Turn VIII: With Fire and Sword part II.
(Indian command Pyramid)
It was evening when the battle began.
The attack had just begun and inside the command Pyramid and Guang Hai and Manmohan were both in the command pyramid observing the battle.
"The enemy has fortified themselves on the high ground?" Manmohan asked one of the commanding generals.
"Yes Sahib, the terrain also greatly favors him, currently our forces are shielded from their cannons by the forests, but if we attack then we will suffer heavy casualties before finally reaching the hill and it is a steep slope with trenches." General Mangal Pandey replied.
"That is to be expected of the Niddhog; a dragon can smell danger and react before it strikes." Guang Hai replied unfazed.
"What do you recommend general?" Manmohan asked.
"We could besiege them and wait for starvation to force them of the ridges and attack us." Pandey replied.
"Yes, but how will we face the country if we wait a week , a month or God knows how much until there supplies run out, we must attack now while we have superior forces." General Tatya Tope replied.
"Then it's settled all forces attack." Guang ordered and the attack commenced.
(Excerpt from the 2090 Kenneth Burns the Third documentary: The Century of War)
"I was part of the first wave to attack the heights and needless to say we were all very frightened, we were all professional soldiers and knew the great advantage high ground and good artillery fire provided since we had been in wars before, also our opponent was Zero one who was feared by many."
"But we obeyed the orders and began to move towards the open field, for in the army it took more courage to disobey a suicidal order than to obey it"
"If we charged those slopes there was a small change that we may live, but if we refused an order there was no change of living that is how the army is, so we advanced.
"In front of us there where at least fifty tanks and knightmares, we advanced I'd say twenty meters in the open field when a great artillery barrage hit us, the fires and second volleys decimated all of our knightmares and tanks, the third hit us, my regiment which numbered 4.000 men was decimated, after the battle we found out that half of our men died from the artillery barrage."
"I myself was knocked to the ground and laid on the ground for the reminder of the battle, from their I saw that the Black Knights had entrenched themselves on the hills and our own artillery shells bounced of harmlessly on their bunkers and their knightmares, soldier, tanks and cannons who were shielded by manmade walls, spider pits and tranches fired back at our own forces"
By the time our forces reached the foot of the hill I would say of the initial column those where in the rear of their regiments where now the vanguard, and the worst was yet to come"
Sergeant Nanib Sahir, 4th infantry regiment 13th corps, Army of Punjab.
(Sarmizegetusa command center position)
"Brings us up to report major." Lelouch said to his staff officer.
"Yes sir! General Gotwald command is anchored on the northern hill on Culp's hill, Cemetery ridge, they are reporting that they are being attacked by at least 10 corps General Viletta's command in the center has reported 20 corps attacking from both the front and rear, General Kewell, has reported 10 enemy corps coming up to hit him on those two rocky round hills, the Big Round Top and Little Round Top." The major replied.
"Can your artillery hold them Odysseus?" Lelouch asked.
"Well sir I have to say these boys are smarter than the ones at Fukuoka, their coordinating their attack with artillery fire and heavy bombardment from their air force, but we will make sure they pay heavily for every step forward they take" Odysseus replied.
,
"George, Bradley ,Suzaku, How's the knightmares and the air force?" Lelouch asked.
"The knightmares are ready and entrenched behind fat rocks and beep trenches, their ready to charge out when you give the order" Patton replied while he was fighting against the enemy jets and helicopters.
"Their planes are no match for the Lancelot Lelouch, I can hold them off but not for long we have to destroy their infantry and quick." Suzaku replied and he charged and destroyed another squadron of fighter jets.
"Very well, just hang on a few more minutes." Lelouch replied.
"Lloyd, Diethard is everything ready on your part?" Lelouch asked.
"Yes sir, the gasoline tanks and C4 is ready and will simultaneously be detonated when you press that detonator you have with you." Lloyd replied.
"This is Diethard, what you requested is all set, the only thing left is to give the green light" Diethard replied.
"Very well the." Lelouch replied.
(Ashford Academy)
Nunnally by now had heard of Lelouch situation and was talking on the phone with Euphie.
"Do you think they will be alright?" Euphie asked concerned for Lelouch, Suzaku and the others.
