"At ease."
With a snap-crack of boots hitting the ground, the entire room shifted into a "rest" stance. Feet shoulder width apart, hands clasped behind the back.
Tohdoh marched into the room and reached his desk. The commander of the Japanese invasion force wore a brutal scowl, eyes like a hawk.
"As of 0-200 hours, we've received preliminary intelligence reports from our people in the North Americas."
Behind him, the projector blanketed the wall with pixeled, super-enhanced images.
Kallen, at the far left of the room, second row, vaguely recognized it as an airport, an earthbound air transport and refueling station that she'd seen in some old vids once or twice.
She also saw planes and Knightmare frames...bigger Knightmare frames if that was actually a full grown person she was seeing standing in the pictures edge.
They seemed much more custom and eccentric in their design as well, with aesthetic and seeming function ranging wildly outside of one or two, she couldn't even begin to guess what combat role some would specialize in.
"Prince Schniezel is the commander in charge of the North Americas. Out of his primary headquarters in California-" Tohdou continued, the images behind him shifting and altering as he spoke. "-We have extensive reason to believe he has been funding, and preparing numerous prototype Knightmare frames that will be a match for the Zaku Mobile suit at the very least. He is now preparing to deliver some of these advanced suits to other parts of the world, we're not certain where but it stands to reason that at least some of these machines will be delivered here, Japan is too important for the Britannian's to lose. Its the same reason we were sent here in the first place."
The image behind him winked out, then appeared again. This time with the superimposed map of Japan with red lines and dots naming and pointing out the locations of various airports.
"With Prince Lelouch drawing his primary battle lines near Kyoto" Toudou continued. "dividing the island in half, this eliminates half of the potential landing zones for whatever aircraft might be arriving. Add in sheer logistics and the difficulty he would face in transporting these frames from the other side of the island, or even the smaller islands, four more airports can be reasonably ruled out. That still leaves our intelligence team with six airports, five of which are deep behind their lines."
"Too many targets to hit at once and reach in time even if that wasn't the case." Matsunaga, who was standing infront of her, muttered, though it was primarily to himself.
"Going by tactical sense-"
'A guess' she amended in her head.
"-Prince Lelouch will bring these frames towards his primary battle group in Kyoto" If he does so the closest airport available to him would be the Central Japan International Airport.
The red lines and names disappeared, leaving only one.
"This Airport is connected to Kyoto by highway and by magna-rail track." The map showed one blue line and one red line slithering across the map to reach Kyoto. "We don't believe the Magna rail has the capacity to load a mobile suit or more than one, it was meant more for passengers than cargo that means we'll have to hit the highway."
"That's nearly thirty miles behind enemy lines." Someone shot out from the other side of the room, Kallen didn't see who he was.
"So it is." Tohdoh drawled.
A woman, Chiba if Kallen recalled correctly, stepped forward as she cleared her throat as Tohdoh sat. "Our strategy is as follows."
The images changed, showing suit teams, battalions and tank forces across the map, both Britannian and theirs. "We're going to harass their front lines, draw the commanders attention away from the highway, long enough for a team to get in via air drop, steal or destroy the prototype Knightmare frames, and pull out to an extraction point here. If the suits are not in transport, or did not arive at the airport, you are to conduct a fast attack raid on the airport itself, which should largely be lightly defended with no important cargo making its way there. We can at least damage one of their primary import routes."
As she spoke, the arrows and "units" on the map moved forward, engaging no less than five forward bases, while one unit bypassed the entire battlefield to head straight for the highway and then a new arrow sprouted to head to an EZ eight miles south of the same highway.
"Estimated operation time for the assault team will be twenty-four minutes engagement, seven minutes extraction. Estimated operation time for the decoy forces will be one hour and six minutes.
"A lightning fast raid by all accounts." Another of the team leaders said. She managed to see his profile, but didn't really recognize his face.
"Greased lightning." One added. "A mass assault like this to take place, be executed and withdrawn from in little more than an hour? This is unbelievably fast."
Kallen had to agree, while combat against a single enemy took minutes, if not seconds, battles especially ones with multiple fronts and stages often did take hours; as in, more than One which is what Chiba and Tohdoh were proposing they limit themselves to here.
"Quite frankly, we don't have many forces that are combat ready." Tohdoh drawled.
