There wasn't much difference between members of the royal family and the nobles they viewed as their peers, but there were some differences and in this situation, it did tell. Since Sergeant Michael informed them of the enemy, Lelouch had been on his toes, busy working on possible scenarios, he wasn't consulting with anyone. Even the delightful Villetta Nu was just standing there with him, answering a couple of questions then and there. Her opinion was not being asked, but everyone knew who was in charge here. The prince didn't look like he was lost. He seemed like he has been doing this since growing up. Albert hadn't thought that there would be this quick disciplined reaction to the news of EU forces marching towards the borders.
Perhaps this made the major difference with some nobles. The last noble who had been his commander was quite honestly an idiot. The man hid it well by surrounding himself with smart generals who would tell him his options. When the situation was bad, they never showed much leadership other than cowardice. They were an arrogant bunch, the same could be said for the Imperials, but when you had an emperor who did not tolerate failure, there was no room for cowardice. The Britannia handbook stated that the princes had to be show their superiority because they were born to a superior line.
Albert had been impressed with Lelouch. He had reacted far faster than him and he did not show cowardice. It was apparent that the prince was a dare devil. This whole reason they were here just meant that the prince wasn't someone who was afraid to lift the first weapon. He was even here with them and hadn't mentioned of returning to their base of operations at the mention of overwhelming forces coming towards them.
"How long until Lord Jeremiah arrives?" Albert asked Lelouch.
It took a couple of moments for Lelouch to respond to the question. "Given our location, not until tomorrow morning," the eleventh prince responded in a calm tone. "EU forces are not close to making contact with us at the current pace they are travelling time, so we have time."
"They still don't know we are here," Albert said. "This could be a good thing, right?"
Lelouch frowned slightly at the thought. "I'm not sure they don't know we are here. Given their strength and current trajectory, it is safe to assume that they know there were enemies around this side. They most likely don't know the strength, but they know," he said.
Perhaps he was just being a cynic but Lelouch suspected that some people within Portugal had seen this happening and informed the EU. Even if they didn't see everything at first, they must have seen some signs and sent a message. Within the European Union, the member states keep their identity but the moment they are taken over by Britannia, they become secondary citizens in their own country. If the government surrendered without a fight, some people within the military wouldn't be pleased with it and they would go against the wishes of the government. It was a likely scenario.
Albert shared Lelouch's frown but it wasn't him who responded, it was Villetta. "Are you thinking that some people within Portugal told them this?" she asked.
Lelouch nodded. "It seems likely to be the case," he said before falling silent for a moment before speaking again. "Major Frederic should come back with something that confirms this."
"Should we worry about them?" Albert asked. "If there are enemy forces within the towns, we can expect to be attacked from behind. That group didn't take any knightmare frames with them, if they are attacked, it will be dangerous," he said.
"We cannot afford to worry about them, Major," Lelouch said in a stern tone. "We already have a bigger problem that we face and if we don't focus on it, we won't make it alive. Schneizel would not have sent us in if there was a bigger army within. If he missed something, it shouldn't be anything that could threaten our battalion. I have left enough frames in our base to protect it," he said.
Albert nodded. They certainly had a much bigger problem than Major Frederic. Their problem was in the size of two armed units that could crush them. But he was not afraid. The moment Lelouch refused to think of running away, one thing became certain, they were going to engage the enemy and they would either die trying or actually win. There was no other way. The prince didn't seem to have any thought of running away. Perhaps it was also the pride and the arrogance involved. No sane person would think of taking an enemy that trumped them in numbers 3 to 1. Only an insane person would actually think of running after them first.
"We will camp here for the night and form a parameter… as usual there will be night-watch duties but we have to be vigilant this time around. When Jeremiah arrives we will discuss the way forward and how we get the enemy to move towards us. The Sergeant should have more information for us by then," Lelouch said. "Relay this to everyone."
"Yes, sire," Albert said before tapping into the linked com line.
Villetta faced Lelouch for a moment, studying his body language. She hadn't been around him a lot but she could tell although he looked fine, he was obviously thinking deep about the situation. Well, he was facing the reality that he could possibly die in this situation. But if Villetta was able to live to see another day, she was going to follow the eleventh until she retires of old age.
"Did Prince Schneizel predict this kind of situation?" Villetta asked in a quiet tone. She didn't want the others to hear.
Lelouch shook his head. "We moved the fleet into Northern Africa so openly because we wanted the EU to focus there. Forces were secretly moved to this side because we did not want the EU to know of our presence here. The EU should have been only focused on the Portuguese forces stationed along the north side of the borders. Our role was to ensure that if there were another small force that would try to enter this side, we would be able to cover the borders and ensure that they did not cross into Portugal."
"But with their movements, to this side and to the southern side of the border, they know something," Villetta said with a frown on her lips.
"Yes," Lelouch said without emotion. "It is going to be a difficult battle. I didn't expect things to move so quickly. And we cannot leave the borders because if we leave, the EU will quickly cross through the borders," he said before failing silent to mull over his thoughts. "I really wasn't expecting this much of a challenge."
Villetta figured that much. "Can we get reinforcements from the Island?"
Lelouch shook his head "There isn't much within the Island," he said. "Cornelia probably took most of the forces with her. They could not have moved many soldiers into the island without alerting the EU. If reinforcements are going to come, it is the fleet coming from Britannia."
Villetta fell silent for a couple of moments before finally speaking. "You still think we are going to win," it was not a question but a statement.
"Yes," Lelouch said with confidence. He then smirked. "We are not going to engage them in a head on fight. We will die if we do that. Tactics to perform miracles will take us through this situation. But I will still need something to be delivered by Schneizel. I saw it while looking at the catalogue of weapons they have on the island. As soon as we head back to the base, I will talk to him about it."
