Disclaimer
I do not own the Code Geass and Gate – Jieitai Kare no Chi nite, Kaku Tatakeri franchises. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been doing this now, would I?! Both franchises belong to their respective creators and I am writing this because of my hobby and passion only, not for profit.
Responses to Readers' Comments:
GTI-1: Actually, the Britannians do make wide use of coilguns in their Armed Forces. Their Knightmare Frames' Rifles are 50mm coilguns. Their Vanguard tanks use 130mm coilguns for their main armament. Several variants of their Infantry Fighting Vehicles and Armored Personnel Carriers also use coilgun turrets for anti-material and anti-armor missions. They also have artilleries that use coilguns as well. The Britannian version of Space Marine branch actually uses 8.5mm coilguns for space combat and planetary deployments. I will reveal these sweet "babies" later so stay tuned! The reason why I haven't shown them is because the battles in the early chapters are restricted to urban warfare within Los Angeles only. In these battles, conventional firearms are more than enough to handle the missions. As you know, urban warfare poses many risks and is a nightmare for infantry no matter how advanced you are technologically, especially when you have to fight enemies capable of using literal magic.
Snipervtk4:
Hell Yeah, brother! Terra Invicta!
You know what? You gave me some very interesting ideas with your Close Range and General Purpose Weapons; and Long Range Walkers. I'll be sure to incorporate your ideas into my series. Don't worry about the Britannians holding back here! There will be certain events in Falmarius that will make them have to pull out their WMDs. However, it will happen much later in the series. Remember that this is a spacefaring Britannian Empire with allies on Earth. Of course, they will have WMDs in some forms. It is a matter of when they will use them.
PastyMasty123: Don't worry about the Britannians holding back here! The Saderan Empire in this universe is much smarter and more powerful than their canonical counterpart and alternate counterparts (in other fanfictions) so the Terrans have to be creative and stop holding back at some point. As for Pina and her female knights' spoiled-asses, I already have some "good" plans for them so stay tuned!
White Palace, Pendragon
Terran Calendar: August 26, 2135
It has been over twelve hours since the Battle of Los Angeles ended. Yet, Emperor Charles zi Britannia, as well as many people within his government, still couldn't believe that such a tragedy had happened to their nation. The fact that the Empire was attacked by a foreign army was unbelievable enough. The fact this army came from a massive structure connecting to another different planet was even more incredible. With the amount of glaring evidence in front of them, they had no choice but to believe it. The event was now known as the Battle of Los Angeles.
They could finally let out a sigh of relief when Princess Cornelia's Task Force arrived to wipe out the majority of the savages and push them out of the city. For now, he and the Imperial Senate have managed to calm down the public to an extent and promise that there would be answers soon enough. However, that promise also meant they had a deadline to keep. The closer they were to that deadline, the less patient they and the people would become.
"Bismarck… how many lives were lost in this… slaughter?" Charles asked the Knight of One, Bismarck Waldstein.
"The ISC is still receiving casualty reports from Fort MacArthur, Your Majesty!" Bismarck said as he read from his datapad. "We've received reports of over 12,000 civilian deaths, with reports of the severely wounded at least twice that. More reports are still coming so that number is going to increase even more. Worse yet, we have reports of the enemy capturing some of our people. Based on the preliminary reports, over 2,800 of our people and those of different nationalities have been captured and brought to the other side of the structure, now simply known as 'The Gate'."
"What about the enemy?" Queen Elizabeth eu Britannia, Charles's second wife asked Bismarck as she, the Emperor, and the cabinet read through the reports. "Did our forces wipe out all of them?"
"Almost, Your Highness! The enemy numbers around 140,000 in total. Her Highness Cornelia's Task Force along with our reaction forces from Fort MacArthur and Camp Pendleton, decimated the majority of their army, leaving them with less than 40,000. Around half of them managed to escape back into 'The Gate' while most of them were captured and sent to BSIA facilities across the West Coast for interrogation. During the confusion caused by the giant monster released by the invaders, the enemy released a few dozen smaller creatures through the Gate and into the city, causing mayhem in some areas. We have evacuated and cordoned off one-third of the city so our forces can engage them freely without fear of collateral damage and civilian casualties. The Army and Royal Marines are hunting them down as we speak."
After Bismarck finished giving his reports, there were murmurs from the cabinet and some of the Britannian Nobles. "Good, I authorize the BSIA to use whatever means necessary to extract information from these savages. Did our AIs manage to translate their language?"
"Yes, Your Majesty! BSIA's AIs finished translating the entirety of their language last night. After they downloaded the translation package into their neural implants, BSIA Agents were able to speak their language and begin the interrogation. However, since the number of agents equipped with the implants is relatively low and there are too many prisoners to interrogate, it is going to take a bit more time to gather more information on our enemies."
"What do we know about them so far?" Charles asked.
"Most of the prisoners were tight-lipped so we will need more interrogation to break them," Bismarck said. "The cooperative ones have given us some useful information. The enemy comes from a country called the 'Divine Empire of Sadera', hailing from a planet called 'Falmarius'. This Saderan Empire is a nation made of mostly humans, or rather, a mammalian bipedal species with extreme resemblance to us humans."
"So, what you are saying is, they aren't humans?" Charles said.
"It's rather… complicated, Your Majesty!" Bismarck read on his datapad again. "Medical examinations have shown that their genetic makeup is mostly similar to our own. However, there are certain enzymes and chemical compositions that differentiate between us and them. Our scientists are still working to determine these differences and understand their nature. Since that is not my field of expertise, I will leave that to the professional doctors for a more detailed explanation."
"Is there any chance that they contain unknown diseases?" Queen Elizabeth asked as she and many officials was worried about the possibility of the invaders carrying some kind of infectious disease. Despite their advancements in medical technologies, the prospects of dealing with a potential pandemic caused by an unknown disease or virus from another planet weren't pleasant in the slightest, especially when they were preparing for a retaliatory strike against this "Saderan Empire".
"Our scientists and CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense) Corps are working tirelessly to determine whether these Saderans carried any contagious diseases, Your Majesty!" Bismarck read from his datapad again. "So far, they have only detected micro-organisms and bacteria that are quite similar to ours. Most of the things the alien humans and humanoid races have are harmless to us. It has not been determined yet but some scientists have concluded that we should be immune to almost everything they might have thanks to our artificially enhanced immune systems. As for the enemies' dead bodies, the military, police, and civilian volunteers are doing their best to dispose of every single one of them and prevent the chances of them spreading dangerous diseases. Units from the neighboring cities are assisting the current forces in Los Angeles so the cleanup process should be finished by tomorrow morning. The biggest problem we are facing is the potential increase of STDs regarding the… victims of these savages. We are doing our best to treat them but there're simply… too many people."
