Inside the personal office of Area 11's Viceroy, the sound of the pen striking the top of the wooden desk melded perfectly with the sound of second hand ticking away on the large clock that set in the room.

To anyone who knew her well, the action was a sure sign that Cornelia was not happy, not happy at all.

Outwardly, she didn't show any major signs of being angry. Her face was set in a neutral expression as she watched the door that was in line with the front of her desk and she sat with her back almost flush against the back of her chair. The only sign that she wasn't happy was a slight narrowing of her eyes.

Her eyes flicked over to the clock set against the wall.

2:16

Her indigo eyes went back to looking at the doors in front of her, almost in an attempt for the object of her anger to appear.

Three measured knocks sounded on the wooden portal.

"Enter!" Cornelia called out, the Second Princess' voice easily filling the large space. Almost immediately following her command, the door opened slightly, and the constant form of Lord Guilford appeared before the door, his burgundy uniform sticking out against the deep umber of the door as the Knight bowed at his waist.

"Your Highness, Captain Forsyth has arrived as per-"

"Send him in, then leave us until you called for, Lord Guilford." Cornelia commanded brusquely, interrupting her Knight mid-sentence, making the man jerk back upright as he blanched at her tone before bowing again at the Princess' command.

Turning, Guilford opened the door before silently motioning for the young man in question to enter. Almost immediately, Ciaran appeared, sidling through the open door and past the Knight to stand in the room, before Guilford bowed and took his leave, closing the door behind him, leaving Cornelia and the young Briton alone in the room.

The Princess knew with certainty that Ciaran must feel the same as a mouse trapped in a box with a snake. And she had no intention of letting him feel more at ease, at least not immediately.

"Come here, Mr Forsyth." She said icily, forgoing the young man's rank and name to underpin how serious the situation was.

To his credit, the Briton covered the distance between the door and the desk quickly. He may have been dressed in civilian garb, but as he drew level with Cornelia, he removed his hat before standing to attention in front of her, tucking his hat under his armpit.

"Princess Cornelia." Ciaran said by way of a greeting.

The woman said nothing in reply for a few seconds, simply staring at the man in front of her. It gave Cornelia no small measure of delight to see Ciaran shuffle his feet a bit where he stood, his eyes darting from herself to the wall behind her.

"Tell me, Mr Forsyth," She said after a while, putting an assuredly false genial tone in her voice as she put her pen on to the desk. "I have treated you kindly, ever since you arrived here. Correct?"

Ciaran nodded his head quickly. "Of course, Your Highness."

Pushing back her chair, Cornelia stood up slowly as she continued speaking. "I have given you bed, board and food, along with making sure that no-one outside of my inner-circle finds out about the circumstances of how you arrived here. I would say that that sounds quite magnanimous, no?"

Again, the young man nodded his head quickly as he looked at the Princess. "Oh, most definitely, Your Highness."

"Good, good." Cornelia said as she put her hands behind her back and began walking around the desk to stand beside the man. The look that flashed over Ciaran's face told her that he was unsure of how to respond to her decision to move, either to turn and look at her or to keep facing directly ahead. He chose the latter.

It was the wrong choice.

"Look at me." She commanded simply, forcing the young man to turn his head to look at a decidedly angry Princess. "Along with me sheltering you in this place, I have also given you a rank in the Imperial Armed Forces, a rank which for a person such as yourself would be almost impossible to achieve."

"And I cannot thank you enough for that, Your Highness." Ciaran said, sounding quite scared now as he visibly swallowed after finishing his sentence.

"So you know how much I have invested in you, then?" Cornelia asked.

This time, the young man simply settled on nodding his head.

"Good." Cornelia said, putting more joy in to her voice as she spoke. "So, perhaps you can tell me something..."

Without any warning, the Princess' hands shot up and quickly gripped the sides of Ciaran's head, pulling his head forward until it was more than an inch away from her own face, her indigo eyes burning in to Briton's blue-green eyes.

"WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU!?" She roared, making Ciaran flinch at the volume of her voice at such a close range.

"I-I was in the Settlement, Your Highness!" the young man replied, his eyes snapping back open but not trying to fight the volume of his voice as he panicked. A grimace came to his face as Cornelia began exerting pressure on the sides of his head. "Ah, Cornelia? You're... you're starting to hurt me..."

The older woman didn't pay any attention to his protests as she continued venting at the young man in her grip.

"We are in a war, Ciaran! And while I may have agreed to a ceasefire with that gutless bastard of a worm, I do not doubt that Zero would try something again. And need I remind you that you were already held captive by him once?"

Ciaran let out a few gasps of pain as Cornelia continued squeezing his head, her force pushing him downwards to his knees. "I know! And I'm sorry! So, please, for the love of God, stop!"

Removing her hands to let them fall to her sides, Cornelia watched as the young man dropped to his knees, nearly doubling over before he fell on to his sides as he cradled his sore head. For her part, Cornelia just stared down at the young man as he dealt with the pain.

"Seriously, Ciaran, are you trying to give me a heart attack?" She asked in exasperation after a few seconds.

For several seconds, the young man just rubbed the sides of his head, trying to work some feeling back in to the skin before, rolling on to his back, he looked up at the Princess, a guilty look on his face.

"Sorry." He said simply but wholeheartedly.

A small smile came to Cornelia's face as she looked down at the man lying down on the floor looking up at her before she let out a sigh.

"What were you doing in the Settlement anyway?" She asked, her anger fully abating now as she put her hands on to her hips.

"I went to the hospital. I wanted to check up on the people we rescued at Kitakyushu." Ciaran said simply, prompting Cornelia to arc one of her eyebrows.

"The Elevens?" She asked, which the young man simply replied to with a nod of his head.

"Call it partway curiosity and partway genuine concern." He said, still lying down on the floor. "Plus, I think that Euphemia should be kept abreast of what has been going on with them."

The Second Princess regarded the Briton as she mulled over his reasoning. It was true in no small part it was essentially due to Ciaran that the Elevens were being treated so well, not to exclude Euphie's own naïve kindness on the issue.

"You really are something special, aren't you, Ciaran?"

"What do you mean?" Came the reply.

"You could have easily delegated that duty to a subordinate officer here," Cornelia replied, turning so that she had her back against the desk which she soon leant against. "Or you could have easily sent a request to the hospital for an update on the patients. So why did you decide to go yourself?"

Ciaran, still lying down on the floor, shifted his hands from his head to rest against his chest, almost like a corpse placed in repose. "I... don't think it would be fair to these people, who were put there because of my idea, if I didn't personally check on them."

Looking down at him in silence, Cornelia regarded the young man sceptically before she simply shook her head.

"You're an odd one. You really are."

The young man didn't bother replying, just shrugging his shoulders from his position on the floor, which brought an annoyed look from the Princess.

"Will you please stand up?"

"It's genuinely comfy." Ciaran said in reply before wriggling his back against the fabric, very similar to a cat getting comfy, as a smile came to his face. "Try it."

The Second Princess looked at the man like he was mad, but with a disbelieving shake of her head, she pushed herself off the desk before sinking down to the floor, shifting her coattails out of the way so she could rest properly on the floor.

Her eyes shot open as she felt the carpet, even through her clothes.

"Wow. This is soft." She said in amazement as she ran her hands over the carpet. Clovis had some questionable tastes in design, but he chose his fabric brilliantly.

"Told you so." Ciaran said with a soft smile, which Cornelia returned before it faded in to a look of quiet guilt.

"I'm sorry about squeezing your head like that." She said. "It's just... the whole mess with you being captured at Narita reminds me... reminds me too much of what happened seven years ago."

No matter how hard she wished it hadn't, that horrible day had happened. Her friend and hero, Marianne, lying in the middle of the stairs in her villa at Ares Estate, the woman's back ripped apart by bullets, staining her orange dress a deeper shade of red as her blood pooled on the stairs around her.

Cornelia was snapped out of her melancholy reverie as she felt her hand taken in a firm but comforting grip. Looking down, she found that Ciaran had taken one of her hands in his own, his eyes looking at her in sympathy.

"I'm sorry." He said simply, a look of guilt on his face.

Keeping his hand around hers, Cornelia ran her thumb across the back of Ciaran's hand, feeling the hairs on the back of his hand rub against the fabric of her glove as he continued speaking.

"I don't like the fact that I got captured, but I can't stand the fact that it was because of me that you were forced to remember that." Ciaran squeezed Cornelia's hand tighter to reinforce his point. "I can't stand the idea of making you unhappy."

Cornelia smiled sweetly at the young man, even as his guilty look morphed in to a small smile.

"I mean, if this is what happens when you get upset, it'd definitely be safer for me to keep you happy."

The Princess looked at her companion incredulously before she chuckled at his words, keeping her grip on Ciaran's hand.

Entirely unprompted, she moved her right hand, the hand that the young man was gripping, over to his face and rapped one of her knuckles gently against his nose, similar to what she used to do, and sometimes still did, with Euphemia.

"It's a good thing everyone here likes you, or I'd have you flogged for talking to me like that." Cornelia spoke in jest of course, but for a moment, Ciaran's eyes opened wide in fright before he shook his head and chuckled at her words, even as she made to lift herself off the carpet. "Come on, Ciaran. Stand up."

Letting go of the woman's hand, the young man picked himself up off the ground before dusting himself off. After he was finished, he looked up again to see Cornelia facing him squarely again. This time, instead of an angry look, her eyes showed nothing but kindness.

"I will not apologise for calling you an investment," She said as she straightened out her own coattails, "But I will say this: you've been proving to be a worthwhile investment."

The corners of Ciaran's mouth curled up in a smile before the Princess moved towards the door, intent on calling Guilford in to the room.

Sure enough, on the other side of the portal, stood the bespectacled Knight, standing to attention and beside him stood General Darlton, looking quite annoyed as he gripped the whiteboard next to him.

"I do not appreciate being the one asked to fetch and carry, your Highness." He said brusquely but not in tone that suggested any insolence.

"I understand, Andreas, but just humour me this one time. Please?" Cornelia asked, looking at the large general, before he sighed and nodded his head. "All right then, come on in."

