Here's another chapter! Enjoy!

I own nothing

Kallen looked upon the new recruits she had been tasked with training with a frown. She didn't have her helmet on right now, and several of the recruits seemed a bit nervous about her attitude.

She had been reviewing the lesson she was to give them on the basics of Knightmare piloting when she had received word from Ohgi about a Britannian showing up to the forward base. She all but sprinted as she ran to Zero's side, her weapon ready when she entered the external viewing room when she was stopped by a small note on the door.

Kallen, I understand your transgressions with Diethard, I would be lying if I said I can trust him fully, but we need his skills. He increased recruitment numbers by sixty percent his first week alone and we both know I'll need as many people behind my cause as I can get. I know its risky, but I can't let him go over something he hasn't done yet, let alone might not even do. I have to use every piece available if I want peace. 0.

After entering, she quickly asserted herself as someone to not fuck with before the reporter left. Afterwards she had given Lelouch a verbal thrashing for his decision but ultimately let him off the hook when he promised to have Ohgi monitor him.

Since then she had been relentless with the new pilots, running them through the basics several times mixed with a few live combat spars against herself. Most of them proved to be capable enough, though nothing she would call home about.

"Do you think that Cornelia or her Guard would give you a breather because you asked for it?" Kallen shot at the new recruits, "If you want to pilot a knightmare, then each of you will need to up your game, drastically. I expect each of you to memorize the basics in two days, or I swear I'll make you wish you hadn't been born. Is that clear?"

All the recruit gulped before popping to attention in unison, "Yes, Ma'am!"

"Good, now your all dissmissed." Kallen said as she began to walk off, her mind already on other things. 'Why can I not shake this wary feeling away...'

Ohgi lead Deithard towards their mobile command center, Deithard giving a low whistle as they approached.

"Impeccable. I wouldnt give this a second thought outside of a noble luxury ride." The blonde stated cheerily as they made their way to the second floor, "He must have pulled out all the stops getting this."

"Look, I won't try to pretend with you," the Japanese man said as he stopped right before the door to the supplies room, "I don't know why Zero trust you so much but your going to have to prove it to the rest of us, got it?"

The Britannian nodded, his hand on his hip, "I wouldnt have it any other way."

Ohgi nodded as he entered the room, handing the reporter a small black case, "Zero instructed me to give this to you, inside will be your first assignment, as well as a cell phone with my contact information," Ohgi paused for a second as Deithard took the piece of paper and began to look through it.

After a moment the Blonde smirked and put the paper away, "Seems simple enough. I'm assuming you'll be the one to review my work?" At this Ohgi nodded. "Perfect, anything else I'll need?"

Suzaku had been spending his morning looking for the figure from the G1 observation deck only to come up blank. At his current level and position, he couldn't look through the command deck footage to figure it out, nor could he ask about without drawing some attention.

Now he was sitting in a nearby park looking over the ASEEC maintenance bay and the Lancelot being tuned with the data gotten during the Kawaguchi Hotel jacking.

He was about to attempt to stomach another of Cecile's handmade Jelly Bean buns when he caught something out of the corner of his eye.

"Good Afternoon, Warrent Officer Kururugi," a soft voice called to him from his left as Princess Euphimia Li Britannia approached the young Kururugi Heir, "May I join you?"

Suzaku was quick to stand and salute, "Your Highness, I would be honored!"

Euphie gave the teen a small smile before turning towards her two guards, "I will be with Warrent Officer Kururugi, I will be safe with him."

"Your Highness, with all due respect, Vicroy Cornelia orde-" the first guard began before being cut off by the pinkette.

"I doubt there will be anywhere safer than besides the Lancelot and its pilot, can you not agree?" Her voice was firm and unwavering.

The second guard stepped up to the first rescue, "But your Highness, he is only an honorary Britannian, Vicroy Cornelia had strictly ordered us to-" a hand suddenly cut off his sentence as Euphimia slapped him.

"How dare you say such things! He has done nothing if prove his faith and loyalty to the Empire and this is how he's repaid? Begone both of you unless you truly wish to see me angry." The princess fumed as she quickly grabbed Suzaku's hand, "Come Warrent Officer Kururugi, let's go elsewhere."

Suzaku responded quickly and followed her, leaving her two guards reeling at how badly they misjudged the differences between the Li Britannia siblings.

"Your Highness, If I may, they were just doing their jobs, you didn't need to be so rough with them."

Euphimia stopped and turned towards the warm face of her friend. She knew they shouldn't be talking like this, how Cornelia would react if she caught them. How she'd be confined. Again. But she's learned alot from Suzaku, and has slowly been treasuring their talks, when she's able to ditch her guard.

It didnt help that she couldn't seem pull herself away from Suzaku, he was such a bright spirit in a dark country. In his eyes she's found a youthfulness and vigor she hadn't seen in any other Japanese. And yet, she's also seen a pain and wisdom well beyond his years, something she's seen in only a few people and all of them were were at least a decade older than Father, or branded as a Number.

"But they were talking bad about you, Suzaku, how could I stand by and let you be bad mouthed when I could do something about it?" She protested. She knew he was right, he tended to be when it came to things like this.

He merely laughed it off softly, "As you wish, Your Highness."

The pinkette puffed out her cheeks as she stopped and turned towards the brunette, "I thought I told you to call me Euhpie in private!"

He looked away and ran a hand through his hair, his cheeks a little flush, the adorable act lost on the princess, "I'm sorry, I'm so use to adhering to military bearing I didn't even think about it," Slowly he looked back towards her, a warm smile on his face "Can you forgive me, Euhpie?"

