To note, Taylor goes on a couple mental rambles in this one but I'm hoping you guys are getting the vibe that she is very used to being in her own head at all times due to the fact that she can multitask like a supercomputer and sometimes gets stuck in tangents thinking too much.
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Aeries Villa, Pendragon, Holy Empire of Britannia
Early Spring of 2009
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Much to my consternation, even after weeks of searching through the secret tunnels and bunkers of the Aeries Villa, I was no closer to finding my query scurrying through the walls. One would think it would be nigh impossible to bypass my insect supplied near hundred kilometer radius of quasi-omniscience, and typically they would be right. My elusive prey though was quite atypical, because nearly all of the regular tracking methods didn't seem to work on her, and yes the target being female is all I've figured out.
Scent markers don't stick to her, she keeps her hair and face in a tight shawl with glasses so I can't see the colours, she's wearing gloves so no go on finding her in the registry, and at some point she just vanishes somewhere in the crowd around the Imperial Palace. Oh and all cameras aside from the ones I was able to hide in the ducts show her as a blank spot at all times, and to top it off I have no idea what happens to the bugs that are on her.
Aside from knowing she didn't kill them with a can of Raid, I have nothing, and well...
This was frustrating beyond words and I almost wanted to scream like a petulant child how this isn't fair, only I'm allowed to cheat like a cheating cheater who cheats with a grin on my face and fingers crossed behind my back. I'm seriously going to have to step up my game. I could just ask Marianne but no, I'd figure this mystery out on my own, my professional pride is at stake here.
Regardless, my pet project aside over the next few months I found myself attending my principals as assigned, yet I was also spending more and more of my personal time with the vi Britannia family and extended li Britannia sisters at the villa just being, heh, normal.
Normal, what is that even really? Well I wouldn't know; my first life my mother died around the time a young teen girl really needs her mom more than anyone else. That in turn left my father a listless mess doing his best and failing to hold it together, and me ending up being the epitome of stability and rational decision making at the end. This life I had a huge family, four brothers, two sisters, more cousins than I could count, well placed noble parents who were actually decent people, and that were more importantly willing to indulge an exuberant and brilliant little girl on her quirky eccentricities and projects.
That thought would have made me scoff even if I was doing my regular terrifyingly emotionless guard thing while staring down callers to Empress Marianne. Really, I wonder if I'll ever get to tell someone who would get it and appreciate it that I ghost wrote The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings from memory since it didn't exist here, for posterity's sake if nothing else. It wasn't word for word since while my powers give me insane processing power they don't grant perfect memory, but still I hope I did Professor Tolkien proud.
There's a thought I've done my best to not think about, running into someone else who also remembers Earth Bet and its insanity. Depending on who it was and where they were when they started remembering things it would have either been extremely obvious or like myself, next level subterfuge. Since I don't regularly hear reports about frat boys gaining the power to fart out atomic acid thanks to the bad burritos he ate the night before while drunk off his ass causing the worst experience in his life, I'm not overly concerned about the flashy powers as of now.
Also, I really wish I made that power up, console time in the Wards made you intimately familiar with the fact that life is strange and has a twisted sense of humor.
To be honest about the subtle powers if they're here they're probably playing the long game like myself, and in all likelihood their Passenger had lightened up the urge to get into a fight to the point that I know that when I'm feeling it, it's me not the Queen as a very disturbing woman once named my partner. So the chances of me running into someone from Bet, who actually remembered and liked me, and could survive in this extreme Darwinist paradise are fairly slim, so obviously I've resigned myself to it happening at some point.
Huh, tangent much Taylor? Seriously I really think I have undiagnosed ADHD in this life at times, what I was getting at was I don't know normal because normal never really happened to me when it mattered. Now at this point of time, hanging out with Marianne and the kids acting like a family on my off time was becoming my new normal, and I liked it a lot. With this familiarity forming, the kids naturally grew comfortable around me, which I admit pleased me; I had always hoped I'd be good with children but really had never been given the chance being the youngest sibling and all.
So all that said, Lelouch, who at times felt like he was currently ten going on thirty, was more than comfortable enough to talk to me about the two big elephants in the room I refuse to address with people I don't know, or do know and want to stab, namely politics and religion.
Politics could get quite heated primarily because I know I might not be right but I am fully aware that you're an idiot who doesn't know what you're talking about, and I'm willing to elaborate on the subject. As for religion I'd need to bring Jerry in to do a lot of the heavy talking because something told me my young protege wouldn't believe a word about my younger self's antics otherwise. We'll just say that If anyone asks my religion is Sith, yes I started a cult at eleven, and yes I got grounded when I demanded I be called the Dark Lord when I came down from the sugar high.
