Nunnally of the Insurrection

Chapter 36

"WAKE UP," Dorothea shook the prince awake.

"Huh? Wazzat?" Prince Odysseus managed sleepily, apparently unconcerned there was a stranger in his rooms.

"We're getting out of here, now. The city is under attack," Dorothea told him bluntly, then jabbed him forcefully,

"Ow,"Odysseus got up, still dressed because Dorothea had ordered him to be ready at any time. He could hear alarms whooping loudly, and for a moment wondered how he slept through it. Then again, he'd indulged himself in some wine last night.

"What'ds going on?" he asked sleepily, then as his brain began to work he asked, "How? We're far behind the front lines."

Dorothea opened the door, then warily checked the hallway. Seeing it was clear, she waved him out and they hurried off.

"It's a raid, but a well armed mobile force," Dorothea told him. "I was watching them drop... I didn't recognize the insignia on the Knightmare Frames."

"So an unknown third party is attacking the Chinese?" Odysseus asked her disbelievingly as he hollowed her closely.

Dorothea grunted, checking if the coast was clear up ahead. "Or it might be an existing force operating under false colors," she said.

"... could they be here to rescue us?" Odysseus suggested.

Dorothea gave him a dubious look. "Would you want to chance it? Britannia has many enemies," she reminded him.

"Right, right," Odysseus conceded. "Where are we going?" he asked.

Dorothea sighed, clearly annoyed at his lack of a sense of direction. "The hangar for the high grade Knightmare Frames," she told him, "we'tre going to steal one."

"Won't we be shot once we reach Britannian forces?" Odysseus worried.

"I'll use your security code once we get near them," Dorothea told him patiently, "and a chance of being shot is better than the certainty."

'Won't that cause the Chinese forces to try to kill us?' Odysseus wondered. He didn't say that and just nodded, "Yes ma'am."

As they hurried along, the halls were strangely quiet. Almost suspiciously so.

"Where IS everyone?" Odysseus had to ask.

"I ordered your guards to attempt a breakout on the eastern wing," Dorothea said smugly, "with a body double for you."

"Won't they all die...?" Odysseus asked. He felt a faint twinge of guilt over all those men dying needlessly for him.

"Gladly for the Empire," Dorothea reminded him.

"Right," Odysseus sighed, "let's go."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Back in Area 11, the newly formed 'Irregulars' were watching the conflict eagerly. In between classes of course...

"Miss Milly, where is Miss Nunnally? I wanted to ask her something," Alice asked.

Milly Ashford looked at the shorter blonde with amusement. "Didn't you know, Nunnelly is off competing in a chess tournament."

"Huh?" Alice blinked.

"She had special permission from the school," Milly added.

Alice nodded, "I see. Too bad."

"Are you busy? I noticed you haven't signed up for a club yet," Milly asked thoughtfully.

Unaware of any danger she was in, Alice answered, "No, not busy. Why?"

Five minutes later she was in the Student Council room, and was a new member.

"HOW...?" Alice demanded.

"It kind of just happens," Nina said apologetically. "Welcome aboard?"

"Welcome," Rivals agreed. "If it helps, the wotrk's not TOO hard."

Suzaku walked in, the tall young man blinked as he saw her. "Ah, a new face. Did Milly kidnap someone again?" he asked.

"YES. Argh," Alice made a face.

"Well, at least the school will stop bugging you about club activities," Suzaku noted. "And there are some perks."

"Oh?" Alice asked.

"Friday pizza night? CC organized it," Nina offered wryly.

Meanwhile, Alessandra had survived the horrors of a STAFF MEETING.

"Your first week went well," Lord Ashford congradulated her.

"Thank you, sir," Alessandra said stiffly. GOD she wished the old letch would stop trying to look down her top...

"We usually do friday drink, you're welcome to come," the old coot added.

"I have a previous appointment," Alessandra politely refused, and he left her alone.

Cecile Croomy, who was there representing Camelot lab, came up to her with a wry smile. "If it helps, he only looks," she noted.

"Oh?" Alessandra had to ask.

"His wife has him in an iron pre-nuptual agreement," Cecile noted, amused, "if he so much as TOUCHES another woman, she can take him for all he's worth."

"Ha!" Alessandra laughed.

"So yes, if you want to come, other that the other horndog teachers, it's safe," Cecile told her. "There's sadly a couple guys always out to get laid."

"I'll think I'll pass," Alessandra told her, "but thank you."

In another part of the Academy...

"We ALL have to do Club Activities?!"

Dalque, Lucretia and Sancia were all walking together after classed had let out, discussing the situation they found themselkves in.

"I thought we were just here because it's conventient to the military base and Camelot Labs?" Dalque demanded, annoyed. The young woman was basically kind of lazy, so really did NOT want to do all this extra...

"Well, we still have to pass as regular students," Sancia sighed.

The shy, quiet Lucretia nodded, "We'll just have to make the best of it."

"Urgh," Dalque groaned.

Making things worse, they had nearly been mobbed by other students asking them to join various clubs. Budgets were based on membership, so four new kids were instantly scouted.

"Alice was sort of drafted by the student council," Lucretia added.

"That sounds like WAY too much work," Dalque agreed.

"Uh, hi," an attractive girl with VERY long orange/brown hair came up and said, "I'm Shirley Fenette, we're classmates..."

"Uh huh?" Dalque asked dubiously.

"I'm recruiting for the swim club...," Shirley said apologetically, clearly having heard some of their conversation.

Sancia looked faintly intrigued, "That... doesn't sound too bad."

"REALLY?" Dalque looked at her fellow pilot in annoyance.

"Well, we have to do SOME club," Sancia defended herself.

Lucretia quietly resolved to look for a Library club, or something...

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

There was always a lag on recieving battlefield data, Prince Schneizel knew as he studied the reports coming in.

Schneizel was in Europe, quietly working on diplomatic efforts. Britannia was attempting to convince politicians to covertly side with them, in exchange for noble titles etc etc. Of course most of them didn't know they were more likely just to end up shot, once everything played out. A turncoat couldn't be trusted, after all.

The war was grinding onward. The Chinese were 'winning' certain battles, but with unsustainable losses in men and Knightmare Frames. The war would soon grind to a halt.

The problem Britannia had was that they could only commit limited forces to the battle. Any huge troop movement would risk reducing forces in the Areas enough to allow a rebellion. And there were Areas, still, where that was very much a possibility.

Schneizel made a mental note to suggest to Father programs to improve and develop some of the longer seized Areas. They HAD to get them subdued, for the long term survival of the Empire. Of course, at times he wondered if 'long term survival' was really Father's objective.

Schneizel shook off that disturbing thought.

"New updates on the conflict, sir," his aide returned with freshly printed faxes.

"Thank you," Schneizel took the papers. "No news from Odysseus?" he checked.

"No, but we weren't expecting it," he noted.

Schneizel felt a twinge of guilt over effectively writing his brother off. On the other hand, their family had done it before. Poor Nunnally. He scanned the documents, then blinked.

"Someone raided the Chinese capital?!"

To be continued...

Notes: Catching up on various side characters.