A/N: Thanks again to Greatkingrat88 for his work on the chapter, and I think this chapter has one of the best space battles we've ever made.
So before we get into the chapter I'll reply to some reviewers who I couldn't PM or respond to.
Guest 1: You'll be seeing Wikes reaction in this chapter, and the reaction of Ava's father might come later through.
Guest 2: Yes and thank you for that, and as mentioned you'll see Wikes reaction in this chapter too.
Reader: Thanks and it is here.
Chapter 19
Raise your Banner
News of the attack on Orion spread like wildfire across the galaxy, as those who escaped it spread the word what had happened. Not long after that, word of PACT attacking other planets along their borders began spreading as well. Naturally, the Black Knights' leadership called an emergency meeting. The invasion of the Neutral Rim by PACT was a long time coming, and it had roused a righteous anger in Lelouch and his Knights. However, it was the way some of the Neutral Rim worlds were responding to the invasion that incensed Lelouch to no end.
I can't be hearing this, Lelouch thought, as he gripped the armrests of his chair, his knuckles whitening from the tight grip under his gloves.
"No matter what PACT does, they will not attack Cera. This invasion of theirs will falter and be nothing more than a border dispute," Prime Minister Wilkes said off the holo-screen, the newscast feed only hours old. His words had Lelouch's blood boiling in anger. Never had he seen a politician so arrogant, or perhaps so extremely ignorant. PACT had already conquered most of the neutral worlds bordering their space, and showed no signs of slowing down.
That is only assuming SOMEONE will stop them, but as it is their forces having been claiming planet after planet, Lelouch thought, astonished at the minister's stupidity. His rage continued to simmer under the surface, barely contained. How could anyone be so dismissive while the brutal subjugations PACT had inflicted on those worlds were still ongoing? Perhaps the one thing that kept Lelouch from exploding in anger was the fact he wasn't alone, and the news of fierce demonstrations against Cera's Prime Minister were proof of that.
Turning off the news feed, Lelouch turned in his chair to address the council. He had not just summoned the main military leadership; aside from captains Gottwald, Kenway, Cisneros and Sergeyevna, they were joined by C.C., their finance manager, Garibaldi, their intelligence commander, and Milly Ashford, flown in from Cera, their head recruitment officer.
"That wretched old man," Lelouch seethed. "I do not care what anybody says, he is corrupt at worst and a blind fool at best."
"Sir, you are not alone in your opinion on their reaction," Kenway offered reassuringly.
"I would happily organize assassinations and overthrows of these worlds, if you give the order," Cisneros suggested.
"As appealing as that idea is, I must decline the suggestion. PACT would use it as a propaganda weapon to further justify their invasion," Lelouch replied. "Thanks to Arcadius, he has whipped them into zealots who wholly believe in their cause of liberating the galaxy. The last thing we need to do is make them feel more justified."
"I agree. Even if we somehow accomplished what Captain Cisneros suggested, and even if we did long before PACT's invasion to prepare the Neutral Rim as a whole it likely wouldn't change the outcome too much," Kenway noted.
"I suppose that is true. Not many Neutral Rim worlds have the resources and population. Even if they were unified, they are still facing a galactic superpower with access to far greater resources and production capabilities," Sergeyevna said, placing both of her hands together on the table.
"True, but let's not forget the people on some of these worlds. Some have harder stances on isolationism than Cera. Even if we overthrew the leaders of these worlds and installed our people, we would have faced a lot of pushback, and maybe uprisings in the worst case scenarios," Michael said, sighing. "Even with PACT invading they won't unite, and they believe they can weather any invasion attempt."
"And some who outright ignore it, like Prime Minister Wilkes and his party on Cera," Milly added.
"Don't remind me," Lelouch said. His anger flared once again; he could barely keep it under wraps. "Ignorance and stupidity in one package, that's Wilkes and his cronies. But the Solar Alliance's President Alythe and the Progress Party are just as bad, if not worse."
Although he would be speaking to Admiral Grey soon regarding the war, from what Lelouch had read, the Solar Alliance had suffered from a string of weak Presidents who had failed to keep the Alliance united. Lelouch preferred democracy, but it had its faults- and they showed clearly here. As of now, the Solar Congress, once the pride of the Solar Alliance, had fallen into political gridlock thanks to it being controlled by well-connected political interest groups, corruption and lobbying ensuring that power was kept in the hands of the few. All of these issues had caused many Neutral Rim worlds to keep their distance, and either as a result of this or something else, President Alythe had yet to address PACT's recent invasion of the Neutral Rim.
I'll have to think of something to help Grey break the political gridlock and provide something the people could rally behind, otherwise I fear the Solar Alliance will be paraylzed by indecision until the worse possible time, Lelouch thought.
"Uh," Garibaldi said hesitantly, as an alert on his holo went off, "I hate to sour your mood any more, sir, but speak of the devil."
Pushing a few commands on his holo, Garibaldi displayed a special news report from the Solar Alliance.
"Repeating our top story, President Alythe has announced the Alliance will attempt peace negotiations with PACT, in the hopes of halting their aggression in the Neutral Rim. Back to you, Don," a female newscaster announced.
"Aggression? They make it sound like PACT wasn't invading the Neutral Rim with overwhelming numbers, demolishing cities and killing all defenders to the last man and woman!" Milly said, outraged.
"Basically they are going to try appeasement, when has that actually worked?" C.C. said shaking her head.
Now Lelouch found it seriously challenging to contain his anger. Taking a deep breath, he changed the channel. Raging against their cowardice would do them no good- this was no more than anyone had expected. The Alliance was feckless and indecisive, and would not unite until it was too late. Both he and Admiral Grey knew this would happen, and the fact the old admiral had gone through the trouble to bring him back from the dead only showed how bad things had gotten.
"Enough. We knew the Alliance as a whole wasn't going to act to stop PACT. But to downplay the brutality in which PACT has invaded the Neutral Rim is a low blow," Lelouch said, venom in his voice. "We must act and do what we is what we prepared for all this time. The time has come, ladies and gentlemen."
"All of the resistance cells we've spent the last few years setting up have more than enough weapons and supplies to wage guerrilla warfare on their world's occupiers for years, provided they are not found," Garibaldi reported. "In fact, they've already destroyed several shipyards and factories PACT were repurposing to fuel the war effort on the planets they've seized."
"I've already relocated and shut down our recruitment centers closest to where PACT has been expanding into. As a precaution, I've moved the others towards the Rim's border with the Solar Alliance," Milly reported.
"Good. I am glad our preparations will come to good use." Lelouch said, feeling confident.
"Resistance is all well and good, but it will only slow them down. What do we do about PACT itself?" Cisneros inquired.
"We're going to hit a particularly large PACT fleet en route to invade the Neutral Rim world of Austerlitz II," Lelouch said. He tapped a few buttons on his command panel, and a holographic representation of the planet and its surrounding space appeared.
"A Class Seven world, known for its plentiful ore deposits. Their extensive mining economy has given them considerable military capacity, even if it is not on par with a planet like are sending a larger than standard invasion fleet, somewhere in the realm of twenty-five cruisers, five line battleships, six carriers and a large number of missile brigades. Our fleet will be up to par, but we will be outnumbered in a direct engagement."
"PACT is sending such a large force to not just secure the planet, but to make the people think twice about sabotaging those mines or production factories and shipyards," Kenway said, realization dawning on him.
