The JSDF had gone through many changes over the course of a short amount of time. From the inception of the organisation they had been a few dozen strong. From there, they had gained knightmare frames, weapons with which they could fight for their homeland to defend the people in it. They had learned the true identity of their mysterious benefactor. A revelation that both harmed and benefited the trust they had in the organisation. Trust was given, trust that they could have taken advantage of. And the choice to not do so bonded them to that leader in a way that remained tenuous, but genuine. A verification that they could work together. Not just practically but idealistically. They were working for the same goal, and in their own ways they had all put themselves on the line for that goal.
From there, they had conducted an operation to retrieve a secret project of the viceroy's. An operation that was a resounding success, but had seemingly borne little fruit so far as the members could tell, save for an enigmatic woman who would occasionally accompany their leader when it suited her. But what came immediately after was far more measurable gain. The lost prince had been as good as his word. As their numbers swelled, as their network of safehouses and communication channels coalesced into meaningful infrastructure, they suddenly found themselves with a great influx of new resources.
Buildings, secured for their use. Money to fund their operations and feed their members. Equipment to arm themselves. Supplies to keep their knightmares functional. Transportation to convey themselves across their new base in Hachioji, to wherever they needed to go.
All while the members, particularly Ohgi and Tamaki, conducted rallies attempting to recruit more Japanese into their efforts. They weren't always successful, but unlike for the JLF who already had manpower to call on, the JSDF saw the value in every new recruit. Their number doubled, tripled, more and more joining bit by bit. The option to not submit to Britannia fully, but to defend their home all the same. Despite what the original members of the organisation might have thought of him at first, Tamaki became an unlikely rallying figure for the movement. His passion was infectious, never more so than when he got into a shouting argument with a high-ranking member of the JLF.
For Lelouch, it was equal parts amusing and concerning. Tamaki was on the temperamental side. His opinions seemed to fluctuate wildly, often tending toward the rebellious. He had a severe distaste for anyone trying to tell him what to do. A man like that with many people who actively followed him had the potential to be a fracturing presence in the organisation. He had brought new people in, now it was down to Lelouch to have those new recruits believe in the cause instead of simply believing in Tamaki.
What an absurd reality. The loud-mouthed, incompetent idiot was perhaps the biggest potential threat to the cohesion of the JSDF. But maybe that was a pleasant alternative to suspecting every senior member of the organisation of planning a coup at all times. Such was Britannian organisational structure.
"Progress on transportation?"
Minami was the one to answer, as the one in charge of the operation was not present for the meeting. "Daichi called. Train cargo arrived without any issues. The knightmare frames are being unloaded at the staging area ready for deployment. As for the simulators, they're all deployed and operational. Pilots already there are doing their best to get to grips with the new frames but it's a different beast to what they're used to."
Daichi Sugimoto, Leader of the Third Dans. For all that their name was a reference to martial arts prowess, that was actually more of a reference to the leader's hobby than a boast, him being a third dan in karate. What that particular group were much more geared towards was logistics. Getting things where they needed to go. They had mostly been a humanitarian group than anything, helping the Japanese who were struggling to survive by getting them what they needed. Noble. And also gave them expertise that was invaluable for this endeavour. Smuggling equipment and supplies great distances without drawing attention.
Sure, Lelouch could have greased the wheels for such things himself, but capable people who could do the work without supernatural assistance granted him time to focus on other things.
"Our opponents won't be any more capable with the new machines than we are. Following the plan should meet with limited resistance." And if there would be more than that, he would give the order to retreat. It would be a dangerous gambit and there would be losses if things didn't go their way, but the potential advantage would be worth the risk.
Lelouch's plan for the coming first incursion wasn't to simply be another standard deployment of knightmares. He needed the JSDF to make a tangible impact on the battle. To make a difference. This would be their announcement. His announcement. The first demonstration of what Britannia and the so-called numbers could accomplish together. It needed to be proven before he could begin the work of making people on both sides believe it.
