ago, one of our cells in Area 11 received a coded transmission." LM said as she gestured to the file being shown on screen.

"That's standard protocol. We always speak through coded messaging." Zero asked her, they had always made use of codes and encryptions to ensure they didn't have to worry about hackers

"Yes but it was the nature of the message after he decoded it that stuck out. They thought it best to send it to us." LM said as she showed him that it had come from an agent that had already been captured. That was the first reason it was flagged but after it was reviewed, it was determined that it was safe to send to command.

"Then play it." Zero said as he nodded towards the officer manning the equipment who quickly started to play the file. When the video message started, they group was surprised to see who was in the video.

"What the…" SK said as he took in the image of the sub-viceroy of area 11, looking both strong and humble at the same time.

"Zero. I am Euphemia li Britannia, sub-viceroy of Area 11, or as it was once known, Japan." Euphemia started the message.

"What the hell is this?" Zero asked as he was in no mood for mind games.

"I am speaking on behalf of the area 11 government. We know that you gather your forces for a full on attack in our area. We do not wish for needless bloodshed so we ask for you to meet us in talks." Euphemia revealed her intentions to them which got her mixed results, not that she could know at this time.

"Talks? They can't be serious!" One of the officers whispered to the other.

"Do they expect us to be that stupid?" SK asked as if they thought they would just walk into Tokyo settlement, then they were really foolish.

"We understand that coming from us, from the family you swore to destroy, it's a large request. So to soothe your mind and ensure that you understand our peaceful intentions. We will meet at a location of your choosing at a time of your choosing." Euphemia's recording went on as she stated that they would have the pick of time and place, making it all but impossible for the Britannians to set up any kind of ambush.

"Too many have died already. We hope that you consider our offer to prevent even more deaths." She finished her message as the video came to an end. It automatically started to play again but this time, they weren't paying attention.

"So what's our play?" LM asked their leader.

"You do realise that we cannot simply trust them." SK was the first to voice objection to hearing them out.

"Peace talks at this stage seem logical, it would save many lives." LM pointed out as they now had another option to win this which didn't involve fighting.

"Since when have the Britannians ever been concerned about loss of life?" SK asked as the Imperial forces were known the world over to be brutal. The only reason they could get away with all their war crimes is because they keep winning.

"Since when they knew that it's a lost cause, remember when Napoléon invaded the British Isles, the queen herself surrendered to stop the fighting." LM pointed out, referring to the biggest overall defeat in Britannian history.

"And since then, they have tried to forget that it ever happened!" SK reminded her as ever since, the Britannians had done everything they could to forget about that, going so far as only touch up on it in schools. "There is no way that they would surrender, that goes double for the royal family."

"We will proceed with our plans, only with some alterations." Zero spoke up before the two of them could start to argue.

"And what will those alterations be?" LM asked him, giving him her full attention.

"We'll begin our advance on the Tokyo Settlement with most of our force on full display, meaning no ships are to fly over the settlement but made a visible approach from the sea." Zero ordered them as he activated their projection screen to give them a 3d image of what he was intending to do.

"So they see us coming? What will that do?" SK asked as the original plan was to have their ships stay at least 49,000ft(14,935m) above the city and act as flying gun platforms and airfields for their fighters and bombers. Now the this new plan would have them much lower at altitudes of around 22,000ft(6,705m). They would be much more vulnerable to anti air fire and enemy attack birds.

"It will drive home the point that we have the power to take the settlement by force if we must. I shall host them for their expected surrender aboard the Sakura." Zero informed them as he turned to walk off. "If they are willing to surrender, we're done. If not, then we'll burn the settlement to the ground and take the ashes." He finished as he didn't fear for his wife and child as their home had not just a bunker but also a secret path which leads them away from the settlement to a safe-house in Shinjuku.

"Yes sir." Both of the commanders replied to their boss.

"Inform the men that we'll be there in less than 3 hours. Make sure everyone is at their battle stations." Zero finished as he walked out of the room, no doubt walking towards the bridge to discuss this with the captain and the other ships captains so they everyone knew their role. One way or another.

This coming confrontation will decide the fate of Area 11.

I'll keep this short and simple. I hope you enjoyed the chapter as this will be where I'm cutting things.