Ch2

World changes:

Air tech: the empire and the federation are both two decades ahead of Gallia in airplane technology, meaning while Gallia is in WW1 tech, the superpowers are in the interwar period and will be in the WW2 period in the sequel.

Economy: while both the empire and the federation are capitalist systems, I picture the federation as Anglo-Saxon capitalism, free market capitalism, or corporate capitalism, while the empire is more Japanese capitalism, state capitalism, or "family" capitalism, by family I mean long standing industrial dynasties based off the Krupp family of Germany.

Disclaimer: I do not own Valkyria Chronicles or Code Geass

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Sun Tzu: the Way means inducing people to have the same aim as the leadership, so that they will share death and share life, without fear of danger.

POV: Selvaria

Location: just outside the citadel at Ghirlandaio

Time: 2 weeks after the second battle of Naggier

I lie back on top of my personal black painted medium tank, staring at some distant birds watching their carefree play. Suppressing my envy I recall Maximilian words on the subject 6 years ago "birds are not freer than people, they merely have a different set of options. They still have the same objectives as people, the need to breathe, the need to eat and drink, and the need for shelter. Whereas birds fly around to achieve these objectives, humans build things that attain those needs in one place"

I let a small smile grace my features as I remember his overly technical and endlessly logical explanation. I must have been pouting at his explanation, because soon after he took me skydiving to show me what being a bird feels like. I recall later retorting that birds do not spend all their time freefalling. Maximilian countered by taking me wing suit gliding once I had made my 200th successful jump. Now grinning like a fool, I wondered at the things that man would do to prove a point.

Pondering Maximilian's desires and current situation further quickly sobered me. The outlook is grim, after losing the battle of Naggiar to the Gallian Valkyria I awoke 2 days later fully healed in an imperial apc (armored personal carrier), with the Gallian army in close pursuit. The Gallian army was too eager to exploit the imperial retreat, their assaults were staggered and their men overconfident and thus careless. I was able to punish their advances severely with my Ruhm in a continuous series of ambushes and withdrawals.

Somewhat desperate to gain something from this debacle I start wondering over the particular reason why my Ruhm was so much more effective than sniper rifles and heavy machine guns. Sniper rifles are extremely dangerous in the hands of skilled personal; I have read repeated reports of snipers on the southern front gaining over 100 kills. The main problem is finding the talented individuals and then giving them enough training to truly be effective. Maximilian's army snipers are trained to take body shots at long ranges, the only problem is that the energy and penetration of the rounds is lessened enough by the air drag that whatever polymer based body armor the Gallians are using is enough to stop the round. Heavy machine guns on the other hand while processing the necessary power, are too bulky and heavy with their water cooled barrels to be withdrawn quickly enough in the face of a stronger renewed Gallian assault, after the initial ambush.

My Ruhm on the other hand seemed capable of long range suppression fire and even more capable of shredding unprepared Gallian vanguards. The long range, rapid fire, and portability does seem like an unstoppable combination together, perhaps future imperial squads will be based around the light machine gun, instead of the rifle. But first the empire needs to get the guns and the Ruhm was considered too expensive for deployment to all imperial forces. I frown at that, the empire which normally lavishes its troops found something too expense for the common soldier. I'll have to ask Maximilian if he can get Zabot industries to make a cheaper design.

I cringe at that, my upcoming conversation with Maximilian, I have to report my failure as a Valkryia to this Maximilian, the one I created when I first turned Valkyria. I sigh as I recall my life in the dry tone the Valkyria project handlers once used:

Subject: Selvaria Bles

Life story:

Up to age 8 lived in happy normal imperial family living in Heerlen

At age 8 indentified as Valkyria and abducted into the imperial Valkryia research project headed by Bartley Asprius a confidant of both the emperor Charles de Europa and his prime minister V.V

Age 8-14 Subject spent time alternating between learning how to fight and being experimented on by handlers….

At age 14 Bartley Asprius is killed in a train accident, Maximilian oversees project shutdown, officially because of lack of results and the funds need for the first Europan War. All Valkryia subjects are found homes. Except for Selvaria Bles, as the extensive testing resulted in hair and eye color changes and vastly increased physical strength, this combined with harsh conditioning rendered her a possible threat to imperial society. Maximilian ruled to personally oversee subject's case and deal with any violent outbursts.

