WARNING: The first section is a bit gory and creepy. Avoid it if you don't like reading about nasty injuries inflicted by insane sadist girls.

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters presented in this fiction, except one. All characters aside from Ulrike are the property of Sunrise.

The COMMANDER stands for the virtues of wisdom, sincerity, benevolence, courage, and strictness…

- Sun Tzu, The Art of War

THE STRANGER, THE SAINT, THE HORN, AND THE WORD

Chapter 6 – Machinations

Incipio.

He knelt in a concrete cell, hands behind his back, head down. The prisoner's garb he wore was immaculately white.

He thought he could guess the reason they had captured him (I'm an example, right…), but – heh – he'd at least caused some trouble on his way out.

Good luck maneuvering your way out of the shit I left you in, Carine. Even if Guinevere can get you out of it, I doubt she'll want to; your public relations leave a lot to be desired.

He was on his way out, though, no doubt about that. Ohgi meant well, but he was a mediocre tactician at best, and Carine was far more competent than even he, Naoto, was, although less charismatic; so even if Ohgi had obtained more than one decrepit Knightmare, it would be impossible for him to rescue Naoto.

Might as well resign myself then…

A sharp pang of guilt hit him as he remembered that his sister would be left behind without him. She would die, soon; the rebellion had little chance without him. Would she die cursing him? Hating him? He hoped not.

But the fact of his impending death concentrated his thoughts past even the plight he had left his sister in.

I'm going to die.

Tomorrow, Naoto Kōzuki will cease to exist.

A noise outside his cell made him look up.

"Well, Mr. Kōzuki? Glad to be here?"

A redheaded, pigtailed girl with a noticeable lack of bust stood outside his cell. She was easily – and horribly – recognizable as Carine ne Britannia, little military genius extraordinaire.

Naoto refused to meet her eyes. She didn't deserve it. Brilliant as she was, she had a reputation for cruelty and callousness, which her half-sister just barely managed to mitigate with her somewhat effective "outreach" programs – the most effective being the concept of "Honorary Britannians".

She snickered unpleasantly. "Oh, so you're not? That's a shame. We prepared our finest accommodations for you… It's only a shame we couldn't catch your sister, too…"

He shot her a filthy look and dropped his gaze again.

She giggled. "So impolite! So stingy with pleasantries! Well, well, you'll be cured of that soon…"

She turned away from him, and started to walk away, when she appeared to think of something, and faced him again, a malicious smile on her lips.

"I suppose you think you caused me a great deal of trouble with that little escapade in Shinjuku? Mmm?"

He refused to rise to her baiting. She kept smiling; apparently she had a bombshell to drop.

She spoke aside, to the guards accompanying her. "Open the door."

They did so, and she walked in. She grabbed his chin, and raised his face to hers.

In honeyed tones, she began: "You know, stealing that capsule was not a nice thing to do." She said those last in a baby voice. "I know your little resistance wanted to cause the big, bad government some trouble, but couldn't you have picked a easily repairable target to attack? Sigh." She pouted for a moment, and then brightened up horribly. "Unfortunately for your purposes, the damage was quite repairable." Her eyes narrowed, and a truly nasty smirk showed on her face. "All it needed was the quick slaughter of the citizens of Shinjuku. That cleared things up quite neatly. Oh, and did I mention? We got the capsule back."

His face contorted. His voice was low, almost toneless with anger: "You did not."

She laughed delightedly. "I did! I did! Now, get angry, Mr. Aloof Eleven! I killed your people, I killed your people! Or maybe butchered is a better word!" She laughed with abandon now.

He absolutely could not contain himself any longer. This little snot was going to get what she deserved. He lunged, but only managed to clip her before she got out of his way.

Her eyes narrowed, and a predatory look enveloped her features. "Hmm… you wanna play…? OK, I'll play with you…"

She slumped into a loose stance. Naoto was nonplussed by this apparent disregard for the conventions of fighting, but charged anyway.

