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 8: The plans of mice and men

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Part 5

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15 May 2009 A.T.B.

Admiral Graves Office

Subic Bay

Philippines

Admiral Williams had never been much of a drinker. Oh, she did enjoy a cup or two of fine wine now and then, especially at dinner when she could get away with it, however, she didn't really have taste for the heavy stuff. The moment li Britannia's demonstration and brief explanation had time to sink in, she was among the first to partake in the whiskey Graves offered to everyone. Chelsea was pretty sure her mind was still refusing to fully comprehend and accept what she just witnessed and more importantly, experienced.

The implications frankly boggled the mind, not to mention, terrified her. So much power concentrated in the wrong hands… and she had no idea if the Prince's hands could be considered "wrong" or not. On the other hand, it could probably not be much worse than the Emperor's somewhat questionable decisions lately, not to mention certain facets of his policies, which made some of the old guard among the military deeply uncomfortable.

There was power, then there was the ability to influence the minds of whole fleets and armies. That should be pure insanity, right? However, unless Chelsea had lost it, or her ship had taken a missile and she laid delirious on the deck and this was the mother of all realistic hallucinations… She could very well recall the disconcerting sensation of floating above the ground, at the mercy of the Prince. That wasn't something she wanted to experience again, ever.

It didn't help that while li Britannia appeared calm and relaxed as he sipped his drink, Williams was sure no one in the room could shake the feeling of the danger he radiated now that they knew what he could do – if he could pick them up so effortlessly, he could simply crush them with a thought! Chelsea took a large gulp from her drink and for a moment thought only about the whiskey burning as it slid down her throat. It took all she had to keep her hands of shaking. She braced herself and asked one particularly relevant question no one had thought to broach yet.

"Can we expect to face people with similar abilities like yours on the enemy's side?"

"I was wondering when someone would think about this. Someone like me? That shouldn't be the issue. People, who have other impossible capabilities? Those have been around for a long time, though as far as I know, they're few and far between. There shouldn't be anyone else with my power and reach."

"As far as you know, sir?" Graves dared ask.

"For what that's worth. I'm aware of one person somewhere in the Chinese Federation able to read people's thoughts as long as they're nearby, though he supposedly has an issue when surrounded by crowds. Another one can read minds with direct eye contact..." The Prince shrugged."Sometimes, ignorance is bliss." He added after waiting a few moments for his words to sink in.

"Dare I ask who is the second one, sir?" Lombardi dared ask.

"You really don't, though if you insist I might just telly you." li Britannia saluted him with his glass.

"I believe we should be aware of such threats, sir." Williams pressed on, caution be damned. They were way beyond any such considerations now.

"Well, if you insist." The Prince saluted her as well and took a sip of whiskey before giving her a wan smile. "My father." He added in a matter of fact tone.

It was a very good thing that when li Britannia dropped this latest bomb, Chelsea wasn't taking a sip from her drink. Graves wasn't so fortunate and he nearly choked on his whiskey. The Emperor being able to read minds, that was simply insane! When did Chelsea leave the safe world of a navy Admiral during a nasty war to step into this?!

"Why did you tell us, well any of this, sir?" Lombardi was the first to recover.

"Well, I did think about telling you the absolute minimum you would need to know. It might have even worked." The Prince admitted. "However, I believe that laying down the groundwork for a long term productive partnership shouldn't be based upon lies and half-truths."

"There's more, isn't it?" Chelsea asked. She had the sinking feeling they had only seen the tip of the iceberg.

"Much more, more than I know for sure, more than I suspect I'm afraid. The good news is that most of it isn't really relevant as far as our immediate problems are concerned and won't be relevant at all if the Chinese, Japanese, or Europeans kill us all. However, in the long run, we do have some issues to be worried about." The Prince's expressions told them that he wasn't too thrilled at that prospect either.

That wasn't really helpful. It certainly wasn't reassuring, like at all.

"You aren't speaking just about the battles to come, are you, sire?" Graves inquired. "You're sounding us all for a long term alliance that goes beyond the current war."

That was a surprisingly insightful question, one Chelsea might have asked herself if she wasn't still in shock… and if she was more experienced with the games of the court.