Chiba picked up from there again. "The Zaku combat teams that landed have all received varying degrees of damage. And while many of the Zaku's that touched down on HLV transports are functional, many more are not, given the enemies raid. We don't want Jeremiah Gottwald, or Prince Lelouch, or anyone who is in charge of this location to know just how thin we're spread at the moment and we must minimize damage to our remaining forces otherwise we risk a war of attrition that can only favor Britannia in the end. Their resources are far greater than ours and they have the logistics to transport them more efficiently."
With that said, Tohdoh once more took charge of the briefing with Chiba stepping back.
"The assault team has three steps. Get in, Disable the threat, get out. Simple. The distraction team, by way of necessity will have quite a few more. But first things first, who volunteers for the assault team?"
Before anyone could say or do anything, Matsunaga, her captain, stepped forward with a sharp salute.
"Shin Matsunaga. Leader of Zaku team four with Kallen Stadfield and Shinchiro Tamaki. Requesting permission to hit the Brits where it hurts sir!"
Kallen smiled.
-U.C.0079-
Lelouch raised an eyebrow. "Britannian Mobile Suits?"
On the other side of the screen, Schniezel's glass clinked as the man stirred sugar in his drink. "A pet project I've been working on. No doubt you'd heard."
Lelouch nodded. "I'd heard rumors. How many do you have?"
"Six." He replied. "Two we will be sending to you, two more to Cornelia and two I will keep for my own forces. I'm calling to inform you of their arrival in the Central International airport within-" The prince paused in a short mental calculation. "Eleven to thirteen hours, give or take."
"It'll give me some time to sleep then." He drawled. "I wish we still had the Osaka airport available. Then I could simply drop them on Jeremiah. He's one of the best pilots I have, if not the best; its where they'll be going anyway."
Schniezel seemed to think for a moment. "Osaka? That's where you're gripping the knife then."
Lelouch shrugged, smirking.
Schniezel sighed, though the faintest of smirks tugged at a corner of his mouth. "Keep your secrets then little brother. I assume I don't need to tell you that chances are high, that if the enemy caught wind of this they will plan an attack to eliminate these suits correct."
Lelouch spun a chess King between his fingers, smirking. "Of course you don't. I already have quite a few ideas in case they're so foolish."
The smirk tugged a little higher. "I leave it to you then Lelouch."
The press of a button and the screen blacked out.
Lelouch stood, dusting himself off before making his way out.
The door opened.
"Shirley." He greeted.
She held her pad over her chest, somewhat glaring at him. "I thought you were heading off to sleep. You have to be up earlier than usual tomorrow-"
"Alright, Alright." He chuckled raising his hands defensively. "I'm going."
"And make sure you eat something." His PA demanded in a huff. "Don't think I didn't notice you skipped breakfast and lunch today."
Lelouch made a note of it.
It was unheard of for anyone to speak to Britannian Royalty like this. Lelouch actively sought to be a unique case. Consciously encouraged it. He preferred it like this. He suspected it had to do with what he'd seen of his mothers own sense of informality when he was growing up. He took that aspect of her, and, most likely in an attempt to emulate her...honor her perhaps, he'd amplified that trait in himself up to eleven as much as he consciously could.
He liked it when Milly arrived at any and all hours as though he worked for her, not the other way around. He liked that Shirley and Nunally would both get on his case about something or other whenever he neglected details that were more mundane or personal in nature. It kept him, for lack of a better term, grounded.
...
At least that's what he told himself. Truth was, the horrified looks on someone like Guilford's face whenever he, or someone like him came around was just priceless.
He paused, a thought coming to him.
"Ahh, yes." He snapped his fingers, swiveling around with a perfect about face. "Shir, could you give me your pad for a moment. One last order I have to send out."
She didn't look pleased, but she held her pad out for him.
A few quick key strokes, a few priority email recipient codes punched in and voila. Lelouch was officially done for the day and ready for the next.
"Thank you Ms. Temple I promise I'm off to bed now." He smiled, pretended to not notice the blush she had despite the reproachful look of concerned admonishment and bid her goodnight.
-U.C.0079-
Suzaku took a sip of his coffee, hands digging into thick coat pockets to try and keep some semblance of warmth while sitting out here.
Even with a tent, a heater behind him, and an army of communication computers and server towers generating a toasty heat, the wind would just rip right through this thing. Normally the effects of the forever winter weren't this bad, but evidently the atmosphere didn't appreciate being made to look like a cheese grater just a week ago and so lightning storms and blizzards were far more violent and potent than usual.