And found himself smashed against the wall. "Ah, that's so cute… a little, haah, swordsman are we… you're such an amateur at martial arts…" Carine was slipping in her diction; she seemed to be succumbing to some inner demon.

Well, that wasn't all he could do. He kicked back at her, forcing her to loosen her grip a little to dodge. He popped his hands out of the handcuffs – it was amazing what you could do with a protruding nail and extreme boredom – and threw her off.

She landed, snarling, but a little wary. They circled for a moment.

What style is she using… I haven't seen it before…?

No more time to think about it, she was rushing. He gave her a roundhouse kick, and as she dodged that, he followed with a vicious hook kick.

"Glk!"

She dropped, momentarily stunned. He leaped on her, and starting punching everywhere he could reach.

"…Heh… you got lucky…"

He pulled away in shock, how was she still conscious? Only he couldn't pull away, because Carine had snapped his hands back in the handcuffs, and she was holding the chain.

"Heehee…"

In a sudden movement, she pinned him to the floor, and gave him a fierce blow to the face that nearly knocked him out.

"Still conscious…? Good… I wan' y' to hear this…"

She was slurring her words now, even as her tone rose in pitch.

"I'm whatcha call a zerker troop… haah… short for beserker, geddit? Heehee… anyway, I was the prototype subject… I made them modify my metabolism more than they wanted t'… I can't get enough… haah… of the fighting… feels s-so good! I'm tellin' y' this so you know y' never had a chance… haah… For being s' weak, I'm gonna take a little somethin' offa y'…"

Her cultured Pendragon accent was giving way to her mother's native Southern Britannia accent, one she would never dare reveal to the gentry, arrogant as she was…

Oh God she's completely lost it this was a bad id –

An explosion of pain. He howled, and heard her laugh giddily.

His right eye had gone dark. He could only see out of his left eye, and with horror, he saw Carine lick blood off what had formerly been his right eye.

"You… psychopath…" he grunted. "what… the hell…"

She returned abruptly – and disconcertingly – to her friendly exterior. "Ohhh, it's not like you'll be needing it for long, Mr. One-Eyed Eleven. Heehee." She kissed the eye she still held. "How about this… I'll get a locket, put this in it, and keep it with me, OK? It'll be like not all of you has died. I'll even show it to your sister, once we catch her… but after some of my guard have had fun with her. OK? Does that sound good?"

He couldn't even tell her what he thought of her, because after all the blood loss, he was about to black out. He did so, listening to Carine's inane – and possibly insane – giggling.


Carine was still lightheaded after her adventure in the cell. A little tremor ran down her spine at the thought of the howl she had loosed from the Eleven…

She tried to control her giggles. Her lies had been perfectly calculated. He had actually believed that she, Carine, had been the one to slaughter all of Shinjuku, as well as recapture the capsule. Guinevere had had charge of that operation. She'd mussed it up, of course, because she was the most ineffective commander ever… but even she shouldn't have been able mess this one up… it was that leader's fault…

She frowned a little as she remembered that. That marred her pleasure a bit. Whoever that upstart rebel leader was, she was going to catch him, break him, and then execute him. Along with that other one, the woman… if they hadn't come and spoiled everything…

Ah, well. At least tomorrow she would get to execute that Eleven. Good mood restored, she ran to her office to plan his execution.


Cornelia sat up in bed, and smiled dreamily.

Battle day.

She had been planning this day for a couple of weeks, and now that it was here, she was wildly excited. It wasn't Lelouch who was going to be directing this battle, it was her. All her. Today she would be proving that she was as good as or better than he was when it came to military strategy, that her position as a military history teacher actually meant something.

Euphemia shuffled in, pink hair in disarray, and mumbled sleepily, "I think Milly's making breakfast today, so if you want some, you better come to the table, 'cause it'll be gone soon." She started to shuffle back out again, but Cornelia jumped and caught her before she got out. "What, no hug?"