Bismarck's last report made everyone in the Throne Room extremely angry. They have seen the videos and witnessed what those savages had done to their countrymen. The last straw was when they received reports of thousands of women suffering extreme trauma and potential STDs because of those savages. It took Charles and his cabinet all of energy to control themselves and refrain from ordering the execution of every prisoner they have captured. After all, they still needed to extract as much information from them as possible before launching an invasion to the other side of The Gate, the mysterious structure that started all of this.
"Those fucking animals!" Gabrielle la Britannia, the Emperor's third wife remarked. Her voice was filled with venom, surprising even Charles and Elizabeth. "I wish we could just send our space fleets over to burn their fucking capital to ashes."
"I agree," Queen Elizabeth said. "The longer we wait, the more our people suffer on the other side."
"I understand your sentiment, Elizabeth, Gabrielle," Charles addressed his wives. "As much as I am tempted to do just that, there are still many unknowns about them. And as you already know, sending troops in without proper intelligence is a perfect recipe for disasters."
"Your Majesty! If I may," Odysseus said. "What about the United Assembly of Terra? Since we are dealing with a hostile nation from another planet, it is possible that the United Earth Defense Force will lead the invasion. In that case, our military will be restricted in the chain of command once we reach the other side of the Gate."
Odysseus's question brought everyone back to reality. After the end of the Koslovia War, the United Assembly of Terra made a proposition with the approval of all member nations, stating that military affairs regarding celestial bodies outside of Earth would be handled by the UEDF. However, this created many problems since the chain of command was often divided between the four most developed nations within the UAT – Britannia, Russia, India, and United Europe. It was a necessary endeavor since it prevented one nation from becoming too powerful over the rest.
Charles knew that the Assembly would have many questions for his government sooner or later, regarding this incident. Deep down, he wanted the Empire to lead the invasion of Falmarius alone without dragging other nations into the war against the Saderan Empire. More than anyone, he disliked letting politicians and bureaucrats interfere with military affairs, especially when they had little to no experience in the battlefield. One just had to look at the Koslovia War and Second World War to see many examples of military disasters caused by the bureaucrats bickering over the simplest matters.
After contemplating Odysseus's question for a few moments, he finally answered. "This is not a matter of a different celestial body, Odysseus. The Gate is on Britannian soil, thus making the lands beyond it a part of our territory. Until we explore the world beyond the Gate, no foreign troops will march on our soil without our permission." He then turned to the Imperial Minister of Foreign Affairs. "Clovis, what do you think the other nations will say regarding this incident?"
The Third Prince of Britannia thought about his father's question for a few seconds before answering. "If we make the continent beyond the Gate our land, we can effectively convince them to not interfere with our internal affairs. However, the same cannot be said for the other continents of that planet, assuming that there are any. For that matter, the other world governments will surely make appeals to the Assembly and demand access to the other side of the Gate. Therefore, I believe that it is only a matter of time until we allow them to gain access to the alien planet and its vast resources. Denying their access to the alien planet will only make our relationships with them sour and affect our position within the Assembly going forward. Not to mention, nations like the Middle East Federation and Central African Republic are going to use this as an opportunity to undermine our position within the Assembly. The important question is how and when we are going to do it."
Charles's cabinet thought about the Clovis's answers for some time. Like Charles himself, they also wished that the campaigns against the enemy nation on the alien planet would be led by the Britannian Armed Forces alone. Given what the Saderans had done to their countrymen, this war was more of a vengeance reincarnate, rather than conquest for resources.
However, they also did not wish to jeopardize the Empire's position within the United Assembly of Terra by barring other nations from participating in the campaign and exploration of the alien planet. Doing so would be the same as throwing everything they have worked so hard for out of the proverbial window.
After a minute of contemplation, Princess Victoria voiced her opinion. "I believe this might be a valuable opportunity for us."
"What do you mean, Victoria?" Charles asked.
"According to UEDF Mandate Article 7, if the nation under attack by an enemy outside Earth is one of the Council of Five, that nation is allowed to lead the UEDF forces against the enemy in question. I believe that applies in this situation perfectly. Since the Saderans' invasion of Los Angeles has resulted to the deaths of thousands of foreigners, withholding valuable information from the Assembly or barring the UEDF from our campaigns will only make things worse for us. If we lead the UEDF, we can choose whose militaries we will allow to cross the Gate and limit their numbers. Obviously, the militaries whom we choose will serve only as reserve, defense and exploration forces while our armed forces conduct critical operations to cripple the Saderan Empire and force them to surrender."
After listening to the Second Princess's proposal, Princess Guinevere added. "Doing so will further improve relations with our allies and benefit them greatly while those disagreeing with us cannot use the Assembly against us. Not only that, we won't have to stretch our military too thin for the operations on the other side of the Gate. After all, we can't exactly spare our latest assets to fight an enemy nation who hasn't even reached the industrial revolution."
Although almost everyone in the room agreed with Princess Victoria's proposal, there were some who didn't exactly agree with the idea of allowing foreign militaries to join in on this campaign against the malicious nation on another planet. After thinking about it for a few moments, the Britannian Emperor finally said. "For now, we must give answers to our own people first. The Assembly can wait until we sort things out. More importantly, we must focus on gathering intelligence on our enemy before making any decision."
Everyone nodded and they began to note down the orders given by their Emperor.
After another twenty minutes of discussion, a Britannian Noble within the Imperial Cabinet spoke up. He was Duke Edward Calares who held the position of Imperial Minister of Information and Broadcasting. Compared to most ministers and nobles within the Britannian Empire, he was relatively young and talented in information technology and manipulation of information coming in and out of the Empire.
"Your Majesty, with your permission," Edward spoke. "I would like to stage a public execution for these savages. As everyone here already knows, the news of the Battle of Los Angeles is spreading like wildfire across Sol. Even as we speak, the people from as far as the colonies on Titan must have already known about this incident, given the amount of visual recordings posted on SolNet. The people will demand justice for the heinous crimes against our people. We will make their deaths slow and agonizing to appease our people's anger."
Although the cabinet was shocked by Edward's proposal, they weren't surprised in the slightest. Naturally, there were some who disliked the idea. The first was Franklin Bernstein, Imperial Minister of Justice, as he protested. "Public execution in this day and age? You can't be serious, Duke Edward? As detestable as it is, we must not stoop to their levels. We are an advanced civilization. We have our own moral and legal principles to uphold. The Berlin Conventions exist for a reason."
"Please let me finish, Minister Bernstein!" Edward continued. "We are not going to violate their women, butcher their men and children, or enslave their people. All I am asking for is a public execution for some of the worst offenders among them. We will present the clear evidence provided by the BSIA to the public so they will understand how evil and savage these otherworld humans are and that they deserve absolutely no mercy from us. Furthermore, doing so will boost the recruitment rate for our military and prove to our allies or would-be enemies that we mean business. Besides, you do know that execution is legal within our nation, right? What do you think our people will say about using their tax money to feed these savages for years to come?"