Moving aside, Cornelia held the door open as her Knight and her general entered the room before closing the door behind her. Moving to one side, Darlton pushed the whiteboard against one edge of the carpet while Guilford moved to the Princess' desk before removing a small sized stack of papers, sixteen pages in all, held together by a paper-clip.

Ciaran's essay on counter-insurgency tactics and strategies.

It hadn't been the most voluminous text on military strategy, and admittedly, Ciaran had kind of shirked on a few more details than he should have on several aspects, but those seemed to be mainly matters of politics so that was forgiveable. But there were a few aspects that could easily have done with more elucidation.

"All right then." Cornelia said as she stood before the board, her three officers standing in a semi-circle in front of her, with Darlton in the middle, Guilford to her left and Ciaran to her right. "As you know, Ciaran here is from a different world to us, so that means that warfare in his world has been conducted quite differently to ours. However one problem remains a constant: counter-insurgency."

The two Britannians nodded their heads in understanding while the Briton just crossed his arms over his chest as the Princess spoke.

"As such, this means that there are certain things that we can draw on or even learn from his knowledge. Now, I know that all of us have read his essay, but we know that there are a few more things that could be done with being described in more detail."

At this point, Ciaran had an apologetic look on his face, which prompted the scarred general to put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"It's been a while since I had to write an essay." The young man simply said, drawing a sympathetic chuckle from the people present.

"It's quite all right." Cornelia said with a small smile before she held out her hand for the papers which Guilford promptly handed to her. "Now, all of us grasp the basic concept for the 'air assault' stratagem, especially Darlton himself who has been in several air assault operations himself, but I'm sure that the three of us were markedly surprised by this... 'Fireforce' stratagem."

Again, the two Britannians nodded their heads.

"So, Ciaran, could you please explain this to us in more detail?"

This time, the young man's eyes opened wide in shock, obviously not too keen on the prospect of having to explain the idea to the group. But again, Darlton gave the young man some reassurance.

"Think of it like you're teaching us about the subject. It's not to influence us, just to explain it." The tall man said in a soft tone.

"Indeed." Cornelia said, nodding in agreement as she turned towards the board before turning back, a black board-marker in her hand, which she held out for the young man to take. "So please. Educate us."

Looking at the pen, Ciaran took in a breath before he moved forwards and took the pen before replacing Cornelia in front of the board, while she took his place next to Darlton.

Tapping the lid of the marker, the young man looked at the board for a few seconds before he turned to face the Britannians.

"Okay. So as the Princess said, you are all familiar with the air assault stratagem, where in military forces are taken in to a combat area via helicopter and inserted along with their equipment to take and hold ground or to engage the enemy.

"While this does loosely describe the Fireforce stratagem, the term 'vertical envelopment' is closer to the truth. This is essentially wherein a helicopter-borne group... basically drops from the sky and attacks the enemy."

Ciaran shrugged at his own explanation, which prompted Cornelia to shake her head.

"And the Fireforce?"

"I'm getting to that, your Highness." Ciaran said, finally having found his rhythm in his little presentation. "Firstly, to understand what the Fireforce is, you need to know the situation in which it was created. Now, Rhodesia was a former British colony in Africa which, in the early Nineteen-Sixties, unilaterally declared it's independence from British rule. Having a white minority government, however, did not sit well with the British government which required for the black majority population to be given more representation, among other things. This created a volatile state which several far-Left political groups in the country took advantage of and sought to destabilize and overthrow the government through force.

"Due to the minority rule however, many Western governments imposed sanctions on Rhodesia which prohibited the country from purchasing military equipment, meaning that the Rhodesian armed forces were severely under-equipped and had to rely on what they already had, meaning they had to use several older pattern aircraft."

"So it was a defensive conflict then?" Darlton spoke up, putting a hand to his chin in thought.

"Essentially, sir, yes." Ciaran said, nodding his head. "However, the Rhodesians took the phrase 'the best defence is a good offence' to heart, and this is where the Fireforce comes in.

"Due to their position in Africa and the sanctions put against them, the Rhodesian Defence Force suffered from a severe lack of modern military vehicles, especially helicopters, which put them at a severe disadvantage. Even with a good corps of British officers who had already been in counter-insurgency operations in Malaya and Kenya, along with a more than capable body of infantry backed by foreign fighters who came to join them, they found themselves quickly loosing ground. So in the Seventies, the Rhodies-"

"Rhodies?" Guilford repeated questioningly.

"Slang term for Rhodesians, my lord." The young man replied quickly, before continuing with his speech. "Anyway, in the Seventies, the Rhodies decided that they being timid wasn't getting anywhere. Being defensive wasn't enough. If they wanted to last another year, they had to get aggressive. And that's where the Fireforce comes in."

Almost immediately, the three Britannians instantly stiffened, their attention fully on the young man.

"Now I explained this to Lord Guilford yesterday, so he might be more knowledgeable on the issue, but I'll go in to more detail on how the Rhodies carried out the Fireforce. Basically, they suffered from a similar, if not the same problem as we're facing now; a highly mobile insurgent force with no single base of operations."

"Hold on." Guilford said, interrupting the young man. "Weren't you held in the Black Knights' base?"

Cornelia watched as Ciaran nodded his head. "I was, but I do think that it's safe to assume that that base was only one of many bases used by the Black Knights."

Out of the corner of her eye, the Princess saw Darlton nod his head and she couldn't deny the logic behind it. If the Black Knights had one single base of operations, they'd have probably found it by now. But the fact they were still searching, it meant one of two things: they had either hidden it very well, or they had many satellite camps from which to use.

"As I was saying, the Rhodesians faced a highly mobile insurgent force that operated across a wide area, which, along with their small number of soldiers, severely limited their capability to respond in force. So, using a mix of human intelligence and airborne troops, they decided to take the fight to the insurgents.

"Now, I've given this info to Lord Guilford before but now I can expand on it more. Usually, a number of troops, possibly a platoon or two, would be stationed at an airfield with one helicopter designated as the command chopper and three designated as gunships, which were in turn backed up by a carrier aircraft, a light attack aircraft and a small number of trucks.

"In the field, a number of sticks of infantry, which, as I explained to Lord Guilford, was a four man group of soldiers: three with rifles and one with a general purpose machine gun, would be sent in to the field with a radio and, basically, go looking for the insurgents. When they found any, either through visual contact or direct combat, they'd put in the call to the base for the Fireforce."

"Okay, this we understood, Ciaran." Cornelia said, holding up her hand to quieten the young man. "Can you explain the actual combat side of the operation, please?"

Ciaran opened his mouth for a few moments, his eyes moving as he visibly contemplated what to say before he nodded his head, closing his mouth.

"Right. Give me a moment, please." With that, the young man turned around to face the board. None of the Britannians could see it, but they heard the sound of the pen-lid being popped off before Ciaran began drawing on the board. Looking past his head, Cornelia saw him sketching out a very loose example of a small village or outpost, set up in a circle with a space in the middle, taken up by what looked like a Triple-A battery.

His drawing complete, the young man turned away from the board to look at the Britannians behind him. "Okay, so in this scenario, I've done it so that the Rhodesians have come across an insurgent outpost. I chose this since it's very likely what we'd come across here in Area 11."

"Good choice." Darlton said with a small smile, which Cornelia shared as Ciaran continued talking again.

"Now, when the alarm was sounded for the Fireforce to go in to the air, the command helicopter, known as the K-car, would be the first to arrive on the scene. This would be the key element of the attack since the K-car carried the commander. Usually armed with a twenty-millimetre cannon, the K-car would fly several hundred feet above the designated area in an anti-clockwise spiral, keeping the cannon trained on the target area."

To reinforce this point, Ciaran drew a small helicopter, with a rounded bubble front and a long tail, complete with rotor, above the drawing of the village, along with a circle and arrow to reinforce the fact that, yes, it was flying in an anti-clockwise direction.

"The K-car was the key element of the Fireforce since it would be up to the commander in the aircraft to designate where the G-cars would drop off their infantry, so as to catch any enemies trying to escape and also, very often, it was the K-car that would fire off the first rounds of the assault, usually on high priority targets like any triple-A batters," He crossed out the centre of the map to illustrate his point further. "Thus sending the enemy in to a panic and causing them to 'bombshell'. That is to say, just cut and run."

"So the infantry would be deployed in such a way as to stop the enemy from leaving." Guilford stated simply, nodding his head. "And the... G-cars?"

"The G-cars operated as basic gunships, my lord." Ciaran replied. "Armed with twin thirty-millimetre machine guns, the G-cars would drop off their sticks of infantry in their designated positions before providing mobile fire support, then these sticks would either sit tight and let the enemy come to them in the areas the commander thinks the enemy will try and escape through, or they would advance in to the kill-zones in sweeps, basically walking forward in a line to engage the enemy."

To reinforce this point, the Briton turned to face the board again and began drawing several helicopters, each one in the same shape of the one he drew before but just a bit larger, then some stick figures on the ground, some in areas outside the village-slash-outpost, while others were drawn to be shown attacking the target area directly in the village.

Replacing the cap on the pen, Ciaran turned back to the face the Britannians before moving to the side to let them see a clear view of the diagram.

"Obviously, this is a highly condensed version of the Fireforce, but it would also be the most common example of the Fireforce in operation. Attacks on larger targets would make use of the light-attack aircraft and also para-infantry carried in large transport aircraft."

"I was wondering why you didn't include those in your example." Guilford said, a smile playing at his lips, to which Ciaran simply shrugged.

"It all sounds impressive, relying on a combination of speed, surprise and overwhelming fire-power," Darlton spoke up, looking intently at the board. "But I have to ask: how effective was the Fireforce operation?"

Cornelia smiled at the general's question: trust Darlton to ask the million-pound question.

"Well, in my readings, I couldn't find many sources to show how effective these operations were." Ciaran admitted, tapping the lid of the pen with his palm in thought. "But from what I could surmise, they were incredibly effective."

"How effective?" Cornelia asked, crossing her arms across her chest.

At this, the young man let a smile pass over his lips. "In one operation, Operation Dingo, the Rhodesian Defence Force attacked an insurgent stronghold in a neighbouring country with just a little under two hundred men and over two dozen aircraft. They went up against well over six thousand enemies, maybe more."

