Disclaimer: I do not own bleach! All credits go to Tite Kubo
Buckingham Palace
***Next Morning***
It was time for them to get on to the agenda at hand, Ichigo had entered the palace with Bambietta, Aizen and Chad and quickly noticed some faces he did not see yesterday, followed by the faces of the two females that Ichigo spoke to aswell.
Ichigo wore his royal attire this time as it was more appropriate for the day.
Ichigo noticed that several high ranking officials spoke with each other, and that the west branch knew the girls in question considering that they spoke with them like they had known each other for a while now, though Ichigo shouldn't be surprised as they were at the event yesterday and it could only be the west branch that invited them.
Ichigo didn't have the best impression of them really, but his curiosity has gotten the better of him, but upon closer inspection of one of the females, who seemed to be the mistress that was spoken about, Ichigo seemed to recall one of them from somewhere but was unable to place the person, but he was fairly confident he had never seen her directly, regardless he decided to let her come to him.
Ichigo was busy in his own world, thinking about certain problems his army was facing and how they were caught ill-prepared for it, they didn't know it before but it had come to light after his army reached the forest only to be stopped by the hellspawn in large numbers, as a result they had to dig in and hold the position, being unable to advance any further for the time being.
They countered this by ordering an amphibious assault, of course this was a viable solution, it also created problems of it's own, for an amphibious assault is extremly predictable, and to Ichigo that meant that more of his soldiers needs to die before they even set foot on the battlefield.
But Ichigo wanted other solutions and was unsure of how to proceed, even the O.D.K was scrambling for ideas at the current time, they did have a solution but for that they needed specific assets that was currently unavaileble because they lacked sufficent numbers, despite it being produced in large numbers.
The truth is the Wandenreich is a technologically advanced and dependant nation, they utilized technology for a lot, that included helicopters, which was useful for search and rescue operations, medical transport or to deploy the SWAT force for the police, air ambulance or the fire brigade who specialized in search and rescue.
The Wandenreich utilized helicopters for transportation or search and rescue mostly, they didn't need attack helicopters because they possessed wingmen which were far more superior then attack helicopters, giving the wingmen multirole tasks, but not every Quincy were trained to use the vollstandig, and that was a problem, because it meant that the soldiers couldn't fly, so they needed to develop technology to do it for them, hence the helicopter, although they were all unarmed.
Utilizing helicopters were key in order to assist in getting to places that was otherwise inaccessible like the top of mountains or so on, even the german military in 1936 realized the benefit of the helicopter as the first flyable helicopter was actually developed in 1936, also known as the FW61, it also allowed the Wandenreich to reach troops that had been cut off and resupply them and bring in fresh reinforcements while carrying out the wounded.
But the military also had a limited access to those assets, as the military had their own variants, one of the most common ones were the MW-12, a medium helicopter with a similar appearance as the german NH90 but a different build up in terms of engine and cockpit.
It was a good choice, the military and police variants had reishi manipulators to create reishi ropes to allow SWAT or soldiers to rope down from the helicopter should it be unable to land, it was fast and manouverable, with the engines the Wandenreich used they could get it up to atleast 580 km/h or 360 mp/h, the military used it as a medical transport, search and rescue, naval assistance, and troop transport and currently it was armed with two MG42s as self defence which was manned by a helicopter crewman, both MGs were located at the side doors and was manifestable and easily detachable so it was rare to see them, but the helicopter always had reishi drums for the MGs inside aswell as crosses to manifest as an MG and everything needed to assemble it mid flight, and it had 2-4 crew and could carry 12 individuals.
Currently the royal family have ordered some modified MW-12 helicopters for transport purposes.
The second helicopter was made specifically for the military alone, and amongst the pilots flying the few helicopters the Wandenreich actually had, which was far too few, this one was the absolute favorite.
The SW-5 Stürmwind heavy helicopter, it was fairly big and possessed wings and two engines, and it could be mistaken for a large V-22 osprey due to it's appearance but it was nothing like it, as a matter of fact the Wandenreich didn't even know about the osprey and designed this one themselves.
The engines were powerful, having two engines, one on each wing, which could only tilt about 20 degrees downwards to allow it to increase it's flight speed without having the helicopter move much at all, giving it a maximum speed of 520 km/h or 323 mp/h, but they were unable to go further down like the osprey because the helicopter was made out of the same materials as the bombers, which was actually quite heavy for a helicopter, which is why the rotors had to help keep the helicopter up in the air, forcing more powerful engines on it to make it fly, while the engines were fully upwards, the maximum speed was about 250 km/h or 155 mp/h, so it was a major difference, this was because of a acceleration vent that opened underneath the engines.
