Chapter Seven: Hijacking
Kallen Stadtfeld took a bus and slowly became Kallen Kozuki.
Sitting there while appealing ill, she watched the skyscrapers drive by. As they got to a deserted bus stop, she pulled the string and waited as the chime sounded. Getting off it, she drew a headband out of her head and tied her hair up. Drawing a pink mirror out of her head, she got her hair back into the usual spiky appearance.
Then she saw down on a bench and waited.
This was the worst part.
Even before she met Lelouch, Kallen had known the transition period was dangerous. If anyone saw her while she was here, they might connect the dots. It could endanger the entire group and get them all killed.
But someone had to pilot the Glasgow, and she'd been called up.
A little while later, a large man with curly dark hair came up the steps, wearing a heavy jacket. Kallen stood and looked at him. "Hey, Oghi."
"Kallen, glad to see you here," said Oghi, leading her down the steps to a nearby warehouse. The Glasgow was looming inside, standing tall and menacing like an armored knight. Even with a messed-up arm, Kallen liked it. "Did everything go okay?"
"Yeah, I just..." Kallen halted, looking at her Glasgow. "I've been trying to fix things with Mom, and the student council has kept me pretty busy."
"What are you going, Brit?" asked Tamaki, smoking a joint by a car. In his hands was a bible.
"Shut up Tamaki," said Kallen. "And since when do you read anyway?"
"Hey, this book is good luck, okay," said Tamaki. "Also, pretty nice reading. I wouldn't mind a bit of fire from heaven hitting Babel Tower.
"Now, get off my back about it."
"Quiet down, all of you," said Naoto, sitting in the shadows while reading reports.
"Naoto?" asked Kallen. "About the-"
Naoto stood up. "Forget it.
"We'll discuss the offer you got later. Right now, though, I'd like you to help us with an operation."
"Really?" asked Kallen.
"Yes, we've finally got a use for the Glasgow," said Naoto. "And you are the best pilot we've got. Let's get ready, people.
"We've got a convoy to capture."
Kallen smiled. "Right."
Tamaki had been really mad when he had gotten the lowest ranking in the simulator. He'd crashed several times. Oghi had done better, but Kallen had completely aced it. And so she changed into a new outfit, climbed up the ladder, and got into the cockpit. Sitting down, she checked the systems. All of them were functioning as best they could in the circumstances.
Naoto had been trying to keep the thing maintained and properly used. But spare parts were hard to find, and Kyoto hadn't given them any. After they sent in the Glasgow, Kyoto had analyzed it, used it to create the Burai, and sent it back.
But here they were now, on the side of a road leading through the settlement. It was a highway constructed over the bulldozed wreckage of Japanese neighborhoods. It had been appropriated, the locals forced off it and not compensated, and that had been the end. The same story had happened in a dozen neighborhoods. All to create a highway on which people could travel.
The price of progress, Clovis had said. To connect Area 11 like never before.
Nobody used it, of course. The Tokyo Settlement still had most of the Britannian population. Other areas were far smaller. So in practice, it was just used to ship equipment and supplies to the military. Even Britannia couldn't completely colonize a nation in a few years.
"Kallen, quick overview of the plan," said Naoto over the walkie-talkie.
"I remember it," said Kallen.
"I'm sure you do, but I'm a controlling big brother," said Naoto. "And everyone is expected to review their job.
"When the convoy comes down here by this road, you drive up and block off the road. Then, Nagata will block off the way out with our own truck. Once it stops, Tamaki and Oghi will move in to take possession of the food supplies." Tamaki and Oghi were on the ramp leading up to the highway. "Don't run them over, obviously."
"Right," said Kallen, making a mental note to stick to the right side of the highway.
She wondered what would happen if a truck were to come up that ramp?
Probably a moot point. The glorious shining utopia promised by Prince Clovis only existed in his speeches. Nobody owned a car in the ghettos, except organized crime and resistance groups. Without protection, your car would be cannibalized in an hour. But then, organized crime probably wanted an easy way to get back to civilization. If you could call the Tokyo Settlement civilization.
"Remember, no firing your guns," said Naoto to all of them. "That means you, Tamaki. They are there for intimidation. We want clean, simple, and no deaths if we can avoid it. And no names in front of them. If they hear our names, they could track us by them."
"They can't report anything if they're dead," noted Tamaki.
Kallen felt a sense of agreement and then halted. She'd have taken it for granted a few weeks ago that anyone working for Britannia deserved it.
"That's escalation, Tamaki," said Naoto. "Stealing supply trucks is one thing, but once we start killing people, we go up on the threat level. Shinjuku mostly gets a pass because we don't do that kind of stuff.
"And keep your masks on. Otherwise, they could identify us," said Naoto.
"Alright, alright already," said Tamaki.
Kallen felt suddenly uneasy.
On the one hand, she knew that Britannia was a horrible evil that had to be stopped. One that was not going to change from within, no matter what Lelouch did. Lelouch even knew it; he just wanted to do what he could. That was Kallen Kozuki speaking. But Kallen Stadtfeld, a person Kallen had not known existed, was asking how Kallen was helping. And if there wasn't something else she could be doing.