The room fell silent as the Britannians digested those numbers. After a few seconds, a snort of derision came from Guilford, obviously disbelieving the whole idea.

"That surely can't be right." Cornelia's Knight said, a disbelieving smile on his face, which quickly fell away as Ciaran shook his head that, no, it was right.

"What were the casualties?" Darlton asked.

The young man took in a small breath through his nose before speaking. "Insurgent casualties were estimated to be... roughly two to four thousand dead, many more wounded. The Rhodesians only suffered eight; six wounded, two dead."

The room fell in to silence again as they processed the information.

"I might have gotten the numbers wrong for the insurgent casualties." Ciaran hurriedly interjected. "I think that they might have been higher, but I do know that the Rhodesians only suffered eight casualties."

That didn't help the disbelief in the room. Cornelia's eyes opened wide, Guilford looked at the young man in shock while Darlton just shook his head as he chuckled, which quickly became a full blown laugh.

"Fucking hell!" The scarred general roared as he laughed out loud, the sound filling the room. "We've never come close to accomplishing that sort of kill-ratio, even with Knightmares."

Ciaran could only shrug sheepishly in reply, obviously quite flustered by the attention before Cornelia spoke up.

"Well now. Looks like this might be something to invest in then." The Princess said mirthfully as she looked at the young man. "But this would mean having to reorganise our forces a bit though."

"Shouldn't be too hard, your Highness." Darlton spoke up, finally coming down from his laughing fit, using his fingers to clear his eyes of tears. "The majority of our regular infantry are trained to assault from gunships and aerial troop carriers anyway, so it shouldn't be too hard for them to learn how to carry out his kind of operation."

Cornelia nodded her head. "That may be so, but our aircraft are not capable of carrying out this sort of operation."

To her side, she saw Guilford and Darlton nod at her words. The current gunships used by Britannia were single crewed aircraft, jet powered with a ventral cannon and rocket pods. While this would be good for attacking any enemy, it would be almost useless for carrying out a Fireforce operation, except maybe as a force multiplier. And the only aircraft capable of transporting large numbers of troops were large VTOL capable planes, more in line with the old planes used to ferry paratroopers than the gunships described by Ciaran. They were slow and easy to target, two things which would mean the failure of this sort of operation.

"So how do we remedy that then?" Ciaran asked, looking at the Princess hopefully, to which Cornelia simply shrugged.

"I don't know, Ciaran." She said simply, trying to think of something, anything, that could help them implement this sort of operation.

"And obviously building a fleet of new helicopters would both be ineffective in cost and just too time consuming." Darlton added, seemingly resigned to the idea he'd never get to see a Fireforce in action.

The sound of a pair of fingers clicking together filled the air as, looking to the side, all in the room saw Guilford hold his hands level with his chin, showing that he had been thinking something over.

"Brainwave, my Lord?" Ciaran asked, arcing an eyebrow at the Knight.

"I think so, Ciaran." The bespectacled Knight said with a sly smile. "Maybe instead of having to create new aircraft, what if we took a page from Ciaran's 'Rhodies'?"

Cornelia looked at the man in confusion, while the young man couldn't help but chuckle at the older man's use of the nickname.

Without saying a word, Guilford moved towards Cornelia's desk and, opening one of the drawers, drew out a small PDA, which made Cornelia arc an eyebrow in confusion.

"What are you doing, Guilford?"

"Looking to give Ciaran a history lesson of my own, your Highness." The Knight said as he walked over to the group, tapping away at the screen in his hands. "Now, there was a time when we did not possess the Knightmare frame and also without the VTOL capable aircraft we now posses, in any shape or form. This meant that we had to rely heavily on armoured personnel carriers, which, I'm sure you know, can be quite limited in where they can move to."

The young man nodded his head. "Obviously."

"Well, one of the companies that produced vehicles for the military, Sikorsky, was tasked with creating a vehicle that was capable of transporting suitable numbers of armed infantry in to hostile combat zones and to also provide mobile fire support. And Sikorsky Euro-Britannia delivered."

Casting her mind back, Cornelia could vaguely recall seeing mention of an aircraft designed by Sikorsky Euro-Britannia being used in several battles against the European Union on the Western front in various archive footage when she was at Colchester Academy, but she'd never paid them much interest.

"What are you getting at, Guilford?" Cornelia asked to which her Knight simply responded with a small smile as he walked over to stand near Ciaran.

"This, your Highness." Was all he said before he pressed a button on the pad in his hands, which brought up an image that filled the screen. Coming closer, Cornelia peered intently at the image on the screen. "The Sikorsky M-24 'Valkyr'."

It was a helicopter, although the shape had more akin to a bird of prey in flight, with a thick, long belly tapering in to a thin tail. It was carried by twin large, five bladed rotor on top and what looked like two spades jutting out from the sides with a fin going out from the bottom of the end of the tail. At the front sat a dual bubble canopy and at the sides, two small wings jutted out at a downwards angle. The helicopter was brimming with weapons; rocket pods, under-slung missiles and a single heavy calibre autocannon underneath the cockpit.

Ciaran's eyes opened wide in recognition. "That's a Hind!"

When the trio of Britannians gave him a confused look in reply, the young man moved towards the Princess, asking for her for the sheet of papers. When she had handed them over, he began flicking through the papers before he took out one of the illustrations he had provided. Looking at the picture, Cornelia saw that it was essentially the same vehicle, except it was a bit more squat and had a single main rotor and a small rotor sitting on top of a fin on the rear of the tail.

"The Mi-24 'Hind' D. It's a Russian built gunship and attack helicopter, built sometime in the Nineteen-Sixties and Seventies." Ciaran said as he walked over with the paper in his hand to stand near Guilford and held up the piece of paper near the PDA. "The one you guys built is essentially the same thing. Although, I'll be honest, your one is a hell of a lot more advanced than ours was."

A surprised look came to Darlton's face at the revelation, while Guilford couldn't help but smile.

"Do we have any in service, though?" Cornelia asked, trying to bring the conversation back on topic.

"From what I remember, no, not in front-line service." Guilford said with shake of his head. "But from what I remember, we do have a small number that were mothballed and put in to storage."

The Princess nodded her head in understanding. It was a common fate for military equipment: once it had been replaced, it would either be shunted back to rear-echelon units or just put in to storage.

"They'd have to either be in the bone-yard in California, or in the Britannian Air Force's main base in Sacramento county." Darlton said, scratching his chin in thought.

"What was their transport capacity?" Cornelia asked.

"Sixteen men, plus equipment." Guilford said as he quickly brought up the specs for the aircraft, to which Cornelia nodded in understanding before turning to look at the young Briton.

"Would that be enough for a Fireforce, Ciaran?" She asked, to which the young man nodded.

"It'd be more than enough, your Highness." Ciaran said after doing a quick calculation in his head before a contemplative look came to his face. "Although... it would mean that operating with one squad of infantry would make it... impractical."

Cornelia nodded her head, but she still gave the young man a sympathetic look while Darlton spoke up.

"As you said, Ciaran," Darlton spoke up. "This sort of operation requires at least two platoons, and you've already be in an operation where you've commanded a platoon yourself, so it shouldn't be too hard for you."

The Princess couldn't help but let a smile play at her lips as she saw Ciaran blush slightly at the general's praise but she could still detect the sense of unease coming from the young man.

"Still unsure about leading your own unit, Ciaran?" She asked, crossing her hands over the other before letting them drop to rest over her waist.

Bringing his hand up to his mouth, the young man made a show of using his thumb and forefinger to smooth out the hairs on his moustache, but it was obvious that he was mulling over the Princess' question. She didn't doubt that Ciaran would want to think on the question, what with how strongly he had reacted to the news of the Purists deaths at Narita.

After a few seconds, Ciaran removed his hand from his mouth and, with a determined look, looked at Cornelia and said, "I'll do it."

To say that the Second Princess was shocked by his declaration was bit of a understatement. "That was fast."

A shrug came as the reply. "I put forward this idea, so it stands to reason that I be the one who leads the unit who carries it out. Then if we foul up, I'll be the one to take the blame."

"That's a very 'class half empty' way to look at it, Ciaran." Guilford said, looking sceptically at the young man, while Darlton looked a little worried.

Again, Ciaran just shrugged. "It's who I am, my Lord."

This time it was Cornelia's turn to shrug. "Fair enough. But it does mean that you will need a good second in command." Turning her head, she looked at General Darlton. "Do you have any recommendations, Darlton?"

"Actually, Princess," The young man spoke up, pre-empting the general's words. "I already have an idea for a couple of people who I could have as my second."

"Impressive." Cornelia said. "All right then. I guess that you practically have everything under control then."

Turning around, the purple-haired princess turned back to move towards her desk.

"As you know, we won't force you to do something you don't want to do," Cornelia turned back to face the young man as she reached her chair. "But, I do expect you to stick to this unit, no matter what happens. Understand?"

To her surprise, Cornelia watched as Ciaran rolled his eyes before he sarcastically replied. "Yes, mum."

Eyes open wide, the Princess just stared at the young man, taking in what he had just said. His face didn't betray any emotion for a few seconds, until a small smile cracked on his face.

"Cheeky bugger," Cornelia said quietly to her herself as a smile came to her face, shaking her head in exasperation. So this was his payback. No matter. "Very well then, Ciaran. Might I suggest you get changed in to your uniform, Guilford will show you to your new office and, if you haven't already done so, to call these people you have in mind."

"Very well, your Highness." Ciaran said, bowing his head. "By your leave?"

Cornelia nodded her head to indicate that the pair could leave the room. She watched the two walk towards the door, the young man holding the door open for her Knight to exit her office, before the Princess called out. "Wait a moment, Ciaran!"

The young man turned around, confusion on his face.

"I think you forgot something." Cornelia said, pointing her finger at the floor in front of her desk where, she knew with certainty, lay Ciaran's hat.

The young man looked at the hat, then the seated Princess, then back to the hat on the floor. Again, he rolled his eyes before walking the distance between the door and the desk, keeping his eyes fixed on Cornelia. When he reached the desk, giving Cornelia a hard stare, he bent over and picked up the hat.

