A.N. I feel I need to say this again. This is a work of fiction and does not necessarily reflect my views on politics, religion, or anything else. Thank you all for your support in this storyt. Though this being said I do not support socialism. I have no compunction about saying this. Apologies about this mini-rant but I felt it needed to be said. Again this is my fanfiction and I will write it how I see fit.
Chapter 26
China, March 3, 2021 a.t.b.
The war thus far had become land marks for record breaking amounts of firepower, fission weapons, energy weapons, standard kinetic slugs and high explosives, orbital rockets with heavy payloads; the list was extensive. And at the moment that firepower was on full display, a scar of smoke and flame lead inland to the very outskirts of Beijing. The air armada of the Black Knights had torn apart every aspect of the enemy defenses that apposed them. Land ground troops easily pushed aside or destroyed the feeble resistance that was encountered. The air ship's weapons systems turned bunkers to rubble, and strongpoints into craters. Blasts of Radiant Hadron energy burned armor melted slag and turned plants and exposed soldiers to pillars of flame. In truth, this part of the world had turned into the epitome of war's destructive potential.
This fact was not lost on Lelouch as he watched the flaring red energy of Radiant Shielding over Beijing as orbital bombs detonated over the city. The armada added their heaviest weapons to the barrage creating a burning red constellation around the city. However, the imperfect nature of the shielding was shown as the sheer mass of fire overwhelmed the censors of the city and shielding was unable to be raised everywhere. As a result, many shells and energy blasts and beams passed by the shield.
Explosions and fires could be seen amongst the outer defensive works of the city while smoke floated up from behind them as well. Of course, the enemy returned fire, however the armadas own shield and anti-air defenses kept major damage at bay. The enemy emplacements of such weapons were a prime target for the bombardment and by exposing themselves to fire on the fleet ultimately lead to their subsequent destruction.
As he watched Lelouch saw a great flash as a cruiser's Super VARIS fire, the weapon ran nearly half the length of the ships spine and the solid slug raced across the landscape, only the green glow of the shot gave credence to its existence. The slug then passed through the shield and turned a concrete wall into rubble, the bunker the wall hand been a part of vanished in dust and smoke. The air inside turned firry hot from the highspeed impact baked the few remain few soldiers in the front of the complex alive. As he watched Lelouch did not blink an eye, though his scowl depended at the sight.
Several unseen explosions went off in the city, but the results spoke for themselves as the red flares of the Radiant Shield vanished. The barrage of the armada, now unencumbered by the shield, unleashed its full fury upon the city's defenses. Bunkers and emplacements once protected by the larger shield no found themselves exposed. Their only fleeting hope was on the thickness of their walls and of the few smaller shield generators that some of the defenses possessed. But for the most part these defenses were for not, the walls caved in under fire or were rendered to rumble, the shield generators gave out as their power output could not sustain the intense attacks of the Black Knight air fleet.
Lelouch stirred in his throne and reached out and depressed a button on one of his control panels, "begin ground assault."
With the order given the fleets bombardment switched to a ground support, below vehicles and knightmares moved forward. APCs, tanks, and knightmares supported the advance of infantry. And like a mighty sledge hammer blow the assault smashed into the city. Knightmares blasted apart gun positions that managed to survive or were hastily made by the defenders. Infantry used explosives to breach bunkers and entered to clear out the defenders, many times only corpses were found. Gunfire echoed alongside explosions as the outer defenses crumbled against the assault.
South China, G-1 Mobile Command Base Victory
As the Emperor fought in the North to end the war, the previous days that preceded the landing of troops in the north had seen some of the most spectacular maneuvers in the history of war. The Grand Marshal of Britannia ShinichirÅ Tamaki had conducted amazing feets of military command. In a matter of a few days his armored spear heads had punched through the broken remains of the army that had held Hong Kong and made mad dashes in land and to the North. The cities of Fujian Tulou, and Xiamen on the coast had been cut off trapping their garrisons. As well the city of Guilin was surrounded, and air missions were striking the city of Kaili. All this was accomplished through the use of resupplying by airship and even the airlifting of units further ahead along with prefabricated bridges, buildings and other essentials.
In the end nearly quarter of a million soldiers, not counting support staff and personal along with equipment, were cut off from head north. Meanwhile the sea bound Naval assets of the Marshal attacked and successfully landed on the island of Taiwan. This action, justified by the Tamaki's reasoning, "attack the island and fully secure supply lines for the long term by destroying a pocket of possible resistance in the rear lines. As well as add to the over all morale strike against the enemy with the loss of such a long-standing part of China."