Otherwise, there would be no way out of the situation.
With Major Frederic
Perhaps he had been a bit too quick to judge but Prince Lelouch had all the right instincts. Frederic would not have thought of something like this if he had been in command and he would have certainly not ordered men to look into it. But the Prince was careful about looking at his back. You could never know what was happening who would stab you. Perhaps he learned this through the treacherous game that despicable members of the upper class play. If you were not careful, you were going to find yourself bleeding with a deep wound from the back.
The Major stood up as he heard a knock on the door to the room he occupied. He walked towards the window and peeked through it. When he could not see anyone, he peeked through the key hole. He knocked once the people outside knocked twice. He slowly opened the door with a gun in hand. He quickly put it away when his men walked in before shutting the door.
They were nervous. He could not blame them. The moment he arrived in this town, it had been known they were Brittanians. It hadn't taken long for them to discover that they were not loved. But they had a mission and despite the apparent contempt, no one had done anything against them.
"You look unsettled," he said.
"We need to get out of here," one of the soldiers said in a stern tone. "We can't spend the night here."
"What?"
"One of the towns people told us this. She was very serious when she said. If we don't leave, we will be killed." Another soldier responded.
"Who is the enemy? Do they have frames? How many are they?"
"We don't know their numbers but from what we gathered, there people here know that there are Britannian soldiers camped close to the borders. The government did everything to purge rebels before they did anything. What remains now is nothing but remnants that don't have the force to do anything."
"But they have intelligence," Frederic said. "We will leave at dawn. We don't want to alert people when we leave and we have to ensure that we are not followed. For now, we don't go out."
"Shouldn't we contact command center?"
"We will do it outside of this town," Frederic said. "I don't want to have our frequency tapped in by EU spies."
This was a dangerous situation. They should have brought their frames with them. If they had done so, things would have been much simpler for them in their escape. It would not be easy. Thinking of this, he frowned. "Alex," he called. "You should go wait in the truck. We don't know if it is safe or not. If someone attempts anything, you can deal with it. We don't want any nasty surprises waiting for us… when we want to leave."
The Following Morning
It was early morning when Jeremiah finally arrived in a Gloucester. They had about 15 of them. This was Cornelia's thing, but they were much of an improvement compared to the Sutherlands. And he needed something to break through the EU's frames. In total, Jeremiah had brought 65 frames with him. Added to the ones they already head, it was a good number. But not all of them would be fighting. He had only brought this as an emergency in case things didn't fall according to plan. He did need to hold the enemy at bay for a couple of days for him to think about things, and while Cornelia completes here mission.
"My Lord," Jeremiah looked tired as he greeted Lelouch. He looked as if he hadn't slept at all. "What is the situation?"
"Very bad," Lelouch said with a smile.
Jeremiah looked curious for a moment, wondering why the prince would say the situation was bad but still smile. He shook his head, that wasn't a happy smile.
"We have an estimated number of 270 enemy frames along the way, Jeremiah. And we have to halt them."
Jeremiah turned to face both Albert and Villetta whom were sitting beside the black haired prince: this was bad. He hadn't thought that things would be like this. Had Cornelia known that things were like this, she would have promised to be here at any moment and then ordered Lelouch to keep his distance. Jeremiah was glad that this was happening after he had spoken to her. "That is a lot of frames to destroy," he said with a whistle.
"Tell me about it," Albert said, there was a hint of sarcasm in his tone. "It is going to be shock to the men to learn this. I'm quite certain they will be trembling thinking they are going to die," he said with a small smile on his lips. A soldier afraid of death, he mused, it was amusing. A soldier took the job knowing that there were high chances of death. When you went for war, you were never certain you were going to return. Death was part of the job.
"The latest report from Sergeant Michael is as had said last night, they are going towards different directions, and there are indeed two units. So this works better for us. The unit with close to 140 frames is heading towards south, and the rest are coming towards us. We will wait until there is a good distance between the two units before making our move on the small unit," Lelouch started with the briefing.
"The idea of coming here is looking all the more to have been beneficial," Albert said. "Had we not realized this, we would have been aware of them a little too late…" he shook his head. "What is our move?"
Lelouch smiled. "We are going to attack them," he said calmly.
The three stared at him but it was Villetta who spoke. "I thought you said we couldn't engage them head on," she said.
"We can't get involved in a drawn out battle with them, we don't have the frames," Lelouch said with a shake of his head. "We are not going to attack them while they are wide awake. That would be disastrous. The frames the EU is using are primarily for long range battles. If we charge head on, an escape would be difficult unless we are in the middle of a forest. But if that is the case, we also cannot move freely."
"Are we going to do a night attack?"
"Early morning," Lelouch said. "We will attack them while they are camping. They don't think we have already come across this side. We are not even sure if they know of our presence. Even if they know, they won't be expecting an attack in their own territory. 4am, we hit them and escape. A small force is doing this, and they send a small unit to give chase. If the unit is less than 100 frames, we form three units and ambush them in the woods. If they are more than that, we lead them into one of the traps we put."
"An ambush would work since the will be at an advantage of fighting them in close combat," Albert said with a nod. "But why do I feel like the five frames we leave are a major twist in them?" he asked curiously.
Lelouch smiled. "Not this time," he said. "That is just a sacrifice I am willing to make for the next play. I could try to play the same trick twice but I don't want to risk it…" He drew on the ground with a stick and point where the EU forces were coming from, their location and the location of their traps. "We are going to move to this direction and camp there until it is enough. If they move throughout this day, they should have covered enough distance between the two units. For now, just make sure that the energy filters are fully charged."