"Don't worry! Brother said he will be alright and he has never broken his promise." Nunnally replied firmly, despite the fact that she herself had great fears for her brother fate.
(Skies above Gettysburg)
Enemy fighter where coming towards Suzaku, he blocked the missiles and machine gun fire they laid at him with his shield and he replied with his own VARIS rifle, and when he got close enough he slashed them with his sword and then another squadron and another and another.
"There's so many of them! Hurry up and spring the trap Lelouch…..i can't hold them for long" Suzaku said to himself as he faced another squadron, it seemed for every enemy he cut down three more came to take his place.
(Geass cult headquarters)
"I cannot believe that father would have such a plan!" Cornelia said as she and Bartley made their way deeper into the Geass cult's headquarters.
"Yes, madam" he said as he played with a pocket radio.
"Why are you playing with that radio?" Cornelia asked him.
"Well you see, prince Lelouch is campaigning in India and he is in a rather difficult situation." Bartley replied, deciding to let out the part about the Indian trickery.
"Lelouch is in India!...We will worry about that later, you told me that they are building some kind of devices to kill Gods, that's ridiculous, Gods don't exists!" Cornelia replied.
"That's right Princess Cornelia; the Gods who have long beards and togas do not exist." V.V said emerging from the shadows.
Upon seeing him Cornelia immediately hurled her gun sword at him impaling him through the forehead.
"P-Princess Cornelia!" Bartley said astounded at her sudden reaction.
"Do not underestimate him, he probably has Geass, that is what put my brother into a coma for a year" Cornelia.
"A very vise philosophy Cornelia, you really are Charles child." V.V said as he got up, blood visibly pouring out of his forehead which still had the blade impaled in it.
At the sight of this blonde zombie child who was smiling at them, the only thing Cornelia and Bartley could do was stare in horror, it was like they were transported into a Chucky movie.
(Gettysburg, hills south of the city)
To those who served under Lelouch at Fukuoka and where with him today the sheer difference in the overall quality of the enemy troops was obvious.
While at Fukuoka the air power and artillery were used only sporadically to conserve ammunition for a fight with Cornelia which never came, here they made no such restrains.
The shells fell over the black knights like rain fell over a field, the sky was full with enemy fighters and choppers.
Also the enemy were advancing differently than in Fukuoka, while there they simply charged in blindly, here one armored or knightmare unit shot cover fire, while another took up position and then gave cover fire fro it's comrade to join in and so on and so on.
"4th division has reported two batteries have been destroyed"
"Colonel Kururugi reports 300 allied fighter and 130 helicopters down"
"We estimate that by now we have 1000 dead and 3400 wounded"
Lelouch heard the reports which came to his command center.
"Fifteen minutes, the battle has only started for fifteen minutes and we have 2% casualties!" Lelouch said after he looked at his watch, in military terms if an army suffered 10% casualties in was considered a bloodbath, and usually a battle last whole hours.
He looked at the tactical radar and saw that the enemy was now at the foot of the hill.
"Time for checkmate" g=he said to himself and pressed the detonator.
(Indian command pyramid)
"Our forces have reached the foot of the hill?" Guang Hai asked.
"Yes sir, we estimate that our casualties are approximately 60.000 men, the enemy has lost 4.900 men" General Pandey replied.
"So it takes 10 of our soldiers to take down one Black Knight!" Manmohan said surprised at the difference in strength.
"That is now Problem Excellency, our Federation does boast of having the largest population in the world, so we can afford it; also we are having difficulties with the excess manpower so this kind of battle is actually quite beneficial to us ho ho ho!" Guang Hai said with a sickening laugh.
Pandey was mentally disgusted at this whole affair, how they tricked the enemy with such dishonorable ways, how the Eunuchs send soldiers to the slaughter, and how they actually approve of such methods.
"And the world calls Brittannia savage." General Pandey said to himself disillusioned at what the Federation really was, the place where all wealth is distributed equally.
*BOOM* *BANG**BOOM* *BANG**BOOM* *BANG**BOOM* *BANG**BOOM* *BANG*
*BOOM* *BANG**BOOM* *BANG**BOOM* *BANG**BOOM* *BANG**BOOM* *BANG*
*BOOM* *BANG**BOOM* *BANG**BOOM* *BANG**BOOM* *BANG**BOOM* *BANG*
*BOOM* *BANG**BOOM* *BANG**BOOM* *BANG**BOOM* *BANG**BOOM* *BANG*
"What the devil was that!" Manmohan asked at sudden burst of noise.