As she watched him pull himself back to his full height, Cornelia waited until he was level with her face until she flashed him a cocky smile. "Always pick up after yourself, Ciaran."

The young man's eyes opened wide at the Princess' words, even more so as Cornelia's smile became wider, enough to show the top row of teeth. Without saying a word, the young man put his hat back on to his head before turning and beating a quick retreat to the door and a very confused looking Guilford.

After the pair had left the room, shortly followed by the general, all bowing as they left the room, the purple-haired princess leant back in her chair, the smile never leaving her face as she shook her head.

"This is getting more and more interesting." Cornelia said to herself, before she put her head down and went back to work, the sound of the ticking clock filling the air once again.

Sitting at his own personal desk in his own personal office, Ciaran tried his best to look like he actually belonged in one. Dressed in his Royal Guard uniform, he would have cut quite an impressive figure. If it wasn't for the fact he was leaning against the desk top, his chin resting on top of his crossed arms as he tried balancing a pen between his top lip and his nose.

It was partially his own fault he was bored.

His assignment to create his own military unit was admittedly off to a rocky start. After having changed out of his civilian clothes and after being escorted to his office by Guilford, he had sent messages to both Lady Villetta and Lord Jeremiah asking for them to come see him about the project. It only felt right that the last two remaining Purists, the only two survivors from his time as a commander should be brought in. Even if they just heard his plan, that was all right with him.

But neither of them had gotten back to him about when they would arrive. Or even if they would come at all.

Letting the pen fall from his lip to clatter on to the desk top, Ciaran leant back in his chair as he pushed himself away from the furniture to spin around and look out of the large window behind him. The view from his part of the Viceroy's Palace was quite beautiful, giving him a lovely view of Mount Fuji, even if half of the mountain had been replaced by the dark grey slaps of industry.

Which he only saw for the briefest of seconds as he overestimated the strength used to spin the chair as he found himself spinning back around to face the front of the desk, stopping himself from spinning again by catching on to the desk.

The young man quickly looked around the room, making sure that no-one had come in and seen him do such a childish thing, fun though it was.

"Eh, why not?" Ciaran said to himself when he was sure the coast was clear. Pushing his chair back further from the desk, he steadied himself before using his feet to propel himself in a spin.

If he had better things to do, like filling out paper work, Ciaran would definitely do them. But regretfully, he didn't have anything else to do. So here he was, spinning in his chair like a bored teenager.

He was on his sixth revolution when the door to the office opened, prompting him to stop by putting his feet down on to the floor. Unfortunately, he had underestimated the spin, which resulted in him whacking the side of his left knee against the inside of the desk.

"Oh, son of a bitch!" Ciaran hissed out as he nearly doubled over from the pain, his head coming down to rest against the surface top while his hands shot down to grab his pained knee.

A polite cough from above him made him lift his head up to check who had entered.

Sure enough, there stood Margrave Jeremiah, dressed in a lilac double breasted jacket and trousers of the same colour underneath a black cloak with gold trim worn over his left shoulder, and Lady Villetta, dressed in a dark purple, sleeveless tailcoat worn over a black dress, coupled with a pair of long purple gloves that reached up to her biceps and a pair of a long, thigh high black stockings. The outfit was completed by a large black, fur-trimmed cloak worn over her right shoulder. The only unifying element of their outfits was a small red wing device worn on the lapel of their jackets.

The looks on their faces were as different as their outfits. Jeremiah had a look on his face that basically said 'what is this man doing?' while Villetta's face showed that she was unsure whether she should laugh or just shake her head at the Briton's antics.

"Are we interrupting your fun, Captain?" Jeremiah said, looking at Ciaran as he pushed himself to stand up.

"Boredom is a hell of a thing, my lord." The young man said as he stood up, thankful that the hit to his knee was not nearly as painful as the original impact made it out to be. "Thank you both for coming. Please, take a seat."

Ciaran motioned to the two chairs that sat in front of his desk, which the two nobles promptly sat down on, shifting their large cloaks so they could sit on them.

"We're sorry we didn't reply to your message, Captain." Villetta said as the young man took his place on his own chair. "We were in the hospital visiting Jonathan. Lord Bruckveld."

Ciaran nodded at Villetta using the man's last name, although no matter how hard he wracked his brain, he couldn't put a face to the name. "How is he doing"

"He'll live." Jeremiah said flatly, cutting in. "But they had to amputate his right arm below the elbow. So he's going home."

The young man nodded his head solemnly. "Better than loosing his life, I say. At least he'll be with his family."

The two nobles nodded their heads, before Jeremiah crossed his legs before fixing Ciaran with a stare. "But I doubt that you merely called us here to talk about our injured comrade. Why are we here, Ciaran?"

The Briton let out a small sigh as he closed his eyes. He had prepared himself beforehand for this meeting and he was not going let a little case of stage fright get the better of him.

"As you both know, being given command of your Purist faction at Nagano then at Narita was my first time as a commander. I'm not sure what we can call the result of the former, but I think we can all agree that the latter was nowhere near a success, to put it nicely-"

"Nicely?" Jeremiah roared, slamming his foot down on to the floor as he leaned closer, his face a visage of rage. "Three people survived out of eight, one of whom has now lost a limb and being sent home. It was a bloody disaster!"

Putting his hands together, almost as if he was praying, Ciaran put his elbows on the top of his desk before resting his head against his hands as Jeremiah leant back in his chair, his rage quickly subsiding.

"Yes, I am aware of the numbers, my lord. And as the commander of the unit during that battle, the blame falls on me and me alone." He moved his hands to rest against the top of the desk, looking at both of them. "But, the Viceroy, in her infinite wisdom, has decided to give me a second chance, and by extension, give both of you a second chance. And that's why you're here."

Jeremiah and Villetta looked at each other in confusion before leaning forward in their seats.

"What do you mean?" The silver-haired noblewoman asked.

A broad smile crept across Ciaran's lips.

"Reinforcement from Britannia are coming to shore up our numbers, but that means we're still short staffed. And since we're not fighting a conventional war, the Viceroy has agreed to let me try... something unconventional to help."

This certainly had the two Britannians hooked now, as he could see that he had their full attention.

"Britannia is fighting a war of counter insurgency, but we're going about it as a conventional war. We're using sledgehammers when we should be using scalpels, for lack of a better phrasing. The unit I'm hoping to start up will be that scalpel."

"So that's why we're here." Villetta said, looking at the young man in front of her, to which he nodded.

"I don't have enough experience to run this sort of unit by myself, I will freely admit that. So I need help. Your help specifically."

The teal-haired nobleman leaned back in his chair as he steepled his fingers, a sly smile on his face.

"I figured as much." Jeremiah said, to which Ciaran shrugged.

"I'm young and only had the barest experience, but I'm not stupid." He said with a thin smile. "I know what I can do with this new unit, but I need veteran officers to help me. That's why I asked for you two to help me."

Ciaran didn't want to sound like he was begging for their help, but from the look on Jeremiah's face, he was sure that the nobleman was already thinking that.

He opened his mouth to speak but Jeremiah interrupted him.

"As much as it would delight me to see what you have in mind for this new 'unconventional unit', Ciaran, I'm afraid I must decline."

That was one of the things Ciaran expected to hear, but looking at Villetta's shocked face, he saw that it was not something she expected to hear.

Seeing his comrades confusion, Jeremiah's expression softened. "After Narita, I was contacted by members of Prince Schneizel's special research team. They asked me if I wanted to take part in a new research opportunity. Can't say what I'm afraid. Hush hush and all that." The nobleman tapped his nose conspiratorially, before lacing his fingers then resting them on his knee. "So I'm out."

'One down.' Ciaran thought to himself before turning to look at Villetta. "So I guess... that just leaves you, Lady Villetta. Interested?"

Confusion was on the noblewoman's face as she flitted her eyes between Ciaran and Jeremiah, before she let out a deep sigh and turned to face the young man fully.

"Before I give my answer, can you tell me what the unit's role will be?"

"Fair enough." Ciaran said, nodding his head at the question. "We'll be a small scale unit, probably no larger than a platoon, no smaller than a battalion. We won't be using Knightmares in our operations too, at least not straight away, but we will be making use of ground assaults on foot or from aerial transports. The unit will hit fast and hit hard, with maximum efficiency."

"Doesn't really sound like a scalpel to me." Jeremiah said with a small chuckle.

"I'm not finished yet, my lord." The young man responded with a cheeky smile. "We'll identify enemy strong-points using local intel sources or from on-site reconnaissance teams, while also operating in smaller fire teams than the standard, both when on foot and in Knightmares."

Leaning back in his chair, Ciaran looked at Villetta with a slightly guilty look.

"At least, that's what I'm hoping for. The Viceroy has still yet to tell me her decision on my proposal, and that's one of the reason why I've asked you here. She says that I need at least one other officer on my side "

Villetta nodded her head as she took in the information, obviously mulling over her answer before she responded.

"Ah, why not?" She finally said, swatting her palms against the armrests of her chair. "I'm sure as hell not being sent home. I'm in."

Ciaran let a smile come to his face as he heard the conviction in Villetta's voice. "Brilliant. But before I fully conclude his meeting, I need to ask a character reference. Lord Jeremiah?"

The rest of this meeting was Ciaran purely just having fun with the situation, and the nobleman seemed to know it as he gave the young man a wide smile before shaking his head.

"Lady Villetta is model soldier, a very capable officer and a loyal friend." The nobleman shot his companion a soft look, which made her smile. "I know for a fact that she'll be a brilliant addition to your unit."

Ciaran stood up, prompting the two nobles to stand up as well. "That's all I needed to hear. Thank you, to the both of you, for coming." Moving to walk around the desk, Ciaran moved to stand near the two nobles. "Lady Villetta, I will need you to stay behind so I can give you the full details on my plan before we go meet with the Viceroy."

Villetta nodded her head at the request, a gesture which Jeremiah copied, before she turned to look at the tall nobleman. On her face, a look of remorse on her face as she spoke to the turquoise-haired man.

