Enjoy!

Chapter 1: Night in the Desert

It was a cold night in the deserts of the Middle Eastern Federation, near the area of what was used to be known as the border between the nations of Iraq and Iran. The dunes of sand and aris earth stretched on for miles around while the only sign of civilization was a single paved road. Destroyed Knightmares, tanks, and A.P.C's were burning alongside the broken asphalt along with the corpses of soldiers and civilians laid about variously. And above the wreckages flew the torn flag of the once-proud federation.

After the fall of the Ottoman Empire during the First European War, breakaway nations took power and warred among themselves for years until a conference was held to form a federation in the face of growing threats from the Europa United, the Chinese Federation, and the Holy Britannian Empire.

And it seems those threats were entirely realized.

Out of one of the civilian vehicles, a seen figure slowly crawled through the shattered door window and plopped his lithe frame onto the road below. Amethyst eyes stared at the night sky for some time with blood flowing through his raven black hair and down his pale face. Taking a deep breath in, he grabbed the nearest object and pulled himself up to his knee and looked around at the carnage.

His name was Lelouch Lamprouge, a Britannian exile on the run from his own country. He and many other civilians joined in on the evacuation caravan that was attempting to flee from the front lines of the war. They had just been in the city of Sanandaj days earlier and were on their way to Tehran when an aerial bombardment attacked them and then a frontal assault by one of the Knightmare divisions. He had been lucky that the soldiers didn't bother checking the vehicles to see if any of their occupants had lived.

"I need... to get to... Tehran...", wearingly spoke Lelouch as he fully stood up and began to wobble through the bombed-out cars and tanks. Looking down, he saw a dead officer lying on the ground next to an A.P.C, laying against its intact side with his body ridden with bullets. Reaching down, Lelouch grabbed a dead soldiers assault rifle and slung it over his shoulder and took his pistol as well. Before he left, he noticed an earpiece with a microphone attached that seemed to be intact.

"Having an insight into where the fighting is going to be happening could be useful..." said Lelouch to himself. Sliding the headset off the man's head, Lelouch wiped the blood off before placing it under his Keffiyeh* and pressing the small microphone to his face mask. During his extended stay in this nation of deserts, he had come to realize the benefit of dressing like the natives not only in travel but in public as well. Outside of the frequent sandstorms, the people were wary of outsiders, especially made worse for the few neutral Britannians like Lelouch who got caught in the crossfire due to the war. By dressing up in traditional garb, he would at least be able to blend in and move around undetected.

After activating the mic, a flurry of Arabic quickly filled his ears while he continued to walk along the road. During his stay in Japan, another place to fall victim to the curse that is Britannian expansionism, he took an interest in learning foreign languages and dreamt of going to those foreign places.

Not as a warzone, however.

"Britannian forces moving into Kamyaran, we need to retreat!"

"Enemy forces attacking Outpost 9! All forces rally on against the invaders."

"Knightmare's are attacking our position. May Allah help us."

Lelouch grimaced at the plight of the M.E.F. and its military. With most of the Arabian peninsula in Britannian hands and quickly moving in on capturing the last remaining stronghold of Tehran, it almost seemed stupid as to why and fight back against the tsunami that was the Britannian military powerhouse. Lead by the infamous Cornelia li Britannia, it had been almost unfair how quickly the M.E.F had been backed into a corner.

As he moved to the direction he believed Tehran was, the sounds of fighting drew near, and Lelouch dialed his radio to the nearest frequency. It was unnecessary, however, as a stray round flew by Lelouch and detonated directly behind him. Fight or flight instincts took over as he dove to a nearby rock, waiting a moment before he reappeared.

In the near distance, he could see a squad of Knightmares, likely the ones who attacked his caravan earlier, battling with the staunch Arab defenders. The Britannians were armed with the Sutherlands, a fifth-generation workhorse that was the standard Knightmare of the empires fighting force. The M.E.F soldiers had the less mobile but powerful Bamides fourth-generation Knightmare, and a few of them were the fifth generation Mudafie units. He could see that the Birtannians were quickly overwhelming their Arab counterparts, mostly relying on numbers rather than strategy though.

"I'm never gonna get even close to the capital with this damn Knightmare squad in my way. If I could use the M.E.F soldiers to defeat them, I could have a chance to make it to the city," Lelouch said while observing the battle. He assessed that the Arabs still had a fighting chance with the numbers they had left. In the very least they could delay them enough to retreat.

Assad Kattan was a loyal soldier of the federation. He had joined the army and worked his way up through sheer willpower to reach the coveted position of controlling the nations Knightmares, a highly lethal and awe-inspiring machine. But now, he was questioning his own decision at the current state of the war with Britannia.

His unit was currently attempting to halt the forward units of the Brtiannian army while the main army prepared for the defense of Tehran. His commander was dead, over ten of the thirty-five Knightmares in his squad were either completely disabled or destroyed, and they hadn't even slowed the enemy by any meaningful measurement. Assad was doing his best to with what he had, but the future seemed certainly bleak for him and his squad.

"Pull back your Bamides and move your Mudafie units to intercept the advancing Sutherlands." a voice played through his radio.