The strikes worked, the sheer audacity of so many thrusts and attacks completely shocked the UFN commanders. So many distress calls, and contradictory reports turned headquarters into mad houses as radios and communications lines cried out. "Enemy sited here and here, this unit and that brigade are retreating. Trying to set up a defense at this point or that. Enemy knightmares to the rear of our position, their like GHOSTS. Enemy air power has compromised the highways movement in the open is no longer possible!"
With the disruption larger columns of Black Knight troops moved behind the spear heads and occupied the recently vacated ground. Many times, supply depots were found totally abandoned in the enemy's haste. Even weapons and vehicles were found as the enemy tried to run and hide from the air power that flew above them.
In the distance every now and then a flash of light could be seen, some would think it was off colored lightning or some such natural phenomena. In actuality this was large strikes of orbital ordnance, FLEIJA and high yield sakuridite, all striking positions of the enemy, mainly his fission bomb sites. Tamaki smiled as he sat back in his chair watching and reading different reports and ledgers. He sipped at his drink, his own special mixture of different alcohols and juices with a saki base, he snickered when he remembered when some of his officers had tried the drink. Two nearly fainted completely red face, while others coughed and gagged at the strength of the drink. Many wondered how the Marshal could take it, at the same time not get drunk. "Trade secret."
As he sipped a message popped up on his screen, markers showed the decoded message was valid, his face hardened as he read. Taking a large gulp from his glass he drained it and stood up. His movement caught the eyes of many on the bridge he looked around and spoke, "Ready a broadcast to the entire army."
Computer commands were typed, and the bridge's radio was synced to the encrypted channels of the entire force. After receiving acknowledgement that he was live Tamaki straightened and spoke, "Black Knights, today is a great day as have the previous ones, together we have made advances and gained victories not thought possible. You have given effort far more than any could expect. But I now must ask for you to give more, for the end is near."
His face turned in a smirk, "I have received word that the Emperor himself has begun a lightning campaign into the heart of the UFN, Beijing. Even as I speak his forces assault the enemy's bastion, to cut out the heart of the enemy. I tell you this to encourage you, to show that soon this bloody conflict shall be ended, but I also tell you this because we still have our part to play. Until this war has ended, we must make life hell for the enemy, spur him to run, keep him on his toes and away from Beijing. Our task now is to add our knife thrusts into the enemy and prove that his hope of victory is lost. That is all, All Hail Britannia!"
The bridge then echoed with the repeating sounds of voices, "All Hail Britannia! All Hail Britannia!"
Tamaki turned and walked off the bridge and made his way through to his quarters. The G-1 while small still made room enough for a good size room for the Grand Marshal. As he entered, he sighed but smiled as he heard another voice, "nice speech."
He turned and saw Ayano sitting on his bed, she wore a shirt that obviously wasn't hers as it hung off her slight frame, and a pair of shorts. Tamaki smiled at her, "thanks, though I gotta confess I'm not as good as Lelouch. You should have heard some of his speeches back when he was Zero. Geeze some of us then thought we could take on Knights of the Round with forks and knives and come out on top after listening to him."
Ayano giggled, "well you seem to have picked a few pointers then. Your talk gave me goosebumps."
Tamaki smiled as he hung up his coat and undid his top buttons, a pair of arms wrapped around his neck and Ayano's chin came down onto his shoulder. Tamaki smiled and clasped his hand over hers, he leaned his head down and kissed her other hand. He sarcastically added, "I'm glad you've managed to find time to relax."
"Oh, I've been finding time all over the place, you must not be looking hard enough," retorted the grinning Japanese woman. In truth her actual job with Tamaki's force was quite vague, Leila hadn't objected to the transfer of her to Tamaki's staff nor had the Emperor. Tamaki had seen the papers that said Ayano was 'an officer to be placed under the command of the Grand Marshal for the purpose of having another capable field officer for extreme tactical operations.'
Of course, many in the upper echelon of the command structure knew of the relationship between the two. And with a conversation with the Emperor by Leila had convinced him to discretely transfer Ayano to Tamaki's command. The exact reasoning was kept between the monarch and the commander.
As the pair laughed Ayano asked, "so is it really close to ending?"
Tamaki nodded, "yeah, Lelouch is determined to end it with this fight. He won't let Sawasaki escape."
Ayano nodded, "so if the war is almost over, what are the plans for after the war? I mean you personal plans?"
Smirking Tamaki turned his head to face her, "oh I have some ideas."
Ayano smirked as well, "oh?"
"Yep," Tamaki smiled and turned his whole body to wrap his arms around her and rushed in and captured her lips in a kiss that was gladly reciprocated.
Beijing, March 4, 2021 a.t.b.