Though the engines could go fully downwards if a lock was manually opened on the wings, allowing the engines to go fully forwards for service and maintanance reasons as it's direction could be manually controlled individually from the wings for each engine, for safety reasons it was locked with a safety screw, followed by an adjustment screw, if you didn't turn the safety screw about 45 degrees so it partially pointed out, the adjustment screw would only send the engine 20 degrees down as it was locked in place, the adjustment screw was more of a switch which could be controlled by tools to be more precise as it had two functions in reality, one was to connect the cockpit to the engines, the second was to let the engine downwards, having the engine propellers facing the front of the helicopter was also a requirement to detaching the engine, which was actually fairly easy should they ever need to replace one of the engines.
It's engines were, as explained strong, capable of lifting up to 60 tons, which was a lot for a helicopter, allowing it to carry a lot of materials and supplies, which is a major factor why the military favored it, it was also very manouverable due to the wings assisting in moving the helicopter whilst flying and the steady movement force generated by the engines while hovering, ensuring that the military had begun to favor the SW-5 severly, as the SW-5 was definitely looking at a very long service history.
It was also comfortable because the engines did most of the job rather then the helicopter it self, normally a helicopter has to tilt slightly to gain speed, the SW-5 didn't need that, and it's engines rotating capabilities were extremly calm and stable, ensuring a comfortable ride enough to calm any soldier heading into a battlefield and allowing them to rest much easier, though the engines did have a more traditional helicopter sound with the flopping effect rather then the aircraft sound of the V-22, if anything it sounded more like a Venom helicopter in terms of the flopping sound, but that was because of the propeller build up as it was much more different.
The SW-5 was split into three sections internally, the rear section was the troop and cargo section, with the capability to manifest and dispel the seats to allow them to save time and space when transporting resources or materials, and then quickly switch back to a troop transport, in total 44 seats were inside the rear cabin, 22 seats on each side of the helicopter, aswell as it possessed a ramp that could have a MG42 connected to it, allowing the helicopter to have a rear gunner protecting the ramp as the troops disembarked in a battlefield, it also had two reishi manipulators in it's fin that made a reishi rope to allow the troops to rope down from the rear of the helicopter if needed.
The mid section was it's own section as a wall seperated the front section which was the cockpit and the rear section, aswell as a slide door on each of the walls, though the rear slide door was usually open and locked in place as a safety to ensure that it didn't just slide shut on someone mid flight during a turn or whatever and allowed the mid and rear section to speak to one another, though the cockpit door was usually shut to shut out the noise.
In the mid section there was also manifestable doors on the side of the helicopter to exit and enter, aswell as reishi manipulators in the roof connected to the wing to create two ropes on each wing, allowing a total of 6 soldiers to rope down at a time, aswell as a manifestor on the floor to create a small ladder or a ramp to allow easier access to the helicopter instead of climbing, they could also connect two MGs on the sides aswell, one on each side to protect it, allowing it to be protected at the rear and the sides.
The mid section also housed four seats, three gunners and one soldier, usually the officer in charge of the soldiers, ensuring that 45 soldiers in total was carried aswell as 5 crew members including the two pilots, a total of 50, this allowed the helicopter to fly an entire platoon into the battlefield which could make a significant difference in the battle, and underneath was a winch system, which allowed the helicopter to carry vehicles, the winch was connected to a wire manifested by reishi using a reishi manifestor, which is how it carried so much weight, so in short it was a heavy duty helicopter.
The front section was the cockpit, and by utilizing helicopters the Quincies in Silbern were much more defended as the manifested walls and portcullises didn't need to be opened if the troops could just be flown in.
Of course Silbern Airbase had encountered problems so they did not possess helicopters, and usually Silbern city was a flight restricted area so no flights were permitted over the capital unless special permission was given, it was so strict that even the emergency services fought with the government on the issue as they couldn't fly helicopters either.
Though Uryu had Ichigo intervene and he made a new law that was yet to go into effect, allowing the military and emergency services free flights over the capital city, aswell as easing up restrictions.
As for Silbern Airbase, they realized that they had built their base on quick clay, which if got wet, would cause a landslide and destroy half the base, maybe even more, which forced the Wandenreich to start relocating their base, but they'd built a bigger one instead.
The paladins would use their magic here and there to turn the base into reishi, allowing it to be moved without being dismantled, the same principle as the battle for Hueco Mundo when army group C created their little fortress.
The new base would be named M.B Silbern, or Military Base Silbern, and was to be a combined base moved just outside the city close to the sea, it was to house the entire Silbern Guard, it was to be a naval port and an airbase at the same time, or in short a combined base, meaning it would be extremly large, of course the aircraft and airships themselves had to be moved manually.
But Ichigo was still faced with the problem that he didn't possess the air transports needed to cause a combined assault from both the air and sea, this annoyed him to no end, because it meant that he would potentially sacrifice a lot more troops then needed.
Helicopters was a massive game changer but it would make a difference if you didn't have enough of them, with the current numbers Ichigo had in his airforce they'd probably just be target practice to be shot down and then he'd be back with no helicopters at all, and the ones they had were helping to build communications masts and so on in the mountains where it was difficult to access by normal means, ensuring that small military outposts are being built on the mountains, though the civilian sector will also use those masts to improve phone signals and TV signals and so on.