"Well... I guess this is it then." She said sorrowfully. "It's been a pleasure working with you, Lord Jeremiah."

The silver-haired woman's attention was drawn as Jeremiah lifted his right hand up, holding it out in front of him. Looking at the older man's face, Ciaran saw a small but earnest smile come to his lips.

"It's been more than a pleasure, Lady Villetta Nu." The nobleman responded, as Villetta took the offered hand. Then, to both Ciaran's and Villetta's surprise, Jeremiah turned her hand over before bending down to press his lips to her knuckles,earning a blush from the russet-skinned noblewoman. Jeremiah simple smiled as he stood back up. "I wish you the best of luck."

Releasing the noblewoman's hand, the noble turned to look at the young man, moving his arm down to his side. "Ciaran, I wish you good luck too. You may be British, but you are a member of the Royal Guard, so the Viceroy must see something in you. I just pray that her trust in you isn't misplaced."

Of all the things he had expected to hear, that certainly wasn't one of them.

"Umm... thank you, my Lord."

As a reply, Jeremiah bowed before, turning on his heel with all the skill of a Grenadier Guard, he walked out of the room, opening the door and shutting it quietly behind him. This left Ciaran and Villetta alone in the room in silence.

"I still have no idea what to make of that man." Ciaran admitted after a few moments as he leant backwards to lean against the front edge of his desk.

Turning her head to look at him, Villetta gave him a wry smile. "Ciaran, I have known that man for nearly seven years, and he still surprises me. It was only this year I found out he had a sister."

Ciaran's head snapped round to look at his companion before nodding his head in understanding. "Fair enough."

Pushing himself forward on to his feet, Ciaran slapped his hands against his legs. "Right then. Let's get you caught up to speed with what I'm planning on doing."

Villetta nodded as she moved to sit back down on her seat, crossing her legs again. "Understood."

Standing behind his desk, Ciaran opened up a drawer and pulled out a few pieces of paper which he placed on to the desk between the two of them.

After having shown Darlton and Guilford the essay, the general had advised him to write up a different copy of the essay, not as though he was talking about a historical fact, but as a hypothetical idea. Which was a lot harder than it was. After showing the fictionalized copy to the general and Cornelia's Knight, which prompted a few pointers from Darlton, they both agreed that it was more than passable as far as military proposals went.

This was the first time Villetta would have seen the papers, but it didn't surprise Ciaran that she took in the information with an appraising eye as she leaned in to look at papers more closely.

"Small unit tactics?" The silver-haired noblewoman finally asked, looking up at the young Briton from the papers.

"Bingo." Ciaran said simply as he sat down in his own desk. "You see, a certain sized unit can only act in a particular fashion, as long as the situation is suited for a unit that size, in this case the eight man section. But-"

"The purpose of this action," Villetta interrupted him as she picked up a paper showing a simple (and admittedly crude) example of a Fireforce in action. "Is to dictate the flow of the battlefield, in our favour."

"Got it one." Ciaran said in amazement, leaning back in his chair. This woman was good. "Zero's been getting the drop on us in Area 11 because he always manages to alter and control the flow of an engagement."

Leaning forward, he took the paper from her hand and held it vertically for her to see his face and the diagram.

"This unit's new role, our new role, is to change the flow of combat in this country to our favour." Ciaran continued, looking at Villetta with a steely gaze. "We're going to be hitting this bastard before he realizes what hits him."

Setting the paper down, the young man put his hands together, interlacing his fingers.

"Well, that's the hope at least. Since you'll be my Number Two, I'll need you to go through all of these and learn what's needed for the role."

Villetta nodded as she looked up from the papers. "How long will I get?"

Ciaran shrugged. "Not sure. Either General Darlton or the Viceroy herself will come and inform us personally, I know that much at least."

Again, the noblewoman nodded her head as she continued reading through the papers in her hands. While she was doing that, Ciaran moved to stand in front of the large window looking out on to Mount Fuji, contemplating what new direction his life would take him.

"You missed the 'E' in 'doctrine'." Villetta said behind him.

He did not feel that it was off to the best of starts.

To Dame Villetta Nu, this day was certainly going in a direction that she did not anticipate it going, especially not after the débâcle that was Narita.

By nature, Britannians did not look kindly on someone cocking up in any large capacity. There were always suspicions of the Emperor having the ministers, generals, hell, even his own children, who displeased him greatly to secretly wind up in a meeting with the executioners blade.

But to Villetta, meeting with the executioners blade would have been a kindness. For her, the worst fate that failure could bring to her wasn't death. It was to die in disgrace. To die not as a Knight of Britannia, but as a simple nobody, another person among the millions of souls who inhabited the Empire.

She could have expected that. To be stripped of her Knightmare, her military rank and virtually all the privileges given to her rank, and then either sent home to live out the rest of her days with her family in the Homeland or, if she was unlucky, to be left here in Area 11.

So, to be put it bluntly, it had certainly confused her to hear the message from Captain Forsyth... Ciaran, on her phone saying that he wanted to see herself and Lord Jeremiah in the Viceroy's Palace about a new military unit he was creating and that he wanted both of them to be a part of it.

It might have been a bit disheartening to her to see Jeremiah refuse the position, and even more surprising to find that he had been head-hunted by Prince Schneizel for a something secret, but in the end, her desire to strive for something greater kept her going.

And so, Villetta Nu, the eldest daughter of a winemaker with heritage leading back to the old Portuguese nobility, found herself standing in the Viceroy's office at attention, her eyes fixed on a point above the back of Viceroy's Cornelia chair. She couldn't see if explicitly, but she could feel the Second Princess' eyes boring in to her. To her side, Ciaran, still dressed in his Royal Guard uniform, stood at attention beside her, while General Darlton and Lord Guilford flanked the Princess.

"Well, Dame Nu," The Princess said after simply staring at the tawny-skinned noblewoman for a few uncomfortable seconds. "It certainly is a surprise to see that you're the person that Captain Forsyth suggested to be his second."

The Princess shifted her head to the side to shoot a pointed glance at the young man beside Villetta who, to his credit, simply continued staring ahead at the wall.

"You may stand easy." Cornelia commanded, not taking her eyes off the two officers in front of her. Without a word, both Villetta and Ciaran shifted their legs to move parallel to their shoulders and put their hands behind their backs at the base of their spines.

"Very well. Let's get this other with." The Second Princess said, lacing her fingers together as she rested her arms against the top of her desk. "Dame Nu, has Captain Forsyth briefed you on what this new unit will be about and what role it will play in our fight against Zero?"

Villetta nodded her head, shifting her eyes down to look at the Viceroy while keeping her head looking straight forward. "Yes, your Highness. He's told me about the new vertical envelopment doctrine of the air assault he has hypothesised, utilizing helicopter borne infantry operating in smaller units rather than the larger eight-man sections we use in conventional assaults."

The silver-haired noblewoman watched as the Princess nodded her head as Villetta gave her answer. Either in agreement or simply just acknowledgement of that fact she had been told.

"Good, good." The Viceroy said after a few seconds. "Since the good captain has told you everything you need to know about the new unit, then you'll know that the operations we plan to carry out using Captain Forsyth's plans will require a huge degree of cooperation between himself, you and the soldiers on the ground. Correct?"

"Yes, your Highness." Villetta simply said, nodding her head once.

Cornelia nodded her head again at the noblewoman's answer. "Good. Now, I don't think I need to tell you that it was certainly a surprise that you were the one Captain Forsyth wanted as his second."

Surprised wasn't the word Villetta would use to describe the reaction she saw on the Viceroy's face. The reaction she saw was the same look one would give a family cat if they brought in a large, mutilated rat, then find out it was still alive.

"However," The Princess continued. "You have a more than sufficient, almost exemplary, service record with the Ninety-Fifth Imperial Rifles and the Seventeenth Royal Panzer Infantry, so I can see why the captain would choose you as his second."

The silver-haired noblewoman fought hard against the act, but just barely managed to smile at the praise. Which quickly faded as Princess Cornelia fixed her with a solid glare.

"I'm sure that you're aware what would normally happen to such a person in your position, especially after having their unit practically annihilated in combat? Especially one as... prestigious as yours?"

Villetta couldn't help but wince at the venom in the Viceroy's voice as she said 'prestigious'. It was no secret that the Purists were looked down upon with scorn by many of the other nobles in Area 11, and she didn't doubt the Empire at large, for not only allowing Prince Clovis to be murdered but also to let the real killer, Zero, escape.

Deciding to play it safe, Villetta simply nodded her head before responding with, "Yes, your Highness."

Again, Cornelia nodded her head. "Good. So you know how much you owe the captain for giving you this opportunity then."

"And I cannot thank him enough, your Highness." Villetta said, turning her head to look at the young man beside her with a small smile on her face. In reply, Ciaran turned his head and shot her a smile and a nod of his own before both turned back to look at the Viceroy with a straight face. The purple-haired woman simply stared at the two officers.

"He may have decided that you were worth giving a second chance to, but I have not." She simply said. "Consider this a warning: if I hear any negative reports from Captain Forsyth or any other officers, then you're out. Is that understood?"

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Villetta nodded her head once again. "Yes, your Highness."

For several seconds, Cornelia simply looked the silver-haired noblewoman in the face before she leant back in her chair to rest fully against it.

"Dismissed."

At the command, the two officers stamped their feet together as they stood attention before, bowing at the waist, they both replied, "Yes, you Highness."

After exiting the room, the young captain holding the door open for her, Villetta waited outside in the hallway until Ciaran had closed the large wooden doors behind him, leaving them both alone outside. When she was certain that they were alone in the area, she leant against the closest part of the wall and she slumped down a bit, letting out the breath that she didn't know she had been holding in.

"That. Was terrifying." She simply said, looking to her side at the young Briton as he ran his hand through his hear.

"Yeah," Ciaran said, an unsure smile on his face. "That... that was not how I imagined it going down at all."

Villetta could only nod her head. She had heard about the temper that the Second Princess possessed, but to see it manifest in such a cold manner was more terrifying than seeing her actually angry.

Taking a breath, the noblewoman pushed herself off the wall to stand up to her full height, drawing her eye to with the young man.