With many of the outer defenses smashed inward the Black Knights flooded through the breaches. They fought throw the streets and the true genius of the Emperor's attack became very clear, the enemy garrison was not at full strength. The defenses of the city were not completely manned and thus decreased their effectiveness. The expansion of the defenses had the unintentional side effect of needing more soldiers to man them and maintain them. As well the attacks of the other Black Knight commanders elsewhere had bleed Sawasaki's defenses dry as he relied on the high-tech and psychological effect of his fortress city.
As was now the case, such a tactic had failed, and his city was being assaulted and had already been breached. Admittedly however some of the defensive strongpoints held or were holding well, as some were better equipped for the more advanced combat that had developed. Advanced shielding powered by singular internal power generators and batteries allowed some strongpoints to hold longer before the were overwhelmed by the firepower of the air fleet.
Said air fleet moved over the city providing direct fire support for the ground troops, their guns turned the streets into killing grounds. Armor, and knightmares, were blown apart by pinpoint strikes of shot and shells from VARIS guns and burning blasts from hadron cannons. Shrapnel shells and smaller munitions mowed infantry like tall grass till the pavement was pocked marked and filled with blood. Scorch marks blackened buildings and alleys as Black Knights moved forward.
Lelouch watched his screens as the icons of his and the enemy troops traded blows and his ships hover overhead. He gave orders when needed but left his field commanders to take on much of the onsite details. Turning his head Lelouch looked at the site of the Government Palace. It stood rather squat amongst the buildings, courtyard could be seen from above, but the thing as a whole came off rather bleak and utilitarian. A faint glow of red showed that the it was Radiant Shielded, no use of advanced sensors to raise only parts of the shield to stop incoming fire like those on the old Ikaruga. Sawasaki had opted for a full shield forgoing any large gun emplacements directly inside the palace, save for a few high caliber autocannons for anti-knightmare defense and some machine guns for infantry. Outside however there were larger gun turrets and bunkers that protected the paths to the palace while missile batteries pointed upwards.
Lelouch's hands clenched as he knew the time was drawing closer, a few more blocks for the general advance before he ordered the assault on the palace. Beside him Jeremiah's tension was just as palpable, the knight was itching to get into the fight. Everyone in the expedition shared this view, everyone wanted this fight to be over. So many years of constant war had started to take its toll on people, many had fought enough to know how to hide it well, but it was still there.
Lelouch looked up, "captain turn the ship and prepare the RH cannons for firing on the palace." He then turned and thumbed some keys on his panel selecting ships from the fleet, "prepare to support the palace attack."
The hum of the Yamato's engines could be heard as the ship turned bow on with the palace. Outside protective plates retracted, and a pair of Hadron cannons moved forward into their firing positions. A gentle energy pulse with an accompanying buzz coursed through their power cables as they came into "stand by mode" Around them ships began to similarly move about training their main weapons, large coil guns, or super VARIS Hull Lances, on the palace; specifically, its large shield and the surrounding guns.
Below the ground forces succeeded in making a breakthrough as another cruise above blasted away part of a block where some low angle anti-tank cannon and heavy machine guns had been set up. As the strongpoint turn to dust and parts, both mechanical and organic, Black Knights and push up and past the point proceeding to flank several more units nearby. Very quickly the opening widened and Knightmares, vehicles, and infantry poured through plunging deeper into the city.
Beijing Palace
Sawasaki's knuckles were white from the sheer force of his grip on nothing, his finger nails were close to breaking the skin on his palms. The CIC was a blaze of activity as officers tried desperately to command the massive disaster unfolding outside. However Black Knight electronic warfare was actively searching and jamming as many of the signals they attempted to send, and the fact that their shield was also causing significant problems with communication did not help. The massive energy field suck up radio waves easily and gave no guarantee that the messages would get through. Land lines were clear of such problems but they to were easily cut as was made obvious quickly once pavement was blown into the air by the on ongoing battle.
It did not help either that a number of general officers were dead in the courtyards above. They were executed, and few suicides, for their failure in allowing the enemy so close and into the city. Sawasaki's temper flared as he could not figure out why and how the enemy had outsmarted him. His companion's anger added to his own, she who had commanded armies had been outsmarted by a child. And know they were both watching as their city and empire collapsed around them.
Electric maps showed red dots flashing across it, these showed that missile silos that held their fission bombs were hit. FLEIJAs and high yield orbital bombs blasted the trump cards of the UFN. Even though the anger of Sawasaki was astronomical his aides in the room couldn't help but continue to bring reports filled with bad news. There was no way to even use the old half truths that had worked before, there was far to much bad news to sugar coat it.
A series of large explosions outside shook the CIC and it took only a sneering glance of the Chairman to bring an explanation. An aide quickly blurted out, "the enemy is bombarding Defense Line Omega."
