"Lelouch."- speaking
"Roger."- Radio/Walkie-Talkie/Cellphone
Inside the Black Knights' Submarine, somewhere near the Bering Strait, April, 2018.
Zero sighed as he analyzed the data that had been obtained from Rei when he showed up at the Narita base. Apparently some new weapon was being transported to Area Eleven via a sea ship from a shipping company that had been infiltrated by undercover French forces disguised as Britannian soldiers and Kallen, while using the alias Risa, had found out from a sleeper agent named Cadmod that a cargo freighter was transporting the weapon. The two pieces of intelligence matched up perfectly, too perfectly for Zero's tastes.
"So before we set out, let's go over this one more time: The package is onboard a medium freighter. Britannian registration number 68332. There is a small crew and undercover French forces onboard." Zero reiterated.
"Correct. The Britannian Empire has created a new weapon and the European Union wants a piece of it." Kallen said.
"Rules of engagement, Zero?" Ivan asked.
"Crew expendable. The GIGN won't reveal themselves until the deck's been cleared since there are regular Britannian soldiers onboard in addition to the undercover French forces." the leader of the Black Knights answered.
"So how are we getting onto the boat?" Ohgi asked.
"We'll be using a stolen Britannian transport helicopter to rappel onboard."
"Base, this is Nobunaga Six-Three. We have visual on the target. E.T.A. is about sixty seconds." the Black Knight flying the transport helicopter transmitted.
"Copy, Six-Three." An officer from the Black Knights' Submarine transmitted.
The helicopter carried Zero, Kallen, Naoto, and a four-man squadron composed of Tamaki, Inoue, Sugiyama, and Ohgi as it flew towards the cargo ship.
"Thirty seconds. Going dark." the transport helicopter pilot transmitted as the copter flew alongside the ship.
"Ten seconds. Radio check. Go to secure channel." Everyone got ready and that meant putting on their gas masks and pulling out their weapons, which were all suppressed AK-47s.
"Lock and load." Zero ordered. After ten seconds passed, the helicopter had reached the bridge and main deck of the ship.
"Green light! Go! Go! Go!" the helicopter pilot transmitted as Zero, Kallen, and Tamaki fast-roped down from the transport copter, landing on the main deck and outside of the bridge with a few crew members inside.
"Weapons free." Zero ordered as he, Kallen, and Tamaki opened fire and killed the bridge members.
"Bridge secured." Tamaki transmitted.
"Hold your fire! Naoto- stay on the bird till we secure the deck, over." Zero ordered.
"Roger that." Naoto transmitted as Zero kicked open the bridge door. Kallen and Tamaki made their way in and down the stairs with him.
"Squad on me! Stairs clear." Zero said quickly as they reached the bottom and saw a drunken crew member. The unfortunate man didn't notice them and said, "Drink to health, Colonel. . . hic!" and hiccuped before Tamaki killed him.
"Last call; bottoms up. Hallway clear!" Zero declared as the three of them entered the crew's quarters and killed two sleeping crew members.
"Sweet dreams; sleep tight." Tamaki said ironically.
"Crew quarters clear. Move up." Zero ordered as they went out onto the deck.
"Forward deck is cleared! Green light on alpha, go!" the copter pilot transmitted as Naoto, Ohgi, Inoue, and Sugiyama grouped up on Zero after rappelling down from the helicopter. Naoto said, "Ready, sir." And then Zero said, "Fan out. Three meter spread." as the seven Black Knights moved up the ship. Upon seeing two crew members with flashlights on patrol on a platform Naoto said, "Got two on the platform."
"I see 'em." Zero said as everyone approached the platform and then said, "Weapons free."
Tamaki killed them both with suppressed AK-47 fire and Kallen said, "Targets neutralized." Upon reaching the end of the ship crew members on the second floor began to engage the Black Knights.
"We've got company." Naoto remarked.
"Nobunaga Six-Three, we've got tangos on the second floor." Zero transmitted.
"Roger, engaging." the helicopter pilot transmitted as the machine sprayed its mini-gun across the floor, killing all hostiles that were on the second floor.
"Inoue, Tamaki, Ohgi, cover our six. The rest of you, on me." Zero ordered.
"Roger that." Ohgi said.
As Ohgi, Tamaki, and Inoue stayed behind to watch for enemy crew members, the others stacked up at a doorway and then Naoto pulled out a W2100 shotgun and said, "I like to keep this for close encounters."
"Too right, Naoto-san." Sugiyama said.
"On my mark- go." Zero ordered as he opened the door and went inside with Kallen, Naoto, and Sugiyama following him. As they went through the ship's interior, they found several dead crew members and a few dead Britannian soldiers. In the last room Naoto got a strong reading coming from one of the crates at the end of the room and said, "I'm getting a strong reading, sir. You might want to take a look at this."