"So what now?" She asked, looking at Ciaran expectantly. It didn't fill her with much confidence when he gave a non-committal shrug in reply.

"I think it best we head back to my office." He said, turning around to begin the trek to the office in question. "I'm sure if either Guilford or Darlton need us, they'll come to us."

Villetta didn't say anything for a short while as she watched the young man who was, once again, her commanding officer walk in the direction of his office before she decided to follow him, speeding up her steps to catch up with him.

Matching her speed with his, Villetta and Ciaran walked down the hall in silence, the young man putting his hands behind his back as he walked while the noblewoman just let her arms swing at her sides. Looking out of the corner of her eye, Villetta saw that her walking partner was looking at her with a soft smile on his face.

"Don't let Cornelia get to you." The young man said amicably. "I know that she knows your a good soldier, otherwise she wouldn't have agreed to let you be my second."

The noblewoman's eyes opened at the casualness that the young man addressed the Viceroy. Who was this Briton to the Second Princess to call her by her first name so nonchalantly?

But it did help her mood somewhat. Everything of what the Princess said to her reminded her so much of the attitude that her old sergeant major, always giving threats that terrified her deeply but at the same time inspired her to continue.

She watched Ciaran as he continued his speech. "I mean, for all the problems the Purists caused, none of them were directly caused by you, so why should you take the blame? You followed my orders at Nagano and Narita practically to the letter, even though... even though those people would have died anyway."

The smile dropped from the young man's face at the last sentence, morphing in to a look of dejection that she knew was directed at himself.

Reaching her hand over, Villetta put a hand on to his shoulder, making Ciaran turn his head to look at her. As he looked at her, she shot him a reassuring smile.

"As the Great Bard said, 'The fewer men, the greater share of honour'." She said, remembering the Saint Crispin's Day speech from Henry V.

It was a speech that been ingrained on her from childhood. Britannia idolized Shakespeare as the last great British bard before the invasion of the Motherland, and for the military of Britannia, that speech was meant to encompass everything they should be: brave in the face of the enemy, regardless of their station, and with only the thought of victory in their hearts at all times, to ignore the naysayers at home and to strive to win.

The small sound of the young man scoffing at her words made her furrow her brows at him as he brought his head back up as Ciaran stood straight again. "More honour, eh? If you say so."

Villetta narrowed her eyes as she looked at the young man. It had been ingrained on practically all Britannian children that the British people, the ones who lived in the British Isles after Napoleon's conquest and now formed the population of modern Britain, had no holding on the concept or value of honour. But out of respect for the young man who had fought alongside her twice before, she kept her mouth shut.

The pair continued in silence until they reached the captain's office. Holding the open for her, Ciaran motioned for Villetta to enter, to which she respectfully inclined her head before stepping in to the office.

"Care for a drink?" The young man asked, shutting the door behind him before turning to look at the noblewoman as she sat down in one of the chairs in front of his desk.

"I could drink." She said, shrugging her shoulders as Ciaran walked from the door to stand behind his desk and moved to his phone. "Just a tea, if you please."

The young man nodded his head as he lifted the handset to his head and punched in the short sequence of numbers to call for one of the Palace's maids to bring up their drinks: a large cola and a pot of tea. After placing his order, Villetta watched the young man sit down in his chair.

"While we wait," The young Briton began as he leaned forward in his chair, looking at the noblewoman seated across from him. "Is there anything you want to ask me about our new unit?"

Thinking back on it quickly, Villetta cast her mind over all the things she had been told: the tactics that would be used on the ground, her position as the 'eye in the sky' in the K-car along with her responsibilities in that position among other things. She understood it all and was honestly hoping to put what she had been told in to practice.

So she simply shook her head 'no'.

"Good." Ciaran said, nodding his head. "Because I have a question for you: how the hell do I address you now?"

Villetta could only blink in confusion as her eyes opened wide at the question.

"Pardon?" Was all she could say after her mouth opened and closed several times in confusion.

"Well it's just that you'll be my superior in terms of social rank," Ciaran pointed at Villetta before pointing at himself. "But I'll be your military superior. So... how do I address you?"

The noblewoman looked at the young man in front of her like he was mad for a few seconds before she realised that he was right. How would he address her? It was obvious that as a Knight of Britannia, she did have a higher societal ranking over Ciaran, even if he was a captain in Cornelia's Royal Guard. But since she would be his second in command, a first-lieutenant to his captain, he would definitely be her superior in almost every sense of the word.

Putting her elbow against the armrest of her chair, Villetta put her chin in to the upturned palm of her hand as she mulled the answer over.

The sound of the door opening registered to her, along with the sound of someone wheeling in a trolley, possibly a maid, but she didn't pay it any real attention. Not until the maid spoke though.

"Sir, General Darlton is here too," The maid said politely. "Shall I send him in?"

"Oh!" The young captain said out loud, making Villetta flinch at the sound as the Briton stood up. "Of course, bring him in."

Turning in her seat to face the door, the noblewoman watched as the maid, a pale-skinned, brown-haired girl dressed in a maid's outfit wheeled in a tray carrying their drinks while behind her, the imposing form of General Darlton walked in behind her, a stack of files clutched in one of his hands.

None of the officers spoke as the maid wheeled the try next to the desk before setting their drinks next to them, a pint glass of cola was set on a coaster next to the captain while Villetta's tea was placed in front of her.

Her current job done, the maid retreated to stand next to the trolley, her hands clasped demurely in front of her. "Will there be anything, sir?"

"Do you want anything, general?" The captain asked.

"No, I'm fine." Came the reply.

"That will be all, thank you." The Briton said to the maid who, after curtseying, wheeled the trolley out of the room before shutting the door behind her.

Standing up from her chair, Villetta watched as Darlton crossed the space from the door to stand near the pair. The woman was surprised at the change in the general's appearance: where before his face was an impassive scowl, now a broad smile was on the man's face.

"I trust that the Viceroy didn't scare you two too much?" Darlton asked, beaming at both of the officers.

"Not gonna lie, sir, it was quite terrifying." Ciaran replied, grimacing slightly before taking a sip from his drink.

The older man simply nodded in reply before he put the files that he held in his hands on to the desktop before patting them gently.

"Well, I have two bits of good news, some bad news and a choice. Which do you want first?" The general said, a smile still on his face as he looked between Villetta and Ciaran. In return, both of the younger officers just looked at each other, before Ciaran held up a hand for the noblewoman to speak.

"We'll take the good news first, general." Villetta said to the general, who nodded his head in reply.

"Right then. I've taken the liberty of choosing which unit will be assigned to your new Fireforce," Darlton said, taking out one of the binders in his hands and handing it to Ciaran. "I thought that it'd be best that we give you a unit that you've worked with before. Although I can see that you've already thought of that with choosing Dame Villetta here."

She tried to resist it, but the noblewoman couldn't help the blush that came to her face at the general's words. Darlton smiled at her before he continued speaking.

"So, I managed to select a unit that I'm sure you're familiar with and I think you'd get on well with."

Villetta looked in confusion at the general before turning to look at Ciaran as he leafed through the file in his hands. She couldn't help but arc an eyebrow at the smile that came to his face before he laughed.

"Sergeant-Major Reynolds, sir?" The young man said in disbelief, looking up at the scarred general from the file in his hands.

"Indeed. Although technically, it's A-company of the 200th Imperial Princess' Pathfinders, Ciaran." Darlton replied with a small smile. "They're predominantly a recon battalion, but they're already trained to operate in small man units along with air assault, so I think they're the best fit for this unit of ours."

Villetta nodded her head along with the young man at the logic, but she was still unsure who NCO in question was. "Who's sergeant-major Reynolds, sir?"

"Reynolds served under my command at Kitakyushu." Ciaran replied. "He's a good man."

She'd never met the man before, so the noblewoman would have to take the captain's word for it.

"So what's the second bit of good news, general?" The young man asked, putting the folder down on to the desktop.

At this, General Darlton smiled broadly, twisting the scar on his face. "We've got the Valkyrs."

"Fucking ay!" Ciaran called out.

"We'll be using the Valkyrs?" Villetta asked, confused but excited by the idea. She'd seen footage of the large attack gunships in action in the battles against the European Union in Euro-Britannia, but they had been withdrawn from service before the invasion of Area 11, so she'd never get to see one in action for herself.

"Indeed we are, Dame Villetta." The general said with a nod of his head. "Lord Guilford put the request in to BAF Sacramento if they had any in the bone-yard near there, and it turns out they have a fleet of six held in storage. Word is that they're still being looked after and should be serviceable."

"Brilliant." Ciaran said before the smile on his face faded. "So what's the bad news?"

"They can't directly ship the vehicles to us." Darlton said with a shrug. "So that means that all of us will have to go to the Homeland to get them to hand them over to us."

"Can't the Princess just order them to hand them over?" Villetta asked, although she had a feeling that she already knew the answer. Which was proven as Darlton shook his head.

"No dice. Since the Princess is keeping this unit under wraps, and she won't give an explanation as to why she wants them, then they can't send the Valkyrs over."

"Fuck." The young captain said dejectedly. "So what does that mean?"

A smile still on his face, general Darlton replied by holding up the rest of the binders in his hands before letting them fall on to the desk top. "Guilford typed them out. They're basically saying that we're requisitioning the Valkyrs to be brought to Area 11 as heavy lift gear while the weapons fitted to them are be used for as auxiliary weapons for Knightmares."

Villetta only blinked in confusion at the general as he finished speaking. She had no idea how newly created special operations units operated, but she didn't envision them having to falsify equipment orders to get their hands on the equipment.

"Please tell me the choice you gave before is to have you fill these forms out?" Ciaran asked hopefully, pointing at the files on his desk. In return, Darlton merely shot him a deadpan look.

"Nice try, lad." The general replied. "You and Dame Villetta will have to sign these in triplicate. There's six folders, one for each aircraft, but each M-24 has seven weapons, if we ignore the crew serviced weapons."

"Oh, balls." Villetta chuckled softly at the groan of exasperation from the young man, although it quickly faded away as she did the maths. Six vehicles, with seven hard-point weapons, with a form for each vehicle and weapon that had to be filled out in triplicate.

