KALLEN V
When Kallen had entered the mobile commander center she smelled it. "What is that smell?" Lilliana asked. The subviceroy glanced at her squire and sworn protector. "You don't have to be here for this."
Lilliana's frown vanished and her green eyes looked back into Kallen's. The younger girl breathed steadily as her face vanished, a hand over her chest. "I will not shirk from my duty, Your Highness." Kallen studied her, she was young but her service as a knight was rapidly maturing her. She had lost her innocence long ago and it seemed she would lose more of it; she was not the only one. Kallen should be at school - and her brother shouldn't be a terrorist.
Kallen remembered the the battle in Shinjuku only hours ago. She had stormed into the battlefield with her Lancelot and danced. A dance of death and steel, she had routed the shockingly adept terrorist group. And when she reached their headquarters she found the remains of her opponents. She was prepared to finish her duty, to slay her enemy. But she had heard his voice.
It was her brother, shouting her name. With his comrades beside him, a rifle slung to his side. His red hair reaching the side of his face, a red bandana marked his forehead, his right arm was bleeding, likely from a gunshot. The video camera from her Lancelot was too low in quality, but she knew it was him. She could imagine his blue eyes staring up at her Knightmare, his face was solemn, serious. Thousands of thoughts run to her head and Kallen had done what she had never done: she ran away.
Father was right. Kallen thought bitterly. Naoto was raised the same as Kallen, at an elite Britannian school in Pendragon. But Naoto had always longed for his birthplace, Area 11. He always visited the area with their actual mother, every summer and winter. Her father had forbid Kallen. "You are too young, and you must focus on your studies." her father had always insisted. And when Kallen had turned thirteen years old she was already squiring for the Knight of Two, Michele Manfredi. By then she had no time for vacation trips.
Naoto left Pendragon after finishing high school, her father had been furious. Naoto was set to inherit all of their family's land, all their territories, all their duties. Instead Naoto had renounced his claims, and declared he was leaving for his true home: Japan. He never even said goodbye. But when she saw Naoto on the battlefield she did not feel any bitterness. It was the good memories that had flooded back. She remembered how her brother had cared for her, played games with her, got her out of boring parties, how he had let her sneak into his room when nightmares plagued her, how well he treated and defended their foreign mother, even in public.
"Call her a whore again!" he had dared some of his would-be bullies at their school. "And you'll see how you end up!" he would declared in rage. But his love for his mother had grown to love for her culture. When he left he took up the name of Kozuki, their mother's family name.
Kallen had come to Area 11 to bring stability and peace, Kallen told herself, but deep down she knew she wanted to find him, her long lost brother. She did not expect to find him so soon. She knew Naoto was brave, willing to fight. His distaste for Britania was unmatched. But she still couldn't handle the fact they had met as enemies.
And he used my shock to get away. He hadn't called her out emotionally Kallen realized after. Naoto had called out her name with the intent to shock her into inaction, to let his allies get away and of course it worked. Kallen had fled the battle, no tears came out but her body felt heavy, a pain in her stomach, her head had felt dizzy. How could she ever fight her brother?
"Family comes first, even before loyalty." her father had preached to her. "That is the Stadtfeld way."
Kallen snapped back to the present as she saw the body of Prince Clovis laying down on the ground, his head with a gaping whole caused by a bullet. She somehow doubted the royal family cared so much about family values, she knew the prince was an arrogant, pompous fool, but she pitied him when she saw the body. "Euphemia will be sad." Kalen realized.
"Your highness?" the only other person in the room asked. He was man in his mid forties, grey hair already detailed his head. But his body was whole and strong, Jaime was his name, a member of Kallen's royal guard.
"Nothing, mayhaps we saw the killer on the video cameras?" she asked.
Jaime who had been in charge of investigating and security spoke: "It was wiped clean, we have already rounded up thirty people and have begun our questioning."
Thirty people. She looked at the body. It felt like the work of a lone assassin but that could not be. The men in charge of watching the cameras said they saw nothing and remembered nothing. The men in charge of guarding the prince told similar tales.