Euphemia turned into Cornelia's arms with an exaggerated sigh. "You're really needy, Nee-sama…" Despite her tone, the hug she gave Cornelia was tight; maybe she still felt bad about her "assumptions"? Cornelia felt a pang of guilt at that, but she shook it off; she couldn't drop into another funk, not just before their march on Sarubami.

Ah, yes…, she thought as she started to dress and Euphemia headed downstairs. Our march on Sarubami.

Sarubami Castle had been a landmark in Japan before the invasion; as the site of one of Oda Nobunaga's greatest victories, the Nobunaga Shogunate had treasured it, and eventually, under pressure from Kisuke Nobunaga, the 5th in the shogunate line, it was declared a shrine.

During the Meiji Restoration, the emperor, who was rather afraid of the Nobunaga Shogunate (as well he should have been, given the fact that he was overthrown by them eventually) named the shrine as second only to the glorious Ise Shrine itself, where the Sacred Mirror was kept, and arranged for the enshrinement of Kusanagi (The Sword that Cut the Burning Grass).

Eventually, after the emperor was overthrown, installation of a parliamentary system had taken place, and the castle's grounds were rebuilt into a military base, per the PM's orders (although the shrine was retained), and it had eventually become one of the major land bases, and one of the bastions of the Japanese army during the Britannian invasion.

After their victory, the Britannians had seen no need for such an outdated base to be used for military units, so the fastness of the castle was put to new use: guarding rebellious Elevens, and, if necessary, acting as a holding tank for prisoners destined for execution. Many terrible things had been done in Area Eleven, but this was one of the worst in the eyes of the former Japanese, as after the war, Kusanagi had been stolen and presented to Emperor Charles as tribute, and it was now on display in the Royal Museum in Pendragon.

Lelouch had nodded when he heard all this. "I see. So, you want to restore the spirit of Japan first by defeating the Britannians at the site of their greatest evil in the eyes of the people?" He smiled. "Excellent idea, dear sister. I leave it to you then. I will defer to you for the duration of the battle." He had turned away, but turned back as he went out the door. "We have them, Cor. They have every chance, but no reason." His grin turned vulpine. "We don't have a chance, but we've got every reason."

Yes, Lelouch, thought Cornelia,thinking of Euphemia. Yes, we do.


A few hours later.

It was hot beneath the mask, but Cornelia didn't care.

"My dear friends! Are you prepared to risk your lives for the restoration of Japan?"

"YAAAAAH!" they shouted in answer.

Her voice rang out, modified enough to be unrecognizable, and as hypnotizing as Zero's.

She was Infinity, the inverse of Zero, and yet, the closest to Zero…

"Today we reclaim your comrade-in-arms!"

A roar rose from the rebels.

"Today we take back the pride of Japan!"

Another roar.

"TODAY INFINITY WILL LEAD YOU!"

The roar was deafening as the rebels cheered their loudest. Cornelia smiled beneath her mask, and knew Lelouch was smiling, too. There was nothing quite like using mob mentality as your weapon; it was fun, but dangerous too, like teasing an eldritch god, or outrunning an avalanche: you knew that someday, it would get you, but you didn't care.

"To your Knightmares, soldiers! The Britannian Empire will feel the terror of the Holy Island!"

That's right; we're coming for you, Father, you and your tottering old state. I'll make you pay lakes of blood for every drop Nunnally's ever shed, and for every drop Euphemia's ever shed – I'll make you pay oceans.

She felt her lips curve into the iron smile that she always got under pressure; the old excitement was starting again.

It's time to break some rules.


Lelouch lowered the binoculars and turned. "Well, Infinity? What do you make of the situation?"

She shook her head slightly. "It's worse that I thought…"

He chuckled lightly. "I told you it would be."

Her answer was pleasant despite his mocking tone. "Ah, but it's still well within my calculations. I assume we have the shot?"

"Yes, we do. Where do you intend to position the snipers?"

Cornelia looked over the mountainous landscape. It was ideal for guerilla tactics, and she indulged herself briefly in a vain wish that they could perform a guerilla campaign…

But no. A guerilla campaign would take far too long, and expend too many resources to be worth the caution it allowed.