Normality, right, thankfully Lelouch wanted politics explained to him rather than religion, which I was more than willing to do because god knows what banality he'd grow up believing watching the news. So here I am, power point presentation set up like I was back at base, ready to educate my young charge on the subtle arts of asymmetrical warfare and how that ties directly into current policies. This'll be fun.
"Ahem," I coughed out getting Lelouch's attention, the boy sat up in his chair meeting my gaze with a smile and a nod; good he was ready.
"All right you and your friends figured out Britannia was going to invade what we now know as Area Ten last year, which is impressive yes. Now we're going to discuss why this decision was made, where it is going to lead us, and how the entire Area system is a potential house of cards due to politics trying to set a precedent. Now, thoughts on the invasion your Highness?"
The boy sighed at that, "I keep telling you to just call me Lelouch, so please?"
Still a cute kid.
"Of course Lelouch, my apologies; your answer?"
He looked down at the notes he had brought, then spoke with determination, "The decision to take the Indochinese Peninsula for Britannia was actually multifaceted, and more complex then I thought. The countries making up the region were all claimed by the Chinese Federation but every one of them told the Eunuchs to buzz off; it's kind of like what they do to us whenever they're feeling like being annoying."
I let out a tired sigh at that, "Yes, the Philippines. That one confuses everyone involved. It's been a Britannian territory since we started expanding into the Pacific and is nearly as important as Honolulu, yet the Chinese keep going, 'nuh uh it's mine!' which of course leads us to saying stop it you're being annoying. Which then leads to them saying 'make us!' and then we roll our eyes and send a carrier group to spend six months sitting around looking scary, wasting time, money, and valuable military assets. Probably just going to end up declaring it an Area at some point to shut the Eunuchs mouths, continue."
If on Earth Bet I would have gone into greater detail about the indigenous peoples of the various islands and archipelagos of the Pacific, and what their shall we say, strong worded, opinion on the subject of ownership would be. Sadly, as little as a high school student would have cared about the subject, risking bringing it up around an above average intelligence, inquisitive, sheltered child who wouldn't even grasp why it would matter, might do something dangerous. Like asking questions he should that could be directly pointed back at me; I'd have to work through intermediaries as usual for that later.
Such is life, and thusly the thoughtful looking boy continued on.
"Right, so they're four to six nations in the peninsula give or take a regime change, and they actually collectively bargained with Britannia to join peacefully. The invasion force was less an invasion and more of a massive uplifting of the local infrastructure. All told there was far less violence than anyone expected for something of this scale."
As it stood they saw the writing on the wall for what it was, and rather than being another bone being gnawed on by the big three they joined on their own terms as equal members to the whole. Good on them; of all the terrible choices they had, they made the most completely unexpected, personally humiliating, yet ultimately best choice for their people.
I'll be the first to admit Britannia is a bully, and while I detest bullies on principle I'm also a proven hypocrite considering who I work for, further proving I'm a pragmatist at heart when I have a goal in mind. When one of your potential would be conquerors, who also happens to have the biggest pointiest sticks mind you, accepts your offer of changing your flag, and continuing on with your life as usual, rather than inevitable eventual subjugation? The decision is pretty clear.
Better the Devil that you know after all, let it be the next guys problem.
"Correct; now as for why this is being set up as it is let's go over the Area system and how it is a complete and utter farce. For starters, why are Areas Two, Three, and Six nearly as ridiculous as a modern globalized military adapting giant killer robots as their primary weapon?"
Lelouch blinked at that in confusion, "What?"
"I didn't stutter."
He raised a curious brow and continued on in confused tone, "Right, uhh, it's ridiculous because Area Two has been part of Britannia since the late 1700s and Area Three ended up coming with Texas, they were just more ornery about it."
I nodded in approval, "They were picked as the first labeled Areas because it didn't change anything; do you have any idea how many people still call the Detroit Sentinels the Gearheads? It's been around so long that it's practically an institution to most people that care, so when someone slaps a new label on it they go, 'Ah, cool buddy, good for you,' and move on because as I said, it doesn't mean anything. What does matter though is that it is setting a precedent, and not a good one."
This I didn't have any way of putting it simply, so I didn't, "Areas Four and Five, Greenland and Iceland, have been territories forever, why? Well the simple answer is we learned our lesson after The Exodus and learned it well. Our capital is in the middle of the continent, the fortifications on the West Coast are so massive and well armed it is colloquially referred to as 'The California Base' with genuine conviction.
