A.N. A belated Christmas gift to all those who follow this story. Enjoy. And I hope all enjoy at least the end of the chapter, where I introduce the reasoning behind the character of Krachenko.

Chapter 25

Imperial Flagship: Yamato, March 1, 2022 a.t.b.

This by far was the largest military expedition that Lelouch had thus far commanded in his life. Of course, this did not count the vast war machine that was the Black Knights but such distinctions were for the historians. But having over a hundred airships of different classes loaded for bear on a single course for a single target was not something one could just bat an eyelash at. Aboard the Yamato Lelouch watched his fleet move across the Sea of Japan, below them submarines and ships sailed keeping watch for threats from below the waters. Ahead of them fast formations of bombers and airships attacked targets on the Chinese coast and inland. While overhead steaks of orbital warheads blasted at targets of their own.

The clock was ticking, and time was running down to the end of the war, that much was certain, but whether this campaign was successful would determine the final cost of this madness. Turning his eyes back to his computer screens he resumed his typing, standing orders for the conduct of his army when they reached Beijing. While the city was in fact a city, the civilian population was drastically minimized in place of soldiers and defenses. The civilians that remained were the bare minimum for the function of the city as a capital, still this number was in itself quite high, over two million people. The rest of the population was around eight hundred thousand military personal. The paranoia of Sawasaki had kept the overall population of the city down from its previous twenty odd million residents.

Now the city was truly a military city, a fortress city, a deathtrap, but one that had to be taken and destroyed. Some could argue for the simple long-range option of using FLEIJA warheads to decimate the city and move on from there to neutralize any remnants of the Sawasaki's regime. However, this was a moot point, the OSI had provided information on the defense of the city and one of the major points was weaponry that could destroy long range ballistic projectiles.

As well there needed to be undeniable proof of Sawasaki's death, ie a body, there was also the point of unwanted civilian casualties. While it was true the number of such casualties in the war was already astronomical, it had been made clear by the Emperor that no more should die if at all possible. True there was no way of completely stopping this from happening, such are the facts of war, but the mitigation of such losses were made priorities for all Allied forces.

As he finished the last few lines of the orders and pressed the encryption keys in preparation for sending them a Guard approached. His face was covered in his Zero helmet no doubt the interior held a HUD swimming in various data streams, his training allowing him to sift through the data he needed. He bowed at the waist slightly before speaking, "my lord, the final reports from the fleet are in. All assets are ready to begin."

Lelouch nodded in return, "proceed."

Bowing again the Guard turned on his heel and marched away to relay the commands to the fleet to begin offensive operations. Sirens sounded as missiles launched from the surrounding ships and shot into the distance. Behind these flew VTOLs filled with infantry, vehicles and Knightmares to form a quick beach head on the coastline. As well the entire fleet picked up speed and inside the holds of many of the ships, both flying and sailing, soldiers began to ready themselves to step foot on land and take it from the enemy.

As things began to escalate Lelouch reached out to his keypads and typed away once more. Only this time, he entered codes for his ships FLEIJA warhead stockpile. He had read the reports from Guilford about the end of the Berlin siege. The FLEIJA had completely neutralized the blast of the enemy Fission Weapon. Though the way in which this was discovered was discouraging. Lelouch had not known Krachenko personally, but he had heard plenty about the man's career and exploits in the European theatre.

But with the information on the interaction between the Fission bombs and FLEIJAs Lelouch was not going to take chances. If Sawasaki intended to use his weapons, then Lelouch was going to use his. And in the distance, he could see the faintest flashes of explosions as ordnance found their targets. It wouldn't be long before the fleet's main guns open up as well. To the south as well the glow of fires burning could be seen as targets in the city of Tianjin burned from airstrikes. He then glanced towards his hand, and the ring upon his finger, the gold band sending his mind to thoughts of his wife and daughter.

Tokyo, Imperial Palace

C.C. sat on the beside of her daughter, cradling the small A.I.'s head in arms as the child "slept." It was a peculiar thing really; all the films and media had shown Artificial Intelligences to be like every other machine. Robotic and un-needing of sleep or rest of any kind forever focused on every task put before them.

While it was true Euphie did not need any physical sleep as she was in fact synthetic. She did need to rest her mind, something that was hardly shown was that an AI's mind can be stressed with prolonged activity like any other beings. Hence the need for rest, the A.I. version of sleep, and it seemed Euphie had taken the idea of sleep and made her physical form mimic it.

She also seemed to like cuddling with her parents, enjoying the sensations her artificial nerves gave her. Though C.C. wasn't going to complain about this either, she deeply enjoyed it herself. Loving the feeling of holding her own child in her arms, getting to experience the joy she had seen on the faces of thousands of mothers through her centuries of life, and it showed. Lelouch never missed the chance to tell her of the glow that radiated from her now. Her once pale complexion, while still pale, had a healthy glow to it, as well as a warm smile on her face, not the cold one that she bore for so long. Of course, the sarcasm and dry humor did not leave though, which kind of chafed Lelouch but then again, she loved the fact that he secretly liked that quirk.

