To the guest, I'm just going to point out that Leos is currently a "rookie" by Raven standards, who got lucky that he managed to loot a Gloucester. Given that this story is set a few months before Code Geass proper, Leos' KMF it's as elite as one can get, at least until he gets smacked around by Lancelot or something...
Now with that out of the way, let's go.
It feels odd.
It's been three days since Leos Klein broke down the strike at Kawasaki Port, not as a soldier of the United Republic of Europia, but as mercenary paid by an old plutocrat. The calendar said it was in the
How odd.
Leos looked at the TV he bought with some of the money he got. As expected, it was mostly insipid bread and circus to keep their commoners in line. Still, it didn't change that sometimes that was what one needed to forget about the world for a few hours.
It feels odd.
Did he feel bad for those strikers? Honestly, no. Those fools would have made things worse for their families should the Britannians arrived before him. It didn't change the fact that Kirihara did it mostly to cover his own old arse.
Yet, it still feels odd.
Leos went back at his laptop, and he finally received a pair of mails from the Nest. One informing him that that the repairs for Annihilator were done, and that the installation of the Sattel Waffen Missile Launchers he bought was underway.
As much as he despised the Glaston Knights and all the other lapdogs of Cornelia, he knew he had to bring Annihilator up to date as soon as possible, and that meant getting the parts of their weaponry he felt comfortable with.
Which didn't help dealing with the oddness.
His mind made, Leos decided to close his laptop, put it in a safe place and go to the abandoned tunnels, where Annihilator was waiting for him.
Perhaps a new sortie was what would make the oddness go away.
Blockade to Progress
Reward: 350000 £
Requester: Purist Faction
Thanks to the diligent work of our forces, Viceroy Clovis la Britannia has allowed us to build an outpost in Narita.
Unfortunately, some Eleven terrorists refuse to leave the assigned area, and they have taken up arms at the bridge intersection of the Marianne highway. Their demands are outrageous and unreasonable, so they must be punished for their foolishness. You shall be the one who delivers that punishment.
Normally we would do it ourselves, but we want to see in which side of history the newest hired guns of Area 11 stands.
The local racist snobs were already asking him to do their work for them. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't the only job available and he was getting short on money already.
Leos was seated inside Annihilator, usure if he should accept it. Sure, for one part, it was just clean up a highway of angry rioters. For the other part, in the three days he's researched a bit about the big players Ed warned him about, and the latter was correct in a way. Leos wanted nothing to do with the Purebloods beyond them as target practices.
He was mulling bout that dilemma when his cellphone sounded. "Who's it?"
"Problems in paradise?" a familiar voice answered.
"Lana?!" Leos sputtered. "How did you get this number?"
"The Nest is far reaching." Lana sounded smug about it. "Don't worry about the Britannians hearing us. It's insurgency 101 to know how to make your phone calls untraceable, and even the smallest cells here do it, especially with an incompetent ruler like Clovis."
Leos knew things were far from ideal in Area 11, but Lana putted a picture of a bomb waiting to go off. "Well, since you're here, I'm a bit of a pickle."
"It's about the missions available?"
"Yeah. And it's one mission, by the Purists."
"And?"
"And? I'm not exactly fond of that lot."
"So what? Are they paying you kill a Japanese orphanage?"
"Just wreck some rioters in a highway…"
"See? Nothing too grand nor immoral because you're not important enough to be trusted with that." Lana said in a cheeky tone.
"Hey! I have a Gloucester."
"A looted Gloucester that lacked all its weaponry except the rifle and the Slash Harkens. That you're piloting it wrong, by the way."
"Piloting it wrong?" Leos was shocked. "How?"
"The Gloucester is designed to let the nobles and royals who aren't afraid of their own shadows jump at the hottest spots of the battlefield, and stab and slash anyone who disagrees with their Manifest Destiny." Lana dictated. "You installing that retractable Sword was a step in the right direction, but you're not impressing any Knight of the Round any time soon."
"I'm not letting Charlie's personal dogs dictate what I can put or not to my Knightmare," Leos said. "I will try to improve my abilities in melee in the simulators though, it's part of the reason I didn't steal a Panzer-Hummel and called it a day."
"Good for you, it doesn't change you might be end poor for the rest of the month."
"Fine, I'll take the job." Leos finally relented. "At least it may convince others I'm the real deal." And keep him away from the Purebloods.
"That's my boy."
The Marianne highway was a place that allowed an easy connection between Narita and the other main cities of what was once the Chiba Prefecture before Britannia's arrival. The state of the roads boasted of the best resistance the Britannian technology could give.