No, today they would be storming the enemy by psychology and science, not by force. Carine was the commander here, and she was no slouch when it came to military tactics. She had been second-best compared to Lelouch and Cornelia (something that had caused her no end of annoyance), but she didn't need to be better than they were when she had such an overwhelming superiority in force. Easily ten times the Knightmares that the Shinjuku Group had.

But… with knowledge of the individual came knowledge of their particular weaknesses. That was something that Carine was not good at; she was excellent at using her troops to the fullest potential (although the only way she kept discipline was through fear), but she was poorly equipped for responding to others' behavioral prompts, given her sociopathic nature.

So although Carine could not respond in kind to Lelouch and Cornelia's unique militaristic tics, they could respond to hers, which would no doubt drive her up the wall. It would seem like they were reading her mind (even though they would be forcing her hand at every turn), and while she was an excellent commander, her temper was one of the worst in Britannia. Her Guren Mk. I would become a terror as she got angrier, but if she was teased enough, she would eventually make a fatal mistake out of sheer rage, disabling her Guren, and enabling the reserve retrieval force to make pickup on Kōzuki, as well as enabling Lelouch to question her about the death of Marianne.

The only problem with the plan was that it depended heavily on several factors – which, while available to them, were very uncertain as to their success, as well as their dependence on the skill of a single pilot.

And the crucial role of distractor had not yet been filled.

"The snipers are not my first concern, Zero."

"Aren't they? And after all the effort I went to for those bullets!"

Cornelia grimaced, realized Lelouch couldn't see it, and scoffed as a replacement. "You know what I mean. The snipers will be useless without the distractor!"

She could almost hear his smirk from inside his mask. "I believe your answer lies with the one setting up the dummies with record speed."

He pointed, and Cornelia swung the binoculars over, to rest on the Sutherland currently blitzing past its fellows, setting up as many salvaged Knightmare skeletons again as each of her comrades did.

Cornelia lowered the binoculars, and let out a low whistle. "My. She's the best Knightmare pilot I've ever seen. And she's native Japanese, you say?"

Lelouch laughed. "Not quite. The name that she uses with us, Kallen Kōzuki, is only half-true."

"And why's that?"

Lelouch leaned in closer, and whispered: "Because she attends Ashford Academy, under the guise of Kallen Stadtfeld. She's only half-Japanese – although she clearly feels that it's the more important half."

Cornelia was only shocked for a moment. "Well. Well, I can't say that that's the only case of a half-Britannian I've seen, but for her to be better than full-bloods, and by such a degree!" She shook her head. "She's not acknowledged by her father, I suppose?"

"We-ell, that's a little bit of a touchy subject, I'd imagine. From the information I've been able to gather, her father fell in love with her birth mother when he attended Tokyo University for an architectural degree, and he married her. Unfortunately for them, however, his family was less than pleased that he'd made such a disagreeable match, and refused to acknowledge their son's matrimony. Even worse, when Britannia conquered Japan, as his wife was Japanese, they would have been left destitute, so he asked his family to acknowledge him again, and the only way they would do so was if he married a woman of their choice. Kallen's mother is now a sort of glorified maid-of-all-work, I think, and his official wife hates her to a degree we can only imagine. She doesn't like Kallen at all, either, but as long as Lord Stadtfeld is alive, there's nothing she can do to her."

Cornelia sighed. "Well, family drama aside, are you certain she can pilot the modified Glasgow?"

"Yes, of course. She was its original pilot – before that factory owner modified it for me, of course." He snickered again. "I must say, he was only too willing to do that and make the bullets after I offered him some motive."

Cornelia took this to mean that the owner had been Geassed into performing. "Do you think we can use him later?"

"It's possible, but probably no. The activity was no doubt noticed, especially due to the rigmarole of making the bullets. The stuff to make them was hard enough to obtain on its own, let alone the difficulty of making them into bullets. I'm glad I have a genius scientist as a classmate who owes me some favors… How many snipers do we have, by the way?"