After the two argued for almost a minute, Charles finally raised his hand to end their argument. "I will put this on a vote! Raise your hand if there is anyone who opposes to Edward's proposal." At this, only a handful of hands were raised. "And those who agree with Edward's proposal?" With that, almost the majority of the cabinet raised their hands, including Charles's wives.
"It is settled then," Charles said. "Duke Calares, permission granted! But no more than a thousand of them will be executed. We will use the rest for our benefit until we rescue all of our captured citizens. Work with the BSIA to gather the worst offenders amongst them for execution. The public execution will commence once our agents are done with them."
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Edward acknowledged the Emperor's orders and went to perform his duties. The rest of the cabinet continued to discuss various other matters for another hour.
West Coast Memorial Park, Los Angeles
Joanna Kuribayashi let out a long breath to steady herself. At the moment, she and dozens of reporters across the world were standing just outside the barricade of the makeshift emergency center set up by the IERA (Imperial Emergency Response Agency). The center's perimeter spanned across the entire Memorial Park and was guarded by armed SOT officers, Britannian soldiers, and Army Sentry drones.
Her news agency – Tokyo News – was one of the few dozens with permission granted by the Imperial Government to report directly at Ground Zero of Los Angeles. Currently, the Britannian Space Navy, Surface Navy, and Air Force have locked down the entire airspace of Los Angeles whereas the Army and Royal Marines have evacuated and secured an area of ten kilometers radius around Mount Lee.
Well, calling it "Ground Zero" was incorrect since they were still several kilometers from the actual battle zone. However, she didn't complain as standing here was more than enough for her and the reporters to see most of the affiliated areas of the city thanks to the park's elevated position. The bits and pieces of information provided by the Imperial Prime Minister – Schneizel el Britannia – have been sparse but they were enough for news agencies across the world to report on.
When she saw the news about a mysterious army armed with primitive weapons attacking Los Angeles, it was from scattered footage of the news drones and VTOLs taken during the attack. At first, everyone thought that it was an elaborate prank or movie set so they simply brushed it all off. Needless to say, they had a rude awakening when agents from the Imperial Government contacted them and gave them information on the Battle of Los Angeles. Some people even threw up when learning the graphic details of the event.
Next thing she knew, she was on a shuttle ride from the agency's main office in Miami and headed toward Los Angeles. When she heard that Los Angeles was under attack, her memories of the Koslovia War hit her like a wave. She was only a young student in New Saitama – one of Japan's biggest colonies on Mars – at the time the war broke out. She was fortunately evacuated along with her family and the majority of the Japanese citizens on Mars before the Koslovians attacked New Saitama and occupied it for their own use. Although her whole family was safely evacuated to Luna, many other people weren't so fortunate. She really hoped that this attack wasn't a harbinger of another massive conflict like the previous war.
She looked at the city and could see clear signs of damage caused by the mysterious invaders. Although the fire on the buildings had been extinguished, many buildings suffered varying levels of damage. Large columns of smoke were still rising from many sections within the quarantined area. News and Police VTOLs crash-landed into buildings and on the ground. She thought she spotted the vague outlines of some large reptilian creatures resting on the buildings and highways, most likely shot down by missiles and machine guns. As absurd as it sounded, she didn't want to make any speculations because it wasn't her job, and right now, her job was to report the event that had transpired here to her nation.
The sound of rumbling brought her back to reality, causing her to shift her attention to where the sound was coming from. Along with everyone in the vicinity, she could see dozens of tanks, Knightmare Frames, armored vehicles, supply trucks, and construction drones, all forming into a long line moving across the road just outside the perimeter.
Based on what they have learned so far, these vehicles were going into the quarantined area to help secure the city, hunt down enemy survivors, clean up the corpses, and assist the beleaguered civilians who were trapped inside. The long line of military vehicles and drones was led by a group of four police Red Panda armored vehicles. They were being guided by the soldiers at the checkpoint a fair distance from the reporters' position. What unnerved her and the reporters was the fact that the Britannian soldiers looked as if they were actually going into a warzone even though the attack was limited to only one-third of the city. Naturally, the reporters wasted no time recording the sight and taking as many pictures as possible.
Above the sky, Pegasus dropships, Super Hornet gunships, Red Hawk VTOLs, and various types of military drones continued circling the sky above Los Angeles. Far above, dozens of warships of the Britannian Space Navy lazily drifted around to monitor the sky.
"Kuribayashi-san," someone called her from behind. It was her coworker – Kisaki Tachibana – calling her. "Matsuda-san said that they were going to broadcast soon. Please get ready!"
"Okay, give me a minute!" She tore her gaze from the impressive sight of military convoy behind her. She then checked herself in the mirror for one last time before going live. She looked around and noticed that the other reporters of other agencies were doing the same thing.
After a few more minutes, their camera operator – Takashi Matsuda – gave her the signal to start. The two camera drones of their agency lifted off the ground and focused their lenses on her. Listening to the reporter in Japan on her headset, she waited for the signal to start narrating on her end from the other side. When the reporter in Japan finally gave her the signal, she let out one final breath to steady herself and started speaking into her microphone.
"Thank you, Mirai-san. Ever since the devastating attack by the Koslovians on the world nations eighteen years ago, no enemies have successfully launched an attack on the Britannian Empire mainland on Earth," she paused for a moment to glance briefly at the datapad beside the camera operator to avoid mistakes while reading. "Until yesterday. At 11:40 AM, the city of Los Angeles was under a savage attack by an unknown army. The Imperial Government hasn't given any official statements regarding the identity of these attackers and their abilities. The only thing we know so far is that this mysterious army came from some kind of portal located in Mount Lee, where the iconic Hollywood sign is. Based on the numerous visual recordings of the attackers circulating the SolNet, the attackers wore ancient armor that looked like a combination of Roman and medieval armors and they were armed with purely melee weapons such as swords, axes, spears, lances, halberds, and maces. According to eyewitness accounts, the attackers employed a large number of strange-looking beasts that do not exist in this world. There were also reports that they were armed with ancient naval artilleries but we haven't been able to confirm such reports. As I said earlier, no official statement has been released yet so we can only make guesses and speculations on the identity and intentions of the attackers for now."
Just then, there was the sound of fusion engines approaching their position and a cloud of dirt was kicked off by a large aerial vehicle coming in. Everyone shielded their faces and looked up to see a Pegasus Dropship slowly descending a fair distance from the IERA's makeshift emergency center. Beneath the Pegasus, they could see a large platform carrying several crates of supplies while workers of the IERA guided the package into its drop point. In another area, dozens of civilian trucks contracted to the IERA were being loaded with these supplies and heading into the city.
