Disclaimer: I don't own either of the Code Geass, Gundam Seed or Star wars franchises. This story is not written with commercial purpose in mind. I make no money from it. It is not for sale or rent.

Chapter 6: The First World War

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Part 1

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Overlord Actual

Kingdom of Burma

Odin save me from other such victories! A combination of sheer luck, air power, Knightmares, sheer bloody mindedness and Battle Meditation saw two heavy Burmese divisions gutted beyond recovery. Their scattered survivors were either surrendering en masse or running in the jungle after discarding their weapons.

It was a stunning victory, though one my people paid in blood. For all intends and purposes at least a battalion of Flint's marines were gone for good; the paras got mauled in the jungle holding our flanks and King's Knightmares paid up front for their stunning counter-attack.

There shouldn't be any other enemy reinforcements of note that could reach us for at least a day – hopefully that would be enough time to finish shattering the Burmese army behind us. I was preparing to ensure that happened. In just a few minutes I would be taking our rearguard along with what vehicles we still got operational and hitting the locals in the back. Using Battle Meditation again even for a short period of time was going to wipe me out but it might just prove the final push we needed.

Yet, in the grand scheme of things, our victory didn't matter. The Chinese were coming in force. The primary objective of this bloody exercise was already a failure and Euphie might end up paying for it!

The Dark Side whispered dark suggestions at the back of my mind and I was mightily tempted to listen.

We had to wrap up this battle ASAP and then haul ass before the Chinese got here and had their nasty way with us... and even that might not be enough unless the navy managed to keep all enemy fleets off our backs until we were out of the region safely.

"Dagger 4-2, take point. We're coming right behind you." I ordered. My voice was raspy and my hands shook with the strain of the Battle Meditation I already used. There was nothing to it – I grit my teeth and channelled even more power.

Viletta gave me a wary look but kept her tongue. She suspected I used my arcane abilities, however knew better than speaking about it with others present.

"Take us behind the LAVs." I called to the driver in the front. "Overlord Actual, Spear 1-1. You have command. Follow us ASAP. Dagger elements, resupply and move to assist us."

The truck's engine rumbled to life and we were moving.

"Castle Bravo Actual, Overlord Actual. Primary mission accomplished. We're moving on the secondary objective with all available forces. ETA thirty minutes. Over." I called Brightman.

"Overlord Actual, Castle Bravo Actual. Roger that. Good work. We'll give you some covering artillery once you get to sector twenty-three. Second Mechanized is pushing up the lane and still encountering heavy resistance. They're on channel Gamma. Coordinate with Aspen Actual. Castle Bravo Actual, out."

"Aspen Actual, Overlord Actual, please respond." It was hight time we sealed the Burmese fate. Once I heard from them, I pushed my Battle Meditation to the limit I could handle and latched to the Mech Battalion slamming into the disrupted enemy lines.

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It was almost funny. I didn't come under fire, nor engaged the enemy directly yet I was utterly exhausted by the time morning came. I could barely see and only a lot of caffeine and couple of stimulant tablets kept me on my feet – barely at that. The second use of Battle Meditation, wiped me out as I feared.

However, it did the job just as I hoped it would.

Our attack in the enemy rear came as a one shock too many. It was a proof that what they feared – the destruction of their reinforcements, was true. We advanced under a steel rain courtesy of Brightman's artillery and hit fast and hard with impossible coordination. Second Mechanized Battalion spent itself opening a nice large hole in the enemy line and left the faltering Burmese drown under the onslaught by the rest of that division. Then non-stop artillery barrages and air-strikes simply melted any still coherent enemy formations that tried to flee in the surrounding jungle.

Once my technique shattered the Burmese confidence and turned their courage into terror, the outcome was predictable. The Burmese defence line simply shattered. TF 501 met with Second Mechanized Division and our soldiers swept straight into the flanks with infantry and Knightmares disappearing in the jungle to make sure the fleeing enemy wouldn't be able to regain any semblance of coherent force. They also acted as spotters for indirect fire so the artillery could more effectively prove why it was called the King of Battle.

The best thing was that we had a corridor through which the rest of my people could pull back, hopefully long before Chinese ground forces could reach the area.

There was no finesse to the rest of the battle; merely a slugging chaotic slaughter among the trees where small groups of the enemy did their last stands in a somewhat successful attempt to buy some of their comrades time to flee.

The air-cavalry did miracles by cutting off large groups of enemy troops. The enemy was located, pinned in place and either surrendered or annihilated by a combination of close assaults, artillery and air-power. I made the call – with the Chinese feeding more and more fighters in the grand melee above there was no longer a point in keeping the remaining bombers in reserve. They would never make it to the border and back in one piece.

By all reasonable accounts, we achieved a stunning victory. It took a single night to shatter a whole army group. Two thirds of them were either dead or captured with the rest taking flight. But the price, oh the price... Four divisions, roughly half Brightman's force were gutted in the savage fighting. Our air-force was being slowly ground down and there were more and more Federation planes appearing overhead. Already enemy air-strikes were coming through no matter what our air force could do.