As she slowly rocked with her daughter C.C. felt again the slight pinch in her stomach as she thought of Lelouch. He was immortal for sure, but she had always been close by when he had gone into battle. But now she was instead at home, "running the house." While no one said that since running the affairs of the Empire while the Emperor was away was no joke at all, she still felt that she belonged by Lelouch's side.

She looked down at her hand and her wedding ring, she smiled as she ran her against the metal. In her heart a warmth beat slowly, harmonizing with her own heart, and her smile turned to a grin. She silently giggled as the warmth sent waves of comforting heat through her body. She pulled her daughter closer as she settled in beside her the smile still upon her face, a lightless glow in the dim room.

Chinese Coast

For the few soldiers that patrolled and lived on the coast, life was dull at the best of times. Sure, every once in a while, a strange ship or flying craft would pass by, but these rarely resulted in any action. Maybe a few pot shots from small arms, or large anti-aircraft weapons. Though the last time it had ended up in a colonel's plane crashing after being mistaken for an enemy scout craft flying to low. Alcohol was involved and the poor sap of a commander who had order the shot was immediately sacked, tried and shot in the same day.

Ultimately though, those that manned the coast suffered more from boredom and the occasional outbreak of dysentery rather than combat. The units that manned the defenses were usually made up of, less then capable soldiers, criminals or those units or individuals needing to be punished for some crime or slight. All the while commanded by officers who had bought their commissions and were to scared to go to the front lines.

Not all those units on the coast were horrible unfit troops, after the complete debacle in Hong Kong they had been reinforced. But the problem of command and communication that had existed before hand was still there. Thus, many did not realize that the enemy was upon them till the night sky lit up in reds, greens, and yellows followed by massive explosions that they were under attack.

Bunkers and pill boxes exploded in flames as bunker busting warheads smashed through there roofs. Others were turned in ovens as they were bath in beams of red energy that melted the steal reinforcements of the concrete, boiled and melted the soldiers within, and blew up ammunition. Smaller blasts of red energy and glowing green shots from VARIS weapons turned vehicles and knightmares in to smoking wrecks or left smoldering craters and burning shrubby in their wakes.

Overhead, VTOLs hovered and circled landing in areas where the bombardment had lifted. Knightmares, and vehicles set track and ped on enemy soil, turrets and knightmares pivoted searching for targets. Infantry were disgorged from the bellies of VTOLs and troops transports. They too search for targets, many carried new energy weapons, power cords ran to the battery packs attached to the soldier's armor. Others carried the older magnetic coil guns while others carried heavy weapons. Portable Radiant Hadron Wave Cannons, VARIS weapons, rocket launchers, heavy coil machine guns and the like.

Squads ran about as the bombardment began to lift, they charge into bunkers and pill boxes. Grenades went off, followed by screams and the spray of bullets and red energy, Knightmares and vehicles added their fire to the onslaught. Vehicles and reinforcing troops that had survived the firsts strikes and bombardment were hosed with burning fire. Their burning husks brought light to the field of battle, showing the heaven above the bodies and cratered landscape the had taken shape.

Airships began to come over head and their weapons to were brought to bear on the most stubborn points of resistance. No shields of the few bunkers that had them could withstand the fire of the fleet. Retreating troops faced the wrath of the Imperial Fleet, fire raked the roads. While VTOLs and ground forces sprayed fire upon ground, soldiers fell screaming and silent alike, whole and in pieces. Truly the night had taken upon itself the full horror of war. The seeds of anger and hate and taken bloom in the dim starlight to reveal a wretched and horrid crop.

Lelouch's dark violet eyes took in the sights and sounds of the fight, he watched as enemy soldiers tried to make a stand under brave officers. He watched as these fools fell against overwhelming odds, a twinge of pity welled in his heart, those men fought for their families and homes, not the mad man in Beijing. And yet the lies of one mortal man, who seemed to care not for his own soul, could set such great people against their fellow man. It was truly a sight that would make a person seek out religion.

Turning his eyes Lelouch returned to viewing the battle as a whole, making small corrections here and there, but letting his commanders to their jobs. As time ticked by more and more ground was gobbled up by the Black Knights. And as the sun began to rise over the horizon a beachhead had formed, and airships hovered over Tianjin. VTOL strike craft flew up and down the roads strafing and harrying the retreating UFN army. No vehicle was left untouched, forcing the soldiers to march up the road in resemblance of column. But these to felt the sting of bullets, and energy, shrapnel and flame. The farther away from the coast one went, it became clear that what was heading inland was a shattered army.

Northern Theatre, March 2, 2022 a.t.b.

Leila Malcal often times could hardly believe where her life had gone, she had fled Britannia as a child with her family, she then fought Britannia inflicting great losses, now she fought for Britannia. Such things seemed the realm of fiction for certain, but here she was, in a headquarters furnished by Britannia, and commanding troops armed by Britannia. Shaking her head, she returned to her work, running through reports and other intelligence gathered on enemy strong points. She would then coordinate strikes of aircraft, orbital strikes when and if available, or if need be attacks by her W-0 troops. Though these were saved for strikes behind the lines of the enemy to make proper way for the advancing columns of the Black Knights.