"It must have been a group working together." Lilliana speculated. "To get pass all this security, all these guards, and to leave not a single trail, they must have planned this far in advance." her squire reasoned, her face unflinching as she looked at the body of the prince. You are being brave, you must mature faster than other children you age. Kallen remembered her father's word as she looked at her blonde haired squire.
"Unlikely." Kallen began. "This is the first time Clovis had stepped into the mobile command center, and the first time this base has been used in such an operation."
Her royal guard Jaime looked doubtful. "Surely though they could have planned to strike with the battle in Shinjuku."
"Perhaps, only if this battle had been planned in advance. Clovis acted recklessly and suddenly, like the fool he was. Nobody knew this battle was about to take place, not even Clovis." Kallen explained. Jaime flinched at Kallen's disrespect of the dead prince.
"Then this killing - it was done out of the spur?"
Kallen sighed. It would seem so to her, but it was hard to believe. Did one of the soldiers see the chaos, how much blood had been shed in the battle and decided the prince was cruel for ordering such an attack?
"How about the last message Prince Clovis sent out?" Lilliana said as she crouched down to examine the body of the prince.
When Kallen had exited the battlefield, when she had finally calmed down from the shock of seeing her brother. Then she had heard Prince Clovis send out an order, telling all Britanian forces to withdraw. Minutes later she had been contacted by men from the mobile command center, to hurry over immediately. When Kallen realized the prince had been killed she had ordered all the nearby units and personnel members into lockdown. Nobody would leave. If the killer was one of them she would catch them. But even more important I want nobody to spread the news.
In such a scenario she wanted to summon the prince's royal guard to help control the scene. But the killer could be among them. She had decided to form a mixed group to control the area nearby instead. She had summoned the purist faction, bastards they may be, Kallen knew she could trust them in this scenario. She also used her own personal guard, and a squadron that was on standby in the Tokyo Settlement. In total they were more than fifty soldiers, enough to guard the area around the mobile command center, enough to search for a possible assassin, but perhaps fifty was too many.
Only four of us know the prince is dead. She could not let the word spread. She had already sworn Jaime into secrecy. But she knew the men guarding the doors must suspect what had happened. I must lock them up when we are done cleaning this mess. I can release them after we inform the public that the prince has died, and after we have found the murderer.
Jeremiah Gottwald entered, his face turned as he sprinted towards the body of the prince, he kneeled by his side. "The prince!" he cried out. "How could this happen?"
Kallen leered at the leader of the purist faction. He had shown up to the mobile command center with far too many of his purist soldiers. Did the prince really summon so many of the purist to join in his attack to Shinjuku, or had the purist joined the battle of their own will?
It did not matter now, she would investigate that later. There is far too much to investigate. She decided she would ask the Emperor's intelligence service to aid her, she needed all the help she could get, even if they were of the Purist Faction. The profound sadness on Jeremiah's face vanished as he faced Kallen. "How could you allow this to happen Knight of Twelve?" Jeremiah angrily called out. "As a knight of round you are sworn to defend the royal bloodline!"
"As subviceroy my duty was to help the prince rule, not to protect him at all moments." Kallen barked back.
"My lords, please this is not the time!" Lilliana had spoken up, with Jaime standing beside her.
"Then you have failed in both duties! The disaster of Shinjuku will embolden the terrorist for decades, and the death of the prince will spark fires of open rebellion! A spark that you began with your failure to guard his-"
"Speak another word and I'll have your tongue torn out, Gottwald." she hissed. Her voice was like ice, cold and solid. This was not an empty threat. "We will find the killer of the prince and he will be avenged,"
"Kneel." she demanded. Jeremiah looked at her with contempt. "We do not get along Gottwald, I understand this, but now we must join our forces and put our bickering aside, so bend the knee, now and pledge your loyalty to me, until we have resolved this crisis.