(Gettysburg ,Jeremiah's position)
Jeremiah from his vantage point saw his master's plan in action.
The C4 was placed by Lloyd in strategic positions around the hill's so that when simultaneously detonated a landslide would engulf all those on the field, at the same time gasoline bombs which were placed is strategic position in the surrounding forest, so when detonated a circle of flames engulfed the enemy army which had not entered the field.
The gasoline bombs were also placed in lines, in a parallel manner giving the fire in the forest the visual pattern of the Symbol of the Black Knight surrounded by a circle.
Jeremiah thought that Fukuoka was his masters Austerlitz, but when compared to this Fukuoka was a minor skirmish.
(Skies above Gettysburg)
"Lelouch…you really are amazing!" Suzaku said while from his position high above the battlefield he could see the image.
The position of Lelouch army was in the center of the Iron hawk, where the wings meet, the flames which formed the neck, head and wings and semicircle had engulfed the enemy army, and the units who were not in the forest and where in the field where all buried by the landslide caused by the C4.
"Hear me forces of India….I am Zero…" Suzaku heard Lelouch voice over the speakers.
(Indian command pyramid)
Guang Hai was now sweating bullets to say the least, after the massive explosion they suffered dozens of reports of heavy casualties, whole regiments destroyed and chaos and confusion from the literal disintegration of the chain of command had left them in a state of panic.
'Do not let the Iron Prince dictate the flow of battle or fight on ground of his choosing, if you do you are destroyed' Guang Hai mind flashed to the warning the commander of the dragon cavalry had issued them.
"Is this what you meant Xingke….is this what it means to face the Iron Prince !" Hai said to himself.
"Hear me forces of India….I am Zero…I am a Leader of men, days ago you lied to us and said you needed our help and now you betrayed us and try to kill us"
"You gave us the right hand of friendship and when we took it you tried to stab us with your left hand."
"You are cowards and honorless cures, and now we the Black Knights will grab the false right hand of Friendship and the treacherous left hand of thievery and murder and rip them from their shoulder sockets Black Knights attack!"
Lelouch thunderous voice said and immediately a barrage of Odysseus monstrous artillery fell upon them like rain.
"Awhooooooooooooooooo!" they all shouted the Black battle cry.
The tanks, Knightmares and infantry all charged down from the hill in all directions to destroy what was left of the enemy.
(Excerpt from the 2090 Kenneth Burns the Third documentary: The Century of War)
"After the Prince gave us orders to advance we ran l and my regiment ran like fury to the enemy.
"When we hit them it was like going through the shooting range back at boot camp, the enemy was disorganized, more a mob than an army from the fire and the landslide."
"We took care of those who got out of the landslide and those on the outskirts of the fire, Uncle Odysseus and his cannons took care of those trapped between the semicircle of flames and the wings and neck of the Iron Hawk"
"Years after the battle I went to a army registry office and out of curiosity asked for the casualty numbers of the battle we had fought in Gettysburg, the numbers where as followed:
"Black Knights casualties 5.000 dead, 8.000 wounded, in all we sustained 6% casualties"
"Army of India : 1.500.000 dead, 500.000 surrendered and where paroled"
"It turned out that most of them choked to death from the flames, we infantry men where all equipped with oxygen masks which were given to us when we crossed the sea in case of the ships sinking so we were not affected by the lack of oxygen in the field."
"Now I want to feel sorry for those men that died, but at the same time I remembered how they lied to us and lured us into their land with the intend to kill us all, and any pity I had for them at the time was replaced with hate as I shoot, stabbed and killed the enemy soldiers."
"Killing was our business….and that day busyness was spectacular"
Private First Class Infantry Naoto Kan 761st regiment, 501st division, 42nd corps Black Knights.
Excerpt from the Diary of Naoto Kan
(Indian command pyramid)
Guang Hai was just about to order a retreat when all of a sudden something hit the pyramid, cracking the wall and exposing them all, it was the Colgrevance Shinkiro.