"That leaves the East coast the vulnerable weak point which is just, an absolutely hilarious thought if you've ever seen the Great Yards. This means they'd have to invade from the north if the Eurotrash ever decide to finish the job, and to do that they'd have the easiest time moving through Greenland. So knowing this we never gave them the option to by taking it for ourselves.
"Now knowing all of this logically makes the EU nervous. Primarily because they know that now that we have regained our strength, we have the active ability to take the mother isles back and those are decent beachhead positions for an invasion of the mainland. Regardless everyone in Areas Four and Five are treated fine with full rights, don't piss off the people that will be your primary staging point after all.
"Area Six was a freaking insult though, lumping a couple dozen different provinces that all have very distinct cultures into one catch all was just lazy. Aside from occasionally being known as Southern Britannia, no one treats anyone there differently but it does help to speak Spanish and Portuguese. If you ever go down there on business though, understand that Columbia, Argentina, and Brazil all think they are more important than each other and it can be frustrating, but also entertaining to watch. Just let them handle it like they always have and no one will likely end up d-hurt.
"Areas Seven, Eight, and Nine are just weird; that's Hawaii and Midway Atoll, the Falkland Islands, and New Zealand that have been territories forever as well, but the weird bit about that is we've largely left Australia on its own for some reason"
The boy cocked his head to the side speaking in an interested tone, "Oh? Why's that?"
I shrugged in response, "We don't know; I personally think the Emperor likes having a genuinely neutral country to be able to operate in openly. Jerry thinks it's because the Emperor doesn't want to deal with a population that has taken his Darwinism to heart, and have found a tentative hair trigger coexistence with an ecosystem that has every intention on murdering everyone horribly."
I really hate how much Darwinism is thrown around as a catch all for survival of the fittest, especially social Darwinism; shocker the previously bullied don't approve, news at nine. Whatever; I used it as the catchall everyone else does so they know what I'm talking about, adaptation and all that at work even if I didn't like it.
"Huh," he then shot me a wide grin, "I like Jerry's theory better."
Pff, brat.
"I'm sure you do. Moving on, of all these precedents being set and outside of growing pains the Area system was implemented with no problems at all. Which is really easy to do when most of those Areas have been stabilized going on two hundred years. Now back to Area Ten, why are we calling it an invasion, why are we setting up shop so close to CF territory, why are we trying to present this entire thing as best as we can?"
Silence for a time, which is good it meant he was thinking. He hummed a bit for a time, scribbled on a piece of paper, then nodded to himself as he finally found his answer
"Well, the Area system is proven a 'success', and Area Ten was established peacefully with a massive military buildup but very little for an immediate offensive. So Area Ten is uplifted to Britannian standards, we've established ourselves on the continental mainland as well as showing the locals what subservience earns them if they simply chose to adapt to our culture."
"Right, keep in mind we have a habit of absorbing cultures into our own without realizing it so it does go both ways. That said, I am beyond impressed you just essentially said, 'If you just give up and deal with the fact your way of life sucks and ours is better then everything will be fine,' with a straight face."
I got a giggle snort from him for that, "It was difficult task but I was able to perform it without issue I assure you."
Rolling my eyes I drawled out, "Riiiight. So why go through all this effort Lelouch? Why set up all these precedents that the Area system works even though it really hasn't actually been tested to its extreme yet?"
The boy didn't hesitate, "Because if whoever is going to be Area Eleven decides to fight back, we'll be able to gesture back to past Areas and be free to say that the Elevens are obviously the problem."
At that I turned back to the power point and clicked on the map of the Pacific theatre, "Correct; now my young padawan-"
"-Your what?"
"-lets figure out what unlucky country is going to be Area Eleven."
Staring at the image of Japan on the map I shook my head slowly, I really hope I'm wrong and Prime Minister Kururugi stops playing hardball with the Empire. At this point I'm not even sure it's even about the Sakuradite trade negotiations anymore, Japan standing proudly with the soft economical power of the EU and CF daring Britannia to do something is just...
There's that Darwin thought again...
Regardless I wouldn't tell Lelouch my suspicions; I wanted to see if he could come to the same conclusion I did, and when he inevitably did whether the boy realized how a culture like that of Japan was not going to take bowing to a foreign power very well.
Unfortunately, Britannia didn't care and if the Japanese didn't burn all the fire out of their blood during the invasion, well...being an Eleven would suck, naturally.
All hail Britannia...I need a drink.