As the four Black Knights gathered in front of the crate, three men dressed as Britannian soldiers but not wearing the helmet approached them and one of them stepped in front of his comrades and said, "Did you see our handiwork on your way to this crate, Zero?"
"Aye, you guys eliminated the opposition that we would have faced down here. The GIGN do not normally operate so far away from home, but you know that Schneizel has taken it from you." Zero said.
"And we shall work with you to get it back. I am Sabre and these two are Faucon and Démon. I lead these men as I am their commander."
"It's good to meet you guys. Anyways, how are you all going to get off the ship?"
"We seized the lifeboats and plan on going with you guys in case Britannia does something funny. If nothing happens, we stay on the ship and land in Tokyo Bay, disguised as to not draw suspicion."
Naoto opened the crate and immediately Zero turned around and saw that the crate contained a bed that was being occupied by a girl with pink hair. A royal guard who was asleep was lying next to the bed, clothed in a pink-colored uniform, a small box laying at his feet. Zero removed his helmet and asked, "How is this possible!? How is Third Princess Euphemia li Britannia alive?"
Euphemia stirred before waking up and asked, "Who are you people? Where am I?"
"We're onboard a cargo freighter en route to Area Eleven and while I, Zero, am the leader of the Black Knights, Sabre, Faucon, and Démon are from the GIGN." Zero said with complete honesty.
"Wh- what!? I don't understand what you are saying, Lelouch. Can you please tell me what's going on?"
The royal guardsman stirred before getting onto his feet and noticed everyone and said, "You guys outnumber me, so I'll talk. I'm actually not a member of the Royal Guard. In truth, I am a member of the Office of Secret Intelligence or as commoners call it, the OSI. We secretly grabbed Euphemia's corpse after she died and after repairing her wounds, we had somehow managed to get her heart going again. However, she had been dead for about seven minutes and as a result she does not remember anything from the past eleven years as she has suffered extensive brain damage."
"So that's why Euphemia's alive right now." Kallen said.
"Anyways, I am your prisoner now. Do what you will with me, Zero. I have weapon blueprints on my person, but the weapon itself is inside the small box." the OSI man said.
"Sugiyama, can you grab that box? Kallen, Naoto, you two should restrain that man. Euphemia, you're coming with us." Zero said.
Zero watched as Sugiyama picked up the small box and got out of the crate as the Kozuki siblings cuffed the man and led him away and then walked over to Euphemia's bed and picked her up before walking out of the crate and carrying the Third Princess bridal style. "Nobunaga Six-Three, what's your status?" he transmitted.
"I just picked up Kallen, Naoto, their prisoner, and Tamaki. I'll come back to extract you and everyone else in three minutes. I'm sorry, but I'm currently at bingo fuel and must return to the submarine or risk crashing." the helicopter pilot transmitted.
"That's alright. Base, anything going on?"
"Two Britannian aircraft are heading your way fast! Has the weapon been secured?" the submarine officer transmitted.
"Aye, I have it. Zero has also found and captured Euphemia li Britannia, who is believed to have died in the SAZ massacre eight months ago." Sugiyama transmitted.
"Understood. Enemy aircraft will be in striking distance of the freighter in three minutes. Use that time to get above deck."
"Alright everyone, we need to get onto the deck very soon. Sabre, how many of your men are on the ship?"
"I've got thirty troops, not counting myself and my two comrades."
"Tell them to get on the ship's deck ASAP! Britannian aircraft are rapidly approaching!" Zero shouted.
"Understood." Sabre said as he left with Faucon and Démon. Zero himself maintained a steady jog back to the deck. Once there, Ohgi and Inoue were waiting as was Sabre. "My men have already left the ship. I'm the only GIGN man still onboard now." he said.
"One minutes until enemy aircraft are in striking distance of the ship." the submarine officer transmitted.
"Nobunaga Six-Three, status?" Zero transmitted.
"I'm on my way. Currently at 25% fuel and ETA is forty-five seconds." the helicopter pilot transmitted.
"Bollocks, you need to double time it! I've got an Imperial Princess in our hands and if the Emperor is any indication, he'll sacrifice her and the entire ship just to get rid of us!"
After only thirty five seconds passed, the transport helicopter arrived and Zero got on first while carrying Euphemia. He was then followed by Ohgi, then Inoue, Sugiyama, and finally Sabre. It all took twenty seconds for everyone to get onboard and when the helicopter began to fly away from the ship, it was then that two missiles fired by Britannian jets struck the cargo freighter.
"Base, this is Nobunaga Six-Three. Package is secure and we are returning to base. Out." the helicopter pilot transmitted as the transport copter flew away while the ship sunk.
A/N: You guys probably weren't expecting this, but what we have here in this chapter is a Christmas miracle.