The Prince grimaced and took a sip of his drink before answering. "I do look for allies, especially for the wars to come. Do you really want to know how deep the rabbit hole goes, Admiral Graves? I've already told you enough that if my father learns about it, the odds are even you'll all gain close 'security' detail from his OSI."

"If we prove to be of use to you, sire? And if not?" Graves asked.

"My father isn't particularly fond of a loose end at the best of times. As far as his power is concerned..." li Britannia shrugged unapologetically. He had just told them enough to likely get them all disappeared, the bastard.
"How deep does this rabbit hole goes, sir?" Chelsea asked though she doubted she was going to like the answer.

"My father has a plan, the details are irrelevant for anyone who enjoys living. If successful, it would secure the future of the Empire, no matter our strategic situation at the time it's completed. However, to complete it, my Father needs control of certain strategic locations possessed by our enemies and various non-aligned powers. One of those is in the Kingdom of Burma and thus his order to invade. Another is Japanese hands, which means that we would have fought a Second Pacific War in a few years anyway."

"Let me guess, the Euros and the Chinese control the rest?" Captain Arnold asked. "I really didn't like the ring of 'the wars to come' as you put it, sir."

"Well, I believe that a few are in Africa as well." li Britannia nodded cheerfully. "Now, lady and gentlemen, none of you asked one very relevant question, that I don't know the answer of."

The officers looked at each other. They all obviously had many questions, including if they could awake in hope that this was simply a nightmare…

"Who else knows of these locations a what can they do with them? What are they anyway?" Arnold asked.

It wasn't a surprise that an Intelligence officer got to that question first.

"And the man deserves a reward." li Britannia nodded. "Unfortunately, I don't have an answer to that question. I do know that my father isn't the only one aware of these locations and their potential, however, I have no idea who the other interested parties are, if they have the resources to secure enough of said locations to be relevant, nor what could they do if they do so."

"The other question you haven't answered is why are you telling us this, sir? If you merely wanted allies, this isn't the time or place to drop this on us." Lombardi asked.

"My father has tasked me with an additional purpose, beyond winning this war." li Britannia drained his glass. "If his plan fails, or is sabotaged, the Empire will be in a very perilous strategic situation, potentially worse than the one we're in currently and it will be up to us to save it. Welcome to the club."

That… Chelsea's mind ran through the implications, shying away from most of the impossibilities dropped on it today. Strategic locations that had to be held, the Emperor hell-bent on gaining control of them to execute his plan, whatever that was, which meant more wars with all that entailed… a race against whoever else knew about this and might be doing something about it… If li Britannia was telling the truth, which was likely unless he was bat shit insane, because this was too crazy to be some kind of scheme – there were countless less outlandish ways to try and gain their support.

"I see that it might be for the best that we have a short chat with my father to reassure you that I'm not crazy." The Prince sighed. "Well, sooner or later that would have been inevitable in order to avoid accidents with overzealous OSI agents. Admiral Graves if you can do the honors and call Pendragon. I'll give you the codes you need to contact my father directly."

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Part 6

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15 May 2009 A.T.B.
Imperial Palace
Pendragon

Hindsight was always a beautiful and terrible thing if, for no other reason, it tended to highlight what you happily overlooked in the past. This maxim rarely rang as true as it did today, Emperor Charles zi Britannia thought. He looked at a quietly ringing ornate phone while sitting behind his desk in the comfortably furnished office where he was supposed to be making the decisions shaping the course of the Empire.

In days past, that had been precisely the case. As of late, however, with the Sword of Akasha plan in motion, the Empire was little more than means to an end, so he had been a hands-off ruler as of late, content on observing his people plot, conspire and backstab each other with gusto. Every passing day at court did little to dissuade him of the rightness of his cause, instead, it proved what he already knew, that humanity was a wretched, treacherous species as a whole and there would be only misery in the future if he left everyone to pursue their own interests.

Really, he knew that truth as far back as when all too many people gleefully bought his Social Darwinism bullshit, which

was meant as little more than a justification to radicalize and militarize the Empire to the point that no one would even think that there was something more than naked land grab to his and the Empire's devises. Besides, if the plan worked, it wouldn't matter how many people died in the process.