Regardless having transport helicopters would also allow the Wandenreich to increase it's military capabilities by having large numbers of soldiers capable of a rapid response anywhere within it's range, the helicopter did still use fuel and did possess a much more limited range then a transport aircraft but they should atleast be able to transport the troops over the infested forest in theory and let them off on the other end.
Having no availeble helicopters and with no idea when he'd even have them as it could take months for them to come, or it could take weeks, with all the different military productions going on it was just a matter of priorities, regardless Ichigo would have to think up a completely different approach if there even were one, although he did have a small plan in the back of his head but it was a massive gamble, for now he would have the possibility to think about it during the meeting as the war was covering several topics, operation avalanche being one of them, in which Inoue would attend but she would appear later, but that wasn't the only field the Wandenreich improved.
The Wandenreich had also rapidly upgraded their fleet of trains, giving them more armor aswell as a unique appearance, especially the train engines, allowing them to be more protected in the field aswell as created even stronger engines to carry heavier loads, but they still depended on tracks, they had also created their own military prisoner transport cars for the trains aswell.
The trains prisoner car were also armored to protect it's cargo and make it harder to escape it or break someone out, they had even made a new procedure on how to handle prisoners, as they would now inject them with a drug that put them in a comatose state for an infinite amount of time until a cure was given, before putting them into a body holder which was then attached to a pod, which used reishi to seal itself so tight that it was almost welded together, though it did have a few areas accessible for air to ensure the survival of the prisoner aswell as it's capability to actually utilize reishi to create liquid neutriants, giving the pod which had a computer system attached to it, the capability to feed and ensure that the prisoner wasn't thirsty even in a comatose state, this way they didn't even have to open the pod and awake the prisoner by injecting a cure into them to feed them, as it was an automated system, quite ingenious actually as it saved a lot of time aswell as space and easily allowed for mass transportation of prisoners who didn't resist them.
They had also armored up the transport cars of the troops aswell by increasing the armor using more powerful materials, aswell as everything else that belonged to the military railroad system in terms of trains and train cars, for the old unarmored equipment, it was auctioned off to some civilian contractors, the other lesser armored trains were being sold off for scrap.
The research division had also done something rather ingenious with the train engines, as they were actually electrical, having rather large electrical engines, now one might wonder, what happens if it runs out of power, the answer, it just doesn't.
This was because of the research division biological research labs, one of the workers there actually came up with the idea, now what does biological research have to do with all of this you ask? Well the worker in question was reading a book for his kid about special animals, then they got to the electric eel, where the worker then got the idea that:
Hey, why don't we grab one, enhance it severly by making it too damn electrical, then clone it and shove it inside our train engines on the new trains to give them an unlimited range, and to shut animal rights activists up, we ensure that the clones don't even have a consciousness to begin with so they got no right to complain.
And then they did just that, just like that, of course the clones weren't perfect, they did die out after 5 years, meaning they needed replacing from time to time, the eels constantly created electricity so they also had a switch which could only be turned by using a special, manifested key, that powered the electical systems as the trains could be manually controlled, but they could also be automated as it did possess an automated system to save manpower, the key system was to ensure that no one stole the train or hijacked it.
It was also completely covered in armor and required cameras on the outside to allow outside view from the engine itself if someone manually operated it, aswell as it possessed a rather large computer system to assist the automated system, aswell as the operator when there were one, aswell as it also allowed the O.D.K to manually control the train from Silbern directly without being even close to it.
As for the engine, there was a lever that functioned as a fuse, allowing seperate courses of electricity to flow through, the electrical system was powered by one eel, while the engine itself was powered by 12 eels, but the engine had a requirement for the electrical system to be powered up, otherwise it wouldn't turn on, which is why the key switch system was quite handy, the electrical engine was big but slightly more powerful then the diesel engines of the old ones, all things considered, these eels did produce a hell of a lot electricity, so way to go biological research!
Even the Wandenreich's scanner drones were being upgraded severly with new capabilities, which included analyzing faces, enchanced reiatsu and reishi detection system, the capability to carry certain objects, aswell as an alert system to alert nearby units by sound by using an alarm aswell as to transmit certain automated radio messages like a robot, and it was now automated to make it easy for a single person to operate a limitless amount of drones from one computer, aswell as a scanning system to show anything of interest by using reishi to highlight it even through clothes, so weapons could easily be noticed, it now even had a facial recognition system if the reiatsu was hidden which alerted any nearby units aswell as the command structure that operated it.
Ichigo was just brought out of his thoughts when Ginrei approached him with Rukia by his side.
"Emperor Ichigo, I am glad to see you made it here safely." Ginrei said as he approached.
"Lord Ginrei, Rukia, I trust that your night has been pleasant?" Ichigo asked.