The princess felt her heart skip a beat as her face got warm, 'What's this? Am I...' her hands went up to her face, confirming her thoughts, she looked around for a second before her eyes locked back onto Suzaku, who by now had cocked his head, confused as to what she was doing, "Euphie, are you all right? We can head back if your not feeling well?."

She quickly shook her head taking his arm as she lead him on towards a hidden gazebo further into the park, "I'm fine, I wanted to show you the spot I found the other day."

Suzaku happily relented as they walked, Euphimia's mind racing as they walked.

Cornelia watched as the former Margrave walked in, his form showing no signs of the nervousness she expected to being called in her office. Honestly, she was impressed at the display of confidence.

"Do you know why I called you here, Orange Boy?" Cornelia quipped, sarcasm evident with the last two words.

If Jeremiah seemed concerned, he didnt show it, "No, Your Highness."

"Tell me, what pray tell happened on the bridge before Warrant Officer Kururugi's execution?" Her laid the report onto the table, the front page reporting the Margrave suspicious behaviour.

The Margrave remained still, his hands clasp behind his back, "Your Highness, I had begun transport of at the time Private Kururugi towarda the Judicial Hall accompanied by several of the purist faction. All things considered, it was all going percectly."

"That is when Zero appeared?" Jeremiah nodded at this, 'Same as the report...'

"After he had appeared I questioned him as to his motives and raised my gun. That was when he revealed the gas. Afterwards he requested Kururugi's release. Of course I refused but he then revealed something I hadn't expected, " Jeremiah continued, his voice unwavering.

Cornelia was surprised at the last bit, "What did he reveal?" By now she had begun to lean forward giving him her full attention. This wasn't in the report, only the mentions of something called Orange.

"While the specifics remain unknown to me, he had referred to a experimental project that Clovis had been working on. I only knew the code word, Orange, in passing while in service to His Highness, Prince Clovis." Jeremiah seemed to be downtrodden at the last thing he said, another failure in service to a royal.

Cornelia bits her lip, looking down to the report, 'Of course they wouldn't understand his sudden change in behavior, he would have been the only one to know what was going on in the first place!' She faced the Margrave once again, a sort of pride welling up inside her as she thought about his service to Lady Marianne, "I thank you for helping clear thing up here Jeremaih, I look forward to continuing working together."

Jeremiah merely smiled towards the Vicroy, offering her a Britannian Salute, "As always, Your Highness!"

Jeremiah made his way towards his office, his place brisk as he strode down the hall, a warm smile on his face. He felt wonderful, not only had His Majesties plan worked and secured his position until Narita, but the assets he was in charge of was bearing fruit. They were ready to operate with only an estimated thirty-seven percent chance of him perishing. A resounding improvement considering what is to be done. The project Clovis had died for was beginning to show fruit, and my was it impressive.

As the Pilot rounded the corner, he quickly shut himself inside his office taking a seat at his desk, leaning back as he enjoyed the sense of accomplishment of completing his task. After a few moments he opened the lowest drawer to the right, moving a few folders before activating the bug jammer, a precaution he installed himself, before taking out a small black cell phone, dialing the speed dial.

After a few rings, the line connected, Jeremiah speaking first, "All task at hand have been completed, Your Majesty, I am prepared for phase two."

-Good work, Jeremiah, inform me of any deviations.-

Jeremiah smiled, "Of course, Your Majesty, is there anything else?"

There was a moments pause, -Jeremiah, answer truthfully, did you lose to someone?-

At this, the Knight of Orange's eyes widened, his mouth becoming dry as he could think of only one situation where this question could be originating from. "Your Majesty, as you are aware, I have recently engaged against The Knight of Zero, someone whom you instructed me to support. At the time, it seemed the more appropriate choice. I remained unharmed though, a bit on my opponent's part, if I must admit."

There was another pause as Lelouch worked the information over, -Very well, it couldn't be avoided, as for Narita, I have already prepared everything for you to escape, my Queen is to be your opponent, and she plans to hold no bars.-

"Yes, Your Majesty." A small smile on Jeremiah's face as he clicked his phone shut, Lelouch already having hung up, "My oh my, one dangerous opponent for another."

"Hmmm, it would make sense he holds the grudge for what I did, but it is irrelevant. Tell me, did he do anything to you before you died?" A deep voice spoke into the air, a few moments passed as he let his son speak, his brow furrowing as the painter finished.

"Curious, it seemed like the perfect time for him to use it if he had one, unless it's more like Bismarck's geass..." The figure crossed his arms in thought, several minutes passing as he thought, "I guess it doesn't matter, he won't be able to oppose the Ragnarok Connection."

Charles Zi Britannia turned to the small boy approaching from the stairs, "What do you make of this, Brother?"

The small child scoffed as he finally reached the top to stand besides his brother, "I doubt he knows anything beyond surface information, though I don't doubt for a second that C.C. is nearby." The younger sibling nodded his agreement, his arms returning to his sides, "A regret he defeated Cornelia, however if she and her men couldn't handle lowly terrorist, I doubt she'd be of use to us."

"A shame indeed, Brother, but I wouldn't take her for granted, Cornelia is fiercely loyal to Euphimia. She might come to surprise Lelouch if given ample motivation or time."

A wicked grin spread across the contractor's face, "Perhaps I shall send her a gift? I dont think you'd mind, would you Charles?"

The Emporer looked down towards his accomplice, "What did you have in mind?"

Sorry for how short it is, but I have a lot planned to make up for it!RR Appreciated!