"How are we going to attack?"
"Villetta and I will remain hidden with 40 frames, for backup. And we will be offering long range support." Lelouch said. "You and Jeremiah are going to boldly charge into the enemy camp, before shouting, there are too many of them, five pilots will head in first, acting as shields. They will then eject and you will throw then retreat. While you are retreating, we will cover you."
"Then we run towards one of the traps," Albert said. "If they don't follow?"
"They cannot afford not to follow us," Lelouch said. "This is what you call a cowardly attack and a general will be thinking that we are too afraid to face them head on and decide to chase after us. He will send people to crush us," the prince said.
"These all depends on whether they take the bait," Villetta said with a stare.
"Yes," Lelouch said. "You will pilot the Sutherlands. In the next battle, you will use the Gloucester. I don't want to lose any of them now since they are currently our best frames." He then stood up. "Major Albert, gather the men. I have a message to give them."
Albert left without saying anything.
Jeremiah stared at Lelouch. "This is just one crazy plan, you Highness," the man said with a shake of his head. He then grinned. "But you wouldn't be doing this if you didn't think we could succeed, right?"
Lelouch did not grace the question with a response; he climbed atop of his knightmare frame and waited for the men to gather. The others had obviously told them about their enemy. He could see how subdued they were. Yes, this was one of those situations that looked like just one of moments you think your superiors have sent you to die.
"When I first appeared before you, some of you probably thought that I was just a spoiled prince. I am a member of the Imperial Family, after all. When you were just told that we had an overwhelming number of enemies to fight, you probably thought, isn't he the vi Britannia who was thought to dead? The vi Britannia who is loathed by the aristocracy for being born of a commoner? Yes, I am that vi Britannia." Lelouch started in a stern tone.
It was nothing serious. He wasn't the most loved person within the upper class. Perhaps to the commoners they all looked the same. But those who looked deeper knew. Maybe these men didn't even know that he was loathed but thought because he was a prince, everything came easy. Lelouch snorted at the thought – nothing ever came easy. He had to fight for everything. Even within his family, it was a war zone. They smiled in the public to avoid scrutiny but there was no love. Some members actually thought of just killing each other. No doubt some of his siblings would celebrate his death. No, they were not his siblings – they just shared the same cold hearted father.
"When Britannia invaded Area 11, I was there. I saw the deaths, the destruction with my own eyes. I was very young then, but I understood war then. Machines explode and get destroyed easily. But you spend so much time building them. I survived a battlefield, a war zone. And I will survive now. We will outlive these machines. We will live. We will survive. Our names will be known throughout Britannia, throughout the EU. We did not come here to die. I did not come here to die. I could have simply stayed in Pendragon, enjoyed the comforts of being an imperial Prince but I am here. I could have fled and to a save zone when we were told that the enemy is large, but I am here.
"I am going to lead you into battle. We are not going to commit suicide. I ask you, all of you, believe in me! Believe in your skills. Believe in Britannia. Believe that we will win." Lelouch created a fist, holding tightly. "The enemy is indeed large and if we are not careful, we will get crushed. But I did not survive the war in Area 11 to come and die here. I came here to win. But victory will only come if you obey me; If you listen to my commands." He smiled, holding out both hands. "If you believe, I will show you miracles."
Hours Later
There was little light, and they were moving like ghosts. They had already met Sergeant Michael who by now was no longer piloting a knightmare frame. He had abandoned it because it was too risky. If the enemy had sent scouts, they could have picked up his signal. And alerted them of his presence. It was a risky job as he had nothing but two bags, one for communication and another for supplies. If he got caught, he would be crushed. But his job was an important one that he needed to do. He had to keep an eye on things.
The Sergeant watched the enemy camp. The knightmare frames were off, only a handful were on stand-by. The mobile command center had its lights out. People in there were probably sleeping. Soldiers standing in watch were patrolling the perimeter with guns besides them. But they were not too far off the main camp. The camp was large though and the many men were resting with some sharing jokes along a fire without doing their duties.
It was right, this was a sneak attack. It was no longer strategy. In strategy, you fought your enemy fair in a battle. Lelouch wanted to slaughter men who were sleeping. Michael would not say it was wrong. This was war. And if they did not play such underhanded tricks, they were not going to win. It was actually special for the Prince to actually admit that there was no other way they could win aside from such moves. The EU was going be rattled and pissed off. Now, they would no longer sleep in peace, fearing that another attack would come. It was going to be a pitiful experience for them. Even more treacherous if their commander becomes paranoid because of this attack.
The Sergeant left his thoughts when he heard something snapping. He looked from where he laid and saw an armed soldier taking a leak. He hid himself. If he could maneuver quickly, he'd take his knife and slit that man's throat. It would be less one pilot. But he could not move and he did not want to give away his location. For a long minute he held himself motionlessly. Three more passed with the soldier just standing there. And then another two more passed as he disappeared and went back to join the others.
These people's pattern for looking at the perimeter was that they looked around every now and then before going back to take a breather. Another group would take the next lookout. It usually lasted for about 10 minutes. Well, around this time, many of them were already thinking about resting. It was cold around this time of the night. It was no wonder they could not stay away from theirs.
"Lt. Colonel," the Sergeant contacted the prince. "Do you copy?"
"Copy, Sergeant," Lelouch responded from the other side.
"You have about five minutes to move in. They don't appear to be checking out for knightmare frames at this point," the Sergeant said.
Lelouch nodded. "Frames require energy. If used recklessly, they will run out of energy and won't be able to move when they have to," thinking of this, Lelouch just thought of a good plan he could use. Even if he was not able to destroy enemy frames, he could make them useless by destroying the enemy's energy fillers. "Be on stand-by, Sergeant… but in case I don't get back to you, you are still aware of your objective, yes?"
