Author's Note: FINALLY ready to continue with this story :) Apologises for the delay, hopefully this makes up for it. Not heavy on action since last few chapters dealt with the Federation's invasion, but nonetheless helps to lay the foundations for the plot line I had envisioned so long ago.

Anyways, enjoy :)

..

While he knew he should be focusing on his current task, even if it was merely a test run for his 'superior's' latest bout of ambition, Suzaku couldn't help but think back to the conversation he had with the most dangerous enemy of Britannia.

Zero was a threat, no doubt about it. And every day he roamed free was another chance for more of his countrymen to get killed for a cause that was no longer attainable.

But he was hobbled by the fact that the Black Knights lacked the resources to challenge more than a fraction of the Britannian Garrison. Even if with all his under handed and cowardly tricks to tilt the scales of battle in his favor.

Krueger on the other hand suffered fromno such limitations.

His forces, while smaller in scale than the Britannian Empire, nevertheless had the resources of two continents behind them.

Which meant that he could both stand against the might of the world's largest superpower and support the efforts of those that brought continued suffering to their people through the foolish dream of reclaiming their independence.

It wasn't that he was blind to the injustices perpetuated by the Empire. Nunally being a good example of just how little it cared for the lives of it's own citizens, let only its colonial subjects.

But if enough people believed that they didn't have to work within the system to achieve their ends, then they would invite harsher reprisals and restrictions from those that possessed to bring untold suffering to the lives of countless innocents.

Fortunately however, he had seen first hand that there did in fact exist people who proved his beliefs weren't pure fantasy.

Lloyd and Cecil had never looked down on him for being an Honorary Britannian, though in the former's case it was probably because he lacked the ability to see people as little more than cogs in a machine.

And while Princess Cornelia did carry the same sort of prejudices as most members of Britannian society, Suzaku suspected that it was largely caused by the perception that the country was the graveyard of more than one of her siblings. He was uncertain about how close she had been to the former Viceroy, but Nunally had often spoken of how protective 'Nellie' had been of her and Lelouch. Which meant that her feelings towards Japan were colored by the belief that it had claimed the lives of three family members.

The attitudes of Euphemia, and to a lesserextent the Knight of Nine, were far better than most Britannian citizens.

The Princess because she was that rare sort to believe that everyone was equal, no matter the circumstances of their birth or nationality. Which encouraged her to do what she could to improve the way Britannia treated its honorary citizens and conquered subjects.

He knew that many people would resist her efforts to return dignity to the common people, but he was sure that more people would see her example as the best way forward in achieving peace.

And as for Lady Enneagram, as far as he could tell it didn't matter what a person's race was. Only their abilities.

An admirable trait if it didn't extend to her admiration of the man that justified the Empire's rampant militarism.

He might be a bit biased, but he had seen first hand what happened to those that took up arms against Britannia. And he knew that the longer a people stood against them, the longer they would use their superior military power on those that had nothing to do with prolonging the conflict.

Yes peace under the Empire was...not what it could be. But it was better than the alternative since it was easier to promote positive change if those in power didn't have a valid excuse to turn their weapons on the populace.

And the longer peace lasted, more and more people would come to realize that brutality wasn't necessary to keep a people loyal to the laws of their new found government.

Which meant the longer Britannia had an enemy that could challenge their domination of other lands, the longer...

"Hey Suzaku?! You were supposed to on the field a minute ago. Everything ok in there?"

Pulled out of his musings by one of the key reminders why he wished to change Britannian society for the better, Suzaku couldnt help but flash an apologetic smile even though his friend wouldn't be able to see it.

Though he suspected Lelouch could easily picture it as he pushed the cockpit's communication button.

"Y...yeah sorry Lelouch. Just thinking about how crazy work's getting."

Which was putting it mildly considering there were many officers were blaming him for the capture Prince Schneziel's knightmare prototype, though luckily the Second Prince was not one of them.

But he didn't want to burden his friend with his problems.

And was thus relieved when the purple eyed prince let the matter drop.

"Well then its a good thing I'm the one helping you out instead of Milly. If she found out that your not devoting your fullest attention to her latest project...lets just say that I would rather deal with a military briefing rather than her."

Chuckling to show that he agreed with that sentiment, though he found it odd that he found the overly energetic blond to be more terrifying than most of his superiors, the son of Japan's last Prime Minister refocused his attention to the task at hand.

"So just to be clear, I'm supposed to do how many laps in this thing before I bring the tomato sauce?"

...

While she normally treasured anytime she got to spend with her sister, their schedules more often than not meant that they could rarely spend more than a meal together, Euphie was nevertheless feeling less than happy as her sister was currently acting more like a parent than a sibling.

And over such a ridiculous of reasons.

"What were you thinking Euphie? I applaud your decision to stand up for your beliefs, even if I do not agree with them, but letting that...Number take part in your private conversations with that...MAN is going too far."

She had known that Cornelia would be less than thrilled when she learned that she had chosen Suzaku to serve as her chaperone while talking with her fiancé. But Euphie had been caught guard by not only her sister's reaction to Suzaku's decision to stand by his beliefs, but also by Nonette's decision to take part in this dressing down.

"Your sister has a point Euphie. I mean, don't get me wrong, I could careless if you decided to let Kururugi take part in your little chats with Freddy."

"Nonette now is not the time to act..."