Cornelia faced the field. "Well, we have ten in the slaughter pen – that's where I'll be stationed, I can protect them, and most of the Sutherlands to some degree – but the most important factor will still be the Glasgow. Oh yes, and if you want to question Carine, the only opportunity you'll have will be on the battlefield. I'll be taking the shot at the Guren, so as long as it's within range, I should be able to disable it, but you'll only have a short window, because we'll have to be gone with Naoto as quickly as possible to avoid pursuit."

Lelouch's voice dropped to a growl. "Don't worry. It won't take long."

Infinity's voice sharpened. "One thing: Do not kill Carine. We can't afford a new viceroy here; Guinevere is certainly not up to the task of governing Area Eleven alone, and will request help. Better the known quantity than the unknown."

Lelouch sighed. "Yes, yes, of course. She'll make it out alive." His voice darkened. "This time…"

Cornelia nodded. "That's all we need. I'm going to talk to… Kallen, was it? I'm sure she'll appreciate some action…"


Kallen leaned back in her seat, and breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Thank goodness, the dummies were all up. She was amazed that they had managed to acquire this many for the operation; it doubled their force's "apparent" size… although she still wasn't sure how that would help, as Carine was widely renowned as the least caring military commander in Britannia, and wouldn't hesitate to drive her soldiers into any situation, no matter how bad.

That's probably why I'm not in command of this battle, and Infinity is… She breathed a somewhat louder sigh of relief at that. She was a terrible commander; her brother was much better. Even Ohgi could outmaneuver her, and that was saying something.

My brother… At his name she felt a mix of guilt, anger, and hope; she had let him get captured, but now she was going to rescue him! Right?

Well… we'll see. She wasn't sure yet whether she completely trusted Infinity as a commander; Zero, now…

Zero! His very name was mysterious, and intoxicating. He was the leader her brother never had been; he was the shining standard of the glory of Japan! She admired him with a devotion bordering on worship; he had used this tiny force of Japanese rebels to deal humiliating and relatively casualty-free (at least on his side) defeats to the Britannians, and Kallen believed in him wholeheartedly, even if Tamaki grumbled off to the side about "awfully convenient".

All that aside, it was time to let Infinity strut her stuff; if she could pull this off, Kallen knew she would lose all doubts as to her ability, and follow her with almost – but not quite – the same fervor as Zero.

Speaking of Infinity – Kallen's Sutherland stood to attention as Infinity walked up.

"At ease, J-1. Come out, I need to talk with you."

Kallen did so, wondering what Infinity wanted.

"I'll cut to the point, J-1. I saw you piloting the Sutherland, and you're one of the best pilots I've ever seen."

Kallen blushed with pride. Eat it, Tamaki! I own you! she thought vindictively.

"That skill shouldn't go to waste, so I'm putting you on a special assignment. Would you like to hear what it is?"

Kallen saluted. "Yes, ma'am!"

Infinity laughed. "I can't fault your enthusiasm, but you might lose a little after you hear what the assignment is…"


"All right, ma'am. Correct me if I get any of this wrong. So – you want me to go back in the Glasgow, which has had its weapons removed for the sake of speed, and divert Carine – who will be in an experimental Knightmare – and lead her back here, so she can be disabled, to allow Zero to form up near the execution yard. All of this must, of course, be done without coming within ten feet of her, as that will ensure my death, due to the Radiant Wave Surger installed in her Knightmare's left hand."

Infinity nodded, and Kallen could hear a little bit of a smirk in her voice as she replied: "Correct, except that the Guren Mk. I – which is the experimental's name – is a lot more agile than the Glasgow, although it will lose in terms of sheer speed. So you'll have to have very fast reactions to come out of this alive. Still want to do it?"

Kallen smiled wolfishly. "Do I ever! Let's go!"