"Yes, sire!"
Lelouch turned towards Jeremiah and Albert's teams. He had his own team ready to fire. They were hiding within the trees, the enemy a distant ahead within a clearing, a stretched line created with no frame positioned behind the other. "Move now. Charge head on and make sure you take out as many as you can!"
Jeremiah grinned. This was not so bad. It wasn't like attacking forces that were prepared for them. In this way, they would hit enemy frames and kill some soldiers the moment they open fire. It was going to be a blood bath. But this was war. He was prepared for this. It wasn't like this was his first time hitting against people anyway.
"Are you ready, Major?" Jeremiah asked Major Albert.
"Ready when you are!"
"Men, let us move," Jeremiah commanded as the frames began to propel themselves through the ground, loaded and ready to fire. They all had chest mounted machine guns. It was going to be chaos. But first thing first, there had to be some explosion.
Jeremiah moved a bit stealthily but with speed.
"Britannian Frames!" Someone shouted in Spanish.
Albert cursed. They had yet to even open fire. "First unit, throw in the grenades!" he shouted.
Five frames spread out and moved ahead of the group. Their objective was the knightmare frames, primarily. The hundreds of them were put in line with many men lying in camps. The first frame threw a Chaos Mine towards the inactive frames, the Second towards the many camps spread through the clearing. The other three just threw them randomly towards the enemy.
It was chaos as the soldiers were awoken by the sound of alarm. But there was no time to get into their frames. The chaos mines ran rampant; they sprayed shrapnel through the unarmed soldiers. The chaos mines that were set off within the frames started hitting, causing multiple of explosions.
When the five Sutherlands made way, Jeremiah took charge. "Open fire!" He roared.
The chest-mounted machine guns started spinning before they started releasing bullets. It rained bullets as over 20 frames started firing randomly towards the enemy lines. The Panzer-Hummels were reined in by heavy fire within seconds.
It didn't take long for the enemy to charge start returning fire. Jeremiah knew it was time when the frame beside him had its gun blasted off. He frowned when another lost its leg.
"Time to retreat before you all lose; those frames still need to see another battle!" Lelouch's voice rang through the radios of all frames in battle.
"Yes, my Lord!"
"My frame is busted!"
"Mine too!"
"Eject from them!" Jeremiah roared as he began to move back. They were starting to receive more heavy fire once more. The margrave cursed loudly when his gun stopped spinning – he was out of bullets.
"Open fire!" Lelouch ordered from his lines. The soldiers did as told. He frowned noting that the EU forces were sending fire back towards them. "Everyone, follow me, don't fall behind or you will die!" Lelouch was already twisting his frame when he said those words.
And then, began their retreat.
The commander of the EU forces looked furious, seeing the scene before him; destroyed frames, many dead soldiers. He had more frames than soldiers! Who was going to pilot the damn frames?!
"Commander."
It took a moment for the man to turn towards the unfortunate soldier. "How many destroyed?"
"About fifty. We are still checking… it could be less…"
"How many soldiers?"
"We are not sure of the numbers… the grenades wounded many…"
"Ready those who can stand. We are going to hunt those Britannian cowards and slaughter all of them!" He ordered. "Britannian cowards! They have never attacked like this! They always charge on to display their superiority!"
"Does this mean, they don't have the numbers?"
"Yes," The commander said. "I want us to be ready to move out in 10 minutes. We need to crush them before they get far away. If we deal a heavy blow, will affect the morale of the Britannian reinforcements."
"Should we contact the Second unit?"
"Of course not!"
With Lelouch
They hadn't stopped for anything except for changing energy fillers. It was dangerous to stop before they were closer to their goal. They were still well within Spain and would play around here, just to give the impression that to the enemy that they were located within the Spanish borders. That would halt their movements a bit. They would not stop moving until they had destroyed them and Lelouch was banking on this. He had truly been glad when Michael sent in a code message saying the EU forces were moving towards them. The men had been thinking that their plan hadn't worked and they would not be able to fight. There was probably well within 90 frames that were still operational and they had to deal with it.
"I thought we were dead when they started opening fire!" A soldier said, stepping out of his frame. He looked relieved. Happy that they had made it. And achieved their goal.
"That was indeed close," another responded calmly.
"We were only able to pull it off because we had the element of surprise," Lelouch said to curb any excitement. "We won't be able to pull off something like this next time around."
"But we managed to destroy many of their frames. It might not be much but we reduced the enemy forces by something," another solider said. "I actually thought we wouldn't make it. I did fear that they would be quick to react," he admitted in a quiet tone.
It was a close call, Lelouch could admit that. "We are just an hour away from the field we have prepared for our enemy. We will begin moving once more in 20 minutes. They are still behind us," he reminded the men. "Gather your breath and we will celebrate victory once we have led them to the graveyard."
"Yes, sire!"
Villetta, Jeremiah and Albert gathered around him. They all looked happy that things were working according to plan. "Well, Lt. Colonel, that went well. We surely delivered some heavy losses not just in their frames but also with the soldiers. The Chaos Mines were quite merciless with unarmed soldiers."
Yes, quite brutal. A blood bath. Lelouch shook his head. It had almost been like an army opening fire on civilians. "That was just the first part and not everything went according to plan." He said.
"What?" Villetta asked in curious tone. The men who ejected from their frames were saved.
"We lost 9 frames. I was only hoping to lose just five. These five four could change things." Lelouch said with a shake of his head. "Sergeant Michael says that there about 90 frames coming our way. We still cannot face them."