Kozuki argued that she had to do something and fighting with the resistance was the only thing she could do. Stadtfeld noted that Kallen had come all the way here from the settlement. Her ill-girl act was an obvious facade to anyone paying attention. What if someone had followed her?
The police didn't know anything about her, noted Stadtfeld.
Why did it have to be the police? It could have been Milly or Shirley. Maybe they'd be on the same bus, see her get off at a stop, and go to check on her. What would Kallen do then, kill them?
Kozuki could make up an excuse.
Would they believe her, though? The Student Council wasn't stupid.
"Why don't we use the Glasgow more often, Naoto?" asked Kallen suddenly, trying to distract herself.
"Because it draws attention. We don't have the parts to keep it maintained anyway," said Naoto. "Sooner or later, this thing will break down.
"Kyoto already used the schematics to create their own suits for the JLF. But the kinds of operations we do are based around speed and stealth. If we're fighting heavy armor, we're pretty much screwed."
"So then why even use the knightmare?" asked Kallen, despite herself.
"Same reason as the guns," said Naoto. "Intimidation factor.
"Just having a knightmare helps us shut people down. We gotta stop talking, Kallen. We're on the clock."
And they did stop talking.
Kallen found herself returning to that debate. It didn't matter if it was a risk, Kozuki said. Naoto needed her to pilot the knightmare frame; it was an integral part of operations. Stadtfeld asked why these operations were so important.
"...There it is, go!" said Naoto.
And here came the truck. It blared along the highway at top speed, and then...
Kallen went to work.
Surging forward, she drove up the ramp, being sure to avoid Oghi and Tamaki. Rushing into place, she halted before it, and it slowed to a crawl. Before it could back up, Nagata drove a car around and boxed him in from behind.
Tamaki and Oghi came out, masks on their faces and guns primed, pointing them at the drivers who got out.
"Alright, hands up and out of the vehicle!" said Tamaki, voice muffled by his mask. "Get out, now! On the ground with your hands on your head!
"You, give me the damn radio!"
One of the people had a radio, and Tamaki took it from his hand, being careful not to hurt the guy. He smashed it on the ground. Weird; Kallen would have thought Tamaki would hit the guy. But, he and Oghi got on board, Kallen got out of the way. They sped out the exit.
Operation finished. Anticlimactic like always.
Kallen knew she shouldn't, but she almost wished things would get hot. Fighting a Britannian Knightmare frame would be a welcome change of pace. But she didn't, of course, because it would mean all of them would be dead soon.
They just drove for a while. Kallen eyed the Sakuradite levels on her knightmare. Kyoto was nice enough to provide them with fuel cells when they asked. In exchange, they didn't target trucks which Kyoto was making a profit off.
It was economic warfare that helped the Japanese.
Except, Stadtfeld noted, Kyoto were a collection of rich businessman who had investments in Britannian stocks. They could not be stripped of all their resources after the invasion. Before Britannia stormed in, the radicals had viewed them as the lowest form of scum. Now they funded the radicals and ingratiated themselves with the Britannians. Did they really care about the Japanese?
Or just in keeping their profits intact?
"Nice work, everyone. We've got the supplies," said Naoto. "Get into the subway tunnels. Once we're there, we'll check the back."
The subway tunnels of Japan were very extensive. In the old days, back before Jeremiah Gottwald had stormed the beaches, they'd been the pride of Tokyo. With plentiful access to Sakuradite, the trains ran all day and night. They took people wherever they wanted to go. Many of the trains were still in use today by Britannian tourists.
But the subway tunnels had been designed to serve the Japanese people. Outside the Tokyo settlement, they were of little interest to Clovis. So they lay as abandoned hiding spots for the underground. Resistance groups used them to move unseen. Criminals sometimes used them to move unseen as well.
Eventually, their convoy pulled to a halt. Kallen halted the Glasgow and looked around.
"...Alright, stop everyone," said Naoto. "Oghi, Tamaki, check the truck. Nagata, take watch for anyone. Kallen, you can come out. But don't take the keys out of the ignition."
Kallen did so.
It was nice to get into cooler air again; the inside of the knightmare was stuffy. She'd gotten used to it months ago, so she didn't notice it consciously. Even so, she stretched and lowered herself down on the wire. The doors to the truck were opened via fire axe, and Tamaki pulled it back.
"What's in here?" asked Kallen.
"Foodstuffs and a lot of them. We should be able to hand these out to people," said Nagata. "Inoue spotted it being loaded at a nonstandard time. She got a job packaging food. But it wasn't at a standard time, so we figured it wouldn't have a convoy.
"It usually happens when there is a supply shortage somewhere. The whole system has to get reworked and-"
"Nobody cares," said Tamaki, checking the inside. "Mission is done."
"They should," said Nagata. "If you don't know what's going on, you can't make a proper plan."
"Ugh, I just think we should be trying to do some real damage," said Tamaki.
Oghi stepped into the truck and began to walk inside, counting off the supplies.