It also tore its way among a natural forest cherished by the Japanese population, forever tainting its ecosystem, but since when Viceroy Clovis la Britannia gave a damn about what the Elevens thought?
"Inspector, can I ask a question?" a constable, who was among those forces blocking one of the four exits of the intersection, wanted to clear a doubt that has been nagging him since he arrived.
"Go on." Despite having arrived with his Knightpolice KMF, Inspector Daniel Simpson was outside it, passing time with the rookies he was assigned to watch over. A chat wouldn't be that bad to kill time.
"Who is this Marianne this highway is named after?" oh well, it wasn't another question about why the Elevens were inferior some rookies tend to ask.
"Ever heard of the Flash? And I'm not speaking about the Superhero from the Homeland comics."
"No, sir." As he expected.
"How about the Commoner Empress?" That got the boys murmuring. "You see, our Viceroy was close with Marianne vi Britannia, who was considered one of the best KMF pilots from the earliest generations, she's so skillful that none of the current Knights of the Round managed to defeat her."
"If she's that good, then why I didn't hear about her before?" asked another constable.
"Because she was murdered by terrorists, months before the invasion." God knows how they managed to get inside the safest parts of Pendragon. "Her children weren't as strong as her and were sent here as proof of good faith from our Emperor, but the Eleven government abused of their position, so we taught them a lesson." That got cheers from his men. "Sadly, when they couldn't touch our troops, they harmed our countrymen. I lost family here, and they were just commoners. What do you think the Elevens did at Marianne's children once they got their hands on them?" the constables grimaced in sympathy. "It's said the proofs of their deaths are banned for anyone who isn't royalty, just because on how savage they were."
The photos were also available in a forbidden website called Voices of War, a group of nutjobs who loves reporting about conflicts all over the world. Its contents about it will haunt him for the rest of his days.
"Inspector," one of his junior KMF pilots interrupted. "There's an unidentified KMF getting close."
They all saw a blue Knightmare hanging from a pair of cables, coming from a helicopter getting closer at the blockade. Once they were around a hundred meters away, the helicopter unhooked the KMF and dropped into the street.
"What the hell is a Gloucester doing here?" asked the bewildered constable. "Is the Goddess of Victory here?"
"Area 11 is not that bad yet." Simpson responded. "If it's a Raven, then I have a bad feeling about why he's here."
As Simpson returned at his KMF, another Knightpolice put itself in front of blue Gloucester. "Halt, estate your name and purpose."
"Raven Leos Klein. I was hired to clean the highway of Eleven terrorists." The pilot said, in a tone that identified him as former military.
"Did your client gave you that Gloucester?" the Knightpolice pilot accused at the pilot of the most advanced Knightmare of the entire Area.
"Negative, how I got it is none of your business." The Britannian pilot was taken aback, judging by how his KMF step back at the declaration.
"Hey Johnson, stop bothering the Raven and let him pass." Another Knightpolice pilot stopped his partner of starting a fight.
'If a Raven it's here, then the Chief superintendent's worries must be well founded after all.' Simpson thought. "Very well Raven. You're authorized to enter the zone and reduce the terrorist threat as you see fit."
The blue KMF nodded and went in direction of the center of the bridge intersection, were the Eleven rebels were entrenched. Suddenly, an alarm call was heard inside the KMF system.
"Inspector!" the call shouted. "Prepare your men, we're bei-bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!" and the signal was lost. Simpsons then looked at the center of the elevated intersection and saw how the terrorists almost caught the Raven by blowing themselves up into a grand explosion. Simpson activated a silent signal to alert the army. But now, he had to ensure his boys' survival.
"Police of Narita! Prepare for ambush!"
"HEIKA BANZAI!" And all hell broke loose.
A large group of angry Japanese men in military uniforms came out of the woods surrounding the highway, accompanied by old APCs, Tanks and KMF Burais, all with the intent to kill him and the cops. Leos managed to make Annihilator get up as a trio of Burais jumped at his position and fired at him. Leos replies with a salvo of missiles that destroys two of them. Then he fires the harkens to get close at the last KMF, which he cleaves in two with the forearm blade. He jumped away as sounds of what was definitely rocket artillery went raining into his position.
"Hostiles identified, they're the JLF." Lana informed. "By the binds of the contract, you should eliminate them all, but I won't hold it if you decide to evacuate."
"I suppose I can't just leg it." Leos said as he avoided the missiles coming from the Burais still below the bridges. "Besides, I have to kill enough to open an exit in the first place."
"Raven, if you can hear me, it would be great if you can support my lads." the leader of the police forces called. "Also, can you please try to not destroy the bridge in the process?"
"Just tell me where to go."