"Minus the nine we lost, we only have 75 frames. If we engage them, we will be heavily damaged if we come out of it. Our repair crew is miles away from here. If we suffer heavy losses, we will get slaughtered," Albert said.
"We are still in a difficult position…" Jeremiah muttered.
"But if we destroy the coming group with minimal losses, we it will give confidence to the men and we will be able to destroy the remaining forces," Villetta said before facing Lelouch. "And your words will have value to them. What you say next, they will accept because your strategies have already worked before."
Lelouch smiled. "That is the idea, Villetta," he said. "But we have to navigate through this situation and to be honest; we will likely suffer some losses."
"While it is always good to keep everyone alive, it was always going to be an impossible task given the enemy we face," Jeremiah said to which Albert nodded.
"The men will no doubt be prepared." He said with a nod.
An hour later
"30 minutes away from contact," Jeremiah reported.
Lelouch had many frames stationed on a high ground. The explosives were set on a large clear ground. The frames were offline but weapons were already on position. "Jeremiah, take twenty frames and make contact with the enemy. But don't get too close. Just be close enough to get them to notice you. And then start charging back. Major Albert, you will keep your position from my right, but keep the frames offline to avoid detection. If they detect that there are frames waiting for them, they will know they are being led into a trap."
"Yes, Lord!"
Jeremiah was already in position. He figured this was the situation in which he ends up losing people. There would be some losses. "We will return fire, yes?"
"Of course," Lelouch said. "You have to engage them in fire but keep your distance. The moment you arrive in the field, form a shield and start firing at them. When they push you back, retreat into the hills."
He held the magic button with his right hand. Once all conditions were set, it would be check. His victory.
There was no room for anything less. These men were counting on him to come up with something to lead them into victory – for their survival. And his survival.
Jeremiah looked at the map on his screen for a moment and then checked his energy bar. All was good. There were around 90 frames coming their way. Heavy hitters who looked good on long range fighting. The moment they arrived within enemy fire line, they would be receiving heavy fire. This was dangerous. Much more dangerous than their last job. Well, at least the Sutherlands were much more advanced than Panzer-Hummels.
"Afraid, Lord Jeremiah?" one soldier asked Margrave, who was still. 19 frames were around him, ready to move further on his command.
"Afraid? Don't be ridiculous!" Jeremiah roared.
"Why standing still?"
"Saying my final prayers!" Jeremiah said. He could not afford to say that he was thinking about the situation that was ahead of him.
"I didn't take you for the religious type."
"There are about 90 frames coming our way. We have to be standing in the way and receive heavy fire. All of them will have their bullets aimed at us. Our frames could be full of holes by the time we return here," Jeremiah responded in a serious tone.
"We'll be dead by then," another said without emotion. "Well, our commander sure has some crazy ideas. But if we succeed, we will take out many of them."
Jeremiah closed his eyes for a moment. "Well, if we are going to get blasted, we may as well blast some knightmares ourselves!" The man roared and handled the Sutherland's control. He started speeding towards the enemy.
They travelled for about ten minutes before they started seeing their opponents within their radars. The EU forces were the first to open fire on them. They could see them formation. There were only five in the front. "If they are like this, we can hold our own!" a soldier said through the radio before returning fire while they stopped going forward.
The moment he said those words, two more groups split from the unit, creating three lines. And they pummeled them with heavy bullets, forcing them to start retreating.
"Well shit!"
"You just had to jinx it!"
"Fall back!" Jeremiah ordered as he began to move backwards.
The Sutherland closer to him received a hail of bullets that burst its right hand. Jeremiah was forced to twist around and return in reverse while returning fire. He cursed loudly when the bullets started to him hard. Anymore of this, and he was going end up having to eject from the Sutherland to survive. Well, unless the damn Europeans decide to shoot him in the air.
"You look like you need help." Two Sutherlands flanked both his sides and started firing back at the enemy.
Jeremiah breathed a sigh of relief. He could escape. He focused on this retreating. They managed to the point of contact. They made sure not to step onto the explosives they had buried.
"Form the shield and start returning fire!" Jeremiah shouted. He kneeled in front, his frame was already damaged. They didn't need to lose more frames. Six frames stood side by side and started shooting towards the EU forces that started into descend into what Lelouch had termed as a graveyard.
He was not able to return fire for more than minute as his frame lost its mobility and he was forced to eject. While in air, saw all frames in front bursting, and only three managed to eject safely. But one was shot while in the air. He closed his eyes; that was three comrades lost.
The remaining frames started retreating into the hills in Lelouch order. Once they were in the safe zone. "Prepare to open fore!" Lelouch commanded to the knightmare frames surrounding him. He then grinned evilly. "Thank you for coming, my friends. This was prepared for you!" He pressed the button.
Boom!
The ground burst beneath the EU frames, exploding into a forceful force that tore through many frames, causing some to explode. It was chaos as the EU troops didn't know what hit him. It was about 2/3rds of the enemy forces that were caught within the explosion.
Major Albert didn't waste time in ordering his men to move. He would have loved to marvel at the destruction of the knightmare frames, but there were still more than twenty that were outside of the explosion. "Hit them while they are still confused!"
"Yes Sir!"
And they charged in from the sides.
Lelouch didn't waste time in moving along as well. He didn't want to lose anymore frames than he has already lost. "Move in! They are at a disadvantage in close-combat!"
Major Albert pointed his assault riffle towards the head of the frame in front of him. A bullet went through, hitting the frame. A slash harken from burst out and hit the frame on the shoulder. He pulled it closer to him with and it hit with a rifle were the pilot was located. A bullet went through the cockpit.