The camera crews of every news station diverted some of their drones toward the sight whereas the reporters continued on with their work. Joanna also did her part and narrated the news. "As you can see, this is the temporary command center set up by the IERA to coordinate search and rescue efforts within the quarantined area. The Britannian military has cordoned off one-third of Los Angeles to hunt down enemy survivors and rescue the civilians trapped inside…"
After a few more minutes of broadcasting the news, she and the other reporters were interrupted again when the sound of rumbling came again. It was much louder this time and coming from high above. Everyone shifted their attention to the sky and saw an impressive sight.
A Nightingale-class Medical Corvette was flying over the area, revealing all of its glory to the spectators below. It was being escorted by a fleet of Pegasus dropships, Super Hornet gunships, and F-75 Strike Eagle VTOL fighter aircraft. The Corvette was heading toward one of the areas designated as "Central Evacuation Site" to deliver medical supplies and emergency aid to the people inside the city.
As impressive as it was, the crowd of reporters maintained their professionalism and continued narrating for their respective nations and agencies. Joanna also narrated her story under the deafening sound of aerial vehicles flying overhead.
"Guys… look over there!" one of the reporters from the Paris Daily News pointed his finger to a direction in other side of the city.
Joanna couldn't hide her curiosity anymore and decided to take a look after answering some of the questions asked by the reporters in Japan. Takashi also maneuvered one of the drones toward that direction.
When everyone looked to the direction the French reporter pointed, they all shared the same thought. "Are those Minotaurs carrying dinosaurs?"
Sure enough, they were looking at three Minotaur Heavy Dropships lifting off from the city with large dinosaur-looking creatures hanging beneath them. Each Minotaur was carrying two creatures secured in their harnesses. The animals were injured and heavily sedated. The news crews wasted no time recording everything unusual they could see that day.
Suddenly, Joanna heard the faint sound of gunshot in the direction of the quarantined area. It made her wonder just what kind of enemies the Britannians were fighting in there.
Ground Zero – Part 1
Lieutenant Ervin Krüger of the Second Platoon, Fourth Company, the 57th Mechanized Infantry Battalion, wasn't having a good time right now. Ever since his company discovered that certain individuals amongst the enemies' ranks possessed unique abilities that could bring harm to the Britannian forces, they have been at the forefront of almost every engagement whenever these individuals, temporarily dubbed "Warlocks", were involved due to their combat experience.
There were only a few dozen of these Warlocks surviving yesterday's battle but they were slippery and managed to evade the Britannian forces many times. Unless the Britannians were willing to destroy an entire building or city block just to kill several of them, the Warlocks always escaped their grasp. Sending in the Knightmare Frames wasn't an option either since there were still many civilians trapped inside the city. As a result, they had to resort to small drones and good old-fashioned infantry tactics.
Around half one hour ago, they received intel that three Warlocks and seven enemy combatants had fled into an abandoned mall so his platoon was sweeping through the place which appeared to be completely ransacked. The structure's interiors remained intact but the miscellaneous items were all over the place. The pristine marble floor was covered with dark footprints, blood stains, armor and weapons abandoned by the invaders. Corpses of civilians, police officers, and invaders were scattered in some places, laying in pools of their own blood. The Warlocks and the rogue beasts released by the invaders were the reason why the cleanup was going so slowly.
However, it wasn't the mutilated corpses or the smell they gave off that disturbed the Marines. Instead, it was the eerie silence of the whole place. Despite their advanced weaponry and equipment, the Marines felt exposed and vulnerable to the building's dark interiors. It was as if anything could jump out and catch them off-guard at any second.
The further they moved inside, the more corpses there were. The surviving Warlocks were the main reason why post-battle cleanup was going so slowly. Even the wild alien beasts they released after that giant Kaiju's death weren't as troublesome as these enemies.
It wasn't that the Lieutenant disliked direct engagement. Hell, he was a Royal Marine. Direct engagement was supposed to be their job. No, he hated going against the unknowns and the Warlocks were the perfect definition of the unknowns at the moment.
After all, who the hell could ever expect that they would fight against enemies capable of using literal magic?
These bastards may be primitive but they weren't entirely stupid, unlike most of their comrades from the Gate. Once they realized that they were no match against the Britannians' war machines like tanks, armored vehicles, and Knightmare Frames, they decided to avoid them at all costs and changed their tactics completely, thus leading to this agonizing state of combat. Tracking them was easy thanks to the drones but capturing or killing them was a different story altogether.
Every time the drones or Britannian soldiers engaged them, the Warlocks would project energy shields out of thin air and stop their assault dead in its track. Nothing short of grenades and anti-tank missiles could take those shields down. By the time the shields were down, those bastards were already gone. To make matters worse, they always hid inside tight corners and buildings, thus considerably limiting the firepower the Britannians could use against them. He heard that one of the Marine Companies had to drop a whole building on a group of them this morning once it was confirmed that the building was clear of civilians.
"Sir, we've got them," one of the Privates under his command said. Private Laurence Swenson who was controlling the Sherman drones sent the drone feed to the Lieutenant's wrist-pad. Since the Wasp drones were too large to fit in tight corridors and the enemies were already familiar with them, the Marines had to use the palm-sized Sherman drones to scout the area.
Ervin pressed on the datapad on his wrist and a holographic screen appeared. Their targets were huddled in one of the restaurants on the third floor. They appeared to be talking with each other while stuffing their mouths with food. Judging from the packages littering the floor, they must have scavenged from the grocery section nearby.
At closer inspection, he noticed that one of the enemy combatants was a tall woman with wolf-like features and one of the Warlocks was actually a lion-human hybrid. It didn't matter to the Royal Marines because they were all designated as "hostiles".
Satisfied that they finally found the slippery bastards, Ervin spoke into his radio in a low voice, as if fearing that he would alert the enemy of their presence. "All squads, Warlocks spotted in Barry's Delight on the third floor! Move in to intercept! Do not engage until I give the order!"
"Copy," the squad leaders replied through the radio. Ervin gave a signal to his squad and began moving toward the target as well.
One of the squads set up firing positions on the fourth floor so they could flank the targets; another squad blocked the exit on the second floor; the third squad and Ervin's squad moved in a pincer formation to intercept the targets.
Just when they were about 50 meters from the target restaurant, one of the Warlocks stood up and had an alarmed look on his face. His companions also had a look of worry on their faces. Through the drone feed, Ervin could see that it was the lion hybrid Warlock. Seeing this, Ervin ordered his squads to halt and prepare to engage. Their fingers hovered over the triggers of their battle rifles.
The lion Warlock mumbled something under his breath, raised his staff and a magic circle appeared around its strangely shaped head. He then slammed the staff on the ground and the circle was imprinted onto the floor. The circle glowed brightly and several balls made of fire rose upward and moved in different directions just outside the restaurant.