"There's no rat hole here for you to crawl away from you pieces of garbage!" Lelouch angrily spat as he raised the cockpits roof and aimed his handgun at those present in the room.
"W..wait we surrender so please *BANG*" Guang Hai tried to beg for mercy , but was stopped by Lelouch who shot him in the chest.
The gun which Lelouch used against Guang was the VARIS handgun he had Lloyd built for him, it's massive firepower made Guang Hai literally implode like a water balloon from the sheer shockwave the bullet made when it passed through him.
Guang Hai's liquefied remains where now splattered all over the command center and on those present.
Lelouch then pointed the gun at the others and said.
"All of you put your handguns on the floor. Tell your men generals to surrender or be killed, if they do so then I will parole them immediately, and they will be free to leave, without their weapons or vehicles, but they will be allowed to keep their food and water, refuse and my army will slaughter them, Lelouch vi Brittannia, the Niddhog gives you his word!" he said to those present and they complied.
After they did so, he turned to Manmohan and with anger and disgust in his voice said to him the following:
"You have some explaining to do Maharaja"
(Gettysburg and hour after the battle ended)
The Black Knights had now won the day and although tomorrow they had hundreds of miles to march in order to reach their fleet and escape Lelouch allowed them to celebrate the victory and Bradley was singing a modified version of Richmond is a hard road to travel accompanied by several Japanese soldiers who brought some guitars and band instruments with them with them
Would you like to hear my song? I'm afraid it's rather long,
Of the famous "On to Tokyo" double trouble;
Of the half a dozen trips and half a dozen slips
And the very latest bursting of the bubble.
'Tis pretty hard to sing and, like a round, round ring,
'Tis a dreadful knotty puzzle to unravel;
Though all the papers swore, when we touched Japan's shore,
That Tokyo was a hard road to travel.
Then pull off your overcoat and roll up your sleeve,
For Tokyo is a hard road to travel.
Then pull off your overcoat and roll up your sleeve,
For Tokyo is a hard road to travel, I believe.
First Kusakabe, bold and gay, set forth the shortest way
By Kawaguchi in the pleasant autumn weather
But unfortunately ran on a Iron (foolish man!)
And had a rocky journey altogether.
And he found it rather hard he thought to ride over Lancelot
And Suzaku proved a deuce of a bother.
'Twas clear beyond a doubt that he didn't like the route
And a second time would have to try another.
Then pull off your overcoat and roll up your sleeve,
For Kawaguchi is a hard road to travel.
Kawaguchi gave us fits, and Zero made us grieve,
For Tokyo is a hard road to travel, I believe.
Next came the Chinese Horse with an overwhelming force
To march down to Tokyo by Kyushu Valley,
But he couldn't find the road, and his onward movement showed
His campaigning was a mere shilly-shally.
Then Sawasaki backed by Banks, with his motley foreign ranks
Kicking up a great noise, fuss, and flurry,
Lost the whole of his supplies and with tears in his eyes
From Patton ran away in a hurry.
Then pull off your overcoat and roll up your sleeve,
For the Kyushu is a hard road to travel.
The Island wouldn't do, and we all had to leave,
For Tokyo is a hard road to travel, I believe.
Then Kusakabe followed soon, both with spade and balloon,
To try the Kyushu approaches,
But one and all agreed that his best rate of speed
Was no faster than the slowest of slow coaches.
Instead of easy ground, at Fukuoka he found
A Orange knight indeed and nothing shorter.
And it put him in the dumps that spades wasn't trumps
And the City he couldn't level "as he orter!"
Then pull off your overcoat and roll up your sleeve,
For an oarange is a hard road to travel.
Lay down the shovel and throw away the spade,
For Tokyo is a hard road to travel, I'm afraid.
Then said Eunuchs unto Sawasaki, "You can make the trip, I hope to see."
"I will free the universal Japan nation!
"To make sure of no defeat, I'll leave no lines of retreat,
"And issue a famous proclamation!"
But that same dreaded Zero, a mighty leader and hero
And made him, by compulsion, a seceder.
Sawasaki took rapid flight from Fukuoka second fight,
'Twas his very last appearance as a leader.
Then pull off your overcoat and roll up your sleeve,
Iron Prince is a hard road to travel.
Sawasaki did his very best but was evidently sold,
For Richmond is a hard road to travel, I am told.
