Encryption Key: Red

From: MJR Vaseline Komarov, 7th Battalion, 27th Ursa Brigade

To: His Imperial Majesty and Imperial High Command

Subject: Inter-Universal Incursion at Moscow

Classification: RED OR ABOVE CLEARANCE

Your Majesty,

On the 25th of March 2048 A.T.B. OSI reported series of spatial anomalies within the metropolitan area of Moscow, anomalous readings spiked briefly, as a response. Moscow Command under my and other commanding officers in the area of operations began containment procedures in expectation of shattering of reality in the local area followed by immediate invasion by unknown hostiles.

Instead, the anomalies congregated into one area in the form of a gate. Unexpected, Elements of Legion attached to the 27th formed firing lines in opposition to the gate, as a choke point, it is believed that whatever force that will come from the gate must cross through it, if enemy force is substantial such course of action will deny enemy of possible numerical advantage.

The entities that came from the gate are primitive Homo sapien, gene analysis from post battle sequence notes little deviation from the mainline Homo sapient genome. Whatever deviations that occur are theorized to be the result of a long time of evolution in a different environment. Their equipment is primitive, compared to 117 A.D Roman Empire with the additions of creatures that could only be described as of coming from fantasy. These are further listed as:

Species: Draco africanus

Wyverns, reptilian creatures that are the smaller breadthen of dragons, approximate size of 2-4.8 meters. Able to fire small balls of fire. Initial impact on the battle is minimal, Antler Multi-Purpose Missiles prevented them from becoming airborne due to constraints of gate. Counterattack on enemy territory, shows little impact, their speed too slow to dodge MPM missiles, gunfire from Scorpions or the occasional pilot kill from revenants.

Threat Assessment: minimal.

Species: Homo orcus

Ogres, large humanoid orcish creatures, standing around 3-4 meter tall. These beasts are dumb, low in intelligence, requiring guidance from enemy humans. What they make up for low intelligence, is the beast's immense strength and durability. It would have been a threat for 18th century forces, but their durability does not extend to .50cal or higher calibers. Antlers have made short work of these creatures.

Threat Assessment: minimal, moderate to ill equipped infantry

The enemy auxiliaries comprise of many humanoid species. For the purpose of efficiency, these beings are categorized under Homo animalus. These range from near humans with animal traits, such as tails or animal ears to humanoid animals that are capable of speech yet repugnant to observe. These beings each have unique characteristics that differentiate them from baseline humans, some have greater strength and agility. Others have night vision and extra sensory abilities. Due to the variety and nature of such creatures, will require a much more in-depth analysis or societal, cultural, and physical behavior.

Initial threat assessment: Varies, minimal to moderate.

By far the highest threat are enemy psionic users. Their barriers are able to withstand volleys of 50mm autocannon fire requiring concentrated barrages to break. The confined space of the gate has inversely proven advantageous as layers upon layers of barriers are placed, allowed the enemy to advance. Aether disruptors have proven effective in negating these psionic effects, without them material losses and casualties would significantly higher.

Threat assessment: minimal with aether disruptor, high without it.

That concludes the initial assessment of the beings arrayed against the imperium. Initial interviews with POWs have given a brief overview of the enemy polity that has invaded the Imperium.

The Empire of Sadera, an absolute monarchy much like ours but with power shared to an imperial senate consisting of representatives from various regions. These senators are likely to gather and form factions that would be able to apply pressure upon the emperor to make him consider or at worst force him in action that are desirable to the senate.

The current monarch, Molt sol Augustus has authorized the invasion of Terran lands, there is brief mention of another gate around a few hundred kilometers from here on the hill of Alnus whilst our gate is aptly fitting, the hill of Rubicon. We do not know what lies in the other gate but an expeditionary force similar to ours has likely advanced on that gate, will require further information.