"What about K–" Ohgi said, only to stop himself and reconsider his words in mixed company. "What about our insider?" Not everyone in the meeting knew about Kallen's identity as a member of the JSDF after all. Operational security. If that information slipped out, everything would be put in jeopardy.
"They'll be shipping out to Kyushu soon. How much they can benefit our efforts will depend largely on how Cornelia responds. I'll be following you all west, so we can coordinate and plan according to the changing situation in person." He looked at Ohgi with a meaningful stare. "That said, there's a new piece of business to be addressed."
The second in command sighed with discontented trepidation as he pulled an envelope from his coat. It wasn't marked with a seal. Instead the back of the envelope bore kanji calligraphy painted elegantly in ink.
"Wait... Is that really...?" Inoue asked, showing first excitement then a similar trepidation as her former leader.
"A letter from the Six Houses of Kyoto," Ohgi confirmed. "It was hand-delivered to me after a rally."
"Everyone might as well hear what they have to say. Read it."
Ohgi nodded, slipped the paper out of the envelope and began reading. It was a great deal of officious jargon. The type seen in missives one might have found in old Japanese communications between daimyo. Flowery yet blunt, carefully maintaining face as an organisation that was effectively above the JSDF, but even so, they cordially invite the leadership of this organisation to meet and discuss mutual ambitions. As well as negotiate potential disagreements before any troubling and unnecessary difficulties might cause them both harm.
"They want to meet?" Sugiyama asked, uncomfortable. "Man. I can remember thinking what an honour that'd be before all this. But now..."
"Hey, it's still a big deal, right?" Tamaki asked, not seeing the problem. "They're already taking notice of us, as they should!"
"Tamaki," Minami said, patting the smaller man on the shoulder. "It's a trap. It's obviously a trap."
Inoue nodded. "It's not like we're honorary Britannians, but we're definitely more for cooperation with Britannia than Kyoto would ever be happy with."
"That's true," Lelouch hummed while folding his arms. "Yet, this isn't by default meant to be a trap. Though it's intended to become one if things don't go their way."
Ohgi looked at him like he'd gone mad. "How could this be anything but an attempt to cut the head off the JSDF?"
"Because the Six Houses of Kyoto know how to survive." Lelouch raised a hand, one finger raised. "They support the Japanese resistance, most specifically the JLF. That means they assume, correctly, that I know they support the Japanese resistance movements." It was something he would inevitably learn from bringing multiple resistance groups under his banner. Not to mention the equipment and funding had to come from somewhere. The JLF's fleet of knock-off Glasgows didn't appear out of thin air. "I might not know who they are and I imagine they intend to keep it that way, but I know enough to be a potential problem."
He raised a second finger. "By now, they must at least know I'm Britannian." The ill-fated encounters with the Shinsengumi alone would have leaked that little detail. "Thus, they must believe I have intentions for this entire affair. They might not know what those are. Perhaps they think I'm a spy looking to undermine the resistance. Perhaps they even guess my actual intent. That I aim for the Japanese to be truly part of the empire. If so, how they deal with us could determine what their fates may be should things go our way." It wasn't like they had the JLF to rely on anymore. The winds were turning against them.
"Come on! They can't be thinking that far ahead!" Sugiyama insisted. "We haven't even done anything yet and you think they expect us to matter?!"
"Haven't done anything?" Lelouch asked. "Don't sell yourselves short. Does it not surprise you that our organisation hasn't faced any backlash from the Japanese people? Honorary Britannians are treated with scorn, yet we, a group who openly support cooperation with Britannia, aren't." He gestured at Ohgi and Tamaki. "The people advocating for our cause have done an excellent job. Enough that the Japanese don't know what to make of us yet, but they don't hate us on principle. They're open to believing in something more than a dream of old glories. A new beginning. That's dangerous to Kyoto's aims."
"As for thinking that far ahead, as I said, they know how to survive," he continued, pacing a little. "When Britannia came, when Genbu Kururugi gave up, they adapted. They submitted openly while plotting secretly. They got to keep almost all of their power while bowing to Britannia. Resources they turned toward the JLF to this very day, no matter how minimal the results offered. Whoever they may be, they know how to play the game and are willing to play the long game." The prince smiled. "And of course, knowing how to play the game plays into the third possibility. They know I'm Britannian, so they think I'm Britannian."