"We are doing real damage," said Naoto. "This food is going to help a lot of people. And, it'll also hurt the Britannians. If they made this kind of sudden supply shipment, it means they have an unexpected shortage.
"If they have a shortage, that means it will get worse when this truck doesn't arrive. That means they have to send another one. Probably with an escort this time. Those guards are going to cost a lot of money, and they can't be anywhere.
"Believe me, we may have just caused them a lot of problems. And they don't even know it."
"So why don't we do it more often? If we do this to every convoy that comes by-" began Kallen. Kozuki was becoming very enthusiastic.
"Britannian sends in an army of Southerlands and kills us," said Nagata.
"Ah, well uh..." Kallen halted. "Nevermind."
"So what are we doing to do?" asked Tamaki.
"... We've taken a few convoys like this," said Naoto. "We can distribute the foods to some of the places that need it most for some goodwill.
"But we're pushing our luck. We're not hitting another transport for a while.
"Clovis is going to be stepping up his guards now that we've become an inconvenience. If we're not a problem, Britannia will throw its weight around. If we're a big problem, Britannia will crackdown. We occupy a little gray area that keeps the police brutality in check."
"So we're giving up?" asked Kallen.
"We're quitting while we're ahead," said Naoto. "If you gamble smart, you can win big. But throw the dice enough times, and you are guaranteed to lose.
"The Britannians are going to send convoys with knightmares after our last few raids. They'll want to counter the Glasgow pilot. The best counter to a knightmare is a knightmare.
"So, they'll waste Sakuradite and take pilots away from other operations.
"That will waste a lot of money and tie up a lot of troops. We can just focus on distributing this stuff and let the Britannians mess themselves up."
Kallen paused, looking to where Oghi had gotten to the end of the truck. He was looking at the walls strangely. He seemed to be recounting and eventually took out a tape measure. "Actually uh, Naoto, about the offer from the Purebloods?"
"Yes, what are your thoughts?" asked Naoto.
"You can't accept that," said Tamaki.
Kallen halted and considered things. The Stadtfeld part of her that she hadn't known existed was flaring up. It was taking ground, and the deciding factor was the realization that she was putting the group at risk. "I... kind of think I should, though."
"What are you saying, Kallen? You want to join the Purebloods?" asked Nagata.
"No, but..." Kallen halted. "Every time I come here, I risk exposing us. My disguise isn't that good. Anyone paying attention can pick it out. And, well, I know I'm the best Knightmare pilot we have, but we don't need a pilot. We need a driver."
"She's got a point," said Nagata. "If we get into a firefight, something has gone seriously wrong. We don't need an ace, just someone that can pilot the thing enough to look threatening."
"But how is becoming a Pureblood going to help anything?" asked Tamaki. Oghi had now begun to measure the outside of the truck. What was he doing?
"Kallen Stadtfeld is a noble," noted Naoto. "If she joins the Purebloods, she could become part of the club, and there are a lot of important people there. Kallen could hear about things we could use.
"Information is more valuable than guns."
"Naoto!" said Oghi, coming out.
"What is it, Oghi?" asked Naoto.
"I've cataloged the contents of this truck. It doesn't add up," said Oghi.
"What do you mean?" asked Tamaki. "There's food in there. This is a food truck. What's the problem?"
"There isn't as much in this truck as there were in the others we took," said Oghi. "And I measured the inside compared to the outside. This room is way shorter than the truck."
Naoto blinked. "Sounds like somebody is transporting secrets. Come on, let's check the contents." Standing up, he walked into it, and they followed. "Oh, Nagata, Tamaki, keep watch, will you? Just in case."
Kallen followed Naoto and saw him feeling around the sides of the wall. Tapping things repeatedly, he eventually pressed in the corner of the wall. The doors swung open, and Kallen saw...
"...Cannisters?" asked Kallen.
Huge, rounded canisters of a very heavy-duty kind stood in a secret room. It looked like the sort of thing you'd use to hold something you did not want to get out.
"What do you think they hold?" asked Oghi.
"Nothing," said Naoto. "If they had anything inside them, they'd have a military escort. My guess is that our Britannian friends are moving these to hold something. Maybe a breakthrough or some kind of experiment.
"So they put in a report and called for it. Then they put it in a food truck."
"Any idea what?" asked Kallen.
"I have no idea," said Naoto, turning to walk back outside. "Kallen, when you get back to the settlement, look this thing up on the internet. We don't have reception out here."
"Right, sure," said Kallen, memorizing the look of the canisters.
"Oghi, I want you and Tamaki to look through the entire cargo," said Naoto. "Figure out which base this truck was heading to, and then get a watch on it. Take some pictures and get them to me.
"We get a proper look at the place this was headed to. Then we figure out what these canisters are. The rest should work itself out." Then he halted and looked to Kallen. "Oh, and uh, Kallen?"
"Yeah?" asked Kallen.
"When you join the Purebloods... you're not allowed to date one," said Naoto.
"Why would I... I'd never!" said Kallen, offended.
"Easy, I'm just grilling you," said Naoto. "Once we have the food and all the info we need, we'll send the canisters to Kyoto. Keep the truck."
This was going to be weird.