The presence of slaves is expected, ranging from humans to the so called demi humans that were gained by conquest, they acted as servants that cater to every desire of their masters, even sexual ones in nature. This may prove to be a valuable source of information; slaves are close to their masters and it is likely information that they unemotionally spill in front of the slaves to not be considered critical.

Overall enemy losses is total of the 60,000 soldiers, 53,568 are KIA, the rest captured in various states of injuries. Among these captured are members that have command roles within the legions, one of them being Count Formal of Italica.

Unknown Imperial Compound

Count Formal could not help but contemplate the events that led to this. It happened so fast, one moment the legions would march through the gate and subjugate whatever lies on the other side of the gate. The next, the legions were running, screams of fear, anguish, and death, attempting to flee whatever horrors that they had foolishly stumbled into.

He could remember the scenes of a beautiful green splatted in red, corpses strewn about in various state of decompositions, parts of them sprawled over the hill and their camp, painting them in a sea of blood. He could remember their pleas, desperate prayers, giving farewells to relatives that would never hear of their last moments. Any resistance silenced swiftly; no mercy given to those that would continue to fight.

At least those creatures spared any who couldn't or wouldn't fight them, for they were demons. Silver monsters in the forms of various creatures he had no reference to, the worst of them those that took the form of man. Baleful red eyes, faces smiling as if to take delight in their suffering. He didn't know if he was leading his men to a possible salvation or to an even worse death. The empire had made a foolish decision to challenge these creatures, even if they were forced to participate this conflict, they all had to pay the price and now he'll find out what it is.

The recent moments that he could recount were him being knocked out by careful blows meant to incapacitate. The moment he woke up was his face in a black bag, he could hear others beside him as they were being carried somewhere. Surprisingly he could not hear the thumping of forces, were the otherworlders capable of creating horseless carriages, he was not certain but eventually it stopped as he and many others were ushered into cells awaiting their fate.

At least that's how he got here. Infront of him stood a man, sitting in chair opposite to him. A table between them. The room was light dimly, a mirror of glass adjacent to his left. Reflecting both him and the man, behind him lay a door but he doubted if could get past his restraints to reach it. A sudden voice broke his thoughts.

"Count Formal of Italica, I am Agent Hartley, you must know that your participation in the attack has grave consequences, consequences I am sure you would not wish to know" feeling cold he rushed to speak but was cut off before he could.

"Not now, you have two options cooperate and we may spare you and your people or refuse, upon which we will have to resort to more persuasive means." He shifted his fingers, tapping the table to a projection.

Formal recoiled, in it he saw the fate that awaited them, men had their limbs torn and reattached again and again. Others were injected with wire, it suddenly active before screeching, faces torn in agony. Some were drowned in boiled water repeatedly, the worst of all, an injection of sorts, the substance made men scream endlessly, it did not stop, even if they trashed in their restrains. The only mercy denied until they achieved what they desired.

The man shut the projection before turning to him "Now you know the costs of refusal, begin with the reason of Sadera's invasion."

He had to consider his words here, give too much and his usefulness would run out, give too little and they'll take whatever they needed through force. Whilst he may be fearful of these men, he needed to strike a balance otherwise he wouldn't be seeing Myui again. Maybe he should try something to get a sense of the person in front of him.

"And what of your nation, I would like to know of the nation we have wronged even if it was done unwillingly." A raised eyebrow was all he received, Agent Hartley must have been a professional if that was all he got, the man considering his response before replying.

"The Imperium under His Majesty Emperor Lelouch vi Britannia, the other details are irrelevant to this discussion, what matters is your participation in the attack, answer carefully for the emperor might grant you mercy." Ah a system of government like Sadera, this emperor must be mighty for him to command such forces. He could do this, find a way to keep his men alive and allow him to reunite with Myui.

"I and the forces under my command did not participate in this attack willingly." Formal paused for a moment, changing his tone to a more pleading voice. "Please you must understand refusal to comply with the emperor of Sadera means risking my family and those under our protection, Italica was once an independent city state before the Empire forced us to join on the threat of death and enslavement."