The former resistance members looked at one another. "I don't get it," Minami admitted.
"Really? I should have thought it was obvious, but perhaps that is due to being born into it. The Britannian attitude. To succeed, one must be willing to tear down their rivals by any means. If someone unseats Clovis, they control the sakuradite. This is the perfect place for someone to try something foolish and ambitious that could potentially undermine the entire empire." They didn't need to know he was a prince or anything of the sort. He could simply be a noble looking to elevate themselves. An unorthodox method, but hardly the most unorthodox means a Britannian had used to gain status. Undermining the most vehement resistance movement in the empire and bringing them under his own banner, use them to take power in Japan? Hell, it was still what he intended in the end. It was just both ends and means for him as opposed to only means.
"That was a really long way of saying 'this might not be a trap'," Ohgi remarked with tired frustration. "So they might want to kill us, or figure out what we're doing, or use us to undermine Britannia for them. That doesn't answer the important question. What do we do about it?"
Lelouch smirked. "You and I make a detour on our way west, of course."
-(-)-
Kallen tried not to fidget as she stood with the other knights, waiting at attention for the most feared member of the imperial family to arrive.
"You're fidgeting," Anya stated in a dull tone.
The redhead tried to still herself. There were too many things running through her mind, all demanding attention. The way Lelouch wished her luck and asked her to be cautious and respectful. Which was probably the closest she would get to him wishing her well, the bastard. The way Shirley and Milly both kissed her on the cheek as she was making her final goodbyes.
The way everything seemed different this far out west. She couldn't help but stare out the window of her transport as they travelled the countryside of Japan. Tokyo had been completely overtaken by Britannian influence. Fukuoka was similar, a prominent port town constantly moving goods to and from Korea, at least until very recently. It had similarly been built up to Britannian preferences. But most between? She could see the difference, just how much of it was untouched. Almost like the war never happened. Sure there was the occasional resort built by some Britannian fop, but beyond that... It was all unimportant to the Britannians, so they left it alone. She wished she had time to go out and talk to people living in such places. They of course knew they were Britannian subjects. Second class citizens in their own homeland. Would they feel that in more than their wounded pride? She wanted to know. It was a perspective she never considered before. She promised herself she would take the time to learn.
And then of course there was the one unignorable thing. The magenta-haired woman looking resplendent in her military uniform.
...Resplendent? Really? What kind of description was that?! What was wrong with her?!
But if the figure hugging uniform fit, wear it. And it certainly fit. Cornelia li Britannia was a woman who cut a more than impressive figure. Broad shouldered, muscular, yet paying heed to her femininity at the same time. Her piercing gaze sweeping over any and all around her. Why did she have to have the same eye colour as Lelouch?!
... Oh. Right. Half-siblings.
Kallen watched, listened as the Witch of Britannia gave the high-ranking officers sent by Clovis a dressing down without raising her voice once. She spoke with that same regal tone as she reprimanded them for wasting her time on pointless ceremony when an invasion was only days away. Before she demanded an itemised list of the personnel and equipment Clovis had seen fit to provide her for the defense of the Area. Of Japan, Kallen corrected silently. It was the first truly disagreeable thing she would attribute to the powerful woman.
It was an odd thrill that ran through her. Kallen would show this woman. This princess. It wasn't just an Area. It was Japan, and Japan lived on in the Japanese.
"Guilford, make a note we'll verify the logistical support my brother has deigned to grace us with," the princess ordered without looking back at the knight following her in perfect lock-step.
"Yes, your highness."
She stopped in front of the gathered knights. More specifically, in front of the Knight of Six. "Sir Alstreim."
"Your highness," Anya responded to what was technically a greeting, wearing the same dull expression that defined most of her interactions.
"You have my thanks for lending your aid in defending Area Eleven before anyone else thought to do so. This land is too vital to the Empire for us to allow it to fall into the hands of the Chinese."