"Damage?" growled Sawasaki.
"Forty-five percent and rising," came the reply. Before Sawasaki could explode another report came, "enemy ground forces have broken through Fifth Home Guard and are advancing toward the Palace."
Surprisingly Sawasaki did not panic, his anger and Jeanne's were far too high to allow it, "order the 2nd Vermillion Guard Company to attack their flank stop the enemy advance."
A flurry of keys sent several copies of the orders from the room, radio, land line, and even a runner that never returned. Somehow by some quirk of history the 2nd Vermillion received the orders and turn what was left of itself, as it had suffered massive casualties since the start of the day, toward the enemy thrust. The 2nd along with the 3rd, 4th, and the 1st Vermillion Guard Companies had been pushed into the fight to fill in the gaps that were left empty by the lack of defenders. The result had been horrific, the 3rd was destroyed when the outer line of the city's defenses was breached by the air fleet's heavy guns. The 2nd and 4th were not much better being both whittled down less than half their former strength. What was left of the 1st manned the Palace along with the dregs of what could be scrapped together from the UFN army.
Yamato
Lelouch watched as the fortifications that surrounded the palace were fantastically obliterated in a hail of fire. VARIS, Radiant Hadron, and standard coil gun shells tore the line to shreds, amazingly none of the bunkers and emplacements had shields of any kind save for their reinforced concrete walls. It would be laughable if it wasn't so horrible, meanwhile the shield of the palace glistened as pieces of the line flew into it or a stray shot managed to make contact. Flashing indicators told that his chosen air borne units were now on standby, clenching his fists he steeled his mind.
Looking up, "ready the Radiant Hadron Cannons."
The cannons began glowing, and Lelouch, in the cold voice of a commander ordered, "Fire."
Twin beams of crimson death arched across the sky turning the streets below red with their glow. Soldiers on both sides hesitated and looked above as destruction incarnate flew through the air. And with a mighty bang the two beams connected with the Radiant Shield around the palace. The air nearby ignited oxygen vanished in a millisecond and anything still living below or in the vicinity was killed. If it had lungs the air was pulled from them will it turned to fire burning on the way out before the body itself burst into flame before turning to dust or a chard husk.
The shield flared becoming bright red against the darkened city, shadows deepened and lengthened as the shield strained against its attacker. Power in the palace flickered as the shield sucked up all the volts it could to hold back the crimson onslaught. Inside the palace the occupants below ground heard a deep rumble followed by a shake as power generators burst and the shield emitters exploded from the strain. In the span of seconds, the shield vanished, and the twin beams connected to the palace for the briefest of moments.
Flame and death spread through the palace as the Radiant Hardon beams ripped into a section of the palace. Many did not have time to scream let alone think about what was happening. But nearly as soon as it started the beams cut off their task completed, and the shield gone. But a breathing easy was not something there was time to do as more explosions followed, these brought on by the air fleet as it blasted holes in walls and places that looked defended.
Lelouch watched this before depressing another button on his control panel, this sent a signal to several ships around the city. Devices wired into the ships' power grids then pulsed with energy and a blue flash near the device sparked. An unseen wave pulsed through the city streets, most were not affected, but the Vermillion Guard felt the unseen attack. Their eyes flickered a faint red before their minds were shot with pain. Memories and things repressed came to the for and these men turned killing machines felt something they had not for so long. Pain. Emotional, physical, every pain that could come from their profession flowed from the broken dams that had been made in their minds. New screams entered the harmony of war, screams of men who realized what they had become.
Sawasaki in the Palace clutched his head in pain and screamed allowed, his guards did not notice that a scream of a woman echoed his as they too clutched their heads and fell to the ground screaming in agony. Sawasaki breathed heavily as his head thrummed as he and Jeanne tried to regain their thoughts. Meanwhile Lelouch's knuckles turned white and a near imperceptible twitch of his eye flicked as he stood and with Jeremiah in toe made his way to the hangar bay, the Gawain, and destiny.
A.N. Next time will be the final battle and confrontation between Lelouch and Sawasaki/Jeanne. On another note I need to make something clear I have done some thinking in regards to the calendar system between the Code Geass and Mass Effect Universes, I know that both are pretty much on the same date but I plan to offset this by quite some time. By this I mean that human history proceeds as it does normally however it all happens earlier when compared to like the Council races. Meaning that by the time that they first encounter each other humanity will have been around for a bit longer. Before I am bombarded by questions I will point out that humanity in this amalgamated universe has been around for longer, I made this point in Lelouch's dream sequence. I will be expounding more at a later date so I hope everyone will understand in time. Until then.