Fifty pages.

"Oh, balls." The tawny-skinned noblewoman echoed the sentiment as she slumped in her chair. All the while, Darlton merely looked at them with an apologetic look on his face.

"Yeah. Sorry."

Letting out a sigh, Ciaran pulled back his chair and sat down heavily in it, obviously unhappy about having to do all the paperwork. "General, please tell me that your choice is for something nice."

"It's really only about the uniforms," Darlton said with a shrug. "You've got a choice of beret colours for your new unit; either maroon, dark blue or rifle green."

"I don't think that's something we need to figure out right now, sir." The young man said in reply as he pulled the stack of binders closer towards him and took out one of the forms before he began looking for a pen on his desk. "We can sort that out when we get everything squared away."

Villetta looked at the captain in surprise as he gripped a pen in his right hand and began writing his signature on the first sheet of paper. It surprised her how quickly he could switch from being a genial and friendly person to such a business-like persona.

Darlton merely nodded his head. "All right then. I'll see you two later."

As the tall general turned to leave, Villetta suddenly remembered her earlier conversation with Ciaran.

"General, a moment!" She called out, turning in her chair to look at the taller man, making him stop and turn to look at her. Behind her, the noblewoman knew that Ciaran was looking at her. "Help us with something?"

"What's wrong?" Darlton asked, staying where he was but crossing his arms over his chest.

"Me and Ciaran have a bit of a dilemma. I'm his superior in terms of being a Knight, but he's my superior in military rank. So how does he address me?"

The general opened his mouth to reply before he closed as a contemplative look came to his face. It was true that while this sort of thing didn't happen often, a Knight of Britannia working under a commoner of higher military rank, it was also true that it didn't often happen with female Knights.

After a few moments of contemplative silence, Darlton raised his eyes to look at the noblewoman. "You're not married, correct?"

Villetta blinked at the question. "Of course not."

"Then either 'Miss Villetta' or 'Miss Nu'." The general said. "Anything else?"

"Uh... no. No, that's it, sir." Villetta replied.

Darlton nodded his head and exited the room, leaving the two officers in stunned silence. Turning back in her chair to face the desk, Villetta wasn't too surprised to see that the look on Ciaran's face very closely mirrored her: a look of dumbfounded surprise.

"Well..." The young man said after a few seconds. "That was a bit anti-climactic."

"Just a bit." Was Villetta's only reply as she took a pen off the desk and took the finished form from Ciaran and began signing her own name while he took a new sheet and began signing his name on the new one.

Walking down the hallway, Dorothea found that today had been a much better day than she thought she would. Normally, having Nonette wrangle her to go in to town for a shopping trip would be seen as a chore. The champagne-haired Knight of Nine had, for lack of a better phrase, an exhausting personality, and even if you were prepared for it. There were admittedly a few times when even Dorothea had fallen behind the speeding Nonette, even if she was a few years younger than the twenty-nine-year-old.

But not today. Today, she managed to keep pace with her friend. Shoe stores, clothes boutiques, the odd perfume store or two, and a whole myriad of other shops just passed by in a sort of blur as Dorothea went around the main shopping mall that was in the Settlement that Nonette and Ciaran had gone to the week before. She didn't buy much more than a few items that caught her eye, and of course she had to protest many times when Nonette had tried to force her to buy certain items she definitely would not buy under any normal circumstance.

The Knight of Four had thought that her change would have gone unnoticed by her companion, but when they stopped for lunch, Nonette had leaned over the table conspiratorially.

"What's gotten in to you, Dorothea?" The champagne-haired woman asked, twirling a small Martini glass in her hand. "You seem... I don't know, happier. What gives?"

Sitting across from her, dressed in a white summer dress that came down to the middle of her shin and a blue sleeveless vest, with a pair of black flats on her feet, the umber-skinned woman stabbed her fork in to a plum tomato before bringing it up level with her lips. Her emerald eyes scanned the food before she shrugged. "It's just one of those days, I think, Nonette."

But, walking down the corridor, Dorothea knew that truth that it just wasn't one of those days.

The day seemed wholly better to her since she felt like she had had weight lifted from her shoulders. She had told Ciaran that she loved him and he had reciprocated. Granted, even if she had just told him how she felt about him, it would have been good for her mood, but to hear him say that he had feelings for her too... it was like something entirely different. She felt brilliant.

Turning a corner, she saw her destination getting closer. As she closed the distance, she gave her outfit a quick clean-up. There wasn't anything truly amiss with her clothes, but it wouldn't do for a Knight of the Round to not look her best, even outside of her uniform.

Once her outfit was sorted out and she was standing outside the door to the office, she reached up and knocked on the wooden portal.

She waited a few seconds for a reply, crossing her hands together behind her back. It didn't take long before the door opened. But instead of the Caucasian man with dark brown hair and green-blue eyes, it was a face that she had not seen for a long time, a face with tawny skin, silver hair and golden eyes.

"Villetta?" Dorothea asked in surprise.

The woman in question just blinked as she looked at the Knight of Four before she realised just what to do. "My-my Lady Knight of Four! What... what can I do for you?"

Dorothea didn't let the surprise of the other woman stop her as she put on a disarming smile. "I just stopped by to see Captain Forsyth. Is he in?"

At the unspoken command, Villetta moved to the side, letting Dorothea walk in to the room. A small frown appeared on her face when she saw that Ciaran wasn't immediately looking up at her, but even from the other side of the room, the umber-skinned woman could hear the sound of his pen scratching on paper, showing he was concentrating on working.

She knew her shoes didn't make much sound on the carpeted floor, but Dorothea knew she made some sort of sound when Ciaran's eyes glanced up from the paper he was writing on to look at her. A smile came over his face as he looked up although it quickly turned in to a grimace as he dropped the pen from his hand and began massaging his wrist.

"Oh, I think I'm getting carpal tunnel syndrome." He groaned out, making Dorothea shoot him a sympathetic smile.

"Been working hard?" The Knight asked as she moved sit in one of the chairs in front of the desk, shifting her dress slightly.

"I am not cut out for doing paperwork, Dorothea." Ciaran said as he shook his head, still massaging his wrist. "Not cut out for it at all."

Looking at the young man, Dorothea saw his eyes flick up to look behind her. Turning in her seat, she turned to see Villetta still standing beside the door in quiet shock.

"You can sit down, Villetta." Ciaran said as he shook out his hand, seeming to have finally gotten over the pain in his wrist. In response, the silver-haired woman crossed the distance between the door and the desk quickly, moving to sit down in the adjacent chair to Dorothea.

"I...," Villetta began, stammering out her words as she looked at both the Knight of Four and the young Briton. "I know that you were friends with the Knight of Nine, but you didn't say anything about being friends with the Knight of Four."

In reply, Ciaran just shrugged. "You never asked."

Dorothea let out a small chuckle at Ciaran's words before she gave him a devious look. "I bet Villetta never told you that we were actually in Colchester Academy together, either."

This time, it was the young man's turn to look surprised as he looked at Villetta, a smile on his face. "No, she did not."

Looking to her side, Dorothea saw a blush begin to creep up on the tawny-skinned woman's face as she became embarrassed by the attention put on her. Feeling some pity for the poor woman, Dorothea spoke up again. "Well, in all fairness, I was in the year below her, so we didn't have that much interaction before she graduated."

"Indeed. I was the Class of Twenty-Eleven," Villetta said, finally getting over her earlier embarrassment as the memory of being at the Academy came back. "You were the Class of Twenty-Twelve. I handed you your commission as an officer."

"Gave her her commission?" The young man spoke up, a questioning look on his face.

"Oh yes, you're British." Villetta replied, finally overcoming her embarrassment. "Basically, every year, a small number of soldiers of common that have shown great skill, great courage or an aspiring aptitude for command, are selected to be sent to the Colchester Imperial Academy to be trained as officers. Lady Dorothea and I were two such candidates."

Dorothea nodded her head in memory of the event: standing on the large stage in front of the auditorium of students, faculty and family members, in the pristine khaki uniform of a Britannian junior officer. To her right, the filled seats of the auditorium and to the left, the seated academy graduates who would receive their officer's commission. To her front stood Villetta, one of the previous year's graduates and the one selected to hand out the commissions to this year's graduates.

"Wait, so you're both... commoners? By birth, I mean." Ciaran said, interrupting Dorothea's reverie. Looking at him, she was surprised to see a look of astonishment on his face, but she couldn't really blame him. She'd never said anything about herself, apart from her feelings for him, so his surprise shouldn't be too strange.

"Indeed, we are." Dorothea said, leaning back in her chair a bit. "But whereas Villetta here went out on her own, I got taken under General Darlton's wing."

In reply, Villetta simply shrugged. It hadn't been that unsurprising for the scarred general to take someone under his guidance, especially if they were commoners by birth.

The harsh ringing of the phone sitting on Ciaran's desk filled the air with its noise, prompting the young man to lift the handset up to his ear as he spoke to the person on the other end of the line.

"Captain Forsyth here. He's here? All right then. No, I'll send someone down to collect him. Thank you. Good bye."

"Who was that?" Dorothea asked, her interest piqued.

"One of the butlers in the foyer." Ciaran replied as he put the handset down. "Sergeant-major Reynolds has arrived."

At the mention of the name, an image of the sergeant-major with the square face and pugnacious nose flashed across Dorothea's mind.

"The sergeant from Kitakyushu?" She asked, leaning forward in her chair. "What's he doing here?"

"He and some of his men are going to be in the new unit that Cornelia's asked me to put together." Ciaran replied before he turned to look at the tawny-skinned woman sitting next to Dorothea. "Villetta, I want you to go down and bring him up. I think it's best if you two meet each other as quickly as possible, just so you both know who you're working with."

It wasn't phrased like a conventional order, but Dorothea heard the underlying tone of the request.

"Understood, captain." Came the reply from Villetta as she stood up from her chair, before bowing to Dorothea as social custom dictated. "Excuse me, my lady."

The Knight of Four nodded her head as a reply, prompting Villetta to bow again before moving to leave the room. When the door was shut, and she was sure that the woman wouldn't return, Dorothea stood up from her chair and walked around to stand behind the seated young man who had gone back to writing his signature on the sheets of paper beside him.