Ervin and the Marines could only mumble "What the…" before two of the fire balls struck them hard, severely burning two Marines. The other fireballs were launched in random directions, lighting up that section of the mall like it was New Year's Eve. Some of the fireballs almost landed on the other Marines but they managed to dodge them while dragging the wounded marines away.
"Fuck… Engage! Engage!" Ervin cursed loudly and gave his order, no longer bothering with concealment.
The Royal Marines unleashed hell at the target restaurant with everything they had. Hundreds of projectiles were launched at hypersonic speeds, slamming into the restaurant's walls and windows. All of the windows and small items inside were destroyed in seconds while the concrete walls were turned into a beehive.
"Someone put out the fire on Rowan and Falco," Ervin said into the radio. "The rest of you, keep firing on those bastards! Don't let a single one of them escape!"
Two Marines tried to put out the fire on the burning Marines while the rest continued firing their weapons until their guns were empty. Several of them even went full-auto on the group of hostiles. The two Marines were screaming and flailing about, trying to extinguish the fire on their suits and armor. Thanks to their suits and armor, they didn't suffer serious burns but the sensations were extremely unpleasant nonetheless. After checking that they were okay, Ervin also joined in and unloaded all of the bullets in his magazine into the restaurant.
However, they only had a better look after they unloaded their first magazines into the targets. When he took a closer look, he realized that they had destroyed everything in the restaurant except the Warlocks and the enemy combatants. They were surrounded by a golden spherical energy shield projected from the Warlocks' staffs. Although they looked drained for some reason, the shields held and they survived the Marines' brutal onslaught.
"Fletcher, put an EMP grenade into the bastards!" Ervin said when he noticed some of them were slowly moving toward the exit.
The Marine in question primed his EMP grenade and threw it at the magic energy shield. However, something unexpected happened. One of the human Warlocks shot a lightning bolt from his staff and pushed the grenade away, causing the EMP grenade to drop onto the lower floor and detonate harmlessly.
The other two Warlocks didn't let up and they fired more lightning bolts in the Marines' general direction, causing them to scatter. One of them got lucky and managed to strike a Marine on the fourth floor with his lightning bolts, severely wounding the Britannian.
"Sergeant Erik's down!" one of the Marines on the fourth floor shouted while dragging the wounded Marine away.
"I've had enough of this shit," Ervin said while the other Marines reloaded their guns and resumed firing at the Warlocks to prevent them from escaping. "Jackson, let them eat the 40mm! No more holding back!"
"Yes Sir," the Marine replied and stepped forward. His voice sounded excited about finally being able to let loose.
"Eat this, motherfuckers!" the Marine held up his M45 Grenade Launcher mounted on his exo-suit and pressed the trigger. Several 40mm grenades were launched from its barrel and slammed into the energy shields, completely devastating the whole area where the enemies used to be.
The third squad on the fourth floor fired some more into the cloud of smoke and debris just to make sure. After a few seconds of silence, Ervin gave the order. "Cease firing! We'll check if the bastards are alive."
Ervin and several of the Marines from two squads approached the cloud of smoke with caution while the rest continued aiming their weapons at it. When the smoke dissipated, they could see the mangled corpses of the Warlocks and several enemy combatants. It looked like the grenades caused the upper floor to collapse and crushed some of them.
When Ervin approached the lion hybrid Warlock's mutilated body, the lion humanoid suddenly moved and tried to raise his hand up at the Lieutenant. Ervin thought that he wanted to surrender but dismissed that thought when a small fireball appeared in the lion's palm. He quickly unloaded two three-round bursts into the Warlock's chest, then he gave the bastard a headshot just to be sure the thing stayed dead. The projectiles completely decimated the lion humanoid's head and organs.
Gunshots rang up behind his back. He turned around and saw the Marines giving the other hostiles headshots as well.
"Sir, we've got a problem!" one of the Marines said.
"What is it?" Ervin strolled over to the Marine.
"We've only got six of them aside from the Warlocks," the Marine whose name tag read Corporal Locke Vanderbilt said. The Corporal then gestured at the corpses within the restaurant.
Ervin did a quick headcount and sure enough, there were only nine of them. Three Warlocks and six enemy combatants. Two of them were buried under the rubble from the third floor. At closer inspection, he noticed that it was the female wolf woman who was missing.
"Could she be buried under the rubble?" Ervin asked him.
"Don't know, Sir!" Corporal Vanderbilt said. "Unless we dig up the place, we can't be sure of that."
"Over here, Sir!" Another Marine called out to Ervin.
Ervin and the Corporal walked over to that Marine while the others secured the perimeter around the place and looked for potential enemy stragglers.
Private Laurence Swenson gestured at the windowsill with his gun. They could see blood trails leading out of the shattered window. Since the blood was still wet, it was more than enough confirmation for what they were thinking.
"Maybe she was blown out of the window by the grenade," Corporal Vanderbilt said. "No way in hell she could have survived that."
"There's no body down there," Private Swenson added. "She must have fallen down to the street and limped away."
Ervin didn't respond as he inspected the street below them. He could see droplets of blood on the pavement and there were some bloody handprints on the car below.
"Shit! We're going after her!" He said and turned to Swenson. "Swenson, tell them to bring the cars around. She's injured so she can't get far."
"Yes Sir," Swenson said into his radio while the Marines began moving downstairs to exit the mall.
As the Royal Marines exited the mall and entered the vehicle, Ervin listened on the channels of the other platoons. Given the positive nature of their conversations, it looked like the cleanup was going well for the Britannian forces as more and more of the enemy survivors either were eliminated or surrendered in droves. Even the dangerous abnormal animals released by the hostiles yesterday were being taken care of nicely.
As their JLTVs began moving, his platoon's channel picked up a frequency of another force in the area. When they adjusted the frequency for clearer transmissions, Ervin realized that it was the Royal Guards' channel. As he listened to their conversation further, his smile disappeared and his face had a look of urgency.
"Ellis, put the metal on the pedal!" He told his driver.
"What is it, Lieutenant?" the Private asked in confusion.
"There's a VIP in the area and our runner is heading toward them." Ervin then contacted the Royal Guards and tried to warn them. Unbeknownst to him and the Royal Marines, the situation was about to escalate further.
Ground Zero – Part 2
Shayera Votz of the Crimson Wolf Tribe
Shayera was hyperventilating as she tried to stop the bleeding on her stomach and shoulder with the ragged garments she had collected along the way.
When the Britannian Marine fired grenades into the mages' magic shields, she was standing near the shattered window of the restaurant, making her the luckiest person in that group. The first three grenades took down the mages' shields while the following three completely devastated their position.