Infinity let out a shout of laughter. "Of course! I knew you would want to!" She shook her head. "I think you'll be an excellent soldier. So, let me show the route you need to take…"

By the time Infinity had finished explaining everything, Kallen was even more excited.

This is going to be the most fun I've ever had!

She bared her teeth and growled at Sarubami's bulk.

Come and get me, Carine! I've got you in my sights! Let's see if you're as good a pilot as you are a tyrant!

I'm coming, Naoto!


Lelouch was very glad he had ensured that his mask was ventilated, because otherwise, he would be sweating a lot.

He took out his pocket watch, and flipped open the golden face. There was a little more than an hour till the scheduled attack time.

They were to attack exactly two hours before Naoto's execution at ten P.M., because that would catch Carine between the scheduled time, and unwillingness to back down by sending him inside, so he would not be rescued.

He snapped the watch closed again, and thought, Let's review.

So.

Our purpose here today is twofold: one, to rescue Naoto Kōzuki, and two, to expose Carine ne Britannia to allow for me to question her about Mother's death.

Unfortunately, our force is far too small to really even scratch the surface of Carine's guard and the prison guard combined; around 100 Knightmares all told. We have 14.

So we don't take them on; we let them take us on – on ground we choose, because our "hot" dummies will hold them off long enough to take the choke points. Fortunately, Carine is proactive enough to ensure she will come after us, even though she'll see through the dummies..

There we'll have a few surprises for Carine's forces. The choke points all told will probably not be held without at least 5 or 6 casualties, but they are naturally defensible enough to ensure no back attacks.

At that point, her forces will have learned enough not to go into the forest. If she was still in command, Carine likely would have, by then, ordered long-range explosives specialists to eradicate our forces, so as to avoid senselessly eliminating her own. Unfortunately for her men, a Knightmare she can't kill, but one that looks crucial to our plans will be distracting her at that point, and leading her into our slaughter pen.

There she will encounter several difficulties, due to the traps, but she won't be able to counter effectively, given that Cornelia will be, rather than stopping her bullets, deflecting her bullets towards ground prematurely with her Ultimate Protection. She will fall eventually, and that's my window. He ground his teeth. That's when we'll be finding out what Miss Carine had to do with my mother's assassination. As soon as we're done, and Cornelia has retrieved Naoko, we're home free.

He shook his head. Couldn't have done it better myself, Cornelia.

Let's dance, shall we, Carine?


One hour later.

Lelouch's radio crackled to life.

"Z – o? C – me in, Ze – o! This –s J-1!"

He leaned in to the receiver. "Your frequency is a little off, J-1."

"Oh, al – ight. Le – me jus –" He heard some fiddling with the dial. "There! How's that?"

"Excellent, J-1. Are you in position?"

"Yes. I also – "

"Stop. This channel is unsecured, so I don't want to talk too much. Did you carry out my addition to the plan as well?"

"Yes! I – "

"Shh. Later, J-1, if we get out of this alive."

"Yessir."

"Good luck, J-1. Zero out."

The radio's crackling stopped, only to spring up again.

"Lel – I mean, Zero, what was that about an addition?"

He smiled grimly. "Don't worry, Infinity. Just some security in case something goes wrong."

A static-laced sigh emerged from the receiver. "Does this have anything to do with those sessions with Sayoko?"

"Don't ask me on this channel, all right? They could have us tapped."

"All right." The voice paused a moment, and then emerged more cautiously, "There hasn't been a sighting of Lancelot, has there."

"Most fortunately, no. Carine refused to allow him anywhere near her fighting force; seems she thinks he's a threat."

"How do you know that?"

Lelouch grimaced. "I have an informer. Don't ask me about that either. Milly introduced – well, never mind."

"Okay, if you insist." There was a rustle. "It's eight o' clock. Ready?"

"Yes. Give the order any time you feel like, all circuits."

"Get ready to roll." The radio switched off again, as Cornelia put on her helmet and switched circuits.