When she was behind his chair, Dorothea bent forward, draping her arms over the low back of the chair and down on to Ciaran's shoulders, lacing her fingers together over his chest.

Jolting back a little from the contact, the young man turned his head to look at the woman behind him. "What's gotten in to you?"

Leaning forward, Dorothea brought her head down level with his as she brought up her arms to wrap gently around his neck.

"I'm just glad that I can do this." She said as she brought her cheek to rub gently against Ciaran's, feeling the hair of his beard rub against her skin. For his part, the young man sighed gently as he leaned back in his chair and just let himself be held.

Bringing a hand up, Ciaran gently took a hold of one of her hands then, to Dorothea's surprise, he lifted up her arms, lifting her up from his chair before spinning around to face her. She wondered what he was doing as he let his eyes scan up and down her body, looking at her outfit before a soft smile came to his face.

"I'm sorry I didn't say it before, but you look lovely."

Tilting her head to the side, Dorothea let a smile of her own come to her face at the compliment. Removing her hands from Ciaran's, she lifted up her arms and wrapped them around his shoulders as she moved towards him. Soon, she felt her knees press against his and she was looking down at him.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Ciaran asked, looking up at her with a lopsided smile.

Moving a hand up, the umber-skinned woman brought a finger up to gently stroke the Briton's moustache, feeling the coarse hairs compress under her touch before they sprung back in to place. She couldn't help it as her eyes flicked down to his lips then back up to his eyes, repeating the same course twice more.

Suddenly, Dorothea's back straightened up as she felt Ciaran wrap his arms gently around her back, before he gently pulled her closer towards him. Looking down, she saw his eyes flick down to her own lips then back up to her eyes, which opened wide in realization that he wanted exactly what she wanted.

Moving her right hand, she cupped the back of Ciaran's head as her left hand moved to his shoulder, keeping him close to her. Unprompted, he rose from his seat, rising to his full height as he moved one hand up to sit against the back of her shoulder blade while the other rested against the small of her back, closing the already shrinking distance between them, until there was only one logical result.

Time slowed to a crawl as the pair closed the final centimetres between them. Before she realised it, Dorothea felt a spark of electricity shoot through her as her lips met with his in a chaste but loving kiss. Neither person moved as they continued the kiss, just staying together as they felt the other person breath through their nose, the feeling of the warm air brushing over her skin further cementing in Dorothea's mind that, yes, she was finally kissing Ciaran. Closing her eyes, she felt herself sink in the kiss.

They stayed connected for a few moments, the only time either person moved was to pull back gently as their lips moved against each other, feeling the skin of the other persons lips brush against their own lips before they finally separated. Opening her eyes, Dorothea watched as Ciaran moved to straighten his back before he slowly opened his own eyes. Looking at each other, she watched as a smile spread across his face before joining in with one of her, feeling a blush fill her cheeks.

"We did it." Dorothea said, tittering slightly in a manner she didn't actually think possible for her.

"Yeah, We did it." Ciaran responded, lifting the hand that was on her shoulder blade to the nape of her neck, before a quizzical look came to his face. "What's so funny?"

Removing the hand from the back of Ciaran's head, the Knight of Four used a finger to gently rub at her upper lip as a dopey smile came to her face. She was silent for a few seconds before she spoke. "I've never kissed a man with a moustache before."

And it was true: all of her other lovers never had any sort of facial hair. They were always clean shaven or just incapable of growing any form of facial hair on their upper lip.

Her lover looked at her in confusion before, chuckling lightly, Ciaran's mouth broke in to a dopey grin of his own. Leaning forward, he gently put his forehead against Dorothea's head. The umber-skinned woman jolted a bit at the sudden contact before she leaned in to the gesture, nuzzling gently against his own forehead, closing her eyes once more at the contact.

To Dorothea, this felt like heaven; just being close to the person she loved, to know that her feelings were returned and that were able to do things like this with each other. She didn't want this moment to end.

But, in the way the universe always operated, the moment was ruined by the simple act of someone knocking on Ciaran's office door.

With a sigh, the Briton moved his head back from it's spot against Dorothea's forehead as he relinquished his hold on her body, the Knight of Four doing the same with her hold on him.

"That's probably Villetta and Reynolds." She said, a little bit more morosely than she had intended. She couldn't blame her of course. Villetta was going to be Ciaran's second in command, but still... she did ruin the moment.

"Come on in!" Ciaran called out as he took his seat back in his chair. Just as his rear touched the seat of the chair, the door opened, revealing the purple-clad form of Villetta and sergeant-major Reynolds, dressed in a light blueish grey short-sleeved jacket and trousers, his dark blue beret nestled atop his head. As he stepped through the threshold, the older man stood to attention, his feet parallel with each other before he raised his right hand in salute.

"Sergeant-major Reynolds, reporting as ordered, sir." He said stiffly, his right hand sitting at an angle above his right eyebrow.

"Good to have you with us, Reynolds." Ciaran said, nodding his head by way of a salute before motioning for the sergeant-major to sit in one of the chairs at his desk. Moving his hand down to his side, Reynolds moved forward to sit in one of the chairs. As he drew closer, the man let his eyes look at Dorothea before bowing his head.

"My Lady." He said, before Dorothea bowed her head in reply.

"Sergeant-Major." She said in reply. "It's good to see you again."

"Likewise, my Lady." Reynolds said, standing behind his chosen chair. "Are you a part of this project?"

"No. No, I'm not." Dorothea said, shaking her head. "I just came by to visit the captain."

Nodding his head in understanding, the sergeant-major sat down in his chair, Villetta moving to sit down in the adjacent seat.

"Well, I should be off." Dorothea said, putting a hand on Ciaran's shoulder, shooting him a friendly smile. "I shall see you later tonight at dinner, captain?"

"Of course, Dorothea." Ciaran said with a nod and a smile.

"Very well then. I shall see you later. Villetta?" She asked, causing the tawny-skinned noblewoman to look up at her. "It's been a pleasure to see you again."

Villetta nodded her head, although the look on her face obviously showed her surprise at the attention, not only in the Knight of Four calling her by her name. "And the same to you, my Lady."

Turning to look at Ciaran, Dorothea nodded her head again, a gesture which the young man returned. Decided that she didn't want to complicate anything further by staying in the room while the three officers talked about their new roles, so without another word, she turned around and walked towards the door.

Exiting the door and closing it softly behind her, the umber-skinned Knight of Four cast an appraising eye down both ends of the corridor. Making sure that no-one was in the immediate vicinity and that she was safe from anyone immediately walking in to view of her, Dorothea slumped gently against the wall before bringing her hand up to her lips, letting her fingers run over her lips.

The sensation of hers and Ciaran's lips meeting still lingered on them, which brought a sincere and heartfelt smile to Dorothea's face.

Pushing off from the wall, she began walk back to her room to prepare for the evening. If she had been paying attention to her walk, she would have noticed that she had a slight spring in her step.

EDIT 13/08/18: Made some alterations. Fixed up the number of helicopters that were being ordered, and I also changed Villetta's ancestry to Portuguese instead of Spanish. That'll make more sense in later chapters.

AN: And Chapter 21 is up! And it now takes the total word count to over 200,000 words.

Still not got a job, just getting that out of the way first, but it's unimportant to the whole thing.

Funnily enough, this chapter is out earlier because of a funny reason: the scene where Ciaran is talking to Jeremiah and Villetta was originally going to be in chapter 19, but I couldn't find a place to put it in, so I thought I'd be able to put it in chapter 20, but if I did, that would have made it far too long, so... yeah.

Anyway, what to talk about? Well, first up: I think that this can definitely be the part where the Alternate Universe stuff starts happening quite in earnest. The stuff with Jeremiah and Villetta is... well, it's quite self-explanatory. But the inclusion of actual counter insurgency (or COIN) operations instead of Britannia going all... well, stupid with their military tactics. I mean, yes, first and foremost, Code Geass is a mecha anime and I admit that, but come on! How the fuck can a military like the Britannian military not have dedicated COIN tactics or protocols instead of just going "kill everyone then we'll sort it out from there".

Writing out the description for the Rhodesian Fireforce was a bit hard, I'll be honest. I know the majority of it off the top of my head, but I needed to do some reading on it just to make sure I got some things right and I had to be careful that I basically wasn't just repeating what I read instead of making it sound like it was being remembered off the top of my head. But from the standpoint of a person who enjoys military history, the Rhodesian Fireforce was an amazing creation in mobile warfare and COIN tactics. I mean, the engagements were heavily one sided, with Fireforces made up of 32 men going against groups of 6 to 12 insurgents, but the kill rates easily went up to 80 - 1 when used against larger groups. Granted, modern COIN tactics and vertical envelopment operations can yield higher results, but credit has to be given where credit is due.

Also, if anyone knows, or can actually visualize my admittedly quite crap description, the M-24 Valkyr is actually the variant Mi-24 Hind that appears in Call of Duty: Ghosts. What? The Mi-24 is a bitching helicopter. Also, there's a small joke with the description that Guilford gave for the Valkyr, but I'm going to see if any of you people get it.

I don't know what else to say on the meeting with Ciaran and Villetta and Villetta's resulting scene, so I'll just skip to Dorothea's scene. CLAMP dropped the ball a bit with her really, so I had to make up quite a bit for her. So in this universe, Dorothea is a commoner by birth, she's 26 years old (putting her at the same age as both Villetta and Cornelia) which doesn't make the gap with Ciaran's age (21 for those who've forgotten) that big. Also, the kiss scene was... damn, that was hard. Thanks to AD Field with the help on that one. Thanks a lot man.

Just a heads up as well: I have been severely tempted to rewrite the first few chapters since, well, in comparison to the later chapters, they are quite crap. Plus, I'd also want to change some bits in a few other chapters, mainly descriptions of people and events a bit. But it wouldn't be anything to majorly change the overall story.

Oh, also: please remember that A Brave New World has a TvTropes page and if you're able, please contribute. It would mean a heck of a lot.

So, thanks for reading. Read, review and, as always, enjoy. See you guys next week.