Intelligence estimated it'd be another ten to fifteen days like this then it would calm down to be something far above twenty below.
Intelligence could go to hell as far as he was concerned.
The tent flap opened and Suzaku was greeted by a tall man, covered from head to toe in thick material to stave off the cold, shoulders baring flakes of snow.
There was a grunt and the scarf and hat came off, revealing commander Gottwald's features as he brushed his hair out of his face.
Suzaku moved to stand. "Si-"
"At ease." Jeremiah said without preamble, marching in and sitting down on the spare chair. "Any movement."
"Heavy movement." He confirmed. "They've not left their established battlelines though, so it could easily be preparation just the same as it could be them consolidating their defenses sir."
Jeremiah hummed, looking at the screens. Then he turned his gaze to Suzaku, hand reaching into his coat and pulling out a file.
One with his name on it.
"For whatever it might be worth." Jeremiah drawled as he tossed the file onto the desk. "Allow me to extend my apologies on behalf of Prince Lelouch.
Suzaku stiffened, blinking in surprise. "Wha-"
"Your records." The lime haired man drawled, leaning back in his chair, fingers laced together over his legs, one leg crossed over the other. A pose he'd seen Lelouch adopt several times. Or perhaps one Lelouch emulated from him. "They're pristine. You've been enlisted in the Britanian military for over three years and have been passed over for promotion several times. Even after you broke the local records for Knightmare frame combat simulations it took eight months for your application to be approved." The man frowned.
Suzaku swallowed, blinking. "Sir that's not necessary. I can understand their hesitation with the war and everything. I merely have to prove my loyalty...and things will be better."
Jeremiah stared at the Japanese youth for a few seconds as though trying to measure whether or not he should believe him. "A stain on My Prince's administration is a stain on him, and myself. Thus, I apologize on his, and the Britannian Military's behalf. Know that your status as an Honorary Britannian will affect nothing from this point on. You have my word that you will be judged and measured on your merits and your actions.
Suzaku swallowed. It wasn't with emotion. He was trying to reign himself in and not get his hopes up.
"Thank you sir." He finally said, standing to salute.
Jeremiah nodded, he could tell the young man was still wary of his words. Perhaps pretty words were offered before.
Still he would learn this time was different.. He already knew of one particular Honorary Britannian in his Princes employ that was the best at what she did and was treated as such.
Sayoko was a choice many had balked at, even he; had he been honest with himself.
She'd proved them all wrong.
Just from his impeccable service record alone he knew, beyond the mere gut feeling this Kururugi boy would be the same.
"Tomorrow you were scheduled to have the shift from two to four PM. That has been changed. Report to Villeta at that time instead." Suzaku saluted. "Yes sir!" He stood. Returning the salute he gathered his scarf and winter hat before marching out the door.
-U.C.0079-
The next morning, he opened his door to, unusually, find Sayoko standing there, waiting for him.
He blinked. "Sayoko? Something wrong?"
The maid bowed. "Princess Nunally would like for you to join her in the communications room Lelouch-sama."
Lelouch raised an eyebrow in curiosity. His mind was always a little sluggish in the morning, so he blamed that to account for the ten seconds it took his brain to make the necessary connection as to why she'd be in there. He smiled. "Ahh. I see."
He stepped into the comm room and didn't make it half a step before he heard the enthusiastic cry-
"Lulu!"
He smiled towards the image of his second favorite sister. "Hello Euphy."
It was night where she was, the black sky with twinkling stars served as her backdrop. She looked as though she wanted to jump through the screen to hug them both. He leaned down and kissed Nunnaly's cheek in greeting, getting his own kiss in turn.
"I was so worried!" She said, huddling a little more into her winter coat. "I couldn't get through. Satellite coverage has been down around Pendragon for a long while now.
Made sense. Most likely the Rebels wanted to cut the palace off. Also likely, Charles had devised some countermeasure that had taken a bit to kick in. Hardline underground hubs perhaps.
Didn't the bastard have the courtesy to roll over and drop dead?
Lelouch then picked up on an interesting little detail that had slipped his mind.
"Euphy." He began. "Isn't Pendragon covered up by a Dome?"
His sister clammed up.
His eyes narrowed. "Did you sneak out again!"