Lelouch briefly thanked his lucky stars for Nina's connections. Remind me to do something nice for you, Nina… because if we win this battle, it's all thanks to you.


Nina Einstein sighed, and put the finishing touches on her essay. Why do I even need to do this? I know the story by heart anyway…

Her science teacher had assigned her an easy topic, though no doubt he thought it would prove a terrible poser for her. "The History and Usage of Sakuradite." Heh.

Her grades in science were nonexistent, because Mr. Gottfried was convinced that she was cheating. It was only through Principal Ashford's influence that she was still in school, let alone getting an A in science.

She smiled contentedly. While she didn't excel in many subjects (or interactions in the social arena), she felt herself god-like in the field of science, far above Mr. Gottfried's petty powers of denying her good grades, because she corrected his tests when she took them, and finished them in less than an eighth of the time it took everyone else.

Lelouch – well, he was the only one who seemed to understand. He had talked to her about Sakuradite, and he had seemed genuinely interested, even when she had talked about its diamagnetism. That had been the point at which even tolerant Milly had begged off. She had talked for hours, and he hadn't even fallen asleep once.

So it wasn't a big favor, really, when she got him those excess materials from the Sakuradite study. He still talked to her, even when he got the materials to test Sakuradite's properties for himself, and he had even brought Nunnally a few times! Nina could tell she hadn't really been interested, but she was just glad that Nunnally was willing to feign it for her sake.

Although she did wonder what he was testing. Diamagnetism? Ways to defeat Sakuraditic electronics? Maybe it wasn't entirely legal; why else would he have wanted all that –

BANG.

Her door flew open, and she jumped, then looked up with annoyance at the intruder.

"Shirley? What do you need? I'm a bit busy right now, as you can see."

Shirley frowned at Nina. "You don't need to be so mean, Nina."

Nina sighed. "Well, I guess that was a little uncalled for. But really, what do you need? I've got to finish this, because I still have to finish the final report for the fissionable materials study."

"Well, I – fissionable materials study?"

"I can't really tell you any more than I already have."

Shirley looked nonplussed. "Ooo-kay… anyway, do you have any idea where Lelouch is? I wouldn't ask, but you've been spending so much time with him lately…"

Nina felt self-conscious at this, and was sure she showed it. "No, I'm afraid I don't. I suppose he must be out with Miss Cornelia. He's her best student, and she's having a field trip, so maybe she wanted him as a lackey while she scouts out the area."

Shirley looked a little anxious at this announcement. "Oh… I hope they're OK…"

Nina was surprised. "Not jealous?"

Shirley shook her head vaguely. "No… no… I-I'll see you later, Nina."

Nina, glad that the exchange was over, waved to Shirley, and settled back down to work. But she was a little worried, now, about Lelouch.

What's he doing with Miss Cornelia? A rather unpleasant thought occurred to her.

I hope I don't lose my only conversation partner…


Chapter 6 – Machinations

Consumo.

Author's Note: Well, we're back to real time, and I'm struggling with military strategy… I hope you guys don't think it seems too trumped up…

Anyway, I've hammered out the details as to several characters' Geasses, and it's looking pretty cool. Look forward to the coming days.

Oh yes, Suzaku will NOT be in this battle chapter. I just couldn't think of a way to fit him in without smashing all of Cornelia's best-laid plans completely, so, because of Carine's prejudice and my incompetence with battle strategy, he'll sit this one out. He'll start appearing more once the Shinjuku Group (or the Black Knights, as they will soon be called) gets backing – as well as Burais, the Guren Mk. II, and Rakshata – from the Kyoto Group, which will be touched off by this successful battle.

The romance section is looking… well… to put it in one word, convoluted. I really don't like stories with unnecessary pairings, but I want a lot of pairings, and while I've got the baseline at least for most of the main romances, the side characters are going to be difficult to deal with. If anyone has any tips for writing romance into stories, I would really appreciate some.

As always, thanks to Mr. xchrispx510 for his beta reading, and I'll see you again on the eve of battle! Live long and prosper!