"Yes. Before this meeting, our agent heading up the resistance cell there has made contact with the planet's chancellor, wishing to appeal to the Black Knights for help to cover the evacuation of the planet," Lelouch said, leaning forward and folding both hands together on the table. "They began once they heard about PACT's invasion into the Neutral Rim. Many have fled, but many more are still trying to escape. They need us to face the fleet and buy time to complete the evacuation. Once they do, they'll pledge support to our cause giving us the planet's resources to use as we see fit."
"But we don't exactly have the numbers and the resources to protect that world from PACT invasion. Even if our ships are better in every way we are still limited by numbers, constant PACT invasions will wear us down," Kenway said cautiously.
"I agree, which is why we have a plan in place to keep PACT unaware of their failed invasion. I can't say for sure how long we can keep up the charade, but should we be unable to hold the planet, the people of Austerlitz are ready to detonate explosives to destroy every factory, mine and shipyard on the planet, leaving nothing for PACT."
"So they'll just abandon the whole planet?" Sergeyevna said, surprised with such extreme measures.
"Not completely, but they are sending away their families and others who cannot or do not want them fighting the PACT occupation. The population is rather small compared to similar worlds, having only around two million people," Lelouch said. "Most intend to seek asylum with the Solar Alliance, while many of them have expressed a desire to join the Black Knights, offering their skills as factory workers, miners and experience as members of Austerlitz' Space Force. The rest will join our resistance groups we've formed on the planet who will fight the PACT occupation until it can be liberated."
"That would give us a much-needed boost in manpower. But I am worried PACT or other parties will try to insert a spy into our ranks," Kenway cautioned.
"I agree," Lelouch said before gesturing to Milly and Garibaldi. "I'll be asking Milly and Michael to double their filtering efforts to ensure that, and I might propose some tests are carried out as added insurance."
Lelouch closed his eyes, contemplating a thought for a second.
"I should note, by the time we arrive, we'll have little time to prepare before PACT will have begun their attack. However," Lelouch said, pausing as he smiled. "That will give us a golden opportunity if we do this right."
Everyone was confused, but Lelouch began explaining his plan.
Around the same time in the Mnemosyne Abyss, Max Horner was sitting in the captain's cabin of the Excalibur, having been made its new captain after Lelouch took the Rhongomyniad as his new flagship. He was chosen over the other captains for the performance of the cadets under his command, earning the support of the founding captains and leaders of the Black Knights to take command of the Excalibur. He was in the middle of writing a report when a cadet he had called for arrived at his door.
"Cadet Crescentia reporting," Ava called from the intercom when Max answered the door.
"Come in," Max said, opening the door, allowing Ava to enter. "Have a seat."
"What was it that you wished to see me about, captain?" Ava asked, as she sat down in the chair opposite of her commanding officer.
"I would like to discuss your conduct, officer Crescentia. Let me assure you, I have no problem with your work ethic,but your difficulties working with the crew concerns me," Horner began.
"Are you referring to the incident from yesterday, sir?"
"Yes, the training exercise is designed to assess your flexibility in an emergency situation," Horner explained.
The exercise had been designed around a simulated sudden attack from an enemy vessel, its purpose being to test her adaptability and ability to work with her crew. She had been caught in a hallway when it happened, and attempted to help an injured shipmate. However, in her stress she had snapped at the group, barking out unclear orders. She had tried and failed to bring order to the group, and her inability to rally her team had reflected poorly on her. She had followed rules and regulations to the letter- but she had still not succeeded.
"Your inflexibility with regards to rules and regulations that arose then is something I fear will hinder your potential to be a good officer."
"I understand, sir, but shouldn't rules and regulations always be followed to the letter?"
"In most cases, yes, but anyone aspiring to leadership must know when to make concessions for morale and better relations between captain and crew," Max explained. "For instance, unlike Solar Alliance military and others, the Black Knights allow fraternization within their ranks, as long as it doesn't negatively impact their abilities to conduct their duties."
"Yes, sir. An understandable concession, given that the Black Knights could not recruit from professional naval academies and did not have the time to set one up. A certain degree of relaxed discipline was necessary."
"Exactly. So perhaps we should find out where you could make concessions to build a better working relationship with the crew and others? Where could a compromise be made?"
"Where I…" Ava said, looking conflicted.
This might be harder than I thought, Max thought internally. Old habits really do die hard as they say.
"I think this is something we're going to have to work on," Max said. Just then, an emergency call came in, prompting him to push a button on the console.
"Captain Horner here."
"Sir, we have a priority one message from HQ," a bridge operator replied.
"Patch it to my office."
Lelouch was in his office at their Headquarters where he took his expected call with Admiral Grey. Judging by the old admiral's frustrated, irritated expression, he was of the same mind as Lelouch about the responses given to the invasion.
"I take it you saw the news?" Lelouch asked.
"Yes, and I suspect there is not much to say about it," Grey said with a groan. "They are as arrogant and pigheaded as I expected."
"Onto more positive matters, we'll be moving against PACT at Austerlitz II to cover their evacuation," Lelouch said, unwilling to linger on such an unpleasant subject.
"Austerlitz II," Grey said, before realization dawned upon him. "Ah, I recall. Its leaders have requested asylum for their people and political leaders."
"The Alliance has accepted, I hope?"
"It wasn't easy, but an agreement was reached to welcome any refugees. They've extended this offer to other inhabitants of worlds displaced by PACT during their conquest. The Progress Party hopes this will be a temporary situation," Grey said, looking doubtful.
"Oh yes, a temporary situation," Lelouch said mockingly. "They are living in a dream world."
"I agree, and they are due for a harsh awakening," Grey replied. "Could you send us any data you have from all engagements you've had with PACT so far? Regardless of what the Progress Party and the President believes, war will come to the Alliance eventually."
"Of course." Lelouch paused to think for a second. "Actually Admiral if I may, is there any way we could borrow Miss Isolde's services?"
"Oh," Grey said, smiling as he noticed Lelouch's grin. "What do you have in mind?"
Far out at the edge of Rim territory, a familiar scene played out. The PACT fleet advanced with seemingly unstoppable force, crushing all in its path. A Black Knights destroyer, with a few light escorts, had taken its shots at one of the battle groups, only to be promptly turned away by superior firepower. It followed a pattern all too familiar for the Veniczar; the Black Knights would engage, only to be forced back. Their minimal casualties were the only thing going right for them. This was the seventeenth straight defeat from an inferior foe- and this was the terror of the Neutral Rim, the heroes they looked to for salvation? They were losers, inferior rabble taking on far more than they could chew.
As Veniczar E. Fabricius smiled to himself, all too pleased with this latest victory report, his communications officer approached and saluted.
"Sir, incoming comms request from deeper in the Rimspace. Sir, I believe… this may be the infamous Zero."
Fabricius considered just rejecting the call altogether; after all, why would a lion concern himself with ants? But he was in a good mood, and decided to humor it.
"Open the call," he said offhandedly.
On a holo display, the figure of Zero came into being. It was a garish display, Fabricius thought, an overdramatic mix of good style and a cape that no self-respecting officer would wear, and that was to say nothing of the ridiculous black mask.
"Great Veniczar," came the voice of Zero, somewhat chopped due to the distance, "the Black Knights would formally like to request an armistice, to discuss a peace treaty. We have no desire for further violence-"
"You brought this on yourselves, and now you want to back out?" Fabricius laughed. "Cowards, I knew it. Here's my offer- take your 'fleet' and run, as far as you can, and maybe you'll live."
"This is most irregular," the muted, warped voice of Zero came, "Surely you can see that this is a serious-"
"Shut the frequency down," Fabricius ordered. The holo disappeared quickly.
"Shall I let home base know of their request, sir?" said the bridge lieutenant.