I mentally relax once I had gotten past that portion of my life and recall the early days with Maximilian. My previous training had left me incapable of thinking like a normal human being, I would constantly await orders and never voice my feelings. Maximilian dragged me out of that rut by giving me lots of reading material and then asking me about my thoughts and feelings on the subjects during mealtimes.

Understandably most of Maximilian's reading topics were on things that he knew well enough to discourse on; but still those topics ran the gamut of military, politics, economies, industry, agriculture, and philosophy namely the rights and responsibilities of rulers and the ruled. It was during these lessons that my sentiments about Maximilian as my knight in shining armor developed into love and devotion.

At age 18 I joined the imperial army in Maximilian's personal bodyguard division as a Lieutenant, mainly to boaster Maximilian's reputation, and to defuse rumors of my spooning off him. Rising in the ranks through war gaming and technical evaluations was easy after Maximilian's tutoring and my own surprising skill.

At age 20 was when I forced my Valkryia abilities to surface, and Maximilian changed to his current less paranoid, more serious, and aloof persona. My resolution to become a Valkyria for him came after an imperial family outing to the Atlantic Federation city of Ypern. I remember it so clearly, and my resolve has not changed even with the distancing my relationship with Maximilian.

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The trip was supposedly the brainchild of the emperor, designed to curb the rebellious tendencies of teenagers by emphasizing the superiority of the imperial system to the Federation one. The target audience was princess's Euphemia, and Nunnally, and prince's Lelouch and Clovis. The chauffeurs were princes Schneizel, and Maximilian who had all been to the Atlantic Federation before. Attending as bodyguards were myself, princess Cornelia to watch Euphemia, Cornelia's knight Guilford, Nunnally's knight Jeremiah Gottwald, and Schneizel's attendant Kanon Maldini.

The trip started off normally enough, we were treated as visiting dignitaries, the rulers were only mildly condescending, and the servants all smiles, and perhaps most importantly as Maximilian said "the food wasn't poisoned" though since he was eating pre-packed food as always, he at least would have survived. The other older members who had been to Federation before were also reluctantly eating, though the food itself was excellent. We spent a week being pampered, and shown to all the so called achievements of the Federation, buildings that either aped older structures in the empire, or "modern" soulless monoliths. These blocks of a building had everyone arguing over whether the building was more deficient in aesthetics, Clovis, Lelouch, Nunnally, Euphemia, Jeremiah, and Guilford or utility, Maximilian, Schneizel, Cornelia, Kanon, and myself.

Finally Schneizel hatched a plot to distract our handlers, and Maximilian led our party into the poorer sections of town, after forcing everyone into wearing full plate under cloaks despite the heat, and sternly reminding the younger members of the importance of secrecy, it seemed aimed especially at Lelouch. I had previously thought that I had seen the worst humanity had to offer in the Valkyria project labs, I was so wrong, the slums were a maze of one story buildings all in various states of disrepair. Clovis took one look and ran back into the city, the rest of us press forward grimly, with Maximilian explaining how the Federation policies led to the create of such a hellish wasteland. We wondered around for hours, a vast variety of eyes staring at us as we passed through looking like a stern religious progression in our cloaks. The eyes were filled alternately with fear, listlessness, anger, despair, and so very rarely hope and happiness.

We eventually ran into a fetid stream, Maximilian explained in a deadpan voice how lack of water infrastructure, means that this river is used for everything black water, grey water, and fresh water. To illustrate his idea he pointed out a man soiling the water just upstream of a women trying to get clean, and another women drinking water from the river. Lelouch lost his stomach at this point, emptying it into the river, but sadly making no real difference in the levels of filth. Maximilian later told me that he and Schneizel did the same thing on their first trip into the Federation.