At least the Chinese targeting systems sucked forcing their bombers to come in close enough for AA systems to fire back effectively.

We had to haul ass, which meant we simply couldn't afford to finish destroying the Burmese. We had to abandon and destroy a lot of heavy equipment too – including a lot of ours that would have been perfectly salvageable if we had the time to recover it. As far as the troops we captured – disposing them was as an efficient war-crime as either the Britannian or the Sith Empire ever committed.

I gave that order with Brightman's "blessing" and I felt absolutely nothing but weariness as I watched at Knightmare platoon hose down nearly ten thousand soldiers with HE rounds... Soldiers that we couldn't leave behind for the enemy to liberate, because they would fight against us again, nor could we spare the transports to haul them with us back to the shore... It was a nice excuse, one that felt hollow when I repeated it to myself, yet I gave the order despite that. I didn't even feel the expected rush of pleasure and power thanks to the Dark Side. I just felt tired and wanted to sleep for a week.

By two in the afternoon we were already pulling out. There were roughly four companies of men missing in action and we couldn't spare the time nor the manpower to search for them. The same was true about at least thirty pilots who had to bail over enemy territory with more over ground we technically controlled. Some of the latter were lucky because air-cavalry helicopters swung to pick them up before heading for our FOBs, which were engaged in preparing for an evacuation too.

Victory? I had to keep telling myself that. One day I might even believe it, though I doubted it.

My principal commanders were on similar opinion. King, Lujiens and Flint did survive the night, though none of them was unscratched. The Brigadier got his Knightmare shot off from under him in the last minutes of the fighting and was lucky he just got his left leg mangled by spalling after multiple RPGs struck his machine. He might even retain the use of that foot if we could rush him to a proper hospital in time. Yet even his rank couldn't guarantee him a priority evacuation – there were thousands of soldiers with more grievous wounds who were being pulled back as fast as the choppers could haul them off.

Lujiens was already on his way home – he got his chest perforated mid-way through the savage fighting on the right flank when he had to lead his command section into the fray to plug a hole in the defences before the enemy could pour through. Seeing him fall sent the paras berserk and they did hold the line, if barely. At the end the fighting had been hand to hand and three battalions of both sides all but annihilated each other in the dark before the stunned survivors finally stumbled out of the jungle.

As bad as my people suffered, it was a pittance compared to what Brightman's troops had to endure. They did go above and beyond the call of duty, a testament of their trust in their commander and dedication to the Empire.

They paid for our victory with blood, lives and a long line of permanently crippled soldiers. What they all did should be heartening me but that was another thing I couldn't feel.

Flint's accusing glare as he nursed his shot up right arm didn't help either. I could feel his barely contained disdain. He knew that our victory was for nothing – the Federation wasn't deterred. The war was going to escalate and we had to get out of Burma, then out of Indochina as a whole before the Chinese could catch up to us. It was going to be hard to do under increasing enemy air-interdiction, though the cruise missile strikes on their airfields should help.

However, none of that might matter if our navy was kicked out of support range.

What a gods damned mess...

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Part 2

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6 May 2009 A.T.B.

Command bunker

Gawain Naval base

Cam Ranh Bay

Nearly a week of running away, fending off the odd partisan attack, blowing up every bridge behind us and nearly constant Chinese air attacks took their toll, yet we made it. Recon flights had the lead elements of a Federation corps three days behind us, with its heavy units lagging two to three days behind those.

That was the good news.

I sipped from a cup of coffee that a naval ensign handled me while we waited for the Admiral in charge of the base – he was busy speaking with the fleet that was supposed to screen our evacuation from Indochina. That stuck in our collective crawls, Britannia wasn't supposed to retreat, much less run, however our position on the Asian mainland was nearly untenable. The Chinese had the best thing next to endless manpower you can find on Earth, most of the locals were hostile and there was a very good chance we might get cut off from supplies even if we left right now. That at least was already in progress – the port facilities were mostly operational despite multiple Federation air-strikes and two cruise missile strikes.

I breathed the scent of the coffee, then took a large gulp from it. It was hot, thick as syrup and sweet – just as our squids loved it; strong enough to bring the death back to live too and give the unwary a heart attack.

Around us, the command bunker was a hive of activity. Technicians manned rows upon rows of stations while doing their best to coordinate the sheer chaos of evacuating everyone and everything, watching warily for yet another air raid and then there was the situation out of sea... A large screen took most of the far wall showing a map of the region. At the upper age I could see edge of Hainan – there were a lot of red symbols over there complete with question marks. Our best intelligence was that a large part of the Chinese fleet was gathering in that area and they would be soon heading right for us. To make our lives more interesting, a decent part of the Japanese Navy got detected from the Philippines and they were coming here too.

Practically the whole Britannian Pacific fleet was either heading in our direction or would be once reinforcements and supplies meant to at least hold the Philippines got loaded back at the homeland and Australia. That was nice – but ultimately didn't help us at all. The Chinese and Japanese would hit us day before any meaningful naval reinforcements could get here. There were a few additional wings of fighters and bombers in transfer and they might make a difference – but that was it. We had only a bloodied Third Fleet to cover us with Seventh busy protecting the Philippines.