"Why bother? They're afraid and ready to back out. We'll crush them like ants. There's no other reason they'd want reconciliation, they're running scared, and we've got them where we want them now."
"Do you think it could be a ruse, sir?"
"If I want your opinion, lieutenant, I'll ask for it," Fabricius said curtly. "Ruse… what ruse? They have no hand to play. They've done nothing but lose. You do not bargain from a position of overwhelming strength, officer- you take what you want."
"Yes, sir," said the lieutenant, unwilling to provoke him any further.
Elsewhere, thousands of miles away, Lelouch smiled behind his mask. They thought them weak, just like he expected, just like he had planned when he sent out his lightest ships to continuously lose against the PACT fleet. They were already confident, and he had made sure that by now they were overconfident.
Four days later, near the orbit of Austerlitz II, the industrial colony's space force was fighting a losing battle against the vanguard of the PACT invasion fleet, one larger than ones who had conquered other nearby planets. The Black Knights had arrived in system ahead of the PACT fleet, with the Oberon, Dominion and Avalon forming the vanguard. Lelouch and his flagship were lurking nearby, hiding behind a nearby asteroid field in the company of four brand new Excalibur-class ships. The vanguard was taking defensive formations with the Austerlitz Space Force, which had mustered thirty gunships and four small cruisers. They were all lightly armed, but it was all they had.
"I've gathered my forces, and the trap is set to deal with the incoming PACT fleet," Lelouch said, sitting on the command bridge of the Rhongomyniad.
"You are confident this will work?"
The speaker was a middle aged woman. She had brown hair tied into a ponytail, blue eyes, and she was wearing a black business suit with boots. She was Severina, the democratically elected leader of the Austerlitz colony, invited to observe the defense of her homeworld. Their government had been fully cooperative with the Black Knights. No wonder; nobody else had answered the call.
"I understand your concerns, Chancellor Severina," Lelouch said reassuringly. "PACT doesn't know the full strength of the Black Knights, and we have some surprises in store for them."
The plan was three-fold. Kenyway, Sergeyevna and Cisneros would draw the enemy in, fooling PACT into believing the Black Knights had brought their full force to defend the colony. PACT, assured of its complete supremacy, would hopefully move to surround and destroy the smaller fleet, meaning their formation would be widely spread out- leaving their flanks badly exposed to Lelouch's meticulously prepared ambush.
The Rhongomyniad would lead battle group alpha in a flank attack, confusing and shocking the enemy fleet. Its dual Hadron Cannons would cut through the enemy fleet, and with some luck the opening salvo could destroy some of the enemy's carriers and battleships if they timed their arrival right. Meanwhile, battle group gamma would attack PACT's other flank, in a simultaneous, devastating assault. This would put serious pressure on battle group beta- the defenders- but it was the surest path to victory. Suddenly an alert sounded on the bridge.
"Sir, we have detected PACT ships warping in just outside of Austerlitz' orbit. It's a full invasion fleet, like our scouts said. Bigger than the ones they use for their invasions so far," an intelligence officer reported.
"Proof they want your planet quite badly. I'll leave you to your preparations, Chancellor Severina. Be ready to evacuate the planet once we've defeated the PACT forces. Once we've drawn them in we'll strike," Lelouch said.
"Understood. I pray your plan works."
"I know it will work, trust me," Lelouch said, smiling under his mask.
The Battle for Austerlitz II began with a swarm of PACT missile frigates charging in ahead of the invasion fleet, unleashing their payload once they were in range. Hit-and-run tactics with missile frigates was a common tactic for PACT, used in all of their invasions to destroy smaller gunships who couldn't handle the swarms of missiles, and to soften up enemy defenders before the rest of the PACT fleet moved in.
"All weapons free. Shoot those missiles down!" Kenway commanded as he and the other three Black Knight ships joined with the Austerlitz Space Force to engage the approaching barrage. Set up in a defensive formation and well prepared, their fleet had little trouble picking off the missiles in quick succession, even if a few got a bit too close for comfort.
"Target the frigates!" Kenway barked, as soon as the last missile was cleared. At his order, new targeting solutions were added and the fleet returned fire. The PACT frigates retreated, but it was then that the hidden mines the planet's space force had laid in advance began to activate. Each of them were drawn to the nearest enemy vessel, destroying it in a fiery, quiet explosion. Even more were shot down easily; the missile frigates had limited mobility and made easy targets without larger vessels to frigates tried to pull back, but dozens were shot down in their retreat, unable to reload their missiles fast enough against the Black Knight counterattack.
"Sir, numerous ship signatures detected. The PACT invasion force is beginning to advance," a bridge member on the Oberon warned.
"Good. Let's try to draw them in further," Kenway said.
The enemy invasion fleet was on approach, coming at them fully assembled, centered around the carriers and battleships. It was a simple but brutal attack, blunt like a sledgehammer, intended to crush them outright. The PACT forces began launching their Ryders from three of the six Carriers, holding the rest back in reserve.
"Launch all of our Ryders, and order gunners to give them full support," Kenway commanded.
Meanwhile aboard the PACT Battleship, the Robespierre, the flagship of the invasion fleet, the enemy commander observed them confidently.
"So they aren't going to surrender because the Black Knights are here?"
"It would seem so, sir," the first mate replied..
"Then let us show them how pointless their resistance is. We'll crush the Black Knights here and dash any further hopes of resistance. Yes, I think Veniczar Arcadius will be very pleased with our success," Veniczar E. Fabricius said, smiling deviously. He was a middle-aged man with shoulder-length brown hair and blue eyes. He wore a blood red coat, a black vest, white shirt and a white cravat with black boots. He began smiling maliciously as an idea came to mind.
"Order our battleships to take up positions, and send some Cruisers forward to support our Ryders. Surround them entirely, encircle them. I do not want any Black Knights to escape," the Veniczar commanded.
"Yes sir. What of the planet's defenders?"
"Let us force their submission," The Veniczar said, a devious idea coming to him. "Our orders are to ensure as many facilities of mining and production as possible, ideally all, are captured intact. Are there any towns or cities that do not have any one of these?"
"There are a dozen towns and one city sir," the officer answered.
"Order our advancing Cruisers to bombard them once they are in range. If they still won't surrender after that, along with the destruction of their Space Force and the Black Knights, we'll target their industrial cities next," Veniczar E. Fabricius declared with a wicked smile.
"Yes sir. I shall relay your orders," the PACT officer replied obediently.
"That world's resources and factories shall serve our revolution!"
Lelouch was on the bridge of the ship. He was speaking with Lynn via holo, discussing the new machine she had built, while monitoring the situation via constant updates on the tactical display on the bridge. He took a moment to observe, watching as the PACT fleet moved closer to the planet. As planned, The Black Knights and the Austerlitz Space Force pulled back toward the planet, seemingly to stay out of range of the Battleship's kinetic weapons. In turn the PACT fleet moved closer in, and the battle between the Ryders began. The PACT fleet was in position, almost completely surrounding Austerlitz II, spread out on a wide front and ready to crush the meager resistance.
"Its almost time then?" said Lynn. She was down at the hangar, watching her new machine get prepared.
"Are you ready for this? You know many are still concerned about your loyalties, despite the precautions taken to ease their concerns." Lelouch reminded her.
Lynn sighed. She was all too aware of this.
"Yes, I know, but I think my actions will speak louder than words." she replied. For the occasion she had donned a blue and black pilot suit. She glanced at her own Ryder, which she had designed the Domitian.