As the sun started setting, we started back towards our hotel, the direction was simple, walk towards the skyscrapers. There was an incident with Euphemia getting lost and Cornelia causing a stampede when she offered a 1,000 imperial's as a reward for finding her, pocket change for a princess, more than what a man earns in a decade in the slums. Our escape was only possible thanks to the Federation police who broke up the crowds with a ruthless efficiency and technological expertise comparable to imperial riot police. After we got back to our hotel we found Euphemia waiting there with a slum guide Suzaku Kururugi, thanks to the riot she had gotten there hours before us.

Our group split up, the younger members: Clovis, Lelouch, Nunnally, Euphemia, Suzaku, and Jeremiah to watch them went to one room presumable to sleep, while the older members: myself, Maximilian, Schneizel, Cornelia, Kanon, and Guilford went to a lounge to talk.

As I looked around at these pillars of imperial power I thought and asked "what can we do?"

Schneizel at first calmly responded "there is nothing we can do, these people chosen a different way of life from us" perhaps because the horror was not as fresh for him, fortunately I was saved from committing leze majesty by Cornelia.

Cornelia exclaimed "that's horseshit, we can conquer the Federation, execute those apathetic rulers, and show the people true prosperity under real leadership" which prompted myself and Guilford to exclaim our agreement in embarrassing unison.

Maximilian in the same dead pan voice he used the entire day responded while staring out the window at the slums "don't expect the Federation to lose so easily, do you know what the true horror is, of what you saw down there?" at this he turned and swept his glaze over all of us, mildly unnerving us with his cold stare. "this result was not caused by naiveté, but planned economies, and the second we invade those people will be put to work fighting against us, we'll end up slaughtering those we mean to save"

At this point I spoke up "surely the people would rise up to help us, or the very least have too much malnutrition to fight?"

Maximilian shook his head and responded " the Federation propaganda is too through, too controlling, the poor will be told they will have a future by going to war, they would be told that victory is assured and quick with imperial provinces rushing to embrace Federation liberators. As the war drags on people will continue to go for the promise of food and the fear of us, Kanon can explain more"

Kanon somewhat surprised at being brought into the conversation replied nonetheless with admirable efficiency "the Federation media outlets are appallingly good at public diplomacy, their name for propaganda. They offer a variety of experts seemingly unaffiliated with each other, who then proceed to engage each other in an arms race of slander against the empire. Someone who merely accuses the empire of being a primitive backwater with an anachronistic political system and stupid sheep for people, will then be labeled as an empire lover and blasted by more fanatical writers who under the guise of patriotism precede to label the empires people as racially inferior and incapable of establishing democracy for themselves and must be taught under Federation patronage" pausing a minute for us to digest the information, Kanon then continued "the Federation media also uses us as a kind of twisted mirror, they take everything about the empire and makes it into a worse version of Federation. Imperial poor are more abused than Federation poor because democratic safeguards aren't there, imperial rich are mobsters who stole their wealth while Federation rich earned every penny…."

Maximilian finished for him "and imperial occupation will mean the slow painful extermination of everyone and everything you hold dear" he finishes with a sneer.

Schneizel broke the silence with " the Federation gives itself children's nightmares about the empire, and so turns itself into a rapid dog in order to protect itself from its own nightmarish creation" he finishes solemnly.

With a nervous edge I ask "still can't the people logically conclude that their position in this world can't really get any worse and thus hope for any type of change?"

Maximilian responded sadly that "that type of cold logic can only be achieved with distance, safety, knowledge, and comfort. And it takes an even colder person to follow through on the actions required by that logic. The Federation knows this and hence keeps its people in line though thoughtless desperation in everyday living."

After a long silence Cornelia spoke up "then what can we do?"

At this both Schneizel and Maximilian responded at the same time with "we survive" after looking at each other they continued, still in sync "we prosper". After a moment of staring at each other Maximilian cocked his head in Schneizel direction, indicating he should explain his view first, perhaps out of deference to his older brother.

Schneizel spoke in that endless patient tone of his "the empire and the federation are two sides of the same coin, that coin being the industrial revolution. The Empire's long history, as industrial-military dynasties that unified through marriages, are in direct comparison and competition with the more dynamic but shortsighted corporate conglomerate ruled by committees. Thus for humanities' future the system that ultimately prospers more must be successful, and the empire should achieve a worthwhile victory through economic, not military victory". Schneizel then nodded to Maximilian to share his thoughts.