There was just a little snag in that reasoning, the plan was well on the way of being derailed. Charles wasn't sure if the current war was merely caused by the Europeans and Chinese finally comprehending the conventional danger Britannia represented, or if there was something more sinister at play. After all, there were Code Bearers who were currently unaccounted for. C.C. was one, and after V.V.'s stunt, she was likely acting in opposition to the plan. Hell, they were never sure how many Code Bearers were active at any given time, besides the obvious, there weren't that many of them.

OSI was busy tracking Marianne's pet witch, to his wife's deep displeasure. Of course, Marianne was even less thrilled by the fact that C.C. was refusing to speak with her through their connection, which obviously led Charles's paranoid mind to less than pleasant conclusions.

The Emperor frowned at the still ringing phone. He knew very well who was on the far end of the line and why. This was in fact another thing he hadn't accounted for, yet he should have. His young son might have kept their secrets to himself for as long as possible, not willing to risk the truth coming out even to a limited circle of people. His son, who now had the memories of an alien warlock… or what might have been even a precursor, though if that was the case, what they knew about Geass, Code Bearers and the ancients, was at best scratching the surface. He wanted to dismiss the second option because it's very existence put into question the success of his plan. On the other hand, it merely made the contingency Delkatar represented, more important. After all, there were few certain things in this world…

The phone rang again and with a tired sigh, Charles picked it up.

"Admiral Graves, you have questions and want confirmation about what my son told you."

"Your Majesty!" The Flag Officer on the other side of the line stammered when he recognized the Emperor's voice.

He really should have foreseen that his son might not play along quietly and without an accident. Frustratingly enough, he needed the boy's abilities now more than ever. A military defeat in this conflict would be an unacceptable setback, especially if hostile Code Bearers and Geass users were acting against the plan.

Now, the more immediate question was how much did Delkatar spill and how much of that Charles should confirm, especially considering the nature of the call – even if the line was secure for the time being, someone could still intercept the transmission and decode it sooner or later, with too soon being any time within the next half-decade and that was an optimistic estimate, really.

"Yes, my son has certain abilities unique to the Imperial line which make him qualified for his current rank and responsibilities." It was a good thing that Charles had a lot of experience with bullshiting people, he had to do it almost whenever he made a public appearance, after all, otherwise, it might have been hard to properly lie through his teeth as if he was telling the honest to god truth. "Further, it's imperative that the Empire gains and retains control of certain strategic locations. While at least some of them are obvious, I won't be spelling them out no matter how secure this line is supposed to be. Finally, my son has my full confidence. You're to facilitate his plans to the best of your abilities."

"Sir, yes, sir!" Multiple people chorused from the other side.

Charles rubbed his forehead in frustration, wondering how many sets of memories he might have to alter after this war was over, or if it might be more prudent to bring those officers on board, while still deceiving them about critical details surrounding the Sword of Akasha plan.

"Good. See to it." The Emperor put down the phone's handle, cutting off the connection.

Perhaps it was time to get more involved with the running of the Empire, at least until he was reasonably sure if either Code or Geass bearers were acting against the Empire, and thus, against the plan.

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15 May 2009 A.T.B.
Admiral Graves Office
Subic Bay
Philippines

Admiral Graves slowly put down the phone and looked at the gathered officers. With the sole exception of Prince li Britannia, everyone's faces were pale and drawn, a reflection of his own, he was sure. It was one thing to hear the Prince's tale, to almost believe it, no matter how preposterous it sounded. It was something quite different, to hear the Emperor all but confirm it all. No, in fact, the Emperor confirmed it as much as he could on a line that could be compromised.

"Well, we heard the Emperor. We're at your disposal, your Highness."

li Britannia sipped his drink and nodded. "Then we probably should get to planning on how not to disappoint my father. Doing so under the present circumstances could prove hazardous for everyone's health." The Prince looked critically around. "Though perhaps it might be for the best if I leave you to digest the news, first."

"That might be for the best indeed, Your Highness." Admiral Williams agreed. "Hopefully, it won't take us long to get to grips with tonight's revelations."

"Then I'll leave you to it. Do try not to drain Admiral Graves' whole liquor cabinet, I'll need you clear-headed in the morning." li Britannia left with those parting words.

When the office's door closed, the gathered officers looked uneasy at each other, no one wanted to be the first to speak.

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