He took a deep breath "My family tries to shelter those that the Empire oppressed, whilst Italica used to forbid slavery, Imperial law allows it, I have done my best to at least make the practice as costly as it is, name your price as long my people are spared in freedom and live. I would give anything, wealth, books of knowledge, priceless artifacts even my allegiance."

There he said his key piece, it would mean treason to Sadera but he doubted if Sadera could survive whatever reprisals the Imperium would inevitably unleash upon it. He had never been loyal, only doing what was best for his people even if it meant shifting allegiances.

A curious gleam appeared in the man's face; he finally made him express something than his usual stony expression he had since the meeting began.

"Well Count Formal, you've went beyond me and my compatriot's expectations." He smiled, finally breaking the ice between them.

"Do you know all the others we had interviewed always goes about of how Sadera shall crush you barbarians!" Hartley said imitating an expression of boisterous arrogance.

"Of how we shall enslave you and have the men work in the mines whilst raping our women" His face turned into distaste. Formal continued his observations, checking his posture to get a gauge of him.

"As if their pathetic empire could even do such a thing, if his majesty was serious, our imperium could exterminate Sadera in 7 hours if need be." That alarmed him, what kind of military power did this Imperium have to allow them such a capability, it may be a lie, an exaggeration of their already impressive military capability.

So far judging by his posture Hartley hadn't lied, he thanked the gods for him to make such a wise decision. It seems he caught on.

"So far the only one with a serious intelligence was you, Count Formal, not only did you choose the option that would save you, it also would benefit you." Hartley seemed pleased as if he met the only one person that wasn't a rumbustious idiot that he had to break.

It seemed his gamble had paid off, he relaxed in his seat confidant that he had a much higher chance of returning home and seeing his precious Myui grow into adulthood. He didn't want to her to grow as an orphan.

"The imperium shelters our own, swear fealty to the throne of Terra and we will protect your people to the best of our abilities but that is for later." He smiled, becoming friendly, his previous hostility gone.

"Now if you wish to see your precious Myui again, you should begin telling everything" Internally he was surprised, panic struck him, how could he know of Myui unless he had the ability to….

"Yes, you've caught on, another plus for you, with the correct imperial education, I am sure the imperium will make her great in whatever role she desired, now let's return to the subject at hand."

He already casted his lot, now the only option was to commit fully. The agent's magical capability to read his mind already cemented his opinion and crushed any doubts of betraying Sadera. If men with talents such as him were commonplace in their security apparatus, what more could they do.

So, he began to tell everything. Beginning with the details of Italica. The conversation would go on with the usual interjection asking for clarification and emphasis on specific details. By the time he was done, he was transferred, and his cell looked more like a luxurious inn and his men were shown to be moved to similar accommodations. Just wait Myui, your father will return home.

Moscow Command Centre, European Administration Zone

"Is this report true?" the question was asked by his superior. He kept his head bowed, showing deference and respect to the head of his agency. His reply was clear and resolute, "I'm certain of this your majesty, Count Formal is sincere in his intentions to change his allegiance."

He continued, "His primary motivation thus far is to protect his family and his people, a pragmatist if I were to say, willing to do what it takes to fulfil his primary motivation in comparison to the other detainees we have interviewed so far."

His superior remained stoic, clearly considering the information and weighing several options on the fate of Italica. The holographic screen did not flicker, for his superior was in the Imperial Capital, allowing her to inform the emperor with the needed details.

"What if we were to hold Myui hostage?" She questioned, "An assurance to dissuade any thoughts of treason" She continued. He considered, finding the option logical yet unneeded and he made his views known.

"Unnecessary, potential to backfire is high, a much better alternative is to educate the young heiress in the values of our nation, if her father were to prove disloyal then an accident should suffice where we could blame it on pro-saderan insurrectionists."