Jeremiah knelt as he looked up at her, the contempt was gone. You may be a bastard Jeremiah, but you truly are a man of honor. "I, Jeremiah Gottwald, pledge my loyalty to you, Knight of Twelve, acting viceroy of Area 11, heir of the Stadtfeld household."
"Rise, Jeremiah."
"What do you require, your highness?"
It's amazing how fast he can shove aside his dislike for me.
"It is time to move the prince's body. We shall take him back to the Viceroy's Palace. We will return in the mobile command center and act with discretion. I want your most trusted men to question all the Britanians we have locked up."
"Your highness, it could have been the terrorist, or an Eleven serving in our ranks." Jeremiah suggested.
"We have rounded up all the immediate suspects, there are no Eleven among them." officer Jaime spoke up.
"Of course we will continue to expand our list of suspects." Lilliana chimed.
Jeremiah nodded. "I will have my most loyal men question the men you have detained then."
"Good, now I want you in command of the army units in the outskirts of Shinjuku, have them withdraw in orderly fashion back to the Tokyo Settlement. I also want you to search for the gas weapon that was stolen by these terrorist."
Kallen was about to order Jeremiah to investigate the terrorist group they fought, they had used knightmares, they had one of the Four Holy Swords with them, they had decimated the attacking Britanian forces. But my brother is with them. If the purist faction found out her brother was a terrorist the consequences would be dire.
"Your highness I will find the gas weapon, but may I suggest having the army group head to scout other terrorist locations? If we withdraw it will be looked on as a defeat. If we use the remains of the army to scout for other terrorist group we can claim it as part of a larger military operation." the loyal purist suggested.
Kallen did not need to think about it. "Do as you please Gottwald, but do not engage in another battle."
"As you command, your highness."
"Jaime, it is time we move. Move the body of Prince Clovis into the private chambers and have men come to the drive the mobile command center back to Tokyo."
Jaime saluted and left alongside Jeremiah.
She turned to the blonde girl. "You've done well Lilliana." The nausea from the girl's face surfaced as she moved away from the body. She had put a brave face in front of the other men but with Kallen she lowered her guard.
"It's horrible, I can't believe they did this to his highness." she spoke weakly, letting her shock out. A wave of bitterness rushed into Kallen. She remembered seeing her first dead body at 13. My innocence is ruined already, and now I have ruined the innocence of another. She grabbed Lillian and pulled her further away.
"You must be strong, you must be brave."
Lilliana nodded weakly, taking a deep breath as she clutched Kallen's hand.
"I have my own task for you Lilliana." Kallen whispered. She did not trust Gottwald to investigate her brother's terrorist group, but she did trust Lilliana. Plus, it will get her away from this stench. Kallen would find her brother, she will bring him back home to Pendragon she decided.
As the hours passed Kallen found herself alone, her whole personal guard was working, her trusted advisors and friends all busy with the task at hands. She had questioned a number of the detained soldiers along with a purist faction member Villeta Nu.
"Your highness, may I suggest you take some time off?" the brown woman offered.
Kallen had been restless. Her mind felt like it was working too fast. She could not stop thinking: about her brother, about the battle of Shinjuku, about the gas weapon, about Prince Clovis, about his death, about Jeremiah, about Lilliana. They had questioned six men so far, and with nothing to show for it.
"I will take your suggestion to heart. Do not continue the interrogations without me, Villeta."
The woman nodded and saluted as Kallen left to her office.
"Pray do tell me, who let you in Diethhard?"
The media man sat in the visitors chair, waiting for the sub-viceroy. "I simply wished to ask your highness a number of question." the blonde man said, a tone of total respect. He was a weird man, Kallen had decided. He had a a specific interest in her, he called her 'a woman to be remembered in history, and I want to write the history as I see it'. He had his uses in the media so Kallen had kept him around and in return she gave him a number of interview and insider informations to certain topics. But now was not the time to share information. She did not want to raise his suspicion.
"What do you want, rat?" she asked.