The Saderan Tribunar who was also her master had his body shredded with shrapnel and blast waves. The other imperials had their upper torsos disintegrated when they couldn't evade the explosions in time. The two mages fared slightly better but they were instantly killed by the blast waves. The Leonid mage took the most damage as his shield was completely destroyed and one of the grenades landed near his feet, severely mutilating his lower body.
She was knocked back by the last grenade, throwing her out of the window like a rag doll. The perk of being a Wolf Warrior meant that she was physically stronger than normal humans but it didn't mean that she escaped unscathed. If anything, the only reason she had survived was because she managed to react quickly enough before the grenades started exploding all around her. She aimed for the metal horseless carriage below but the fall broke some of her bones. As she slid down the carriage and tried to walk away, she didn't need healer mages to tell her that how bad her injuries were. Still, she held in the pain and continued running as far away as possible.
Ever since she survived the otherworld army's onslaught the previous day, her luck hasn't been good in the slightest. She was dragged around by her "former" master and his cohorts, then given one order after another. She was ordered to scout out the area ahead, look for potential hiding spots and food, and try to distract the otherworld soldiers as much as possible. The only blessing was that she didn't have to "pleasure" him because of how relentless the otherworld soldiers' pursuits were. Were it not for the slave seal on her body, she would have killed the bastard and escape herself already.
In a way, she had to thank them for putting the accursed imperials through so much misery ever since they crossed the Gate and more importantly, for killing that damned Tribunar/slave master. When a slave's master was killed, the slave seal magic was rendered useless, thus freeing the slave.
However, she didn't have time to think about all of that because she was bleeding profusely right now. She covered her wounds with every piece of clothing she found but blood kept gushing out like a fountain. She looked down and almost puked her newly digested food when seeing two metal pieces sticking out of her sides. She tried to suppress the rising urge to pull them out because the bleeding would definitely kill her if she did.
Shayera could never imagine how terrifying the otherworld army's magic weapons could be. That Leonid mage whose name she had forgotten was supposed to be of Master rank and normally, it would take the combined efforts of an entire imperial company (around 200 soldiers) to kill a Master Mage. At least that was what she heard. Yet, he and the other two mages were killed by less than three dozen of these armored humans, in only a few minutes of battle no less.
The shearing pain reminded her of when she saw the imperials, mages, war beasts, and other Beast-people being torn apart by the otherworld warriors' death magic and metal beasts. No, "torn apart" wasn't correct to describe it. It was more like they were completely pulverized by something invisible.
They didn't care who it was; as long as they were fighting along with the Saderan Imperials, the otherworld warriors destroyed them all with extreme prejudice. She saw them treating some of her people (fellow Beast-people) with some level of care, unease, and apprehension, suggesting that they were capturing them alive. However, she didn't dare take that chance after that engagement.
They saw her traveling with those imperials so they treated her as part of the imperials. The intense pain she was feeling now was enough to make her contemplate letting them finish the job. Anything was better than the pain she felt at this point. Her breath was becoming heavier and she couldn't tell which injury was causing her current pain anymore.
She could feel that her thighs were wet again. She looked down and to her disappointment, the makeshift bandages fell down again. She inspected her surroundings to find more fresh garbs, only to realize that she was inside a tavern-like structure. How she had gotten there in such a state was beyond her. The place was much larger and more luxurious than the taverns in Sadera even though it was completely ransacked by the imperials. She surmised that the citizens of this nation must be very wealthy to have this many luxurious taverns.
She found some fresh towels scattered on the floor, wrapped them around her wounds, and tied them together using the old garments on her body. Although it didn't suppress the pain in the slightest, she was glad that she at least stopped the bleeding to a degree.
When she slowly stood up, she saw herself in the mirror wall behind the counter. Since most of the wine bottles were knocked down, she could see her reflection more clearly. As she inspected her own reflection, she noticed that she was essentially half-naked because she already used most of the garments (provided by the imperials) to bandage herself. Now, she was only wearing her clan's traditional battle dress, gauntlets, and strap boots. Her skin had wounds all over and her stomach was fully wrapped in bandages which were soaked with blood again.
She noticed that her ears and tail were also injured but not as severe as the wounds on her stomach. She almost chuckled slightly when she realized that she finally had a close look at herself. In her clan, there weren't many mirrors as clean as this so most of her people couldn't check themselves in the mirror like this. It was such a strange thing to notice when she was at death's door like this.
"Maybe being a mistress for the nobles of this nation doesn't sound too bad," she dryly thought. "But who would ever think of taking in such a brutish and violent woman like me?"
Just then, her ears picked up something. It was the distinct sound of the metal horseless carriages favored so much by the otherworld warriors. As if to confirm her fear, her nose picked up the sweet and bizarre scent given off by their thunder staffs.
Her fear increased tenfold when she could hear them approaching from quite a distance away. She frantically looked for an escape but her injuries hindered her movement greatly. Every time she moved her muscles with a bit of force, it felt like she was being stabbed by a thousand needles. Still, she gritted her teeth and moved toward a cracked window.
Peering outside, she could see that it wasn't the same humans who had killed her accursed master and the mages. Although she never saw them, she could tell the difference thanks to the different scents on their bodies. Moreover, these humans weren't as heavily armored as the ones who had decimated the Saderan imperials. They only wore dark blue coats with ornate decorations and didn't possess the same level of intimidation as the armored humans.
What worried her was that these humans were also armed with the same thunder staffs as the armored humans from earlier. Although their designs were different, she could tell what they were from the scent they emitted. Just because they weren't as intimidating didn't mean that they couldn't easily kill her. In her current state, she could barely run at her usual speed, let alone fight them.
She saw that the only unarmed humans were the man and woman at the center of the group. The man was dressed in casual clothes like most of the humans of this nation. The brunette woman was dressed in more expensive clothes and had the air of an actual noble. She speculated that those two must be nobles of this nation and the armed humans were their bodyguards given their clothing, manners, and behaviors.
When she focused her attention on the man, she thought she saw something in his demeanor. He was clearly a noble but he didn't act like one at all. He wasn't built like a warrior but his demeanors and looks indicated that he could be one. Perhaps she could try pleading for her life with him. Perhaps he might even consider sparing her life and taking her in as his mistress. Either way, she was running low on options with each passing second. Mustering what little strength she had left, Shayera shakily stood up, pushed the tavern's door open, and slowly walked out with her hands raised.
The human bodyguards immediately trained their staffs on her while the man stepped closer to the woman. His left hand was raised as if protecting the woman from her. They were talking back and forth in an unknown language. She started walking slowly toward them, trying to make herself look as least threatening as possible.
When she was on the street, there were already seven humans armed with thunder staffs around her. The human guard nearest to her shouted something in his language. She didn't need translation to know that he was telling to stop. So she did.