"It was a decent accomidation, a bit unusual compared to the Soul Society, I must say that the beds in Silbern are far better as they were rather soft." Ginrei said.
"It was the first time I have ever woken up shaped like a V, the beds were too soft and uncomfortable." Rukia replied with a deadpan.
"Well, I should call myself lucky that I called the embassy bed then." Ichigo said with a slight laugh, causing Ginrei to chuckle.
"I do envy you that." Ginrei stated.
"I also heard we'll be going somewhere today?" Rukia asked.
"Ah yes, isn't it close to Manchester? Or the reverse one?" Bambietta replied in thought.
"It is, it is quite the distance so we'll be flying, I've arranged for the your family and the Shihoin family to accompany us in the Royal Aircraft, so you'll be flying with us but more information on that comes later, Byakuya has the details if you are wondering." Ichigo replied.
"I see, I was uninformed of that but I assume that Byakuya has everything under control then." Ginrei said.
"I would say so, the accomidations is that you will fly with us to Manchester, food and drinks will also be served on the aircraft, aswell as you will be flying with us back." Ichigo replied.
As Ichigo, Ginrei, Rukia and Bambietta began to converse for the brief moment they had availeble before the meeting started, someone finally got their eyes on him.
"My lady, he is here." Wilma said, causing her mistress to look over.
"Hmm... He is taller then I expected." The mistress stated.
"Should we-" Wilma said before the mistress interrupted her.
"Not yet, I will wait until after the meeting... I want to see where his priorities lie." The mistress said bluntly.
"I understand my lady." Wilma stated as they both looked at Ichigo.
Buckingham Palace Green Room
***Sometime Later***
The meeting was about to take place, both Ichigo and Bambietta looked around and it looked like a normal meeting room, it was rather unfitting for such a historic building, Ichigo's meeting room had white walls with golden linings, and a carpet full of colors, sigils and art, aswell as golden chandeliers, if anything Silbern Palace was probably the closest thing to the real buckingham palace as the designer used several palaces and castles as inspiration, buckingham palace, windsor castle and the winter palace in russia were prominently used when designing the interior of Silbern palace, something Ichigo had realized months later so it did look slightly different on the inside, but then again Silbern Palace was huge compared to the three other palaces mentioned.
But compared to royalty, these were elected officials, and they probably decided that it wasn't worth having members of the government live in royal luxury or whatever and they had decided to drop the luxury and maintain the building as a fully functional government building with offices and meeting rooms rather then to keep it as a museum.
"Now that we are all present, shall we commence the meeting?" A member of parliament said.
In total, two members of parliament, the speaker of the house, the prime minister, four members of central 46, Ichigo, Bambietta, Chad and Aizen aswell as Ginrei and Yushiro were attending the meeting aswell as the other people with their mistress, the others were just sitting back and spectating, followed by the press who was also present to take pictures and write about the meeting.
Upon taking a closer look at this so called mistress, Ichigo noticed that her hair was pink and she was very pretty, she also had blue eyes, which was dark in color, she also had a fairly young appearance, and she did wear a variety of colors on her clothing, most notably a corset with blue lines on black leather, although the corset did hide most of her top so it wasn't too revealing, she also had a small sweater in a white, red, blue and green color followed by a similar skirt and long boots.
Ichigo did sense something off about her, but he didn't really bother too much about it, but he did keep his eye on her, for now though he would focus mostly on the meeting.
"We are eternally grateful for the contributions of the Wandenreich and our close friends of the Dhahe tribe, without your contributions we would assuredly be doomed." The prime minister said.
"Oh my, we didn't do much at all." The mistress said with a rather naive and innocent voice.
'The hell did they do?.. And what the hell is this tribe?' Ichigo asked internally as he maintained his usual scowl.
"With the Dominion kicked out and our homes secure for now, we can focus on the other front lines, I assure you, we do not intend to leave the war now that our home is secure." The prime minister stated.
"This would easily allow us to continue uninterrupted with operation Avalanche, the amphibious force is about ready to move out, but we still have some planning to do, The Dominion knows that we are coming, we have deployed scanners to the east branch and we took some pictures and recordings tonight based on some intelligence we gathered from a rather valuable spy." Ichigo said before he continued.
"There is no doubt that the Dominion has the east branch as a high priority compared to the west branch and other places, why specifically we have no idea regretfully, but whatever they are planning, it's definitely no good news for us." Ichigo said.
"The Dominion has gotten hold of something of great value, there is something they need in the Soul Society in order to draw upon it's power, that we know for certain." The mistress said, getting Ichigo's attention rather quickly.
"And you know this how miss?.." Bambietta asked suspiciously.
"The name is Artemis Dhahe, and we've been fighting the Dominion for almost 786 years if I might inform you Empress Bambietta." Artemis stated, revealing her name.
This revelation stunned many, Ichigo was rather surprised himself, some were even whispering in regards to the long time they were fighting the Dominion, but Ichigo was more stunned by the name as it surely did ring a bell in his mind, but he'd let it lay low for now.