Last of all Manmohan side, with his treachery he tried
A road no one had thought of before him,
With two million men for the Black Knight slaughter pen
And the blessed Chinese flag waving o'er him.
He met a fire like hell of canister and shell
That mowed down his men with great slaughter.
'Twas a shocking sight to view, that second Waterloo,
And the river ran with more blood than water.
Then pull off your overcoat and roll up your sleeve,
Gettysburg is a hard road to travel.
Manmohan got in a trap, which caused for him to grieve,
For Tokyo is a hard road to travel, I believe.
We are very much perplexed to know who is the next
To command the new Richmond expedition,
For the capital must blaze, and that in ninety days,
And Jeff and his men be sent to perdition.
We'll take the cursed town, and then we'll burn it down
And plunder and hang each cursed Black Knight.
Yet the terrorists were right when he told us they would fight:
"Oh, yes, massa, dey will fight like the debil!"
Then pull off your overcoat and roll up your sleeve,
For Tokyo is a hard road to travel.
Then pull off your overcoat and roll up your sleeves,
For Tokyo is a hard road to travel, I believe.
"We owe you Japanese boys a great deal of thanks for bringing those guitars with you." Patton said to Kuribayashi .
"General Patton, any force which doesn't have a marching band with them can't call themselves a proper army!" Kuribayashi said and both he and Patton shared a laugh and continued enjoying the show.
While his soldiers celebrated the victory, Lelouch had one last thing to fix and with Diethard was not present for the victory celebrations.
Under normal circumstances he would claim the country as a new conquered Area, but in doing so would damage beyond repair his image as ally of justice.
Also despite his great victory he could not hope to hold out against the forces stationed in the rest of the Federation and with a population of over 1 billion it would be impossible to occupy a country with such a population with only 250.000 men and hope not only to halt the Chinese counterattacks and Xingke army who was still on the prowl.
He knew Xingke was still out there so he would send him a warning.
(Xingke Dragon army gathering point)
Xingke and his subordinates along with the Slayers executive committee and the E.U forces commanders where assembled around a TV to watch the announced broadcast of the Battle OF Gettysburg.
"This is Manmohan Singh, a few weeks ago…I together, with the Eunuch Guang Hai in conspiracy lied to the Brittanian Empire saying that we needed their help in….in rising up against the Chinese Federation Union…..they send us his highness Zero to fight for us and…we then betrayed him an planned to have him and his entire army killed in battle…." Manmohan now heavily sweating prepared to read the casualty list.
"The Battle which was fought here at Gettysburg is as follows: Black Knights who number 250.000 6% casualties.
Army of India and China casualties: Total annihilation,…for….for all intents and purpose the army has been annihilated" Manmohan said and he then held his head in his hands from the sheer disaster which had befallen them.
"Maharaja, you old bastard!" Laksharta said in disgust and the old man's treachery and impotence to see his treachery through.
"I thank you Sahib.." Lelouch voice was heard and his hand was seen coming from out of the frame, the camera the panned out and you could see Lelouch with his Zero mask on.
Manmohan then got up from the desk which he sat and left the picture frame and Lelouch went and sat in his place.
He then took of his mask and said:
"This is so you can be certain of what has just happened, yes I am the Iron Prince, yes this is the Black Knights and yes the 2 million man army which was sent against me has been annihilated."
"Now listen up, you may have lured us here with honorless and gutless treachery, but we are not like you, we will continue on our journey, if you do not bother us we will leave you alone and you will know our friendship."
He said in a friendly manner with a smile on his face, his smile then turned into a scowl and with his a soul piercing gaze leaned forward and with menace in his voice and said:
"Stand against us and we will show you our fury like we have showed the army of India here at Gettysburg , so remember if you face us…we will bury you...like we buried your comrades" Lelouch said with a calm tone, but whose words sounded like they came from the devil himself, also Lelouch had his 'I will devour your soul look in his eyes' which gave the warning even more power.
After a moment of silence his expression turned from close to satanic, into a calm and cheerful expression with a smile on his face, he relevantly leaned back on his chair and a few moments before the signal ended he said:
"And now for the weather: we will have sun with moderate temperatures, slight chance of rain in the afternoon, Terence?….."
Authors note: Read and review…you know the rest.