It was a streamlined design with dark blue and black colors, matching the flight suit Lynn wore in the cockpit. Its waist had long waist-skirt armor, each containing a combined total of fourteen semi-autonomous slash harkens. To complement its electronic warfare capabilities, it could impale an enemy Ryder to gain limited control over it and use its connection to enemy communications to hack and transit virus to wreak havoc upon the enemy, and it was even capable of distorting enemy sensors, allowing it to appear invisible to them if an enemy's system was not properly protected.
On its back was a unique backpack unit that could transform into a pair of wings for high-speed movement, or transform into a giant claw to act as a third arm for the Ryder, with an integrated shield designed for grabbing and crushing enemy Ryders. It had a built-in Hadron Cannon, usable in either mode. The right arm carried an integrated shield system, which also had a built in Blaze-Luminous shield emitter to provide full protection when used, and three dart-like missiles that used Radiant Wave technology to severely damage ships or destroy any Ryders hit by it, and lastly a built in VARIS rifle with a retractable MVS blade. As a backup weapon, it has a MVS sword stored in its shield and a laser pistol. Lastly, on its shoulders were a pair of anti-missile gatling guns.
"Don't worry. I personally designed this, using designs Lloyd kept lying around," Lynn said, shooting Lloyd a look. The eccentric scientist was inspecting Lelouch's new machine, the Mahoroba, which was on hand should Lelouch need to deploy in it.
"I also intend to knock him down a peg a little, proving that designs by your rival can be very useful," Lynn replied with a smug grin.
"Just don't get careless. Despite our preparation and how advanced our ships are, we are still outnumbered," Lelouch pointed out.
"There is no need to worry. I'll prove everyone wrong about what I am capable and not capable of. I'll prove my loyalty to you in this fight."
"To me?" Lelouch inquired.
"Yes. You're the only one worthy of my allegiance, for having bested me. Even I have my pride," Lynn replied, folding her arms before Lelouch's hologram.
Lelouch clucked slightly, understanding her reasoning, "I suppose I have my own pride too."
"Then shall I do my part, as we planned?"
"Yes. I'll leave things in your capable hands." Lelouch said.
"I shall."
Once he was done talking to Lynn, he was contacted by Sola from within her own Ryder, the Seraphim.
"Are you ready?" Lelouch asked as her face came up from within the cockpit of her machine; she was now dressed in a silvery-white and black pilot suit.
"I am. I'll move myself to a suitable position while the enemy is confused by our sudden attack."
"Yes. We'll launch you first, so you'll have all the time you should need."
"What about you?"
"Me?" Lelouch said, wondering what Sola meant. "I'll command the battle from the bridge, but I am more than prepared to join the battle should the situation demand it."
"I see," Sola said, seemingly satisfied with her answer. "I'll report to you for any changes to the plan then."
"Understood," Lelouch said before Sola ended communications.
I guess she is testing me to see if I am worthy enough of a leader to follow. I had better not disappoint, then, Lelouch thought.
Checking the tactical display on the bridge, at last Lelouch gave the command.
"First unit, engage! Second group, stand by."
"Sir, beginning warp jump in three, two, one!"
The Rhongomyniad warped into the battle at the PACT fleet's flank, catching them by surprise. It had not come alone. Two Excalibur-class ships, the Tristan and Leonidas followed in the flagship's wake, flanked by the four destroyers Ulyanov, Talleyrand, Wellington and Imperishable.
The battle group had appeared dangerously close to their enemies; a few seconds off and they could have collided, wrecking all their vessels in a fiery conflagration. To exit warp danger close was a dangerous gambit, and it would have been impossible without the technology they had innovated from the scavenged materials from the Ryuvian shipyard.
"Fire the Dual-Hadron Cannons!" Jeremiah commanded from the bridge. "All weapons loose, fire at will!"
The Rhongomyniad fired its primary weapons, the twin crimson beams tearing into the PACT fleet, which was still not reacting to their sudden appearance, painfully out of position. The escort ships followed suit, positioning themselves for full broadsides as they unleashed a devastating volley of their own. Six Cruisers, two carriers and one battleship were destroyed, along with dozens of Ryders caught in the beams. Panic and shock spread through the fleet as some ships struggled to turn around to face their new enemy.
The four more new ships accompanying the Rhongomyniad, the Caladbolg, Hauteclere, Tizona and the Mistilteinn formed a defensive formation around the Rhongomyniad firing into the enemy fleet while launching their own Ryders.
"Hit those battleships before they can come about," Jeremiah ordered as his crew worked feverishly to execute his commands. "Launch all Ryders!"
"Now let's hit them again," Lelouch said with a grin. "Captain Tecumseh, you and your group are up. The enemy is barely reacting to us, so now is as good as a time as any."
"Understood. Our group will move in for the kill," Captain Wilfred Tecumseh of the Atlanta replied.
Sitting in the command chair of his own Excalibur-class ship, Wilfred was a grizzled type, with matted brown hair and a short beard, and sharp, determined eyes that seemed to pierce the void of space itself. He had seen much conflict in his life, and the battle for Austerlitz II was far from his first. A seasoned captain, this would be his first battle as a leader for the Black Knights.
"Battle group gamma, at the ready. All ships, prepare for battle," Wilfred commanded. "All craft, report in."
"Captain Horner of the Excalibur standing by," Max replied on the open channel, now captain of his own Excalibur-class ship.
"Captain Scherwiz of the Durandal, ready," Lola Scherwiz reported.
"Captain Rambeau of the Coreiseuse standing by," Oswald Rambeau reported.
"Captain Ramius of the Dáinsleif, ready," Muriel Ramius reported, also sitting in the command chair of her own Excalibur-class ship.
"The enemy will begin re-organizing in response to Battle Group Beta's arrival. We are to wrap in and hit them from behind as they turn to face them. All ships, prepare for battle. Full speed, according to Zero's coordinates. We end them here and now!" Wilfred said firmly.
"Yes sir," the other captains replied.
They warped in, catching the enemy in the middle of trying to re-organize their forces in response to Lelouch and his forces arrival, Lelouch could only smile as battle group Gamma joined the fray, catching the PACT ships totally unaware.
Excellent, it's all going according to plan, Lelouch thought.
Battle group Alpha, led by Kenway, was merely the bait to lure the enemy in. Thanks to PACT's string of successes, they had lowered their guard, and any glory seeking commander would find a chance to take down the Black Knights too tempting to ignore.
Having Battle Group Gamma delay their own arrival by just a little bit gave them a chance to hit the enem from the rear as the PACT fleet turns to face us, Lelouch thought, feeling pleased.
However…
"Lynn, make sure your virus prevents them from calling for reinforcements," Lelouch cautioned.
"Its spreading through their communcations as we speak, we should have complete communcations lock out soon," Lynn repiled.
His plan could fall apart if the PACT commander behind this fleet began calling for help.
"Sola, take up position and help sink those battleships. Once they are down, their shields will no longer protect the Cruisers, Ryders and smaller ships," Lelouch instructed.
"Understood," Sola said. She was dressed in a white and black flight suit, breaking away to get into position.
Even if Lynn's virus is hindering their communications, we cannot be idle. We must defeat them quickly before they can get around it, Lelouch thought urgently.
"Sir we just got word that Oberon has been badly damaged. The ship is still fighting, but it's on its last legs. The crew and her captain will likely have to evacuate," a communications officer reported.
"Send a squad of Ryders to cover them and ask a nearby ship to recover the escape pods," Lelouch commanded, knowing the Oberon would have to be abandoned if it was unable to continue the fight and escape.
"Sir, the Dominion is in trouble. It has suffered serious hull damage, and its engines are barely functional!"