"If you've been fighting the Dominion it doesn't appear that it has been going so well for you." Ichigo stated.
"That is true, first of all we are a proud but small tribe, we don't possess a huge population or army like yourself, I thought you were aware of that Emperor Ichigo?" Artemis stated.
"I've heard someone mention it." Ichigo replied bluntly.
"Our people struggle to reproduce, it is hard for us to do so as a matter of fact due to our genes, we were once a larger tribe but with our war lasting hundreds of years, we've lost many, and what remains of us is now in hiding, it was just sheer luck that the Dominion declared war on you when they did." Artemis replied.
"Sorry to hear that, but considering your current state then, how can we trust that you won't declare peace with the Dominion behind our backs or worse, switch sides? The east branch and the Wandenreich are obligated to one another and while we didn't start this war, we will definitely finish it, but from what you just said, you are in a rather unfortunate position." Ichigo asked bluntly, publicly questioning the willingness of the Dhahe tribe to fight this war.
"Funny, I wanted to ask you the same thing." Artemis replied, openly questioning the Wandenreich's willingness to fight for her own reasons.
"Really? How come?" Bambietta asked with anticipation of a valid answer.
"Isn't it obvious? The Wandenreich has suffered the least in this war, the soul society as a whole has taken a large beating, the east branch is now a government in exile, the west branch has just been given a severe kick and we are barely standing, what has the Wandenreich lost in comparison? What obligates you to fight this war?" Artemis asked, leaving Bambietta rather speechless as she was unable to form up a response.
"The protection of the Quincy people obligates us to fight this war aswell as our alliance with the east branch, for as long as the Dominion exist, my people are threatened, besides, even if we were to declare peace with the Dominion, what are the true odds of having them leave us alone?" Ichigo asked.
"While it is a valid point, it isn't completely reassuring." Artemis replied.
"Well, hopefully this puts your mind at ease, one of the reasons why the Wandenreich is attending the meeting today is because we have a rather simple request." Ichigo stated, leaving everyone to wonder what he was thinking.
"A request?" The prime minister asked curiously.
"To ensure that we are all on the same page, I request that all parties involved in the conflict, agree to sign a treaty that ensures that we will only accept an unconditional surrender from the Dominion, furthermore, the Dominion have to surrender to all of us together rather then individually." Ichigo replied.
These words caused a lot of people to begin talking, many were in agreement of course, but it was only natural, as no one wanted to fight the Dominion alone, although Ichigo didn't really care much about fighting the Dominion alone due to the immense military capability of the mechanized military force of the Wandenreich, if anyone was going to fight the Dominion alone, the Wandenreich surely had the advantage, and this was something Ichigo was fully aware off, and he wasn't alone, everyone else present was also aware of it.
They'd be foolish to not accept this treaty that would bind the Wandenreich to fight the war besides them in full support, of course it could be argued that Ichigo was stupid for suggesting this treaty because it was essentially giving away protection and military support at the cost of the Wandenreich, meaning that this treaty could quickly be one sided, and it would surely not favor the Wandenreich in any manner.
"I agree." Artemis said as everyone else spoke about it, before eventually agreeing to signing the treaty.
"So when do we sign this treaty?" Ginrei asked.
"The treaty can be drafted rather quickly, we can sign it in manchester later if possible, furthermore we can speak more about the treaty later, for now I am more interested in military approaches in regards to operation Avalanche." Ichigo stated bluntly.
"Hmm... Yes, the treaty of Manchester, it would be more beneficial to draft the treaty when signing it later, it would also give us some time to think about what to put on it." The prime minister stated.
"Agreed." A member of central 46 stated as many nodded.
"Well then, it appears your priorities are at the war." Artemis said as she looked at Ichigo.
"How can it not be? I already have thousands of troops out on the front lines." Ichigo replied bluntly.
"Well then, shall we go to the topic of war then?" Artemis asked.
"Hmm, yes, we might as well just do that, it is the main reason why we are here after all." Yushiro said.
"Good, I'm sure you'll all be happy to know that I have just gotten hold of a lot of intelligence regarding the Dominion." Ichigo said rather proudly.
"When did you get a hold of intelligence?" Rukia asked.
"Yesterday as a matter of fact... Inoue?" Ichigo said as the door opened and a hooded individual arrived.
The individual approached the table they were sitting on, before taking of the hood, of course this shocked the east branch delegation as they quickly realized that it was Inoue Orihime in the flesh, then she took off her cloak, revealing a Dominion commissars uniform.
However, not everyone was shocked, as one individual, namely Wilma, became furious upon seeing the uniform, and Ichigo didn't know what was most shocking, the fact that Wilma, nearly instantly flung herself at Inoue, or the fact that she actually transformed into an animal, namely a tiger.