Anya remained silent, not responding to the words of gratitude in any way.
And as if she had expected as much, Cornelia moved swiftly on. Kallen stiffened as the woman's attention turned to her–
"Ah, Princess Cornelia! Welcome to Area Eleven!" Only for Lloyd to jump into the conversation without anyone asking or wanting him to.
Cornelia's eyes narrowed as her attention turned to the scientist beside Kallen, and to his assistant looking panicked and desperate at what her boss had done. "... Earl Asplund. The prime minister's pet research team is still in Area Eleven. Why?"
"Ah, well about that, it seems our dear viceroy saw fit to maintain our presence in Area Eleven despite Prince Schneizel's orders recalling us to the homeland! Not, that, we aren't excited to contribute to the efforts of defending the Empire here of course!" The man fidgeted with his glasses, wearing a painfully false smile on his face. From the looks of it, literally painful, like he was straining his cheeks. "However! We're doubly excited to have stayed here, now that we have found the devicer for my magnum opus! My magnificent Lancelot!"
"I don't care about your new toy, Asplund," the princess told him dismissively. Effectively ending the conversation.
Or at least it should have. "Ah!" Lloyd gasped in affront. "The Lancelot is no mere toy!"
"Your highness!" Cecile added to the end of his sentence, knowing he wouldn't.
"The Lancelot is the first truly seventh generation knightmare frame! It is the pinnacle of ASEEC's research and development! A machine that runs circles around Sutherlands and Gloucesters alike!"
"And of course at your full disposal, your highness!" Cecile once again interjected.
"And with our perfect devicer," Lloyd gestured at Kallen almost as an afterthought, "My Lancelot will be able to demonstrate what a leap forward it represents! Why, when the world sees what it can do, Marianne the Flash and the Ganymede will be relegated to the history bmmphmph!"
Propriety be damned, Cecil covered her boss' mouth so that he would just stop talking. It was easy to see why. The Witch of Britannia's utterly thunderous expression promised retribution. "There will never be another Marianne vi Britannia," she declared with icy sincerity.
Vi Britannia? Wait, did that mean, was Kallen being compared to Lelouch's mother? Oh, that piled all kinds of uncomfortable feelings onto this moment. Bad enough it felt kind of like the princess would happily kill her purely on principle. She must have really respected Marianne.
"I don't know," Anya said with subtle amusement. "I could see it."
Cornelia's eyes flashed as she looked at the diminutive Knight of Six. The very position Marianne had once held before she was raised to the imperial family by marriage. There were few better authorities on the subject. And as a result of that baffling dumping of fuel onto the blazing inferno, the princess' attention was once again entirely on Kallen. "Your name."
Kallen liked to think of herself as proud. As strong. As bold. She was pretty sure anyone who knew her true self would agree. And yet here and now she felt like a house cat before a lioness. And yet she was who she was. She wouldn't falter here. Not with so much riding on her. "Sir Kallen Stadtfeld, your highness." Clearly spoken, unflinching from the princess' demanding stare.
"... Stadtfeld," the princess repeated. "Of the New Shropshire Stadtfelds."
She couldn't fully suppress a twinge of displeasure. "Yes, your highness."
The judgemental glare eased, just a little, before Cornelia turned and walked away, returning to her business of organising the defensive fortifications. Was that really all it took? Just hearing that Kallen was of the nobility? Was that all it took for a princess to see her as worthy of anything? Her fists clenched tightly as she tried to control her fury. She hadn't been acknowledged, her lineage had. It felt humiliating. It cheapened all of her efforts, attributing them to being from 'the right bloodline' or whatever haughty bullshit. Even if she showed her abilities now, would it even matter? All these people cared about were names. Families. Prestige. All while the pureblood faction of the Area Eleven military stood behind her, looking smug. As though their views were being proven.
Kallen couldn't wait. The moment would come when she proved her skill, proved who she was. She couldn't wait to see the looks on all of their faces when they realised they were heaping such praise and respect on a 'half-blood'.