Maximilian did, and with more vigor than I had seen in him for the past 24 hours "the Federation relies upon desperation and fear as its main people motivator, which can be used to produce goods in massive quantity. The empire then should respond with obsession and devotion to motivate our workers, high pay and incentives to improve products, then we will produce quality products. Federation's great production and low pay is its own enemy. The supply side becomes stuffed while the demand staggers, this results in wasteful strategies such as making disposable items out of previously reusable ones. If the Federation economy runs on people constantly buying disposable products, then the empire economy should plan on making products that can be handed down through generations. Such longevity means that eventually everyone in the empire will have one, and product design should proceed with that market accordingly. While the Federation chokes on its own garbage and wastes its time buying and dumping products, imperial citizens will be able spend more time with family and friends sharing ideas on new products to make everyone's lives better."

At this point Schneizel intoned in a mocking voice "technical details" and before I could respond Maximilian replied in an equally mocking tone "philosophical theories" with such ease that I was sure that they had done this before. After that we all went back to our respected rooms thinking that we will be back to the empire soon and redouble our efforts.

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A surprise then, the next morning when I finally managed to drag myself downstairs, my slow wakefulness was previously "solved" by Valkyria handlers throwing ice water at my face, the imperial party was huddled around a spectacle of some sort. As I came closer I found out the spectacle was Maximilian who was trying to dislodge his sisters Euphemia and Nunnally who despite her wheelchair was doing an admirable job of holding Maximilian's right arm, while his left was held by Euphemia.

When Maximilian spotted me, he cried out in a desperate tone mixed with relief that I had never heard he utter before "Selvaria, quick help get them off me without hurting them."

After blinking for a few seconds to ensure that this was not some bizarre dream, I stepped forward and was quickly stopped by Cornelia's sword. Grasping my the hilt of my own sword, another gift from Maximilian, and groggy enough to consider the possibility that this was a bizarre dream where I had to duel Cornelia again to save Maximilian, from his sisters… I had dueled Cornelia before at the imperial academy, despite the differences in our rank and social status, I was one of the few females that signed up for the ritual dueling class. But my day time fantasies of saving Maximilian usually involves Federation gunmen who conveniently always miss, and Maximilian's clothing being in a tattered damaged stage….

At this point Euphemia shouted out with remarkable clarity despite being waved around my Maximilian's arm "we're not letting go until you promise to help these people!" at this Maximilian's glaze went to the unengaged imperial family members. As it pinned Schneizel, he calmly stated "I have already agreed to handle the diplomatic backlash from the Federation, you merely need to provide the physical transportation"

At this Maximilian stilled and narrowed his glaze on Schneizel uttering "what are you planning?" to which Schneizel calmly replied "what are you hiding, my younger brother?".

Maximilian then looked at each of his sisters and stated "let go of me and I will explain what can and cannot be done." Apparently I wasn't the only female that his quiet teacher tone could manipulate, as his sisters slowly released him. Instead of the tactically superior choice of withdrawing in great haste, i.e running away with your tail tucked between your legs, Maximilian chose to face the confrontation head on.

Maximilian began with that sage like tone that I so enjoyed at our mealtime reviews "the federation and the empire have different transportation methods, our empire relies on railroads while the federation relies on highways, we don't have the means to transport the civilians by land. While distance to the imperial border is walk able, that area is still under heavy guard by both imperial and federation forces, not to mention the left over minefields."

At this point Lelouch butted in with his characteristic arrogance and superiority "if we cannot take them by land, then we should take them by air, get the knights of the Valkryia to do something useful instead of air shows." To which Maximilian mockingly replied with "and exactly how many people do you think you can carry out of here, using aircraft? Gather every single plane in the empire and I doubt you'll get more than a thousand people out of this hellhole."

Lelouch angrily retorted "a thousand more people than you will save by sitting around splitting out excuses like all the other adults." Maximilian countered with "can you really save them, or are you simply moving them from one poverty ridden existence to another one in the empire, you who has no company backing him, no land to store them on?"