"Have the nearest units give them support, and if need be, send orders for them to pull back if they can," Lelouch ordered, as he began wondering if he should go out himself to deal with the enemy Ryders.
"Understood, sir."
Cisneros was facing troubling odds. Although the battle was going as Lelouch had planned, battle group beta had taken the brunt of PACT's assault, finding themselves surrounded, attacked from all sides, and soon overwhelmed. It was only the surprise flank attacks that had allowed them to survive at all, forcing ships away. Having faced the full might of a PACT fleet to lure them in, the Dominion had taken near catastrophic damage. Even so, Cisneros refused to back down, and neither would her crew.
"Captain, we have enemy Ryders approaching from the left," a crewmember warned.
"Target them and open fire with missiles and VARIS cannons," Cisenros commanded, as sparks flew from a nearby console.
"The engines are taking hits from a PACT cruiser bearing upon us from five o'clock. We're at thirty percent capacity, captain!"
"Fire a suppressive burst and turn us around so we can engage them," Cisneros ordered. Just then, the Cruiser plaguing them was shot down by Sola, allowing them to focus on the Ryders approaching them.
The PACT Ryders tried to charge through the incoming fire, but all but one were shot down. Despite it being badly damaged it continued accelerating towards the Dominion. Everyone on the bridge realized the Ryder planned to ram their ship in a desperate act to destroy it.
"It's going for our engines. Shoot it down!" Cisneros commanded.
The damaged PACT Mook used its shield, and even after one shot from its main guns destroyed the arm the shield was attached to, the PACT Ryder didn't slow down. It slammed into the rear of the Dominion, exploding and causing the ship to shake violently, sparks erupting from control panels on the bridge. The lights on the bridge flickered on and off, as damage reports came in following the enemy Ryder's successful kamikaze attack.
"Captain, we've lost contact with engineering!" an officer called out.
"We've switched to reserve power, but we're losing power fast!"
"Life support system compromised!"
"Shit," Cisneros cursed.
"Captain, we've got an enemy battleship approaching!"
"Damn it, what do we have left?" Cisneros demanded.
"We have barely enough power for shields, but not enough for weapons."
Contemplating her options, Cisneros opened up a general channel within the ship.
"All hands, this is your Captain speaking. Abandon ship, I repeat, all hands abandon ship!"
Cisneros rose from her chair, moving towards the weapons panel.
"The rest of you get out of here. I'll face the battleship and cover your escape."
No one on the bridge followed Cisneros's command, and one of them spoke up.
"Respectfully Captain, we refuse to follow that order. We all know what we were getting into when we signed up, especially when you volunteered our ship for the Alpha Battle Group," the helmsman said, speaking for everyone.
Cisneros sighed, but smiled.
"Alright, on my signal use our shields as the enemy attacks. Divert whatever power is left to main guns once it's over," Cisneros commanded.
Meanwhile the PACT Battleship closed in, intending to finish off the wounded Excalibur-class warship. As it came within range of its kinetic main guns, the PACT battleship opened fire one last time. Cisneros gave the order to raise the shields, hoping there was enough power left for the Blaze Luminous shields to hold out during the enemy battleship's attack. The PACT vessel continued its approach as it hammered the crippled Dominion, but after there was an explosion from the engines compartment, the PACT ship stopped its attack run, assuming it had succeeded.
Suddenly the Dominion fired a final barrage of kinetic fire from its VARIS main guns, targeting a gaping hole in the side of the battleship, created earlier by Sola when she snipped the enemy ship. The barrage struck something critical, and a chain of explosions erupted within the ship before it exploded.
With that, the Dominion was dead in space.
Meanwhile, Kenway was fighting tooth and nail. The noose was closing in around his neck, and if Zero's plan did not come to fruition soon, they would all be destroyed. They had taken some heavy hits; a critical shot to their engine compartment had led to engine failure. Kenway had ordered a last bold maneuver before the engines burned out, a full engine stop before burning forward, using the burst of speed to shoot past a PACT battleship and come up behind it. The enemy captain had evidently not expected this, as they were still trying to turn, much too slowly.
"Coming up on enemy battleship," the helmsman of the Oberon declared.
"Target their engines. All batteries, open fire!" Kenway declared. The gun batteries spoke, devastating the rear of the PACT Battleship. Even with its engines damaged, the Oberon continued firing into the back of the PACT ship to destroy it, knowing too the Battleship's engines were very vulnerable.
The role of a PACT Battleship, despite their heavy armor and kinetic weapons, was to sit on the backlines of a battle using their wide-encompassing shields to protect smaller ships and Ryders from enemy lasers. Their armor was impressive, and the number of weapons including machine cannon placements, lasers and kinetic cannons made them formidable at ranged combat, but being close against an enemy armed with destructive kinetic weapons in range of them nullified their advantages. Worse still, many of these weapons were focused on the front with only the lasers, flak guns and missiles protecting their rears. Great and enormous tears opened in the rear hull of the battleship under the continuous, merciless barrage. Kenway knew a ship about to die when he saw one, and he felt some satisfaction watching the battleship slowly being torn apart.
"Enemy Battleship taking heavy fire. Target is near destruction, sir," a crewman reported happily.
"Sir, enemy battleships ahead of us are beginning to turn around," the helmsman warned.
"Evade, don't let those battleships get a clear shot at us," Kenway commanded, knowing attacking two PACT Battleships head on was unwise, especially if his ship was barely functioning.
"Zero, Mahoroba launching!" Lelouch said.
With Cisneros out of action and Kenway barely able to keep up the fight, Lelouch knew it was time for him to get involved. To ensure the PACT fleet cannot recover any advantage.
Lelouch was launched in his new personal machine, the Mahoroba, leading the Ryders launching from the Rhongomyniad as it was moving to rejoin Kenway and the others.
"I'll stay close and cover your back," Lynn said, joining in the Domitian. It was capable of support functions during the battle but also fully capable of holding its own in battle.
"I'll feed you tactical data from the battlefield to support you as well," Lynn said as she approached an enemy Ryder.
"I appreciate that. Remember, this is your chance to prove yourself," Lelouch reminded Lynn. She wasn't fully trusted by the rest of the Black Knights, and this was her chance to quiet any lingering distrust.
She dodged the enemy PACT Mook laser fire, cutting it in half with the retractable MSV blade. As two more Mook units tried to flank her, Lynn fired the slash-harkens from her skirt armor to ensnare the two enemy machinesOas one embedded itself in the torso of the Mook units. Small wires erupted from the blade of each harken, before digging into the enemy Ryders.
"Time to let my viruses do their work," Lynn said with a devious smile.
A PACT Bomber was about to attack the Domitian, but the Ryder's back-unit transformed into a third arm with a large three-fingered claw. A Hadron Cannon blast vaporized the torso of the PACT vessel, causing the rest to explode. A third PACT Mook attempted to help their comrades, but the Mooks captured by the Domitian aimed their laser rifles at it, gunning down their own comrade. More PACT Ryders converged against the Domitian, but ran into a squad of the new mainstay unit of the Black Knights, the Praetorian. An improved, better refined model compared to the Knight, with higher performance and easier handling. One of them shot down a PACT Mook before its VARIS rifle transformed, firing a Hadron blast which punched a whole into the hull of a PACT Cruiser.