"Sister." Nunnally called, chastising in a tone that was as stern as she could hope to make it. "You know you shouldn't-"
"I'm sorry!" Euphy blurted, frowning and puffing herself up. "I have to see what's going on. I can't just stay behind the palace doors and take the information that's filtered to me! I have to get the whole picture myself to know how I can help."
Lelouch slapped his forehead. "Did you even try taking any guards with you?"
"Of course not! They'd never let me out of the palace without a fully armed escort and running it by Father, or worse, Sister Cornelia!"
It was too early for a headache like this.
"Would you get back to the palace grounds? Now!?" The very last thing Lelouch wanted was seeing, or hearing about Euphy getting mugged, at best.
"Sister." Nunnally's softer voice cut in. "Its not safe. Go back."
Euphy looked like she was in a stubborn mood. Evidently it was the genes. Only way he could envision Euphy acting like Cornelia holding a flag ontop of a mound of enemy corpses or a contested hill when she wanted to make a point. It had to be genes.
"I'll stay out here for another hour."
"No...go back now." He growled.
"No!" If she were anyone else, he had no doubt the call would have cut off at that point. But Euphy rarely wanted to leave being angry with someone or leaving that person angry in turn.
An oxymoron considering her gentle nature. She'd get in your face and wouldn't back down til the issue was resolved.
"Why not meet in the middle?" Nunnally put in. "Thirty minutes?"
"Twenty."
"Twenty five." She stuck out her tongue at him.
He sighed, aggravated. "Can't you just...get a job in an intelligence office somewhere? Help behind a desk. No one, not even royalty is safe when it gets bad outside the domes. Food is taken care of but medical supplies, fire fuel and such, isn't exactly something we have an abundance of. If people want to hurt you they won't recognize you and it might even be worse if they do Euphy."
"You know Father has his own people at the palace and Cornelia won't even let me sign a requisition form for my own clothes. I..." She paused, a thoughtful look crossing her eye. "Wait Lulu-you've given me an idea. I'll call back later, I'm glad you're okay bye!"
And before he could get a word in edgewise she clicked it off and the screen went black.
The sigh that escaped him made Nunnally giggle.
"She was always determined." She complemented.
"Bullheaded...and smart enough to pull off the stunts she cooks up half the time."
Nunnally giggled again. "Do you remember when she convinced you to go swimming with her in the Palace fountains when I was six?"
Lelouch felt a smile. "Cornelia was furious...Mother couldn't stop laughing."
"They asked you why you did it and sister said-"
"But you never said wecouldn't swim in the fountains." He lilted his voice in a piss poor imitation of gentle Euphy.
It made Nunnally laugh though.
He walked around her chair grabbing the handles. "What would you like to eat Nun?"
"Hmmm." She thought. "Crepes."
He chuckled. Perhaps not the healthiest, but her favorite. "Alright then."
-U.C.0079-
Kallen rested in her Zaku fingers drumming on the dormant controls as she felt the bumps and lurches of the sled over the tracks that slid the kneeling machine into the bay that would carry them through.
They didn't have many of these transports available even before a good chunk of them were scrapped in the raid that had hit their landing party.
Right now, they only had two, enough for four Mobile suits, by the end of a week or so, they should have as many as six, enough to drop twelve mobile suits in any location. The equivalent of three Tank Brigades.
For now though, four. With another twenty eight mobile suits taking part in the raid, acting as the spearhead for nearly twice as many tanks.
Almost their whole undamaged invasion force in terms of their Mobile Suit forces.
Plenty of raw power to put the squeeze on the pampered Prince and the arrogant Brits.
The screen flickered to life, revealing Ohgi sitting in his usual place. Headset over his ears, mic over his mouth. "Kallen. How're we doing temperature wise?"
She swiveled her eyes to the thermostat. "Sixty-nine and going down."
"The inside of the transport should provide a bit more insulation. Just try to bear with it as long as possible. We can't have the Brits sensors discovering Minovsky Particles in the air without risking giving away our objective.
"Don't worry. I packed my winter gloves." She smirked, then let it drop. "What about their transport? How much longer before it lands?"
"Not sure." He answered honestly. "I'll let you and your team know the second it comes within range of our sensors."
"Could they be using a stealth transport?" She asked, the thought bubbling to her head.
"They could. That's why we stuffed you into these suits now. Over an hour before estimated arrival time. If they are we'll have to move fast. But the second they're below a thousand feet, no stealth fighter in the world can hide from our tech teams."
"At that height they'll only be a few minutes away from landing. It'll be cutting it close." She thought. "I heard Tamaki's been bitching since he heard he was staying behind."