He almost cursed when a bullet him on the back. When he twisted around, he found a Gloucester standing on the shoulders on the Panzer-Hummel. An assault rifle aimed right above the cockpit. A couple of bullets were released, before the frame burst into flames.
"You are welcome, Major!" A voice said through the communication line.
The Major did not respond, he wanted to pilot a Gloucester but he would get on it soon.
He twisted around, only to be shot multiple times on the hand holding his assault rifle. The hand was torn off, causing him to move back to a safe distant.
"Don't lose your focus, Major!" It was a warning tone from the Eleventh Prince who was standing behind the frame that had hit him. The Eleventh Prince was armed with two assault rifles and both were pointed at the back of the frame in front of him. Both rifles were fired simultaneous, blowing up the frame before it could twist around. One of the rifles was then dropped to the ground.
"Sorry about that," Albert said turning around to look for an enemy to fight. But he then realized, they'd had over 50 frames razing hell to fewer frames which were not designed for close-combat.
"Major, we did it," a soldier said to Albert. He was already out of his frame.
Albert looked around before responding. "Indeed we have…" he said.
Lelouch looked around with satisfaction. It always looked well when things went according to plan. It has been a week since he came here, and they had managed to claim a huge victory with minimal losses. He did not leave his frame, but remained there. He could not dwell on this. He needed to know which step to take next before getting too excited about victory.
"Today, we have won but it was not clean. We suffered some losses, but we won." Lelouch said to everyone without excitement. "Those who survived, you live to fight another day. To the fellow Britannians we lost, let us thank their service and effort. Because of them, Britannia won. My last order is this battlefield is that you gather the remains of your colleagues. We will make sure they receive proper burial."
After saying those words, Lelouch fell silent before getting out of the cockpit. His three leaders were already close to him. Jeremiah had a certain look about him. Villetta answered his questioning look.
"He is just pouting because his frame got lost before he could even do anything on the last part of the battle," she said in an amused tone.
"Men don't pout!"
"But you do seem like you are pouting, Lord Jeremiah," Albert said with a look. "How did you even get destroyed so easily?"
"How did you even end up being saved by his Highness and crippling your frame?" Jeremiah retorted.
"Now now," Lelouch started in a calm tone, though a smile on his lips. "We claimed victory here, but this is far from over. There is still the second unit that is heading south. If that unit changes direction, we will have troubles."
"Shouldn't Britannia reinforcements be coming now?" Albert asked. "It has been a week already," he said. He knew it would be dangerous if the other unit joined in the attack.
"I will hear from Schneizel," Lelouch said with a shake of his head. "But at least for the next two to four days we will be safe. They are not going to attack us and probably won't even move from their location. The remaining forces, I mean."
"Our first assault did hurt them badly and I am certain that they now have more frames than soldiers," Major Albert said. "No, with the numbers they sent. I wouldn't be surprised if it is just fifteen units they have left. But why won't they attack?"
"Because they did it and we led into a trap. It is likely now that they won't even chase us anywhere because they'll be thinking they are being led to another trap. As things stand, unless one of our units stays by the site we put our explosives, they are not going to fall for the same obvious trick twice," Lelouch explained lightly. "But at least we now know that the first unit doesn't have enough frames to challenge us."
"Excluding the hundred and forty that went South," Villetta reminded the Prince.
Lelouch nodded. "I don't think they will come to us except sending some frames. But we don't know what will happen," he said. "For now, we need to recover and keep watch and wait for them to attack us. You three will now pilot the Gloucesters. We will return to our previous location where our supplies are. But I imagine it won't be enough for everyone."
"Unfortunately, no," Villetta said with a shake of her head.
"I figured as much," he said. "Of our remaining frames, you will divide them equally and form two platoons. I will take ten with me. But they will come back with the supplies. We will take the frames that can be fixed and the wounded."
"Are you also going to take a Gloucester?"
Lelouch shook his head. "I'm the commander and in a battle were we are at a disadvantage; it would be a waste." He said. "You will keep in contact with Sergeant Michael regarding the movements of the enemy. When they start moving, contact me and I will return with the remaining soldiers who have yet to taste battle."
"What more will you need aside from food and water?"
"Energy fillers and something for entertainment," Albert said with a smile. "The men are going to be in celebratory mood tonight."
Lelouch did not comment on this. "Villetta, I don't need to say it, but you are coming with me. We should be by the base tomorrow morning. We won't camp with these people."
"I understand," Villetta said. She was going get a hot shower. Yes, the first thing she was going to do when she arrives would be taking a shower.
Later that night
The mood was jovial, Albert had been right to say the man would be in the mood tonight. If they were not in service, they were probably going to be dancing and drinking tonight. Jeremiah did not join in the fun jokes they were doing. He just sat comfortably along with Major Albert. He was beginning to like the black haired man. He was easy going and the soldiers seemed to respect him. He seemed like someone who could be trusted even. It was a special situation. Jeremiah hadn't thought he would make friends, but he has. Perhaps Kewell would have had things differently had he decided to join them. Perhaps he would some time later.
"Thinking something deep?" Major Albert asked. "Or are you perhaps still pouting about not getting in the fun?"
"I was not pouting!" Jeremiah exclaimed. "It was disappointing though," he admitted with a deep frown.
"I can imagine," Albert said in thought. "Well if it isn't the battle you are thinking about, what could it be? You are surely not thinking about what the Lt. Colonel will be doing with Villetta, could you?"
Jeremiah stared at the man. "His Highness is not some teenage boy high on hormones," he said fiercely. "There are much more important matters to think about than that. We are at war, Major."