Based on the scents they gave off, there had to be two dozen of these unarmored humans here. They maintained their distance from her while the barrels of their staffs aimed directly at her. No matter. Her injuries were so bad that she didn't care if they would kill her anymore. She had no choice but to bet on this slim chance that the man might find some value in sparing her life.
"Please… don't kill me!" she mustered the strength and courage to speak. She knew that they wouldn't understand her but she tried anyway. "I… I will do… whatever you want. Please… spare my life!"
Ground Zero – Part 3
Lelouch and Countess Theresa Henriksen
Lelouch was in a very bizarre situation right now because he was looking at the first possibly non-hostile individual from beyond the Gate, one who didn't want to kill or harm him and his people upon first contact.
Despite his father's and siblings' protest, he managed to convince them to let him go and inspect the Ground Zero of yesterday's battle. His reason was that he wanted to see the extent of the battle and understand their enemies better. Given his strategic mind, he believed that he might find something useful for the Britannian armed forces. Eventually, his father allowed him to go with the condition that he was accompanied by his aunt.
With that in mind, Countess Theresa Henriksen who was his aunt (Queen Marianne's younger sister) was accompanying him to survey the area. They were accompanied by two dozen Royal Guards led by Villetta Nu. It made sense that his aunt who was a countess accompanied him. Although the Countess didn't possess the same level of influence as the Royal Family, she did have some economic power thanks to her connections.
After she heard about the Battle of Los Angeles, the Countess already announced that her companies would commit a considerable amount of resources to help the city rebuild and assist the civilian population of Los Angeles to the best of her abilities. The space and ground vehicles of her companies were already delivering supplies across the city since this morning. Furthermore, Theresa has always treated Lelouch and Nunnally like her own children. Even after years of her older sister's unfortunate death, Theresa still tried her best to connect with the two distraught children who have been through a lot themselves.
When they were inspecting one of the districts hit the hardest by the mysterious invaders, the Royal Guards received word that there were some enemy survivors within the area from the Royal Marines and the Marines were engaging them.
Just when they were about to leave the area, however, the door of the nearby bar swung open and out came an alien woman. Judging from her appearance and dress, it was apparent that she was with the invaders but she was severely injured. The Royal Guards tensed up and aimed their weapons at the alien woman while Lelouch put himself in between the potential assailant and his aunt.
Lelouch took a closer look at her and realized that she possessed the features of a gray wolf but her fur was crimson rather than gray. She had wolf ears instead of human ears, sharp fangs, crimson and black fur around her waist, and a long tail. Her hands had sharp nails like that of a wolf. She barely wore any proper clothes as she only covered her sensitive areas with what looked like an ancient crimson battle dress with midriff section. Instead of canine legs, she had normal human legs but they were well-built and slightly muscular.
Her stomach was covered with blood-soaked bandages and blood was dripping on the road beneath her feet. Her arms, legs, and face had many cuts and bruises, some of which were even bleeding. She also had a metal collar with some strange sigils around her neck. The most prominent feature was her height as she clearly towered over the Royal Guards around her, easily reaching over 1.9 meters tall. It was clear to everyone there that she was the survivor the Marines had informed them of earlier.
When Lelouch looked her in the eyes, he couldn't see malice, animosity, deception, or anything resembling ill-intent in those yellow eyes. He tried to determine if the alien woman in front of them was a threat or not but he couldn't. All he was looking at was a battered and wounded individual who has gone through horrible things. If anything, he suspected that the woman either had already given up on life itself or was simply betting on his compassion to survive at this point.
This was the first time he has encountered an alien individual who didn't harbor any ill-intent toward the Terrans. He didn't need to understand what she was saying to know that the wolf woman was begging for her life.
"Careful, Lelouch!" Theresa said behind him. "She could be dangerous."
"I know, Theresa," He replied. "But look at her! She's practically dying. What could she possibly do to harm us?"
"What should we do with her, Villetta?" one of the Royal Guards asked Villeta, his gun still trained on the tall alien woman.
"We don't have the equipment to capture prisoners," Villetta said. Her eyes never left the woman. "We will hold her here until the Marines arrive to take her into custody."
After a few tense seconds, the alien woman spoke something but the Britannians couldn't understand her. She spoke a few sentences before repeating them again, her hands still raised in the air.
"Villetta, you have the translator with you, right?" Lelouch asked her.
Sensing his intention, she answered. "I do, Your Highness. Lord Jeremiah said that the translation software was updated this morning. Are you thinking of talking to her?"
"Given the situation, we don't have other choices," Lelouch answered. "Besides, we can't just leave someone to die when we can clearly save her."
Since the software was still updating the enemy's language, Villetta didn't want to use it so early or they might risk mistranslations. She opened her mouth to protest but decided against it. She took out the translator from her jacket, adjusted the language settings, and handed it to him.
Lelouch took it and spoke to the alien woman through the device's microphone. "Can you understand me?"
It took a second for the device to translate but the alien woman's expression lit up with surprise and joy after hearing him speak her language. She fumbled with her words a little and staggered due to her injuries.
After a few more seconds, the device translated into Lelouch's headphone. "Please don't kill me! I will do whatever you want."
"What is your name?" Lelouch asked her.
"Shayera Votz of the Crimson Wolf Tribe," the woman answered.
"I will just call you Shayera then," Lelouch said. "My name is Lelouch and this is my aunt, Theresa." He introduced himself and Theresa. "As you can see, they are our bodyguards and your presence spooked them a little. First, we must ask you some questions. Why are you here, Shayera? What happened to your comrades?"
After the translation was finished, Shayera's expression seemed to darken but her hands remained in the same position. This time, she said a lot of things and it took the device some time to translate her words. "They are not my comrades, Lord Leluk (she mispronounced his name). They are the Saderan imperials and they enslaved many of my people, the Beast-people. We were forced to come here and fight your people against our will. I was also a slave until your warriors killed my master recently. Once the master is dead, his slaves are free by default. I was scared so I tried to run away, but my injuries made me unable to run any further."
As he absorbed the information given by Shayera, the Royal Guards remained vigilant and never let their guard down. Since Lelouch put it on speaker mode, they could understand the conversation between the two. Assuming that she was speaking the truth, the idea of slavery fueled their disgust and hatred for these invaders even further. Nevertheless, they maintained their professionalism and focused on their job.
Lelouch wanted to question her more but Shayera's complexion turned pale and she looked as if she could drop dead at any second. He decided to trust her for now because he believed in the Royal Guards' capabilities. He held the speaker in his hand and spoke to Villetta. "Villetta, give her some first aid!"
The Royal Guards were surprised at this but didn't voice their objection.
"Are you sure that is wise, Your Highness? She could be hiding some tricks up her… well, whatever she is wearing."