"My men found a group of artillery trucks hidden between the woods in the northwest. Crush it!"
"On it!" Leos made Annihilator jump down the bridge, landing above a Burai and crushing it. He rolled into the woods, following the coordinates given by Lana. He was welcomed by a trio of Burais jumping at him with katanas, forcing Annihilator to duck and fire the slash harkens to leave them behind, then turned around and fired another salvo of missiles that struck right in the cockpits of two KMFs, killing their pilots.
"Mercenary pig!" the last Burai pulled out its Assault Rifle and fired something from an under barrel that Leos' own lacked. That something it Annihilator right in the chest, exploding.
"Grenade Launcher?!" Leos shouted as Annihilator was pushed back, almost falling down. "How do they have those when the Brits don't?!"
"Don't get killed and I'll ask Ed about it." Lana replied. Leos raises his rifle and fires back at the Burai, destroying it in a pair of bursts. Annihilator then returns to the direction forwards the artillery, which happened to be above a 'small' hill hidden between the forest.
"Maybe I'm have to buy a 3D map too." Annihilator jumps up the hill, surprising the crew of the artillery trucks. Leos unleash the forearm blade and slashes apart the trucks, leaving the bits left inoperative.
"Artillery down. What's next?"
"The blockade at the North is being overrun, help them!" Annihilator rolled away from the wreckage, and it didn't take much to arrive at the objective.
Two Knightpolice KMFs and a trio of armed vehicles were holding the line against a trio of Burais and a quite share of infantry, who were ignoring Annihilator sliding right behind them, which their pilots paid with finding themselves vivisected with a giant sword from behind. The Knightpolice KMFs used this breath to fire their machine guns at the JLF infantry, forcing the Japanese to retreat.
"Blockade relieved, but they can't keep it anymore." Leos called. Despite the arrival, the KMFs and the vehicles were heavily damaged.
"The enemy is holding a high position at the ruined bridges, kick them out!"
"Aye, aye." Leos rolled back to the center, where indeed a handful of Burais KMFs and infantry set up positions in the upper roads, already firing at him with grenades, rockets, and gunfire. He fires the Slash Harken at the pillars of the bridge to arrive at the bottom
"He's below us!" one of the JLF pilots shouts, but it was too late, because Leos jumped upwards with the harken, catching the Japanese rebels by surprise with a barrage of fire and missiles that demolished them all.
"Bridge liberated." Leos informed, somewhat amazed at what he did.
"Good." The Inspector then called his men. "Police of Narita! Regroup at the center of the highway! We'll hold until reinforcements arrive!"
Leos' radar noted that the remaining police forces were following the Inspector's orders, and that the JLF were hot in their tracks.
"I suggest that you aid them." Lana said, and Leos followed suit to the closest group, which was being bombarded with more Grenade Launchers. Annihilator relived them by firing a salvo of missiles at the JLF, giving the retreating Brits enough time to get away for the angry rebels.
The bad news was that those angry rebels were after Leos.
The radar counted around five pissed off Burais pursuing him without relent, firing at him everything they got, while howling war cries at him.
Despite the obvious technological difference, Annihilator just couldn't shake them off his back, and a lucky grenade hit in his left shoulder pushed him face first into the street.
"Any last words, mercenary dog?" said one of the Japanese pilots. And before Leos could reply, a group of Sutherlands painted purple with red jumped out of the forest, landing right between Annihilator and the JLF, and opened fire at the later, turning them into fiery scrap.
"Margrave Jeremiah Gottwald coming to the rescue!" a new transmission confirmed the identity of the reinforcements. "We won't allow Eleven scum murder more citizens!"
"Of course the Purebloods arrive just now, this is free PR points for them." Lana scoffed, and Leos agreed. "Still, help is help. Let's drive back the JLF."
With a shout of the Margrave, the Sutherlands charged at the next row of Burais, successfully avoiding the barrages of gunfire and grenades fired from the Japanese KMFs and destroying the insurgents with their Stun Tonfas.
As much as he wanted to stay back, Leos couldn't get away from the battle, as a pair of swordmen Burais managed to get pass the Purist line, going right at him as they shouted what he felt were Japanese obscenities.
Annihilator activated its forearm sword, then fired the rifle at one Burai right in the head while the sword blocked the other's katana. Leos made his KMF kick at the knee of the Burai, the fire at the center mass, destroying it.
Leos noticed another pair of Burai KMFs trying to overpower a Knightpolice. Leos fired the Slash Harken at them, and the distraction allowed the Knightpolice to eliminate one of them, while Leos shoots at the other.
The other police forces managed to set up in the intersection bridges and laid support fire against the JLF, while Leos and the Purebloods cut apart the last Burais still operative.