The man smiled at his nickname. Like a rat he would show up when convenient, and flee when there was nothing to gain. "The battle at Shinjuku seemed fierce, your highness, was there a concentrated effort to root out the terrorists of Shinjuku?"
"Like Lilliana told you, we sent a small force to Shinjuku after a bomb threat from the Japanese Liberation Force. We sent a small force to deal with the situation and found moderate resistance. But the battle of Shinjuku was only the beginning. This is a part of a larger operation to scout out for terrorist base across Area 11." Kallen lied.
"I see. Will the other battles be as fierce, and will they see Britannians lose so much as they did in Shinjuku?"
Kallen did not like his tone, nor his words, nor his face, even if they were all true. "The losses in Shinjuku were minimal, I suggest you check again with your sources, Diethhard." his face expressed surprise at first, but he quickly hid it. Kallen almost never lied to him, so the few moments she did need to lie she was difficult to doubt.
After a few questions he left, but another person came in. I will never rest again. Kallen thought somberly. With his light brown hair and blue eyes Kewell Soresi was a handsome but serious youth. Far too serious. Whenever he talked, Kallen imagined getting lynched through a gravel street, for nothing was more boring than listening to this purist member speak. "The ladies say he is handsome, but I would rather flirt with with a stone wall, for at least the stone wall has better wit than Kewell." she had joked with Lilliana.
"Your highness," Kewell bowed slightly as he put a folder in her desk. Kallen grabbed it and began to read.
"Who is this?"
"Suzaku Kurugi, the son of the last prime minister of Japan."
Kallen read the contents of her folder swiftly, her eyes darting left and right. "He's an Honorary Britanian soldier?"
"Aye, and he participated with our forward advance units in Shinjuku. Most of the Elevens in his units died, but he was the only survivor." Kallen was surprised he even survived. She had read the preliminary Shinjuku battle report, which had been drafted by a number of her own guards. The honorary Britanian unit used in the battle was sent almost as a suicide squad, the fact this man had survived was a miracle.
"Do you suspect he killed the prince?"
"He reported back to the mobile command center when the battle was nearly over, an hour before the prince died, we have just detained him."
The son of the last prime minister. Kallen frowned, he had good reason for hating Britania. His hatred for this empire must be as large as my brother's, mayhaps, even larger. He was undeniably a suspect, especially with the fact he had been in the base prior to the death of the prince. But it still seemed impossible. "I doubt this man was able to turn off the cameras, avoid all the guards, kill the prince, and walk out without scruple."
Kewell nodded. "Yes it seems unlikely, but if we are unable to find the prince's killer, Suzaku Kurugi may be an ample sheep to offer to the public."
Kallen's reaction was to laugh. If she hadn't laughed she might have ordered Kewell's execution on the spot for suggesting something so foolish. "You want us to kill the son of the last prime minister of Japan?"
"An eye for an eye is only-"
"A prince for the son of a leader who is dead? That is hardly an even trade you fool." Kallen berated him. "Are you truly so foolish that you would also make a martyr of this boy? All of the elvens will cry out in anger. Prime Minister Kururugi is still a revered hero of the elevens, killing his son will only incite further anger." Kallen fumed. "A son that had decided to bend his knee to Britania, who served in our armed forces, using him as a scapegoat will destroy any progress for peace in this accursed region!"
She stood up pointing her finger at Kewell who flinched at her comments. "If you come back to my office with such a stupid proposal I'll make sure you never ride a Knightmare again, Kewell Sorsei!"
And so the brave Kewell fled the office. Kallen sat down and sighed. She normally would have not been so upset, but she had trouble trusting the purist faction even with Jeremiah's pledge of loyalty. In the battle reports she found out most of the Purist Faction had been in the Battle of Shinjuku, secretly. They had joined up with the Prince Clovis' forces and joined the battle together, seeking to cause destruction and chaos against the elevens. I must look more into that later. She clenched her teeth.