Meanwhile, Sergeyevna and her ship took aim at a PACT Carrier, which was scrambling to move away from the battle and deploy its Ryders. There was a good reason for the Carrier to disengage; PACT carriers were only lightly armed with machine cannons for shooting down lightly armored enemy craft and missiles to support their Ryders as they launched. This made them easy to take down for a sufficiently armed ship, and Sergeyevna's ship, the Avalon, had more than enough firepower. The carrier tried desperately to move away, its engines burning on full speed, but the Avalon's gun batteries were well aimed, and as the barrage began, the firing solutions proved true.
"Enemy Carrier sunk," a crewman reported, as the ship's main guns made short work of the enormous carrier.
"Enemy Ryder squadron inbound towards our rear at seven o'clock," another crewman reported.
"Major Clark, take care of our rear," Sergeyevna commanded.
"Yes ma'am!" Domingo was in a new prototype Ryder, called the Häyhä.
It shared similarities with the Praetorian, but modified and designed for long range combat. Painted black, it possessed jamming capabilities to avoid detection, enabling it to pick off enemy Ryders or small ships at a distance. Its primary weapon was a new and improved model of the VARIS sniper rifle, capable of hitting targets at further ranges and using new anti-armor rounds with highly-explosive heads, destructive enough to destroy an enemy Ryder or small craft with a single shot, or inflicting considerable damage on larger ships depending on the vessel's armor.
"I got them in my sights," Domingo said, pulling the trigger.
One by one, the Häyhä eliminated each member of the PACT Ryder took evasive maneuvers, but it was no use.
"Targets eliminated," Domingo reported.
"Good work," Sergeyevna complimented. "Return to vessel, Domingo."
"Captain, we have an approaching hostile Cruiser, coming up on our six," the helmsman reported.
Before Sergeyevna could give an order to counter the approaching enemy ship, the PACT Cruiser suddenly exploded.
"What was that!?" A Gunnery officer asked, stunned.
"The Seraphim, the Ryuvian Princess' Ryder," Sergeyevna answered, realizing who was responsible.
Having launched earlier a white and black Ryder of an Ancient Ryuvian design, standing over sixteen meters tall with a long-barrelled rifle as its only weapon, attached to the arms of the Ryder. It was the Seraphim, a simple Ryuvian Scout Ryder, and still combat ready despite thousands of years of neglect. Using the chaos caused by two battle groups sudden arrival, Sola moved herself to a sniper position to the rear of the Black Knight battlelines.
Moments later another PACT Cruiser was shot down, followed by a third moments later. Not long after, a Battleship started taking heavy fire.
"How can it hit from such a range?" The gunnery officer said in disbelief, watching another vessel go down. Sola was at the edge of the battlefield; it should have been impossible for even their longest ranged kinetic weapons to hit, let alone sink an enemy ship in one shot.
"Her bullets are black iron slugs, seemingly traveling at the speed of light," Sergeyevna said.
"Seemingly!?"
"Her rifle uses Quantum Tunneling technology," the captain explained. "I don't fully understand the mechanics myself, but it distorts the space the bullet will travel making it appear to move faster than life. It actually just shortens the distance by quite a lot, and still puts a lot of power behind each shot. Add a black iron slug to those shots, and they can do a lot of damage."
Another PACT Cruiser went down from another shot from Sola's Ryder.
"Of course, knowing exactly where to hit the enemy ships and Ryders really maximizes its damage dealing potential," Sergeyevna remarked.
Aboard the Robespierre, Veniczar E. Fabricius was furious with how badly the battle was going. This was not helped by the fact that his forces greatly outnumbered the Black Knights- but they were still losing.
"Sir, we just lost another Carrier," a crewman reported.
"Damn it, we shouldn't be losing. I SHOULDN'T be losing!" Fabricius snarled.
"Orders, sir!" barked the crewman.
"Have the last two battleships join up with us. We'll combine our shields to protect the Cruisers and the last carriers. Then, we'll focus our firepower against the Black Knights. Have our Ryders form a defensive line between them and our ships," Fabricius ordered.
"But sir, the enemy…"
"Have only a handful of ships! How could we possibly lose against such a small force? I blame you fools. Do as I command!"
"Yes sir…"
"That is an even stupider move than I could have expected."
Lelouch shook his head, watching the tactical screens from the command deck.
"Lynn, has your virus finished spreading throughout the enemy fleet yet?" Lelouch said, contacting her though a secure channel.
"It has," Lynn replied as the claw arm of her Ryder grabbed an unaware PACT Mook, crushing the torso in its grip.
"Excellent. Prepare for it to disable their shields," Lelouch said, closing their line and opening up another line of communication, to issue more orders.
Meanwhile the PACT vessels, despite losing more cruisers, had managed to form a defensive formation surrounding their flagship, the Robespierre, using the extending range of their shields to further reinforce itself, combined with the shields of the battleships to protect their last two Carriers and the small number of cruisers that remained.
Not that your overlapping shields wouldn't have mattered much. Most of our weapons are kinetic-based, which means they would've done little against us, Lelouch thought. He had been unsure of his enemy, but as the battle had commenced he had developed a low opinion of the commander. From arrogant overconfidence to panic; if all you could do was defend, you were sure to lose in the long run. Only an incompetent commander would fallback on outdated tactics, especially failing to realize they would've been useless.
"Lynn, do it," Lelouch said with a grin.
"Roger that. Virus removing their shields," Lynn replied.
"I shouldn't need to ask, but you did take care of their communications?"
"Of course," Lynn said feeling mildly insulted. "Don't be such a worrywart, I said I would take care of it and I did. I am a genius, remember? All they can do is communicate with each other, but they are blocked from sending any long-range transmissions."
"Very good," Lelouch said, ordering the Rhongominiyad forward from his cockpit.
"Sir, our shields are dropping. The shields of the other ships surrounding us have failed as well," a bridge crewman aboard the Robespierre reported in horror.
"Bring them back online!" Fabricius snarled.
"I can't, there's something interfering with our data systems! We can't even call for reinforcements!"
"Then open fire! Unleash everything we have on the enemy ahead of us before they can attack! DO IT NOW!" the Veniczar roared, as fear and panic began to overtake him.
The remaining PACT ships unleashed a barrage of lasers, missiles and kinetic slugs from their assembled ships while the Ryders themselves fired missiles and lasers towards the enemy fleet, forming up into an offensive formation around their flagship.
At the last moment a barrier composed of layered pink transparent shields materialized, extending across the line of task force Gamma. To the utter shock of Fabricius, the shield held against their bombardment, stopping their attacks dead in their tracks.
"Now it would be a good time to hit them," Lelouch said, smiling deviously.
Moments later, Captain Tecumseh's battle group gamma formed up with Lelouch's battle group alpha, and together they charged forward, their guns blazing with heavy kinetic bombardments, as their VARIS-designed guns tore into the remaining carriers and battleships. Now panicking at the unexpected enemy force assaulting them from behind, Lelouch saw the enemy ships and Ryders breaking formation to go and aid their command ship.
It was just the opening he had been waiting for.
The shield dropped, as a compartment on the chest of the Mahoroba opened as a liquid prism was being formed and hardening. Then it was launched deep into the enemy's lines thanks to its integrated railgun to help fire the prism as far as possible. The bits that were part of Lelouch's backpack had detached as he formed the shield wall to protect the Black Knights, had used the distraction of the assault to slip into the enemy's defensive line. Lynn's virus now infecting the whole PACT fleet, and scrambling their sensors made it easier for Lelouch to slip the remote bits into the enemy's ranks.
Using a pair of holographic keyboards that appeared around him, Lelouch rapidly input the calculations needed, before opening fire.
A single focused beam of energy shot out from the Mahoroba, striking the prism that landed in the middle of the Ryder defensive formation as they were occupied with firing at the Black Knights to keep their ships and Ryders back. At first they thought their efforts were working, only now realizing why they hadn't been advancing and kept their distance.