Still, if there was going to be woman in Lelouch's life, it was certainly going to be that blonde vixen he saw at Ashford Academy. If anything, she seemed to make Lelouch nervous and she had already marked her territory. Well, anything could happen. Lelouch wasn't even the kind of person who deeply thought about relationships. There was always something far more important for him to do and think about. It was perhaps why he has never had a girlfriend till now. He certainly didn't lack admirers from what Jeremiah has seen.
"You should loosen up, Lord Jeremiah," Albert said. He paused when a soldier walked towards them and asked if he could sit in. When they gave permission, he settled quietly.
"I heard they were making fun of you for having lost your frame in battle," the soldier said to Jeremiah.
"Oh, that is what has you down!" Albert said.
"It was my fault," the soldier suddenly said. "His frame received heavy fire while protecting me. I could have died there. No, when my frame lost its foot, I thought I was dead. Thank you, Lord Jeremiah."
Someone was thanking him. Jeremiah smiled for a moment. "Rank and name, soldier."
"Private Jackson Simons!"
"Well, Private, I hope next time you will be watching my back," Jeremiah said.
"Of course…"
"Go back and join the others Private. You fought well today," Jeremiah said and watched the private leave. Once he was gone, he stared into the fire in front of him. He was still not used to this. He was a noble; this was something that only commoners did. Yet, it didn't feel so bad.
"So far, everything has worked well. The men are starting to respect Prince Lelouch. He took us through victory today and if we end up winning, they will be truly praising his name even in their homes," Albert said. "Even I didn't think things would go so well. Still, you must be willing risk it and he certainly isn't afraid to dive in with his head first."
"He was not put in command here because of his status as a Prince, it was simply because Prince Schneizel knew he could do it," Jeremiah said proudly.
"Well, nobody doubts that now," Albert said. "We will have our own dark knight once this is over."
"Perhaps," Jeremiah said in thought. "I get feeling that it is only going to get dangerous from now on," he said. "The enemy will be smart by now and they won't charge in recklessly."
"I get that sense as well," Albert said. "Well, let us hope the Lt. Colonel will come up with another plan. But I fear the plans will just become a bit crazier…"
"If the situation calls for it…" Jeremiah said.
The Following Day
Perhaps the enemy spies had tapped into her thoughts and heard when she said the moment she arrived she was going to take a shower. When they arrived at the base, they handed everything to the first squad. But the mood had been a little dim and it had alerted her that something was indeed wrong. She had frowned. They had come back with good news about their victory in the first contact but the mood in the camp had been low – something big had happened. Although he had seen it, Lelouch had given much reaction to it until they settled at his private place within the G-1 base. 1st Lt. Morris joined them. He looked normal though - as if nothing as wrong.
"What is the situation?" Lelouch went directly to it after the man settled down.
Morris was silent for a couple of moments. "We received a coded message from one of the soldiers you'd sent to look for information within the Towns. He stated that the there are people who support the EU within the closest Town from here and that they probably are giving information to it. He said there were enemies within the Town and they been marked the minute they arrived. He was given the mission to guard their car after one of their contacts informed them that they would be killed. But Major Frederic and the others did not show up in the agreed time. He soon learned they had died. He could have escaped but he did not because he knew coming back here would only be leading the enemy towards the base."
Lelouch frowned deeply at this. He certainly had not expected to lose men like this. It was a problem and he would have to think about dealing with it effectively. "Do they have knightmare frames?"
Morris shook his head. "No," he said. "It appears that the government went on a purge against all it suspected and destroyed all frames that belonged to people it did not trust," he said.
"Thank you for the report 1st Lt." Lelouch said to Morris. The man saluted before walking away, leaving the prince and his assistant.
Lelouch really needed to talk about this with Schneizel. He could not afford to have frames charging up to his base. But at least they had not suffered any kind of loss that would make a mark on how things went with his future battles. Still, this was going to be a shock to the men. It was their loss and win to their enemy. This bad news aside, everything else looked like it was going according to plan. He just need some new information before laying out on how things proceed for now on.
"Do you think we should tell the others about this?" Lelouch asked Villetta. "I'm thinking of just hiding it and then tell them afterwards."
"I think it would be best to tell them," Villetta said in a quiet tone. "They will be motivated to continue fighting by it. Besides, if you do it, it sets precedence and you don't them fearing that someone important is probably dead despite there not being announcements about it."
Lelouch thought about it for a couple of moments before nodding his head. "You should go rest. I will handle things on my own. I can't shower now before working."
"I will stay until you finish…"
"I wasn't giving you a suggestion, Villetta; I was giving you an order," Lelouch said without looking at Villetta. He was opening his laptop, ready to begin with his work.
Villetta hesitated for a moment before standing up. She thanked him and then disappeared. She washed herself and went back to check on Lelouch. He hadn't even noticed her presence before she disappeared to rest. When she returned five hours later, she found Lelouch dead asleep on the couch – laptop still open. She was tempted to take a look on what he was working on.
She walked over to him. She stared at his sleeping, peaceful face for a moment. He was certainly not the same person she heard laughing when he ignited a chain of explosion that destroyed many knightmare frames. He looked like the older brother she had seen talking to his younger sister with love and tenderness. She shook her head and slowly moved her right hand, wanting to poke him on his shoulder but his eyes shot open and she immediately retracted her hand on her reflex while taking a step back.
Lelouch stared at Villetta for a moment before sitting up straight. He really needed to sleep. And take a long bath and eat something heavy. He was starving.
He looked at the time. It was just after noon. There was still time. He faced Villetta for a moment before speaking. "Did something happen?"
Villetta shook her head. "I just wanted to wake you up," she said calmly before sitting down.
"I see," Lelouch said in thought. "Have you eaten?"