Diana seemed pleased with his response, indicating her teachings and reform of the organization had taken effect from its previous iteration. The OSI had been Britannia's primary agency for espionage and internal security. Used to crack down revolts before it began and to gather key information on important enemy movements and projects.

For such a lauded goal, it was strived with internal divisions, many of it's officers made of nobles who were given such positions due to their tittles, and the results varied from incompetent to deadly effective. Despite times where the noble in question would prove competent, you cannot survive the court of vipers without competency, there were many more of those who were arrogant, blinded by bias and not considering of factors that would lead to their downfall.

That doesn't even mention the Geass order, the actual power behind the organization using OSI's internal strive as a smokescreen for their true goals. An organization of deadly capabilities hiding it by appearing chaotic if any were to look deep enough. Yet not many didn't look deeper for they would find the actual mechanisms of the organization.

The Geass Order had studied and experimented on the power of Geass, the predecessor of his own powers since the event known as the awakening. To the public, it was but a random, unexpected event hailed forth by a rain of comets. To the OSI and those in the know, it was the result of a disastrous confrontation. One that shook the immaterium, formerly designated C's World. Ever since that day, people at random begin showing unexpected powers, some of them able to alter the space of reality.

His own power came about abruptly, a childish dispute that escalated beyond reason causing his opponent temporally bouts of mania. OSI quickly moved to concoct a cover story, blaming the boy's condition with a consequence of the clash at the heat of the moment and had made him apologise, the next he and his parents were interviewed, and he was inducted into military intelligence when his time came up.

Moving on, "A forward operating base has been constructed on the other side of the gate, Legion forces only, Major Komarov wanted to ensure as little risk possible to his men in case of the gate collapsed." Diana showed a hint of approval, a wise decision one that would net the most gain whilst risking little. Machines can be built and replaced; human lives were not.

"An astute decision, one that due to our limited understanding of this gate, give my commendations to Major Komarov for his initiative." Understandable, initiative and effort especially proven with success are highly rewarded in the military, if the enemy force had proven too strong, then the path could be cut with little to no losses in human lives.

She pressed on, "What of our enemy, I trust that there have been measures taken to ensure no reprisals" To which he grinned wolfishly.

"Any enemy units leaving the Battle zone were eliminated in short succession, I've taken liberty to have rewritten a courier and sent him along to mainline Sadera with fabricated letters detailing of the campaigns success."

Now her smile seemed genuine, "Excellent, once the nature of the gate is known sufficiency, then an invasion force could be sent, I would need to consult with Lelouch and the others for this especially in regard to the inevitable occupation once that occurs."

"Furthermore, your actions thus far have been commendable, a reward should be in order, a promotion and an share of the corporations that would exploit the resources of the lands beyond the gate, should you succeed."

Ah there it is, dangling the reward with conditions that required success of this campaign, meaning the question of his participation in the upcoming invasion was guaranteed. If his performance exceeded expectations, well that's an extra incentive to be sure. This is the imperium, perform well and you'll have rewards thrown at your feet, fail that however, everyone knew the consequences of failure.

So, he bowed gracefully "I thank your majesty for this reward, and I intend to perform better at my assignment, hopefully." His only reply was a smile before the communique was cut. He rose from his position, there was work to be done and a whole lot of worth of paperwork. He groaned at the latter; paperwork is such a trouble, yet it needed to be done.

The forests around the Hill of Rubicon, Province of Italica

HK 29076C-12 surveyed the surroundings around it, the optics and intergraded Factsphere were deep in his optically camouflaged hull, blending in with the browns and greens of the forest that HK 29076C-12 is monitoring. It was a scouting configuration meant for intel gathering, providing real time information from his sensors that could be rerouted to the guns that lay in Base Hector Zero, acting as their eyes.

Base Hector Zero, the newly designated base was constructed recently after hostile natives failed invasion. Components for the base primarily included fixed defences which consists of Flidais artillery systems to pound any hostiles that came near the base and it's contingent of Cernunnos laser anti-air systems. Turning any assault by land and air into a suicidal effort, the only vulnerability is an attack from underground, at which point a self-destruct system would initiate in case the base was lost.