The beam was reflected off of the prism, splitting into a dozen different beams that wreaked havoc across the sundering PACT fleet. The PACT Ryders realized too late the danger they were in, and their attempts to evade failed, leaving many destroyed, some by the beams either piercing the torsos of their machines, or just outright being decapitated. Even the last remaining Missile Frigates didn't survive, sliced in half by the beams, and some of the remaining PACT Cruisers were badly damaged, with deep cuts into the hulls. In fact, two of them ended up destroyed, exploding from critical hits to their engines.
Following Lelouch's attack, the rest of the Black Knights advanced upon the heavily damaged PACT fleet, their forces reeling from Lelouch's destructive attack.
"GET US OUT OF HERE!" Fabricius shouted in panic. Their commander no longer capable of giving orders, the rest of the PACT fleet fell into disarray. Escape was no longer possible, as they were now caught between the Black Knights, but that didn't mean some ships didn't attempt to escape. They were destroyed in short orderby Sola or the Black Knight ships, gunned down as they tried to escape. The Robespierre was disabled and left adrift in space, its engines damaged; worse still, their computers were now under Lynn's remote control.
"Sir, our engines are gone. We're dead in space!" cried an officer.
"GET THEM WORKING AGAIN!"
"WE CAN'T!"
Fabricius was red in the face, almost purple with rage.
"YOU LISTEN HERE, YOU LITTLE-" he started, but before his tantrum could get going, there was an explosion, the bridge doors being thrown open. The crew not knocked over by the blast reeled, standing still in shock as Black-clad marines swarmed into the bridge, guns raised. There were cries to lie down and surrender, and without any other options, one by one the bridge crew obliged. None of them wanted to die for a man like Fabricius. Icari entered the bridge, leading the boarding party. Lelouch wanted her to use her skills, combined with Lynn's virus, to extract any useful information from the PACT flagship. Planned movements, which planets were going to be targeted next, and establishing a means to monitor their movements.
"FIGHT YOU COWARDS! FIGHT FOR ME!" the Veniczar raved. All reasoning had left the man in a fearful and panicked state.
"Well well, today must be my lucky day, because I didn't expect to see you here, Veniczar E. Fabricius," Icari said with a grin. Her eyes burned with a righteous fury, as she brought her katana to the man's throat. "Remember me?!"
"Some rat who will die for threatening a Veniczar!" Fabricius said, trying to keep his composure despite visibly sweating.
"Some rat," Icari said, with barely restrained fury. "This rat once had a family and a little brother who made their living by trying to chart out new warp routes and find new unexplored worlds as freelance explorers."
"You mean-" Fabricius stammered, his eyes widening. He stared at Icari's arm, the blade less than an inch from his throat.
"You weren't a Veniczar then, but you were a captain," Icari said coldly, gritting her teeth. "You didn't have to kill my entire family. We just… drifted off course. You took that as an excuse to take our ship and kill everyone on board. Remember that?"
"I- I-" Fabricius stammered, "You're the one that…"
"The little girl who kneed a soldier in the groin and ran for the escape pods? Yep," Icari said darkly. "I spent five days thinking about the bullets you put into my mom, dad and little brother. And here we are now. Look how the tables have turned, huh?"
The blade inched closer, drawing blood.
"Miss Isidolde!" Lelouch said, making his presence known.
He had arrived just in time, it seemed. Wearing his flight suit and mask, he strode onto the bridge.
"I need that man alive to interrogate him. If you wish to kill him, allow me a moment with him first."
"No, I can't let this swine live a second longer! You can't begin to understand!"
"Actually I do," Lelouch said. "While killing him would satisfy you, he is just one part of a corrupt and savage galactic superpower you still want to bring down. The information we can extract from him will help go a long way towards making it happen, and prevent other children from going through that."
"I am not going to wait for you to interrogate him!"
"You will not have to wait long. I am going to make him tell me what I want. Then he is all yours!"
Lelouch boldly walked past Icari, looking the fearful Veniczar in the eye as the compartment of his mask opened, revealing his Geass.
"You will do what I say from this moment forward!" he commanded.
The Geass snared the Veniczar, as he quickly became submissive under its influence.
"I shall do as you say." Fabricius repeated dully.
Icari was stunned, causing her anger to subside for a moment.
"I guess this is the first time you saw my power at work," Lelouch said, making a note to Geass the bridge crew into forgetting what they saw later. "The rest of you, secure the bridge and take the rest of these men prisoner."
"What the hell did you do to him?" Icari inquired, lowering her sword.
"My power allows me for just once to order anyone to carry out one command," Lelouch said, turning to his puppet Veniczar. "Now you will send word back to your superiors that the conquest of the planet is complete, and you are busy taking care of any lingering resistance on the surface. Then I want you to give me all the tactical information about PACT's recent and upcoming movements. Then I want any access codes you have so I can tap PACT's communications, and more as I instruct."
"Understood," the enslaved Veniczar replied.
"Once he is done, you can toss him out of an airlock for all I care." Lelouch said as the Veniczar went to work, doing as Lelouch commanded.
"O…kay," Icari said, still in shock, but by now more intrigued by Zero.
A few hours later, Lelouch sat back in his command throne, doing a final assessment of the battle. It was still technically wrapping up; rescue missions were ongoing, boardings to clear out still functional PACT vessels, a few stragglers to hunt down, but the battle was over. The preliminary data was…
Lelouch grinned from ear to ear; he had to restrain himself from breaking out in triumphant laughter. The PACT fleet was devastated. Out of thirty vessels, twenty-five had been irreparably damaged. The five remaining were being seized at this very moment, and would perhaps make fine additions to his fleet. None of the larger ships had been taken, but they needed ships of all classes anyway. Not a single enemy ryder remained functional, all either destroyed or disabled. He had taken on a massive fleet almost three times his size, and he had won. It was as complete a victory as he could have asked for.
It had not come for free, of course. The Oberon was a wreck floating dead in space, too damaged to even consider repair- it would at most serve as spare parts. Cisneros' Dominion had been altogether destroyed. The only saving grace was that Kenway and Cisneros had both managed to escape, although both had taken heavy losses to their crews. Sergeyevna's Avalon was still functional, albeit barely. Additionally, three of the destroyers that had escorted his own battle group had been destroyed, along with every gunship that Austerlitz II had provided.
It was a fair price, all things considered. A great loss, but considering the victory they had just won… it could have been so much worse.
Elation surged through Lelouch's body. He felt alive, in the way he only ever did in moments like these, when the triumph was complete. In a spur of the moment he opened a general channel to all Black Knights vessels, overriding their communications, and let the words come freely.
"My Black Knights," he began bombastically, standing upright as he spoke passionately, "you were told that you could not possibly take on an enemy like PACT. You've been told it is a hopeless struggle against an enemy far too great to reckon with. You've been told the Knights are nothing but dreamers. Today, you all proved the doubters and the naysayers wrong!
"You proved to the whole system, to the whole galaxy, that PACT can be defeated. You proved to all the worlds that we are a force to be reckoned with. You paid for this victory with your blood, fearlessly defying the tyrants, and you won! Savor this victory, and know that all you will ever need to say is 'I was at the battle of Austerlitz II', and people will look at you and say: 'There goes a brave soul!'"
Lelouch sat back, and closed the communications, feeling utterly satisfied. He could not hear the cheers, but across every vessel there was a riotous uproar of victorious joy, every last one of his Knights relishing in the complete and total victory they had just wrought.