Ichigo was quick to act however as he flashed in front of Inoue, causing Wilma to accidentally strike at Ichigo instead as he protected her, she bit Ichigo between the right shoulder and neck, causing gasps to appear as many witnesses were shocked by the entire ordeal, the K.G was quicky to act as they flashed close to Ichigo.
Of course Wilma quickly noticed her mistake, but realized that Ichigo had started bleeding as his white garb was becoming red, of course Ichigo's instant regeneration quickly kicked it, Artemis herself flashed behind Wilma and grabbed her, Ichigo recognized the ability as Shunpo, revealing that Artemis and her tribe most likely possessed a lot of similar traits to the Shinigami directly, regardless Artemis got to Wilma before the K.G did, revealing that she was very fast.
"I do aplogize for this, she doesn't do well with Dominion uniforms." Artemis said as she threw Wilma on the ground
"Don't mention it, I had anticipated certain reactions, although this was a bit over the top but I assume I shouldn't be surprised." Ichigo said as he began to move towards his seat.
"Are you alright your majesty?" The prime minister asked.
"I am, the wound has already healed as I possess instant regeneration." Ichigo replied.
"Well, that is good, I do hope that such an occurance does not happen again!" The prime minister said sternly to Artemis.
"I assure you, it won't, my sincerest apologies to everyone present." Artemis said.
"Sorry..." Wilma said lowly, clearly regretting her action.
"Anyways, this is my former top spy in the Dominion, I just withdrew her out of fear of having her cover blown, she is responsible for all the intelligence we now possess on the Dominion, the east branch are already aware of who she is, but this is Inoue Orihime, she entered the Dominion under the pretense of an assassination attempt and betrayal of me, at my command of couse." Ichigo said, stunning the east branch delegation, leaving Aizen extremly amused.
"Soo... you never betrayed us?" Rukia asked curiously, rather emotional but she tried to hide it.
"I never did." Inoue said with her usually cheery expression, causing Rukia to have slight tears at the revelation that her best friend was still her friend.
"Just so I have made it clear, all the crimes commited by Inoue Orihime was commited on my orders by my authority, I will not have her take the blame for her actions when it was done on my command! I will take full responsbility for her actions while working under the pretense of being a high ranking Dominion officer!" Ichigo said firmly, ensuring that all responsibility fell on him.
Of course that was a rather risky move, because the crimes commited by the Dominion could now be partially blamed on the Wandenreich and Ichigo directly, and that could under normal circumstances spell disaster, meaning that Ichigo was taking massive risks, some consequences could be diplomatic turmoil, demands of reperations, it could potentially even cause a war, and Ichigo just admitted it straight out.
"Oh, that's rather daring and gutsy for you to say right here." Artemis said with a frown.
"The Kuchiki family stands behind the Wandenreich on this in their support, we support Ichigo's action of taking responsibility." Byakuya said firmly.
"The Shihoin family does the same, atleast he is taking responsibility, and I quite frankly find it admirable, for many others would have just left her to rot! Emperor Ichigo refuses to do that." Yushiro said sternly, leaving Yoruichi rather proud of her brother for taking a firm stance.
It was evident that this put some pressure on central 46 as they themselves needed to make a decision, many members were openly in agreement, nodding to the delegation to support Ichigo's words and actions, normally they wouldn't have done so, but with relations being extremly good between central 46, a lot of the noble houses and the Wandenreich, they decided to openly support their ally, they were also aware that wars needs to take risks, even if it seems unfair or can cause a catastrophe, and Ichigo did this for everyones benfit, by supporting Ichigo, central 46 would effectively remove the execution order on Inoue's head and effectively acknowledge her as a member of the Wandenreich publicly, as for the reason why Ichigo didn't say anything, well they did recognize his right as a sovereign monarch to keep secrets, and there was also Inoue's safety to take into consideration if something leaked.
"Central 46 also agrees with the Wandenreich on this, wars demands risks." A member said at the table.
Of course this put a slight division in the talks, from the looks of it the Dhahe tribe weren't really happy with the approach the Wandenreich used, because they knew that the Wandenreich could also be held accountable for certain crimes commited by the Dominion at this rate, the west branch was also aware of this bu they didn't want to risk it becoming an issue, for if it did, it would mean a lot of problems.
For this reason, not many mentioned much about it, for now they began their meeting in earnest, as Inoue impressed even the Dhahe tribe with the information she had gathered, the meeting lasted for two hours before finally ending, but it also did give Ichigo an idea on how to approach operatio Avalanche in the opening phase.
Eventually the meeting was over, and they were about to prepare to head towards the airport, but before Ichigo could properly leave, Artemis had decided to speak with him.
"Emperor Ichigo, I do once again apologize for the damage done." She said as he looked at Ichigo.
"Do not worry about it, it was a mishap, and mishaps do happen." Ichigo stated.
"I thank you for your understanding." Artemis replied.
"What I do struggle to understand however, is how a primordial god have gotten past the notice of everyone." Ichigo said, surprising Artemis.