At this Schneizel smoothly cut in "why don't we have a friendly competition, as our father and our empire encourages? See who can save more people in a month's time?" Maximilian questioned "still where will they go? My Zabot is good at training people but can't handle such a large influx of people, your Uranus is too elitist to accept low skilled workers, the emperor's current propaganda track discourages immigration."

Schneizel responded with a hint of unease "while I am unsure exactly what sort of numbers you are talking about when I have seen reports about Zabot training ten thousand workers yearly, we can move them into the new lands governed by Cornelia"

At this Cornelia managed a shuttered "what?!" before the glazes of her sisters locked onto her with a distributing intensity. Guilford being attentive as ever rose to his lady's defense with "as newly intergraded lands they are more vulnerable to disruptions and more eager to revolt against our leadership"

Schneizel smiled, that small slight smile and spoke "empires are fundamentally heterogeneous, the mixing of peoples and ideals is one of our greatest strengths over the federation which prefers separate ethic groupings."

Before Cornelia or Guilford could continue to object, Maximilian added "ah I see, its brilliant by mixing people you are diluting their purist ideologies or forcing them to commit ethnic cleansing which allows our empire to come in like the heroes to enforce peace and stability. Either way the necessary troop levels decease as either their will to fight or their focus of targets diminishes."

And at that point the challenge begins, the next day and every day after Lelouch lands an airplane and drags around 50 civilians off to the empire, Suzaku's aging father boards one of the planes, but Suzaku himself remains, apparently the families are trying to get the old and infirmed to safety while believing the young could survive in the federation. Two weeks pass, some five thousand people are flown to the empire, while suprising and a public coup for the possibilities of air travel, the federation remains uncaring as the ones being removed are incapable of working anyway. Maximilian spends his time alternating between preparing identification for the new citizens and discussing the future with Cornelia, Euphemia, and Nunnally. I had heard these talks before but sat in with them often simply to enjoy the sound of his voice.

Then Maximilian's answer to the problem of movement arrives. Ten massive cargo ships arrive and after unloading their wares revealed their secondary function as transport ships. Half a million people loaded onto the boats, this time any one brave enough to try and better their lives is welcome aboard, and Suzaku is among them.

After watching an exuberant Euphemia depart from a reluctant Maximilian, I join him on the railing of the bow of the ship to express my own congratulations. But after getting closer to him I see that he is truly troubled and not merely tired. I slide next to him and ask in the ritual method that he taught me "what's bothering you?"

He turns his head slowly and grimly responds "my actions and the world at large". I wait for him to explain, knowing that he will, if only because he talks to no one else. "For moving half a million people I have revealed the capabilities of Zabot's naval building facilities". He pauses waiting for something, I reply "surely a worthwhile accomplishment, you outdid both Lelouch and Schneizel expectations!" He closes his eyes and shakes his head "half a million people, the empire has 350 million people and the federation has 400 million, my efforts have not affected a single percent of Europa". He continues in an increasingly self mocking tone "this plan cannot be repeated, the federation will more closely monitor their ports. Lelouch succeeded in firing the imaginations of the empire with his air transport, and Scheizel has gotten me to reveal Zabot's encroachment into shipping which will surely cause an inquirly as Zabot is already one of the largest rail owners and operators."

Trying to grasp his world view that would lead him to such fatalistic conclusions I ask "why did you do it then? You could have forfeited once you realized what Schneizel plan was" to this he replied "people like me who plot and scheme in the dark depths of the earth do so because we think that we can accomplish some grand world changing event at the end of that long path. However should something disrupt our journey we will be remembered as murderers or worse, forgotten completely, our sacrifices in vain. I ordered these ships here because I wanted to see if I still could do something for the people or if I had become too lost in the darkness of politics to care. In short I was acting out much like Lelouch does, but with more cards to play and more hands to lose"

Shaking his head, he gets off the railing and begins walking to his quarters he remarks "look at the depths I have sunken to talking like Schneizel does, philosophizing."

Fighting down panic I call out to him "no matter happens in the future you are my hero!", catching myself I continued "and the hero to all the people on the boats, you have our undying loyalty!"