For now as HK 29076C-12 observed through its shared datalink system, the base is in its early stages of development, buildings for human personnel have not been constructed including its automated factories for on-site production and it's air fields to begin projecting offensive power across the entire region. Most importantly was its TTS, which upon completion would allow capital ships to enter the region due to the limitations of the gate.

So far, his brethren had done an excellent job across their first week tenure on this new foreign land. It was clean, untouched by the ravages of advance warfare. There were no signs indication heavy orbital bombardment nor the mark of industry and it's resulting cascades of war. It was a green land, perfect for his creators needs.

HK 29076C-12 picked something from its acoustics, it was different, not the rustling of leaves not the chirping of birds or any activities from the fauna of this legion. It knew what it was, Unit 29076C-12 swivelled around.

Target detected; it concluded engaging stealth protocols as it's movement blended with it's environment. It's prey unaware of the incoming danger from the encroaching hunter killer unit.

There, it's visual sensors picked up a group of ragged saderan legionnaires consisting of 9 members, they were running, appearing exhausted and stopping to rest, some were in various stages of injury. Already information was sent informing them of the new intruders. HK 29076C-12, it concluded that there was no possible way it was a leak from Rubicon, all legions forces that had took part in the invasion of Moscow were neutered.

That left it with two possibilities, one reinforcement from Sadera to reinforce the expeditionary forces in Rubicon or it was from a retreating force that invaded whatever lands that the Alnus gate connected.

The first was likely, Agent Hartleys deception could have backfired, and more units would be sent to bolster the supposed successful expedition force, but it was ruled out by the datalink network. The distance from Rubicon to Italica is considerate about as long as Sumatra to Bali for comparison, the time it would take for the message to arrive at the capital is considerate not to mention the risks of interception.

The other was the Alnus expedition failed, and these were the retreating members of the failed invasion force. If that was the case then it would present an opportunity for intel collection, as if its thoughs were realised HK 29076C-12 received new orders, capture hostile legionnaires for further interrogation, it did not say in what state the victims had to come in through. Those processed thoughts were then stopped, orders clarified to capture with minimal permanent harm, if HK 29076C-12 had been sapient, it would have been disappointed, but it was a machine and it obeyed without question.

HK 29076C-12 began its approach, completely silent, if there were any other demi humans, they may have noticed and be more guarded, they were not. A piercing scream shook through the forest, shocked legionnaires panicking at the noise. HK 29076C-12 struck, lightning in enough voltage to render their victims knocked out but not harmed.

HK 29076C-12 already disappeared; the legionnaires looked upon their fallen comrade in horror. Leaves spooked as they begun a violent run, desperate to get away from whatever that had eliminated their comrade. One hostile down, 8 to go. For as fast as their run was, comparable to an Olympics run, HK 29076C-12 was faster.

Another sound shook out, this time the rustle of leaves from the groups right, predictably they turned their gazes towards that direction. It cost them another one of their numbers, screaming out as HK 29076C-12 disengaged and prepared another strike. 2 down, 7 to go. The groups state of panicked increased and they began to separate in two groups attempting to evade their unseen hunter. One group consisting of 4 healthy men, the other 3 had one that was limping, helped to run by his comrade.

HK 29076C-12 flew to the four-man group, its processors already calculating assigned actions needed to efficiently disable the enemy. As the enemy increased distance, HK 29076C-12 decided to be a little creative. This time it played a plea of help, screaming "Help me! please don't leave me behind!" in perfect saderan, two brave legionnaires turned around, expecting a fallen comrade.

All they received was two perfect electric shocks, their bodies thumped hitting the ground, increasing the survivors panic and fear. This time their fear was greater, apparently HK 29076C-12 had done a much more remarkable job in terrorising the enemy, 4 down, 5 more to eliminate.