"Oh... So you knew?" Artemis asked amused.
"I have a document with the names of certain primordial gods, but I have it on good authority that it is not complete." Ichigo replied.
"I assume that the zero division were the ones who handed it to you?" Artemis asked suspiciously.
"You would assume correct." Ichigo replied.
"Anyways, I assume that you are aware that I'm not the only one." Artemis replied, leaving Ichigo to frown slightly.
"What do you mean?" Ichigo asked, wanting clarification.
"When the world was split up, we all went our seperate ways, there might be others about aswell, but I'm unaware of where they are." Artemis stated, effectively surprising Ichigo.
Ichigo and Artemis continued on the topic, and Ichigo did learn a lot more then Artemis believed he did, but Ichigo also managed to change to topic to Komamura aswell, Ichigo learnt that his clan was different then the others, normally people of the Dhahe tribes had the ability to transform into an animal and was one with nature itself, Komamura's clan went partially with the same principle but they had different genetics, making them humanoid animals.
But Ichigo did pry into whether it was truly possible to reverse Komamura's condition, in which Artemis stated that she was unsure, and that it was more of a question for scientists, but she could take a look at him at a more appropriate time.
After the two have had a brief but productive conversation, Ichigo and Artemis decided to continue on, and they left the palace for the airport, however Artemis had one final message for Ichigo
"Oh and one more thing... You'll be disappointed to learn that your assassination attempt on Gabrin failed." Artemis said as Ichigo just stood still.
"It is clear that Inoue did it, all commissars have been ordered to meet up and her absense has already been noted." Artemis said.
"It appears that I'm not the only one who has been spying on the Dominion." Ichigo replied.
"Our animal transformations do have their benefits after all." Artemis said.
"Good thing I pulled the plug then." Ichigo said as he walked away, leaving Artemis to smirk.
Air Royal One (Heathrow airport)
***Sometime Later in the Ichigo's aircraft office***
Ichigo's personal aircraft was standing on the taxiway, ready for Ichigo and his delegation aswell as the others who would accompany him.
They entered the royal aircraft and went to wherever they wanted to sit, they all watched the neat interior of the aircraft, having oakwood tiles on the floor with a red carpet, aswell as golden markings and lines on a white wall, aswell as white and real gold on the roof, and extravagant lights that looked very pretty, if anything it was made to pass off as a flying palace if needed, although a very small palace as it was essentially an aircraft, but it was also very defensible.
Fun fact however, this was actually the first time Ichigo, Bambietta, and the Kuchiki family had ever flown on an aircraft before, airship was one thing but an aircraft was another thing entirely.
Ichigo had gone right to his office and sat down in the office chair as Bambietta, Chad and Aizen entered as they would be sitting with him as they took off.
The east branch delegation that got their own airplane was given a commercial airplane reserved for them, the west branch had their own airplane just like Ichigo though it was more similar to an Airbus A330, which was smaller and much different then Ichigo's Boeing 747-700 series.
But then again, no one from the east branch actually had any state aircraft to use, seeing as they didn't see the need, now it appears to be back firing on them, although Ichigo did believe that the Shihoin family and the Kuchiki family would be open to try to get some, but that was only speculation for now, there was no guarantee that they saw any necessity with it despite it being a large benefit.
Eventually the pilot spoke into the loud speaker, informing them that they had taxi clearance and that they would taxi to the runway by this point, so everyone was to prepare for take off.
Every seat and chair had a seatbelt in it to allow it to be used for take off, that included the small couch in Ichigo's little office, so Bambietta, Aizen and Chad put them on as instructed, Ichigo did the same in his office chair, after all it would be boring if the aircraft came to a sudden stop and everyone began to fly around inside the airplane, it was after all the airplane that was supposed to fly, not the people inside it, excluding the protection squad of wingmen that is.
Ichigo looked out the window and noticed another aircraft with Wandenreich markings, he was surprised to see it at first but he knew why it was there, it was a similar aircraft to the boeing 777, and belonged to the military, and no it was not a passanger airplane but a support airplane, as the Wandenreich became more mechanized in it's airforce, the military required support assets as they required fuel.
The idea was to build an aircraft similar to the 777, which was large and had a large carry capacity, and then it was converted into a tanker, because every aircraft the Wandenreich military had, possessed the capability for air refueling, Ichigo's personal aircrafts weren't any different, they could refuel mid air with fair ease, and that's why the tanker was there, but they didn't really need it as the fuel tanks were full, of course the 777 were lacking protection and was designed to fly behind friendly lines to avoid being intercepted and depended on a escort by wingmen for security, by using air tankers the bombers and even the airships could have their operational range dramatically increase, as the airship was capable of keeping if the 777 was doing about 400 km/h, which it could easily do and still keep itself in the air, this meant that the 777 tanker could refuel anything the Wandenreich had that flew, even the helicopters.