The JLF knew that the battle was lost, so their remaining troops went into tactical withdraw, hiding back into the forest. The Purists didn't pursue them further.
"Victory belongs to the pure! All Hail Britannia!" Gottwald's Sutherland raised its sword to the air.
"All Hail Britannia!" the other Pureblood's Knightmares followed suit with their own weapons.
"All targets destroyed. Let's hope the Purebloods pay you extra for this mess." Lana informed. Leos decided to wait for evac near the police forces. They didn't seem as insufferable as the Purist soldiers.
Once he returned at his apartment, Leos looked at the TV, just for the chance to see what the Brits were going to say about the skirmish of the Marianne highway. Once the news ended, he was in a foul mood.
Not recognizing the intervention of a Raven was ok. Making death threats at the JLF and their collaborators was understandable. What made him angry was Clovis himself downplaying the work of the police in surviving the JLF's ambush, while fellating the Purists' ego in the same sentences.
He shut off the TV and went to his laptop, to see if the Nest had something to say about this. At least Ed and someone else wanted to share some words with him.
From: Ed Weisz
Re: OP "Blockade to Progress" AAR
As already you could guess, the rioters were collaborators of the JLF all along, which means that the administration of Narita will be in the middle of a purge. The small Japanese/Honorary Britannian part of it, that is.
And as you probably know, you and the Narita Britannian Police Force were meant to be bait for the JLF, allowing the Purebloods to jump in and 'save the day'. From what I'm hearing in my TV, it's mostly a success.
That said, any low-ranking Raven would have done the trick, as Lana told me that the job posted was open for all the rookies and scrubs of Area 11. Apparently, they didn't expect someone with a Gloucester answer their call (You're currently one of the few with that KMF model in Area 11).
Still, your success means that the Britannian authorities in general have a better opinion of you, which means better paying jobs and more importantly, it gives them less reasons to put a bounty on your head.
See you later.
-Ed Weisz
"At least it wasn't a total waste of time." Leos murmured. The mail also had Ed's number to call him in case he wanted to meet in person. He decided he would do so tomorrow, then he went to the second mail.
From: Tokyo Britannian Police Force
Re: Thanks
Our colleagues from the Narita department told us about the incident at the Marianne Highway, especially your part in their victory.
Sadly, it has been a common occurrence the last months in that the Purist Faction arrives after we have taken a serious hit by terrorist forces to improve their position among the Viceroy's favored, so don't think this problem is exclusively yours.
Whatever because of pride, courage or professionalism, your actions today ensured many officers came back to their families safe and sound.
We soon will have some assignments we believe a Raven like you can do. Unlike with the Purebloods, we'll ensure that no nasty surprises catch you unaware if we can help it.
We'll be on touch.
-Tokyo Britannian Police Force
"A friend of the bobbies. Who would have though?" Leos commented. He closed the laptop and was preparing for bed when his landline phone sounded.
"Told you it was fine." It was Lana. Did that chick ever sleep?
"Your definition of fine seems to be different than mine. Try to be get shot by the largest insurrectional force of the country in your second mission."
"You mean the same insurrectional force that hasn't done anything worthwhile in the last years? And technically, this isn't your first mission as KMF pilot, even as a Raven."
"Not the point, woman…"
"I can only say: welcome to Britannian politics. Mercs and mooks like the policemen are useful pawns, but ultimately expendable in the battle to ensure the highest position of power possible, even the throne if your last name is 'whatever Britannia'."
"Charlie's Social Darwinism on action, right?" Not that it was that different from the EU in general.
"Don't blame St. Darwin for the corruption Herbert Spencer and the other Charles did to his writings." Lana chided. "It was just nature being the judge of a pass-fail test, not that some God suddenly said that a certain group of primates are worthier than others because they're killers."
Leos was muted by the sheer surprise.
"Sorry Leos," Lana calmed down, Leos could hear some breathing from the other side. "It just there's something infuriating about how people twist the words of others into something foul. I understand the place that lies has in our world, but the way Britannia made it into a survival mechanism at best, it would make me want to go to Pendragon and stab emperor Charles myself if I didn't know why it's a bad idea for now."
"Too many power-hungry kids." Leos muttered. "Hey, at least we can agree Charles zi Britannia and his empire can eat a bunch of dicks."
"As long he's not into that…" Lana said between laughs. "Well, it was entertaining talking to you. Bye Leos." Then she cut the call before Leos say more.
"Alright. Sleep now, then talk to Ed tomorrow." Then he went to sleep.
And done. Don't expect updates this soon. I just happened to write some snippets beforehand.
That said, please read and review.