"But its quite another to have him reveal his character flaws to a man who would do anything to take us down a peg. And since revealing the identity of Lancelot's pilot has managed to divide Numbered support between those that support Zero, the JLF, and the Empire, anything that could be used to discredit him, like say blaming his people for the continued oppression of their country, things could become very difficult for us. And I for one don't want to risk the lives of our people just because some naive idiot went off script."

The words were delivered in her usual flippant manner.

But nevertheless, Euphie could tell that the Knight of Nine meant every word she said.

She opened her mouth to refute her claim that Suzaku was a threat to the wellbeing of the Empire's colonial subjects.

But Nonette wasn't finished.

"And honestly if it wasn't too much of a hassle, I'd pistol whip that stupid Number myself."

That was going to far in her mind.

And interestingly enough her sister's as well.

"Nonette!"

"What?! Your telling me that you wouldn't want to deck the guy who thinks it's wrong for a solider to fight for their homeland just because the odds are stacked against them? Please. Even if we mock their efforts to resist us, you can't help but admire their willingness to at least die in the trenches instead of surrendering when the going gets tough."

She could tell that Cornelia wanted to argue this point. But in the end, her sister merely sighed to show her agreement.

Which was all the justification Nonette needed to continue.

"I think our Honorary Britannian pilot's problem is that Krueger serves as a reminder that his philosophy is, pardon my language Euphie, utter bullshit. Be they European or Britannian, as long as you have the skills, grit, and determination to continue in the face of overwhelming odds, you can carve out a place in this world. Even if the Chancellor's place is much larger and dangerous than many people might like. And then of course there is the other reason."

Tilting her head in confusion, for while she agreed with the Knight's observation regarding Krueger and Suzaku's clashing philosophies, she was uncertain as to what the other thing could be."

Though as Nonette spoke the words, she wished she hadn't.

Not for her sake, but for Suzaku's.

For her sister's expression was enough to remind anyone who saw it just whose temper she had inherited.

"He has a crush on you Euphie."

...

Despite the fact that it had been many years since he had been a child, that period of his life ending when he had discovered his mother's bleeding corpse covering his catatonic sister, Lelouch nevertheless felt the same immature impulse that had resulted in many scoldings about how he had to share his toys.

Yes he knew that his goals could only be accomplished by ensuring the cooperation of an organization that would have long since perished if it hadn't been for the 'generosity' of Europe.

But the fact remained that his life would have been much simpler if the JLF had been shattered completely. Therefore allowing him to absorb the surviving elements into the Black Knights, and relying on their adherence to military protocol to ensure the hesitation of their more outspoken members did not adversely affect military operations.

He could of course use his Geass to make Todoh subordinate himself, but that would be too out of character for the Japanese officer. Which meant that his usefulness as a figurehead would be negligible.

Which meant for the time being, in order to ensure a continued line of support from Kyoto, he would have to at least pretend he was interested in cooperating with the slowly recovering elements of the group that belonged to the dustbin of history.

Though he would ensure that such a state of affairs would remain temporary.

If Japan was to regain its independence, and more importantly be in a position to help him achieve his revenge against those responsible for ruining his life, its best chances of doing so was following one flag.

Not two.

Another irritating complication standing in his way.

Fortunately, it was not an impossible one. Merely one that carried its own set of risks.

And while he was loath to use his power on his direct subordinates, said restrictions did not extend to those that had chosen to follow the commands of a nation that was not their homeland.

It would be difficult, and he would have to ensure that it could not be traced to him.

But if he could engineer an 'accident', that would solve a lot of his problems.

At least the ones concerning his rebellion against the Empire.

His personal problems? Not so much.

But since Nunally enjoyed Milly's constant attempts to abuse her status as the principal's granddaughter, he couldn't complain too much.

...

This was concerning.

It was bad enough that Britannia was also working on the development of flying knightmares. Ensuring that the Reich's lead in that field was much smaller than I would have liked.

But to have worked out how to make energy cannon's small enough to be carried by a knightmare?

Probably the only thing that was preventing me from being more concerned about this was the fact that the specs for this new weapon system were now in the possession of the Reich's scientists.

It would take time of course, especially since they had to build a working prototype based on the obtained technological data before we could start talking about mass production, but it was better than nothing.

Have to remember to do something nice for Karina since we wouldn't have this data without the use of our Japanese Orphans. For they were once again proving themselves to be worthy of the investment of transforming them into loyal soldiers of the Reich.

Not to mention the added benefit that their access to European secrets was limited should they decide to be less than loyal to their oaths of service.

The risk was small since they weren't under the command of someone who possibly had the sameabilities as that time-distorting assassin, but it didn't hurt to be cautious.

Sadly, I couldn't spend to much time dwelling on the source of Zero's success thanks to the interruptionof a device that was rarely used.

Though in the past few months than it had seen more use than it had in the years since I obtained power.

Flipping the switch to accept the secured communication, I fought the very real urge to scowl as I beheld the image of the man who had nearly succeeded in tearing Europe apart despite Britannia's defeat on the Eastern Front.

"Greetings Chancellor. Forgive the late hour, but I was wondering if you had time to discuss your upcoming nuptials with my sister."

...

ANNNNND I believe I will end it here

Feels good to be getting back to this story after all this time. Even if my writing style, and grammar skills have improved, I hope, since the last time I published a chapter lol

The idea for this chapter had been set down since the last time I published, so glad that it was finally published.

Will be a bit until the next update since I am working on my other stories, but since I am keeping to a new scheduled (i.e. Publish one chapter of a story before working on another), shouldnt be too long.

Please review. No flames.

Til next time.