The prince was dead but few knew. The battle of Shinjuku was a disaster, but few knew. They had not yet found the gas weapon the terrorist stole, but only a few knew. She was sitting on a bomb, soon the whole world would know what had happened and it would fall on Kallen to deal with the mess. They will call for my removal, if I fail. She would not let that happen, there was too much to be done.
She could not fail her father, if she failed she would hurt the reputation of the Stadtfelds. She also did not want to sully the name of the Knights of Round. But more importantly she still had to find her brother. I found him, I just need to bring him back.
She glanced at the folder Kewell had left her again. Would her brother truly want to come back? She read Kurugi's profile. This man had almost been Japanese nobility, yet he bent his knee to serve Britania. And for his service people like Kewell wanted to use him as a scapegoat. She read the reports of how most of his squadmates died in Shinjuku. Cannnon fodder. It's all the Honorary Britanians were in the military, but also in Britanian society. Kallen wanted to take action: if I remain viceroy after this scandal I can make a change, a change even my brother would be proud of.
Before she stopped reading his profile she noted the report included a Knightmare simulation score: 9,289. Kallen wiped her eyes, thinking she misread. What a ridiculous impressive number. The maximum score was 10,000. Kallen herself had a score of 9,881, but this as after years of training and years of true combat experience with an actual Knightmare. Imagine what he could do if this system gave him a chance.
Her late afternoon was spent talking to a number of men in vital positions. The Minister of Industry, the Minister of Public Transport and the Minister of Revenue. She had them inform her the status of their agencies, their plans, their aspirations, and what Clovis had planned for them. She would talk to many more ministers as the week progressed, Kallen was glad she had started early.
She laid her head on the back of her chair, daring to close her eyes for a few second. Whenever she worked her head would clear, all her doubts and problems were forgetten. But the second she stopped the memories of her brother, the dead prince, and the battle of Shinjuku all came flooding back. She tried to stop thinking, she wanted to scream, she wanted to cry, she wanted to run, she wanted to fight, she wanted to hit something, somebody. Sometimes she wished she could just stop, stop thinking, to be in a blissful peace of ignorance, but that was not her destiny. And to think I'm supposed to start going to school tomorrow.
When the door opened again she had hoped it was Lilliana with her report of the terrorists they had fought, she desperately wanted to find out what her brother had been up to all these years.
Instead it was an indigo haired woman, fullbreasted, tall, Cecile Croomy always looked elegant. The scientist ranked only below Earl Lloyd smiled. "Are you doing well, your highness?"
Kallen smiled weakly. She was exhausted. "I've been better. Is time for your survey?"
Everytime she used the Lancelot, Cecile would come to ask her a number of questions about the machines and how she felt on the machine. It had been the 24th time she had used Lancelot, and she still hated it. "My body aches every time I use it, I am far more comfortable on my custom Sutherland."
"You have been bringing up these sentiments more and more." Cecile noted.
Kallen sighed. "The Lancelot is magnificent but it doesn't suit my style at all." The white Knightmare outclassed Kallen's Sutherland, no doubt. In the battlefield she felt like a storm destroying enemies without thought. But when combat became thick she felt unorthodox, she relied on her manuverability and counterattacks. Kallen preferred being aggressive, to constantly pressure her enemies. But the Lancelot as amazing as it was, was too expensive and even fragile in some spots, she could not be as aggressive as she wished.
"I understand but the Lancelot is designed with mobility in mind, if we had more amor it…"
"It will become too heavy, I know." Kallen finished. "I think it is time to dismiss you and Lloyd. I have enjoyed your services, but this pilot is too tired, and mayhaps too busy." she said as she looked at her desk and thought about all the troubles plaguing her today alone.
Cecile smiled sadly. "Your highness, even if you only pilot the Lancelot once a year we will stay with you, you are the only pilot capable of driving the machine, Prince Schneizel has looked for other pilots yet has found none."
Kallen continued to look at Kurugi's documents. Imagine what he could do if this system gave him a chance. "Then the prince has not looked enough. Cecile, I have your pilot right here."