HK 29076C-12 abandoned stealth momentarily, disabling the running legionnaire, his surviving comrade finally aware of its unseen hunter. Terrified beyond belief, to the likes people in such time HK 29076C-12 would have been a demon, a monster that terrorised people. HK 29076C-12 was a simple instrument of war nothing less, nothing more.

In a surprising act of bravery, he swung desperately, hoping to cripple HK 29076C-12 in a last act of defiance but HK 29076C-12 was leagues faster than organics. In the time it took for him to prepare his swing, HK 29076C-12 dodged, and promptly disabled the enemy. 6 down, 3 to go. HK 29076C-12 acoustics picked up the direction of the remaining hostiles, not far from its position due to the slowed speed of its injured member.

HK 29076C-12 observed the enemy, letting them run. The forest was quiet, the silent sounds of natural fauna completely gone, HK 29076C-12 presence alerted them of a dangerous predator, one that they had no intention to run into. It seemed to calm the group, minutes later as they tried to rest, one of them laying their wounded on a tree.

Unfortunate, their lowered guard cost them, another scream broke out the legionnaire on the watch frozen in terror as he fell into unconsciousness, the man laying his wounded comrade turned only to meet an electric shock, he too was unconscious. The last one was frozen in terror, it began praying, HK 29076C-12 let the man ramble as it moved closer. Red optics engaging as its baleful eye stared into the terrified legionnaire. The ramble was interesting, information of the land's deity will surely be useful.

HK 29076C-12 decided that such information collection would be better conducted inside Base Hector Zero and so the last legionnaire screamed and soon he fell silent. Already data of the positions of the fallen enemy is relayed to the incoming HK aerial, it swopped, leaves were blown off as the grass danced from the entry the HK aerial. It disgorged allied revenant units which quickly went to the other 4 locations of downed enemies.

HK 29076C-12 would have felt a satisfaction of a mission completed but then again, he was a machine, its data used to see if it could improve upon Legions overall performance. Once again, the efficiency of the Imperium was showed, already the captives were restrained and transported to the HK aerial as they flew to Base Hector Zero.

Meanwhile, HK 29076C-12 continued its vigil, ready to hunt down any entity that dared to enter its domain. Once again, the forest fell silent, hosting an unseen predator, waiting to strike.

AN:

Phew, another chapter written, dialogue and fighting will probably require some improvements, hopefully as the story progress, the quality of my writing will improve. A writing advice that I came up online was start writing even if it was terrible, what matters is to continue writing and improve upon it. For any prospective writers out there, give your ideas a shot, you never know if you will improve or not. Writing like this has already expanded my creativity, it'll be good for you instead of endlessly scrolling through social media.

Moving on to the story, yep Sadera is screwed horribly, and they don't even know it yet. Whilst the loss of Alnus would be known and a response sent, I wanted this story to be different to the other gate fanfics out there, you've seen that by the Imperium's immediate counterattack and its efforts at subterfuge and deception, already Legion has proven useful beyond a doubt, trying to minimise human loses for maximum gain.

I do hope my portrayal of Count Formal was right, I may have taken certain liberties since in canon, he died in the initial invasion. I'll not try to mention Lelouch or the decision makers of the imperium, I fear that my writing of his character may leave much to be desired and I do not wish to screw it up. Maybe in the future, when my skills improve as for story wise reasons, I wanted to induce a fog of war, give the perspective of the average joe carrying the movements of the chess master.

As for Legion, maybe I'll include a short encyclopaedia explaining what it is. What is certain is that the Imperium is automated but still controlled by humans, still even if their ability for operational scale military actions is not ready, Legions still in the development stage. Their ability for tactical operations is nightmarish, hopefully my portrayal of HK 29076C-12 shows well of its capabilities.

As for what's happening at Alnus, well I'll get into that in the next chapter.

Thanks for reading, please leave a constructive review if you like and have a great day.