The situation was less than ideal.

A commotion coming from the Admiral's office got my attention. I could see the man stand up at attention and look very pale. The hell got to wrong this time?!

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A couple of minutes later, when I got ushered in the Admiral's office, it became very obvious what got him so riled up. His computer screen was split in two showing the concerning face of my elder brother Schneizel to the right and my scowling father to the left.

Admiral Victor Stein stood at rigid attention beside me; there were rivulets of sweat falling down his ageing weathered face and it wasn't because of the heat. While everything else was going to hell, the AC in the bunker was running as if it was going out of fashion making the interior pleasantly cool, though you couldn't guess that by looking at the Stein's wet greying hair. I didn't need the Force or Veil's experience to tell that the man felt as if he was about to be taken out and shot against the nearest convenient wall.

"Delkatar!" Schneizel actually sounded relieved to see me in one piece. "It's great to see you're all right!" He even smiled.

"You failed." Father had enough displeasure in his voice to account for the admiral becoming a nervous wreck.

"Making the Chinese back-off was always a chancy proposition. We did shatter the Burmese army and would have annihilated it if not for their intervention." I pointed out making my voice sound as calm as possible. If father decided to play stupid games and hold my family responsible for the Chinese decision to attack... Cold anger and worry bubbled in my veins – more fuel for the Dark Side.

"That you did." The Emperor nodded. "My son. Victory does make up for a lot of sins. I sent you there to fix the problem, not to make the situation worse."

Remind me again, who had the great idea of staring a ground war in Asia of all places? I wisely didn't say that aloud.

"...I expect you to resolve the situation." Father was saying.

"What assets can I use?" I asked.

Father smiled. "Everything." He said in a tone that held just a hint of mischief, though I might be hearing things.

"Everything?" Schneizel and I parroted together.

"Delkatar li Britannia, I expect you to secure the Empire a continued and stable supply of Sakuradite To do that I'm placing you in charge of all Imperial forces in the region. Do not fail the Empire, my son." The left half of the screen flickered and the Emperor's image vanished to be replaced by the Empire's insignia.

"Gods damn it!" I spat.

"Delkatar, I'll speak with father... I..." Schneizel looked and sounded pole-axed by daddy dearest's latest stunt.

"Don't bother." I rubbed my forehead. Father knew of my past life as Veil. That man could have found a way to complete the task. Me on the other hand? By cheating the hell out of it I managed to win one large battle but that was it.

This was a bloody test, wasn't it?

Sakuradite. To secure a supply for the Empire I needed to take Japan in the face of two large mostly modern navies, possibly Chinese forces on the ground and I wouldn't be surprised if the Euros joined the fun in an attempt to kick us in the nuts while we were distracted... Speaking about them...

"Schneizel, what's Europe doing?" I asked.

"Debating if they should formally declare war on us."

Add a few task forces of the European Mediterranean Fleet coming through Suez and our positions in the Pacific might just get untenable, in which case I was screwed. More importantly, my family would be.

What would Veil do? I looked through the windows at the map. Japan was to the north-east, out of sight. That country was an island nation. We couldn't invade before suppressing their navy and the same was true for the Chinese one. We had to do that anyway in order to evacuate to the Philippines.

"What do you intend to do, brother?"

"Win." I deadpanned and Schneizel snorted. "Admiral, what is the status of our navy in the region? Do we have any remaining Thor munitions?"

My question made Stein's mind reboot and he finally looked somewhat coherent. "We're down almost a quarter of our escorts, one battleship, two battle cruisers and one light carrier. Two of our three remaining battleships are damaged, the same is true for our single remaining light carrier. The good news is that our fleet carrier is intact, however its fighter and bomber wings are at about fifty percent strength." The admiral's voice got steadier and calmer as he listed what we had left. "That's Third fleet. The elements of seventh at the Philippines..."

The Chinese had at least two carriers of Hainan, which at least got its two military bases plastered by Thors and regular cruise missiles and one of the Japanese ones along with its CBG was moving towards the Philippines to wreck as much of our stuff as they could. One of Seven Fleet's CBGs was there ready to meet it along with ground based air assets, though some of those were busy covering us despite the distance.

On the bright side, the Chinese capital ships, minus the carriers were much older than ours though not exactly obsolete, though that was a very thing silver lining. Would Battle Meditation be enough? Could I use it for long enough and over the necessary area to affect bout us and the enemy? Could I do anything about missile strikes against the fleet... That might actually be a firm yes. We weren't talking about space warfare here where the odds of successfully affecting an incoming attack through the Force usually weren't good and pointless compared to what Veil could do with Battle Meditation...

"Delkatar, our navy in the region is going to be outnumbered to an unacceptable degree. Get as many of your people to the Philippines as possible and wait for reinforcements. Meanwhile, I'll persuade father to see sense." Schneizel implored.

"I appreciate the gesture, brother." I wouldn't forget it.

"I don't like that look on your face."

I smiled at my brother. What I was thinking about could be considered even more suicidal that the 501st's baptism in fire...