Meanwhile across the galaxy in a remote location, there was a planet that had once been a lush and habitable world, now broken open by a horrific disaster that left its molten core exposed to be seen from space. The remains of the mantle and crust surrounded the planet. It was once the planet of Diode, home to the greatest scientific minds in the galaxy. However, unbeknownst to the vast majority, many of these minds were the most dangerous and unrestrained by morals, so much so that no one, not even the power hungry and corrupt New Empire wanted anything to do with them.
Diode had been destroyed over ten years ago by an experiment involving an artificial black hole gone horribly wrong, presumably killing everyone. Or so the galaxy at large thought, but the truth behind the Diode Catastrophe was still unknown except to a small few.
Hidden among the debris of the dead world, there was a clandestine facility with red lighting. Its walls were lined with rows of nutrient-filled tubes, each one containing a slumbering young woman, all identical to one another with no apparent differences between them. On one of the platforms, overlooking the slumbering women was another woman, different from those in the tubes. She had pale, grayish white hair and wore an elegant dress, black and burgundy, with white frills and a black bow in her hair. Next to her was a woman standing two inches taller, wearing a white robe and hood.
Somehow, she and her visitor had observed the Black Knights and their battle against PACT, even managing to watch Lelouch handle the situation with Icari while using his Geass to enslave the PACT Veniczar all via a holographic screen before her.
"Their leader Zero, his power is very intriguing," the girl in the black dress said stoically.
"It's quite unique, isn't it?" the robed figure agreed. "Even if he can only do it once per person, the way he words the order can allow him to force that person to do more than just one thing."
"It has even blocked my attempts to reconnect L7NN to the Mindstream. I cannot reconnect her, no matter how I try," the girl in the dress said stoically.
"It might not have helped that your older sister disconnected her so hastily out of fear of his Geass. True, it could have affected her depending on the order, but she could have gained immunity from its effects if she allowed the order to go through. Of course, that would have spoiled a lot for you two," the white robe woman said with a mischievous glint in her eye.
"Yes I suppose it would've complicated things. But Lelouch is aware of us, even if he doesn't know our full origins, thanks to Professor Asplund."
"Yes, which means none of your other sisters will be able to infiltrate the Black Knights, their extensive and thorough background checks on new members aside… why, even poor little me couldn't get in," the girl in white said, sounding saddened.
Uninterested in hearing her visitor's complaints about her failures, her companion decided to move the conversation onto something else.
"Their new ship and that black machine Lelouch pilots… the power outputs seen in their weapons far exceed what should've been possible for any ship of a similar design, don't they?"
"Yes, I must give props to Lelouch for finding that old Ryuvian colony. That Twin-Drive core was quite something," The white robed woman mused, placing one hand on her chin.
The girl in the dress's eyes widened. "Lost technology? How did they find such a treasure trove?"
She paused for a second, thinking it over.
"Wait, you led them to another trove of Lost Technology, didn't you?" The white-robed woman said nothing, smiling suspiciously under her hood.
"The Black Knights and their new ships even before the war were more advanced than their rivals', which I assumed at the time was just due to them being well funded. But they've been reverse engineering Ancient Ryuvian technology all this time, from whatever trove you led them to."
"Bingo," the white robe woman replied along with a ding-ding sound effect she made before answering. "Yes I did lead the Black Knights to a trove of Ancient Ryuvian technology, the biggest by far. But, I'll admit I didn't expect Lelouch to use data collected from those ships to find an even bigger one."
Even though the girl in the dress was never one to show much emotion, she was somewhat stunned by this revelation.
"Why did you do that? Are you betraying us and the plan?"
"Oh, heavens no. We are still partners. The Ebon Fleet is a serious danger to everyone. But, I don't trust your sister to follow through on her plan, so I decided to arm the Black Knights with advanced Ryuvian tech to even the odds and ensure he'll be in a good position when the Ebon Fleet arrives, even if things don't go according to plan."
"My sister will do her part, I promise you." The black-clad woman said firmly.
"Will she?" The white robe woman tilted her head to one side. "You know, as intelligent as you are, Alpha, your understanding of humans and emotions are woefully lacking. You understand your sister has a serious grudge against humans, right?"
"She hated our creators for using us and planning to dispose of her, yes."
"That's part of it, sure, but there is something else that really made her despite humans in general," The woman in the robe replied. "I am confident Lelouch will be able to lead the galaxy against the Ebon Fleet, and if he doesn't, or if something unforeseen happens, someone else will be joining them on the stage in due time."
"Who?" the Alpha Prototype replied.
"Someone else I've had my eye on. Plus, another benefit to bringing Lelouch into this is that he has indirectly removed some competition who would've kept me from getting close to him," The white-robed woman said with a giggle, some drool dripping from her lips. "Even if it doesn't work out, I've got Lelouch to fall back on."
"Somehow I doubt he'll be easily swayed by you."
"Maybe. Right back at you, though. He'll be on guard, especially since your older sister revealed the existence of the Prototypes to him."
"True, but I shall find a way to place one of our own in position. More so should Lelouch succeed in unifying the galaxy under his banner. Should he succeed and defeat the Ebon Fleet, he'll become much more than a legend and in a perfect position to control the galaxy… even if indirectly."
"You're that confident in Lelouch's abilities, eh?" The white-robed woman inquired playfully.
"Yes. I've studied his background, both as Emperor of Britannia and as Zero. He would be an ideal candidate, and his Geass power is an added boon. In fact, the galaxy's chances of survival would increase to fifty-five percent, instead of the previous ten percent," the Alpha Prototype answered. "We only need to bring him under our control."
"Yes, but how do you plan to control him? He does have trust issues, for one thing," the white-robed woman mused.
"He is human, an exceptional human, to be sure. He accomplished much even before his demise and resurrection, which I suspect you had a hand in," The Alpha Prototype said as her eyes narrowed in suspicion towards her guest who merely grinned.
"I might have…"
"Even so, he is only human in the end, and there will be ways to influence him, control him. We Prototypes were made to be superior to our creators, so shouldn't we rule them? They do nothing but destroy themselves, squabble among one another while we Prototypes are unified by the Mindstream, united and superior in mind," the Alpha Prototype declared.
"Hm. You are underestimating Lelouch. If you understood emotions and people better, you might see my point. I'll leave you to ponder that one. Good day," the white-robed woman said. A distortion in space opened, and the woman vanished beyond the portal.
What is there to understand? I know all about human psychology, The Alpha Prototype thought.
Even among those who were created to be better than humans, Alpha was noteworthy among them as the most intelligent of her sisters. Her mind surpassed the capabilities of superhumans and artificial intelligences, and possessed an advanced body to support such a powerful mind. She had been given the name Alpha by her creators for a reason.
Even so, for all of her brilliance, she knew there was no way any of her sisters could get close to him, in position to influence and maybe indirectly control the galaxy through him.
How?
Then an idea came to her. Alpha headed towards one of the labs in the vast facility, to begin working on a plan…
A/N: This chapter was a lot of work between me and Greatkingrat88, but it is done and the battle turned out better than expected.
The Black Knights have saved one planet from PACT, for now, but for how long can they hold the planet and keep PACT from finding out. Of course the Black Knights just got some serious propaganda they can use now too. And there is how some parties will react to what the Black Knight's pulled off and other issues that will be revealed in the coming chapter.
Also the story has its own Tv Tropes page now, so check it out and feel free to update anything. I tried to help with the updates and character pages, but my knowledge of tropes is somewhat limited.
See you guys next chapter, one my Fate crossover and KH story are updated.