"She is no use to us if she's dead," Lelouch stated. "Besides, letting someone die in front of me while I am more than capable of saving them leaves a bad taste in my mouth."
Villetta thought about it for a moment before giving orders to her subordinates. "Martin, Lisbeth, inspect her for any hidden weapons. Restrain her if she tries anything. Leena, get your first-aid kit and inject her with the medi-foam."
Lelouch explained to her that they were going to help her and asked her not to resist them or else, they might have to kill her. Shayera seemed a little hesitant at first but she nodded in acceptance. The three Guardsmen hesitated for a second before they stepped forward. The rest of them continued to have their weapons aimed at Shayera.
However, when they were three meters from her, her wolf ears twitched and she jerked her head toward the East. Her face looked tensed but her attention wasn't directed at the humans aiming their guns at or approaching her. The Royal Guards stopped and raised their weapons again.
Shayera said something under her breath but the translator couldn't pick it up.
"What is it, Shayera?" Lelouch raised his voice to catch her attention.
She looked at him and said. "Something is coming."
Before he could ask what she meant by that, Villetta's radio crackled to life. She put it on speaker and listened. "Code Red… Code Red… a dangerous abnormal animal is on the loose. All forces… look out for an escaped dinosaur!"
The Guardsmen looked at each other in confusion while Lelouch, Theresa, and Villetta focused their attention at Shayera. They all thought the same thing.
All of a sudden, there was a loud crashing sound and items breaking far away. They turned and saw that something was trying to break through one of the small buildings around three hundred meters from their position. It was also where Shayera was looking at now. And then, something crashed through the building's walls, kicking up a large cloud of dust and debris. Most of the Guardsmen in the area trained their weapons on whatever it was now. Only three of them were focused on Shayera.
When the dust settled, they could see it was a large dinosaur-like creature. The animal resembled an Allosaurus but it was quadrupedal, and had many frills and spikes running along its back. The creature was quite large as well if the buildings next to it were used as reference.
It was like someone had pulled this thing from some fantasy RPG game in the late 21st century and dumbed it here. After the creature turned its head towards them, it let out a bone-chilling growl instead of a deafening roar as one would expect from a creature like that. It then began charging toward them.
"All Guardsmen, concentrate fire on that thing!" Villetta gave her order and all two dozen Guardsmen fired their weapons at the dinosaur-like creature. Hundreds of armor-piercing bullets impacted the creature's hide and scales, causing it to shriek in pain. However, it wasn't enough to bring the thing down since it was too large for their battle rifles and submachine guns to deal significant damage to its internal organs. The creature staggered a few steps but it resumed its rampage again. It flipped over and trampled some of the vehicles cluttering the street.
Lelouch pulled Theresa away from the battle and let two of the Guardsmen guide her toward their vehicles. Once she was safe inside the armored SUV, he ran over to Shayera who had just collapsed on her knees from blood loss. The two Guardsmen tried to hold her up but they were distracted by the massive creature charging toward them.
A missile struck the dinosaur creature in the face and its head was ripped apart by a massive explosion, startling everyone in the area. The creature stumbled and crashed into some of the vehicles forty meters from their position.
Everyone looked behind them and celebrated for the cause. The cavalry has arrived.
The missile came from one of the Super Hornet gunships as it flew over their head, followed by two Red Hawk VTOLs and several Abram JLTVs on the ground. The Royal Marines disembarked from their vehicles and quickly set up a perimeter around them. An Abrams JLTV which was armed with M50 Ravager Grenade Launcher cautiously approached the creature's lifeless body to inspect it. Seeing that most of its head was gone, they were satisfied that they had killed the creature before it could cause any more casualties.
Lelouch tried to wake Shayera but she was barely conscious by this point. The Guardsmen sprayed the medi-foam on her wounds to stop her bleeding. Several of the Marines also ran over and began applying first-aid to the alien woman.
"Villetta, make sure she lives. We're taking her into custody, but don't put her with the others. Let my aunt handle this one!" Lelouch said as he and the Royal Guards returned to their vehicles.
"Understood, Your Highness!" Villetta said.
As Lelouch approached the limousine where his aunt was waiting, his holo-phone rang. He recognized that the number was from Milly Ashford.
"What is it, Milly?" Lelouch answered the phone.
"Lelouch, can you come to the school?" Milly asked.
"Is something wrong?" He asked when he noticed the hint of nervousness in her voice.
"It's… about Kallen. She needs your help! I will explain once you are here."
"Okay, I'll be there as soon as possible," After the phone call, alarms were blaring inside his head. Things have become so hectic that he almost forgot about his friends at the Academy. They did safely return to their homes but what about their families? He heard that many students have lost their loved ones during the Saderans' invasion of Los Angeles.
He then turned to Villetta and gave an order. "Villetta, I'm sorry but can you look after my aunt? Something came up and I have to meet my friends at the school."
Villetta wanted to protest but seeing the determination in his eyes, she didn't stop him. "Yes, Your Highness! But per Lord Jeremiah's orders, I am coming with you. My men will protect Her Excellency."
When Lelouch asked Theresa to take Shayera in and keep her away from the BSIA's clutches, Theresa raised an eyebrow and asked him. "Oh, I didn't know you swing that way, Lelouch. I thought you already had that redhead girl, or was it the crimson-haired girl?"
Lelouch was dumbfounded when he heard that from his aunt. Eventually, he realized what she was implying and corrected her in annoyance. "I can assure you that your mind just went somewhere it shouldn't have, Auntie. I will explain the reason why later. And no, I am not dating Shirley or Kallen. They are both good friends of mine and I deeply respect them."
"Is that right?" Theresa's smug face reminded him of how much she loved teasing her children, especially the boys. "Anyway, that's enough jokes. Go to that crimson-haired friend of yours, Lelouch. I hope that nothing bad happens to your friends. I will take care of things here." This time, she said with a more serious tone.
"Thanks, Theresa!" He said and moved to a different vehicle with Villetta. They took a three-vehicle motorcade and headed for Ashford Academy while the Countess returned to her mobile office outside the quarantined area. As he sat inside the vehicle, Lelouch had a sinking feeling that the situation with his friend wasn't good in the slightest.
SolNet: It is a more advanced version of the Internet and on a much larger scale as it encompasses Earth, Luna, Mars, Europa, Titan, Ganymede, and mining colonies in the Asteroid Belt. Every human colony in Sol has a series of communications satellites dedicated solely to the purpose of connecting these colonies with each other through this information network.
West Coast Memorial Park: The West Coast Memorial Park is a historical park built to memorialize the human lives lost to the tragic earthquake on May 12, 2029, when the world was still recovering from the devastating World War II. The earthquake shook the entire West Coast and caused a massive amount of casualties, up to over three million people. The park was built to memorialize the lives lost in that tragic disaster.