"Who is this? What are your name and rank?" Assad yelled into his radio while blowing away a Sutherland with the Knightmares assault rifles.

"That is irrelevant. If you want to win, follow my orders, and you shall know victory!" exclaimed the mysterious voice with a hint of power behind it.

'We'll get torn to shreds if we stay here, but we could be going into a trap by following this guy...' he thought internally. He had no clue as to who the mysterious person was. His unit should be the only military personnel in the area slowing down the Brits; all others should have retreated already. Assad could only assume that they were a civilian fleeing the war. Though he knew there was little time to look into it thoroughly.

"Well, you know what they say. Damned if I do, dammed if I don't. Very well, if you think you can lead, we are yours to command." Assad said in disbelief.

"Excellent. As I said before, all the Bamides are to pull back and move to the areas around that rock outcropping and provide covering fire to the Mudafie units. Mudafie units, open fire at the right group of Brit's moving to your center!" the voice yelled. Less than enthusiastic affirmatives rang out across the communicator as they moved into positions and opened fire.

Assad and the Mudafies stood their ground as they fired on the incoming Sutherlands moving towards them. They were obviously not expecting the Arabs fierce attack as they were torn to their shreds and their ejection pods flying over the sky.

"Bamides! Focus fire on their sniper units! Mudafies, split yourselves equally into two groups and position yourself on each side of that dune directly in front of you. In twenty seconds, a group of Sutherlands will appear. Take them out." the voice said. Following their orders, the bulky Knightmares fired their heavy cannons at the long-range Sutherlands in the back, forcing them to halt their attacks while the Mudafies organized into their respective groups. As the if on queue, the enemy appeared.

"FIRE!" Assad yelled to his men, and they complied. Firing their auto-cannons, they dispatched the enemy Sutherlands quickly. He noticed that a few of the enemies had failed to eject and were obliterated along with their Knightmares.

"Holy shit..." one of Assad's men said into the radio.

"We... killed them! We can win!" another said aloud.

"No time for celebration yet. Group on the right, I'll call your group Alpha. For the left, you will be Beta. Understood?"

The soldier affirmed through their radios.

"Good. There are roughly twenty enemy Knightmares left that are advancing on your position and with more on the way. Alpha, a six-man squad is heading your way. Beta, move north to intercept another enemy squad of ten Knightmares. Bamides, split your covering fire for both squads."

They did as they were ordered. Assad and Beta squad began advancing north as he heard the sounds of rockets and bullets from Alpha squad. Looking back, he confirmed that they were able to repulse the enemy attack before he and the rest of Beta moved up. As the voice had said, nine Sutherlands and a single different machine moving alongside the road towards the fight.

"Be careful. That one Knightmare is a Gloucester. They are not as heavily armored but are extremely deadly in close quarters and are fast. Open fire on them when you are in position."

"Understood," Assad said while positioning his men. Giving the order to fire, they fired a hail of bullets at the attackers with Assad firing a heavy rocket specifically at the Gloucester. Taken by surprise, three of the Sutherlands were instantly scrapped while the Gloucester diligently avoided the gunfire and rockets. The Gloucester went full speed at them with their weapons ready while dodging around their fire.

"Damnit!" Assad yelled as he activated the Mudafie's backup melee weapon and blocked the incoming strike of a lance. Using all the power the machine could muster he managed to throw back the Gloucester and fired a few pot-shots at it. As he expected, the pilot dodged them with ease and then went full speed at Assad's Knightmare. Slamming directly into the Mudafie, the Gloucester quickly raised his spear and aimed directly at the center of the Mudafie.

"Assad!"

"Sir!"

Two of his men screamed as they tried to intervene. Seeing that the Gloucester was distracted by the advance of his comrades, Assad reached and grabbed the Gloucester's lance and gripped on it hard enough to crush the metal arm. Aiming his rifle he quickly tore through the lightly armored Knightmare, its ejection pod flying away as the remaining Sutherlands retreated.

"Thank you, Ghazi, Hafez. I would've surely been killed if you didn't distract the Knightmare," he said sincerely.

"Good job, Alpha. But unfortunately, we cannot stay here." the mysterious voice said.

"But why, we have them on the run? Why don't we hit them while their backs are turned to us?" Hafez said. The voice sighed.

"What we just fought was simply the forward scouts of the Brit army. If we stay here any longer, we'll get surrounded and crushed by their main force."

Assad felt a chill across his back. Not even part of the main force? If there was even more than they had just faced, he wasn't sure if the Federation could survive the onslaught of their main force.

"Understood. But are you even near us?" Assad asked.

"I just hooked up with beta team. We'll talk fully when we reach Tehran."

"Very well, one last thing, though. Do you have a name?"

"... Yes. You may call me..." the person took a dramatic pause before resuming.

"Zero..."

Keffiyeh - Traditional middle eastern headwear

Mudafie - A fifth-generation Knightmare developed by the Middle Eastern Federation just prior to the onset of war. Styled similar to the Britannian Sutherland but retains similar design to the Bamides. They are intended to be used to replace the Bamides as the main frontline Knightmare while the Bamides would be used as support.

Thanks for reading!