Ohgi rolled his eyes. "You have no idea. The man hasn't shut up. Honestly I might shoot him."
She snickered through her teeth.
In all reality, and not to brag but She wasn't just the best Pilot on this team but arguably the best in the entire Japanese invasion force. Her simulation results were off the charts. Shin could think on his feet and was a fairly decent tactician. So he led the team.
Tamaki was...
Tamaki.
He was an ok pilot, he was an ok infantryman, He was an ok communication worker.
He was just ok and being ok was enough when the strategy was to use Mobile Suits as spear-points for ever major push. It was their greatest weapon.
Still, to charge in and wreck his mobile suit on the very first engagement, with, seemingly no effort on the part of the enemy was probably enough to get him on the back burner and replaced by someone the Higher ups had ignored on the ladder in favor of him who had gotten slightly worse results in the Mobile Suit simulations. If his recklessness would costthem time and money repairing the suit, his margin for error was not something command was going to tolerate with resources as limited as they were.
Shin would speak for, or against him when the pannel asked. She didn't know how he leaned and quite frankly, she didn't want to know. Less drama that way.
Another screen lit up, Shin.
"Kallen." He said. "When we hit ground we're going to attempt the destruction of the enemy mobile suit prototypes understood?"
"We're not capturing them?
"We don't have the gear to determine if the tonnage on those machines are greater, or less than the standard Zaku. If we try to capture one, it could be that the transports won't be able to lift off. Two Zaku's come awfully close to their weight limit as it is."
She nodded. Made sense. "Alright. So I guess capture is officially out acording to HC?"
"We'll have to see how the situation develops. I'm just giving you the default run. If the situation demands an alternative we'll do so."
"You hate improvising." She commented.
"I also hate sitting in a cockpit that's already at sixty eight degrees and steadily going down, but here I am." He answered snappishly making her grin.
"Aww its not so bad. Its colder in space than it is down here."
"Space is home." He answered. "This isn't."
Kallen frowned.
They were fighting to retake their homes...
At least she thought so.
It was true that many of the colonists believed that Space, after a hundred years was home but...why go through all this, if they had no intention of coming back?
Was Earth just "The distant Battlefield" That people generally didn't care about because it wasn't their back yard?
Had that made it easier to drop a Nuclear ladden colony over their heads?
They'd killed Britannians, anyone could get behind that...but they'd also ruined earth for the foreseeable future.
She, personally, was fighting for this home...Not space...they had space. She wanted this place, her homeland. The place where her grandfather had been born. She wanted Britannia off its soil and driven back to the crater that was left of London. The pit they deserved.
Idealist? Perhaps. It as her reason though.
It was always a little disconcerting that some, if not most of her fellow colonists didn't share the sentiment.
The thought that what she was fighting for was just a spit of dirt they'd just as readily glass as they had London...
She shook her head and felt the last rumble as the sled was locked into position and her Zaku knelt obediently, waiting for the battle to come.
-U.C.0079-
He flipped the radio switch on. "Tower control this is Flight seven eight one two we are now officially entering Area eleven airspace please confirm over."
There was a crackle of static, the voice of the tower control man coming through a moment later. "Confirmed seven-eight-one-two. Got you on our scopes. Please state classification level of package over."
"Classification level Charlie zero one one four gray. Please confirm over."
There was a pause. "Confirmed seven-eight-two-one. An escort will be provided accordingly when you land."
"Appreciated Tower." The pilot answered, and felt the radio go silent in his ear.
In the cargo bay, two suits, one white, one red, lay quietly, awaiting delivery to their proper owners.
-U.C.0079-
This chapter is, admittedly, shorter than I'd like, but the next chapter will be much longer and this seemed like a better point to cut it off and pick up again than later.
Now for responses!
To BahamutX978:
Unfortunately, I don't consider myself nearly knowledgeable enough on the side stories that I would venture to use them in the narrative. So I'd have to say no, other side story characters/events will not really be referenced here overmuch if at all.
To Guest:
A mixture of Propaganda, and the fact that he's the one that, consistently, day in and day out, delivers and provides a steady supply of food and supplies for their survival. And the fact that, as much as they might resent it, they resent the Colonists that dropped a nuclear bomb the size of Manhattan Island over their heads.
Anyway, hope you all enjoyed it, R&R please. Its the only Currency I make off of this. :D