The fire brigade also used the 777 which was modified for fire services, and would be used during large scale fires, like a forest fire for instance, making the 777 really handy for the empire as a whole, the aviation industry also wanted to use it for commercial flights aswell.
Regardless Ichigo looked at his desk where a document had come forth, it was sent to the aircrafts comms system to Ichigo directly, and it was from the research division, Erwig to be more precise.
Looking through the documents quickly, Erwig had come up with a long term plan for occupied territories which solved some of their problems, but there was a slight problem though, and it caused Ichigo to smack the papers on his desk as he rested his face in his hands.
"Son of bitch couldn't that guy had said something before I had that bunch of Dominion soldiers killed!?" Ichigo said rather annoyed, causing Bambietta to ask for the documents as Ichigo threw them to her.
Looking through them, Aizen thought it was a marvelous idea.
"Using technology to alter their brains to force allegience to you, effectively brain washing them, aswell as the capability to give them limited Quincy abilities, the abilities to use reishi bullets primarily, although this would make them weaker gemischt Quincies, they'd still be able to do severe damage to non Quincies." Aizen said as he looked at the papers.
"From the looks of it, it appears that this brain washing includes deletion of certain memories and replaces them with a certain degree of training in maintaining law and order and ensure that our rule remains stable in the occupied territories, although gemischt and echt Quincies would cause a lot more havoc then these units." Bambietta stated.
"If it is to have them function as an occupation force then it works, it saves up military manpower." Chad stated.
"True, I can already see that they aren't going to be similar to Quincies in any way but whatever we can get I assume, thy'd make a good military police force atleast." Bambietta stated.
"Anyways we can talk about that later, I have another topic I want to speak about." Ichigo said, getting the attention of the three, by now they were already on the runway and ready to take off.
"What is it?" Bambietta asked curiously.
As they took off, Ichigo talked about his idea to use transport planes to paradrop soldiers behind Dominion lines to assist the amphibious assault, after all the soldiers assigned to the airforce, mostly as base guards were trained paratroopers as they had the highest risk of being involved with aircraft and flying machinery, it was their field of specialty, also known as the Wandenreich's Fallshirmjäger Einheit, or paratrooper unit.
It was discussed at length, and eventually they decided that they could at the very least try it, despite it never being done before in the spiritual world, but without trying, no one could know whether it would be a success or not, besides, it was extremly risky.
They did not have the helicopter asset to bail them out if things went sideways, furthermore they' be dropping behind enemy lines, surrounded by enemies on all sites, but if they managed, they could potentially destroy any long range defense weaponry and assist the landing force inland, making them a rather valuable asset.
Eventually, they got to the topic on what they wanted in terms of the treaty and discussed it at length.
When they got to Manchester, the one thing that met them was a ruin, the Dominion had completely destroyed it, although there were plenty of survivors, they were now homeless as the entire city was burned to the ground.
They visited a new orphanage for war orphans, aswell as other things, nothing much of particular importance happened, as for the treaty, the terms were decided.
-Unconditional surrender is the only viable option from the Dominion.
-All Signatory members are obligated to reduce the Dominions military might in case of surrender.
-All signatory members are bound by an alliance, forming the allied force.
-All signatory members are bound to deploy soldiers to fight the Dominion.
-All signatory members are obligated to give whatever support they might to each other.
That basically sums up the entire treaty, but signing it was rather historic because it was the first ever treaty in the spiritual world, and this time the alliances were on paper aswell as in practice.
The next they thay had returned to reverse London for the victory parade, which was a huge success, firefighters, ambulance personnel, police and Quincy soldiers aswell as Wing Bind were attending, the Quincy soldiers marched with their usual goose step march, which is very similar to the german march between 1936 and 1945.
The troops that attended the parade would march back to Silbern aswell, Ichigo and his party would accompany them later as this basically summed up the entire trip, now they needed to prepare for operation avalanche, and to kick the Dominion out of the east branch, which would without a doubt be a potentially long and bloody campaign.
To be continued.
A/N: Alright, so the helicopters are only for transport purposes to ensure that the troops can rapidly respond to any scenario quickly without being hindered by obstacles, the wingmen are multi purpose units as they can levitate in the air and shoot enemies, so in short the majority of Quincy vehicles are transports.
The SW-5 was inspired by both the Osprey and the FW61, but I got the idea after playing a classical game, half life opposing force, as they would look more similar to those ospreys instead, so they don't really share much appearance with it's real life counterpart as the opposing force osprey looks very different, but I decided not to directly add it in or use it yet, I might not even use helicopters during the war but I wanted the door to remain open.
As for the new Quincy train it was inspired by half life 2 actually, as they do have a lot of neat appearances there, the train in game would be called the razor train.
I do take inspiration wherever I can find it as you've all probably noticed, but I also wanted the Quincy military to be a more well equiped military to handle any situation, which is why they are such a mechanized military, the better equiped they are, the better army they have.