"Lloyd."
"Mph?" the scientist asked, his mouth still covered.
"Prep the Lancelot. We're running more tests."
"Mmph!" he agreed excitedly, smiling with his eyes.
-(-)-
Kaname Ohgi kept calm as he was taken who knew where. Alone in the vehicle, save for the one driving, though even the driver was separate from him. The passenger seating was completely blacked out, leaving him only knowing the car was moving. If this was Lelouch's idea of a safe meeting, Ohgi didn't know where the true leader of the JSDF was, only that he was somewhere relatively near. Only a promise from the hidden prince assured Ohgi that he hadn't been abandoned. Which was not especially reassuring as he was taken alone to an undisclosed location to presumably meet the hidden backers of the Japanese resistance. And even that was no guarantee.
Yet. The door to the car opened, allowing him to leave with no sign of anyone having opened it for him. As he carefully stepped out, he could feel the difference in the air that fed into his lungs with every breath. A brief look around him confirmed it. The car had certainly been moving. Upwards. Up the slope of Mount Fuji, overlooking the world's single largest sakuradite mine.
The Six Houses were putting on a show. It was working. It was telling him in no uncertain terms the kind of deep shit he was in. Yet he didn't make a fuss about it. After years in the Japanese resistance, he had long since come to terms with being in deep shit. So instead of losing his cool, he pulled the radio from his jacket and switched it on.
"Kaname Ohgi." A wizened voice called his name from inside the building built in the face of the mountain. "A shame, isn't it?" the voice asked, the source hidden behind a curtain. "What this beautiful landmark of Japanese beauty has been reduced to? Ripped apart so the Britannians can tear free what they desire, leaving behind only a hollowed out husk."
"A potent analogy, "the radio crackled with Lelouch's voice. "Very evocative of how you see Britannia's actions. Of course it conveniently ignores the mining efforts before Britannia invaded, but why let context get in the way of confirming one's own world view?"
"Ah. The one who calls himself Zero," the man behind the curtain said with mild disdain. "The invitation was for you as well, though it seems you were only willing to risk your subordinate and not yourself."
"You acknowledge it was a risk at least." Ohgi couldn't help but agree with the prince, seeing the two knightmares within the large and open room, standing guard. Alongside yet more suited bodyguards. "So Six Houses of Kyoto, or perhaps just one of them, you were so cordial as to invite us here. What can the JSDF do for you?"
"Appearing in person would be the bare minimum. Why appear at all if you would only hide behind the Japanese? Should I take that as your intent behind all of this JSDF business? A Britannian who would use the Japanese as a tool? As a shield?"
"Ahahahaha! Ahahahaha!" The laughter coming from the radio was condescending, loud, and genuine. "Oh, that is quite the statement coming from you! Of all the things you might have said, all the condemnations you might have made, that one in particular is hilarious in its hypocritical irony!" Once again, for the sixth time in his life, Kaname Ohgi made peace with his end. But did it have to come from Lelouch's insistence on running his mouth when he wasn't even here? "Hiding behind the Japanese? Using them as tools, as shields? I believe that adequately describes what you have been doing not just to the Japanese but the Britannians as well... Taizo Kirihara."
The metallic whine of knightmares moving into ready position. The sound of guns being drawn all around the room. Yep. Here it was.
"He knows the Lord's name?!"
"Kaname Ohgi, get down on the ground, now!"
"What does that matter?! Zero isn't even here!"
"Tell us where your leader is! NOW!"
"I don't know!" Ohgi insisted.
"It's true, he doesn't," Lelouch confirmed. "You called it a risk earlier, him being in that room. Without adequate preparations it might have been. But I made certain you wouldn't want to do anything to harm him."
"And why is that?" Kirihara asked from behind his curtain, sounding no more agitated than he was before.
"Because I just made a new friend."
"Lord Kirihara," a new voice spoke through the radio. "Please listen to what Lord Zero has to say."
The voice of a girl, one that caused the old man's hands resting in his lap to clench into fists. "Kaguya!"