There was a slight pause in his stride, as he pondered my proclamation, then a slight inclination of his head in my direction, before he resumed his journey to his room.

I realized then, that he was truly a visionary, a man who thought it normal to attempt to save the world, and limited only by his lack of power. In that case I would give him the power he needed, I would finally utilize my Valkyria blood, for him, for the world that he would create.

When I returned to my room I took out a dagger, saying mine would be mistake as everything I have was given to me by Maximilian, and plunged it into my gut. The theory goes that Valkyrian blood can only be awakened by a near fatal injury, a radical technique that the Valkyria project was about to pursue but was shut down before they could get a chance too.

The change was fairly quick, about an hour, and the pain was tolerable because it was localized, the training at the Valkyria project would leave my entire body in agony but without the near fatal tissue damage needed to trigger the Valkyrian transformation.

When I revealed my new abilities to Maximilian, it was like watching a glacier of despair melt, as the realization that his dreams could become a reality. He threw himself into a fury of planning to gain more usage out of my Valkyrian blood, we knew we needed a lance and a shield, unfortunately the ones in the imperial museums were unusable and possibly fakes. Which then left Gallia as best source for all things Valkyrian.

Soon Gregor Showed up, and Maximilian began rapidly distancing himself from everyone. Gregor was an esteemed member of the imperial nobility and was quite strict on what he saw as proper behavior of royalty towards everything. Maximilian hinted that Gregor was here to watch him after the family trip.

Maximilian even started calling me child again, much like he did back when we first met. Possibly to persuade Gregor that my claims about the Valkyria were true, and that I was not simply sleeping my way to power.

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Returning to reality I realize that my tank has been stopped, since the engine is no longer glowing blue, I am inferring that it has been stopped for some time, I tap the drivers compartment and ask "why did you not inform me about the fact that we have arrived, I must report to Maximilian ASAP." To which the old soldier replied "ma'am with all due respect you needed the rest, and after all the hard skirmishing that you've done, you deserve it. Plus all that time you've brought us allowed the rest of the army to step up some potent defenses, take a look." And he pointed to a hilltop with short metal cylinder on top.

It took a second for the image to translate, it was a P.I.E, short for Portable Industrial Entrenchment, a name I bugged Maximilian into renaming it once I first saw the plans for the weapon 4 years ago. A metal structure with a diameter of 10 meter, 2 meters tall, wall thickness 150mm making it immune to Gallian's tank and lancer fire, ceiling thickness 100mm and thus immune to gallian artillery and lancer fire. The armament is 7 122mm/43 cannons a knock off of the Mustela cannon used in Jaeger's Lupus tank, co-axial 20mm another knock off of Uranus 20mm guns. With a hundred rounds for each main gun and thousands of rounds for each co-axial, the pie was designed to fulfill a Hedgehog defense strategy, to continue fighting on any front even after the main battle lines are breached by Blitzkrieg. The total pie mass is 200 tonnes (metric tons), and for transport purposes is divided up into 8 sections each weighting 25 tonnes which I call slices, the slices are carried on modified heavy tanks, deployment takes about 2 hours to get the slices off the tanks and put them into the pie. The only problem is that pie's are a sitting duck for the Gallian's Valkyria's beam attacks.

With that troublesome thought in mind I make my way down towards Maximilian's command room, nervous about bringing him more bad tidings but too stubborn to let the situation stay as it is.

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AN: this chapter is mostly character development and world building for Selvaria, I am trying to give her a more concrete reason to follow Maximilian with such fervor. While I hope to update every other week, my school is started again so updates maybe sporadic and of highly variable length.

Ypern's slums: based off any third world country slums, I recall reading in the glossary that the federation's infrastructure was poorer than the empire's before the EW1, but currently outdoes it in national power, whatever that means… so I have interpreted that as a really rapid industrialization, that creates massive wealth gaps, that the empire's more "traditional" economy lacks.

History Quiz: which ancient empire moved conquered peoples around to facilitate control?

I'll answer all these quizzes at the end of the story or when someone posts the answer in a review.

Please review, this was my first time doing a dialogue scene between a medium amount of characters and I would like to know how it came out.