"No," she said with a shake of her head. "I just woke up. I was no longer feeling hungry after I bathed. But I could go ask for something for us," she offered.
"Do that," Lelouch said as he stood up. He didn't say anything else to Villetta. She sighed in relief once he was gone. That moment had been a little awkward. She was surprised he hadn't said anything about it. It wasn't like he hadn't seen that she was really close. Then again, he could have simply lost himself in his thoughts once more. He really did have a tendency to go that far.
About two hours later
Lelouch was sitting at the control center, waiting for Schneizel. He had called earlier and was told the Second Prince was unavailable and but would be told to get back to him as soon as possible. He did need something from his brother and he needed to as some questions. He also did worry about the frames that were heading south. If they decided to change direction and move towards them, it would be a big problem and he didn't need the trouble.
After a couple of minutes, Schneizel appeared on his screen and Lelouch put on an expressionless mask. The Prime Minister returned this with a smile. "It has been a number of days, brother," he said. "We haven't spoken since you departed."
"I have been busy," Lelouch said calmly.
"I assumed so," Schneizel said. "The progress?"
"We have already destroyed about 90% of the EU forces we are facing again. I don't expect battle in the coming days," Lelouch said. "I don't know about the forces heading south."
"So you have had success," Schneizel said with a smile. It was nothing less of expected. But it was something that made him feel relieved. He was happy. Cornelia would at least stop demanding to know how Lelouch was fairing.
"Did you expecting anything less?" Lelouch asked in a calm manner.
"Not at all," Schneizel said.
"It wasn't easy though. The unit we faced had 130 frames. We were forced to do some tactics that brought us a few raised eye brows from the men but we managed to succeed. It would be problematic if reinforcements come. I will forward you the detailed report once I finish it," Lelouch said. "But so far so good. I'm surprised you didn't keep calling me…"
"I didn't want to sound like I was telling you how to perform your duties. I figured if there was something wrong, you'd call for me. But if you didn't call, all was well," Schneizel said lightly. "You said you had been away, does it mean that you left your base and led their attack yourself?"
Lelouch nodded.
"You're becoming too much like Cornelia, brother. You need to be careful that you don't take too many risks. I can't afford losing you again," Schneizel said in a bit seriously.
"Nothing is going to happen to me," Lelouch said, almost with indifference. "I wanted to ask you regarding the reaction to the revelation that the Portuguese government had decided to surrender to Britannia. Military especially," he said.
"So, you have faced some problems," Schneizel said before falling silent for a moment as he tried to figure out what Lelouch had encountered. "It has already become public knowledge that you have engaged EU forces but the details are a bit sketchy. But once you send that report, I will ensure that details become clear… now with regards to your enquiry; my agreement with Portugal was that I would honor my end of the bargain as long as they ensured that any form of rebellion would be handled without destroying the country."
Lelouch tapped his index finger for a couple of moments before responding. "I feared that there would be a negative reaction once it became apparent that battles had started so I had sent a team to near-by towns to search for information. No one returned. "
"That is unfortunate," Schneizel said. "Do they have frames?"
"Very unlikely," Lelouch said. "But speak to the government so that they can deal with it. I would rather not have to watch out on the back as well," he said.
Schneizel nodded. "The EU forces within the northern side of the border have yet to make contact with Portuguese forces. Neither side has been willing to make the first movement. Cornelia should be done within a week or two. Reinforcements should be in land within 13 days and then they will start moving. Will you be able to hold on?"
"If we don't suffer massive losses, we should be fine," Lelouch said. "But those reinforcements should come. We cannot spend more than two weeks without having to worry."
Schneizel nodded. "Supplies?"
"Part of the reason I called you. Aside from food, I will require some necessities for the operational of knightmare frames. I will send you the list," Lelouch said. "I assume they will come via plane and we'll have to collect them…"
"Yes," Schneizel said. "I will try to send everything within two to four days… don't count today."
Lelouch nodded. "I read of an interesting bomb on the catalogue of weapons we have. It was called an experimental bomb that can destroy hundreds of frames…"
"We don't have it," Schneizel said. "You want test it?"
"I want to avoid a battle that will cause me to lose frames when there is still an enemy out there and with reinforcements still a bit away." Lelouch said with a frown. "I will hear from you regarding the supplies once I have sent the list."
"And I hope to hear more good news," Schneizel said with a smile.
"You are going to make a show of my achievements once I have sent you all the details, aren't you?"
"Nothing hurtful," Schneizel said calmly. "I'm trying to get the EU to get back on the negotiating table. It should be demoralizing should it be documented that an inexperienced Britannian Prince secured a convincing victory against a force bigger than his," Schneizel said. "Perhaps even father will see it and arrange a medal for you when you return home…"
Lelouch snorted. "Yeah, right," he said sarcastically.
"Father rewards those who please him, brother," Schneizel said.
"And equally rewards those who displease him." Lelouch said. "We will talk, Schneizel."
"I will be waiting on your report."
Once the connection went offline, Lelouch closed his eyes. Without even opening them, he spoke. "Villetta," he said. "Eavesdropping?"
"No," Villetta quickly said. "I was coming to you and then I heard you speaking…"
"Next time, don't just stand there. If you think its private, turn back, if you want to come in, you are free to do so," Lelouch said before opening his eyes. "How much did you hear?"
"Only the last part…"
"I see," Lelouch said before falling silent. "I'm going to rest. Please complete the report of our events so far. I will look at it later…"
End of chapter
Well, that completes this chapter. I will try to upload chapter 11 next week Friday latest. I have already written most of it. I just need to complete a couple of things and edit before posting it.
The Omnipresent Sage