In a few hours it was likely that her forces and Anya's would meet, this was aided by the complete air dominance of the region by the Black Knights. The newly promoted Admiral Anderson had superbly used his air fleet to smash all forms of resistance the UFN could muster in the air. Ensuring Ashara's ground troops could move with near impunity with only ground-based resistance. The coordination of the campaign ran like cogs in a great machine, though true it was a pity that machine was focused on the killing of others.

But even in the darkness that had swallowed her time, Leila found the light still existed, and one of the pieces of proof lay on the couch by her desk. Akito had returned to her command after completing his mission in Berlin. He had then been thrust directly into combat again, running mission after mission. And now he slept on the couch in her office, several years ago he wouldn't have dared to do anything like this. But after years of near unending war and conflict had taken their toll. It was only his relationship with Leila that he had been able to relax enough to now fall asleep in her presence.

Leila looked down and saw her hand shake slightly, her own tiredness and stress from so long a time in conflict had taken its toll on her as well. She too had taken times to stop and try to rest like Akito was doing in her office, but it was the thought of a lasting peace in the near future was enough to drive them both to do their best and work to end the war. A peace that would allow them to finally make a life for themselves without threat. Such a goal was enough for the remnants of the old W-0 unit that had once fought Britannia.

Putting the report and papers down Leila stood and made her way to the couch, and as carefully as possible she slid in next to Akito. Said soldier silently stretched out his arms to encircle Laila's waste and pull in in close to his form. As their body heat intertwined the pair silently drifted into the realm of dreams.

Europe

As the pair slept on the other side of the globe Guilford sat at his desk in his mobile command center. His G-1 had long since pulled back away from what had been Berlin, outside his army supervised the treatment of the prisoners that had been taken. There were not many and many were dying from over exposure to radiation. While the advanced medicine of the allies saved many lives, it took time to treat the survivors. But with each passing minute another came closure to death or succumbed to the encroaching abyss. As well there were few wounded among the former defenders as many did not survive the lack luster medical treatment they were offered. Many were outright killed or left to die by their comrades during the battle so as to save supplier of food and medicine.

The civilians that had lived in the area surrounding Berlin had been evacuated by the Black Knights. The threat of drifting clouds of lethal radioactive fallout had been to great, though the matter of security for the army was also a concern. Nonetheless the moving of so many civilians, proper food and shelter had become a paramount concern. But instead of the situation growing to be a pain for the Black Knights Guilford had brought in the "Li Dove Foundation."

Thanks to Cornelia's vast wealth, Guilford had been able to form the foundation to help those affected by war and hardship. Together with the Black Knights the two organizations coordinated to help the displaced civilians. The Foundation brought in food and shelter, and helped find short term work for the civilians, this was in order to give some form of economy to the area instead of turning the populace into dependent parasites.

But the varying particular aspects of his army and the surrounding population were not the focus Guilford's current project. That place was held by the deceased Krachenko's personal file, Guilford traced the man's career and life back as far as Britannia records could find him. Suffice to say the man had an interesting past. Some time as a petty crook, smuggler, a brief stint as a resistance fighter against Britannia, prisoner, etc. But he did in fact have some legitimate qualities to his life, evidenced after his release from prison. He seemed to settle as a simple worker in Moscow, making ends meat for his family.

Of course, his family was another interesting piece of work, the man himself was not married. But he did have a sister who he had loved to the greatest amount a brother could love a sibling. Which only added to the surprise that he had allowed said sister to marry a low class Britannian noble (Or it at least showed that not all Britannian nobility were snobbish ass holes). And it was that noble who had even gotten him released from prison, though that cost the family quite a bit. Krachenko then seemed to fall into the realms of legitimate money, working to earn money for his family.

The noble had later died in a car crash leaving Krachenko has the only provider for the family. He then worked double shifts in whatever job he could find, made enough money to keep his nephew in school and be a father figure to said nephew. In Guilford's mind he was amazed that such a man even existed, and he felt a pang of guilt that such a noble spirit was snuffed out of the world so unfairly.

Turning he began typing up a persona l letter for the family,

Dear, Lady Sarah, and Lord Bartholomew Hackett

The sadness you must feel for the passing of your brother and uncle must be great, no words that I can say may ease the pain of his loss. But, in such a dark time as you now face I may offer I glimmer of hope for his and your legacy. In addition to the compensation given to those deceased Black Knights, I am willing to offer a full scholarship to the young Lord Bartholomew to an institution of his choice, as well as support until such time as you are able affect a stable and sufficient income. The legacy of Grigori shall not fade into obscurity, his sacrifice shall be remembered, and his wishes fulfilled to the fullest.

This is my word of honor.

Sincerely, Lord G.G.P. Guilford, Commander in Chief of the European Military Front

As he finished the letter he furrowed his eyebrows and silently swore that the Hacketts were not going to disappear from the worlds radar. Krachenko's memory would be honored, even if he had to ask the Emperor himself.

A.N. I hope to post on the Fourth Faction next. Until next time.