Code Geass: Nunnally on the Insurrection

Chapter Seventeen: The International Side

The Emperor of Britannia was a big man, fit and strong as he sat on his throne. One by one nobles came forward with petitions and the bearish sized man handled them, his expression stern. Finally the session was over and the majority of nobles filed out, leaving him alone.

"Come, Knight of Four," Charles rumbled.

Dorothea Ernst, the Knight of Four, emerged from the shadows and bowed slightly to him. "I humbly apologize for my failure," she said grimly, the dark skinned and haired woman standing at attention before him.

Charles tilted his head to the side, his expression more thoughtful than anything else. "What went wrong?" he asked, his white wig giving him a almost absurd look. But the power he controlled was not absurd, and Dorothea knew he could kill her with a single command.

"I don't know," Dorothea conceded that quite reluctantly. She took a breath to try to still her frustration as she explained, "The Narita base was completely off the books in Area 11. We financed it through dealing Refrain, and staffed it with officers we declared legally dead. There was no way they could have known about it."

"Yet somehow they did," Charles noted flatly.

Dorothea nodded reluctantly. "We either have a mole," she said, "or someone on this end spilled the information."

Charles raised a eyebrow. "A Knight or one of my children?" he asked.

"Sir," Dorothea didn't say anything else. There was nothing safe she could say at this point that wouldn't put her in worse danger. Accusing a fellow Knight or one of the Princes could get her killed just as easily as disappointing her leader.

He nodded, looking thoughtful. "Now, what should I do with you?" he mused, changing the subject. "You have failed me, and worse the world knows about it."

Dorothea pressed her lips together. Officially the labs at Narita were being called a 'rogue operation' but few in the know really believed it. The Chinese government (whom Britannia was having to handle carefully as it was) had publicly expressed their disapproval. Worse, opposition forces in the still free countries were using the lab to frighten their people about the possible consequences of falling under Britannian rule.

"I will accept whatever punishment required," Dorothea said flatly.

Charles sighed in resignation. "You carried out your duties well," he relented, "I am aware circumstances went beyond your control. However you will be confined to the capital for now, until I can determine how best to use your skills."

"Sir," Dorothea said, bowing and leaving.

A few moments later VV emerged from a hidden passage, the much smaller immortal smiling grimly at his brother. "I told you it was a bad idea," he said with a sigh.

Charles bit back a retort, just nodding slightly. "Artificial Geass would have been very useful to us, especially if we could control who gained what ability," he said.

"Hmm," VV nodded noncommittally. He controlled the power of Geass for the throne, and having these artificial Geass users would have threatened his power. But he wasn't going to say anything like that to Charles.

"Were any of your people taken in Narita?" Charles asked after a moment.

"One of the younger subjects we were training," VV admitted with a sigh. "Rolo was there for conditioning after a assignment went bad."

"He might have been taken by the rebels," Charles mused. He looked thoughtful, "Will his loyalty hold? And do you think he could get word to us?"

VV shook his head grimly, "We got a burst transmission from somewhere in Tokyo. Before we could narrow it down, the transmission was cut off."

Charles looked annoyed. "I see," he sighed. He looked thoughtful, "I will urge Cornelia to search the city, but I suspect she will not have much success."

"Should we replace her?" VV asked.

"We?" Charles looked at his brother thoughtfully.

VV held up a hand, "Sorry, brother. You know what I mean."

Charles bit back a comment. His brother was more and more presuming too much, and the little immortal assumed Charles didn't know what he was up to. Still, this wasn't the place or time to bring any of it up.

"Cornelia is a excellent military tactician," Charles said, "and we need her in Area 11 to subdue the enemy. And I have hopes that her sister Euphemia may be able to bring more of the Elevens over to our side."

"And if that doesn't work?" VV asked mildly.

Charles met his brother's eyes, his own expression quite controlled. "There are other alternatives," he said simply.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Schneizel el Britannia moved the chess piece, the the white queen clicking softly against the board. "Checkmate," he said calmly.

Odysseus eu Britannia blinked as he looked down at the chessboard, then the first born prince of Britannia sat back and shook his head ruefully. "Once again, you win," he conceded, sighing. "It's no fun playing you, Schneizel."

"Sorry, brother," Schneizel apologized with a gentle smile. He got up as he said, "I'm going to check on our progress."

"Thank you," Odysseus smiled, "I might take a nap until we arrive."

"You do that," Schneizel nodded.

In truth, Schneizel hadn't particularly enjoyed playing Odysseus in chess either. It was difficult stretching a game out against a poor player so that they at least believed they were moderately good at it. But as Odysseus was the heir Schneizel had to humour him, at least as much as possible.

They were flying in his battleship the Avalon over Britannian controlled territories near Euro Universe, the countries in old Europe that were still actively fighting them. While Cornelia had done them serious damage before transferring to Area 11, there was still a powerful core of resistance. He and Odysseus were taking command of military operations here, a task that he didn't relish.

Oh, Schneizel was certain he could end the war here. That wasn't something he dreaded, though the possible solutions were rather unpleasant. The Britannian forces outnumbered the EU by a significant margin, but he disliked using such brute force applications of power. It lacked subtlety. What he disliked was the drudgery of the conflict, there were no surprises in the coming conflict, no brilliant generals. It was going to be boring.

He paused by a port hole, looking out to the east thoughtfully. Now, Area 11.. that looked like a interesting puzzle to him. Schneizel was intrigued in that he couldn't quite determine what the resistance there was up to.

There were the obvious things of course. The Black Knights had done a masterful job of discrediting the Viceroy and her government, showing her to be ineffectual on crime and corruption. And all without speaking out against her directly, a very nice touch. And the Knights were both consolidating their forces and arming rebel factions across the Area. It wasn't as visible, but if you traced the shipments of arms that had gone missing from their military, it was clear that both obsolete munitions and knightmares were being spirited away to arm the rebels.

The question that bothered Schneizel was, why? Whoever was running the resistance there, be it the mysterious Nemo or possibly Todo, had to know they couldn't win in a straight fight. Even if fate smiled on them and they succeeded in defeating the forces in Area 11, reinforcements would eventually arrive and crush them. If the strategist knew that, what was their real plan?

"My lord?" a young Lieutenant poked his head into the chamber as he said, "We've nearly reached the landing site."

Schneizel sighed at having his pleasant musings interrupted, but kept any trace from appearing in his face or voice as he said, "Thank you. Please send someone to inform Odysseus."

"Sir," the young man scampered off as Schneizel prepared to do his duty once more.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Within the Chinese Federation, there was turmoil as the High Eunuchs considered their own plots in light of events in Area 11 and in the world. The former men were gathered in a opulent chamber, eating fine dishes even as they debated what to do.

"Li Xingke, report," the leader of the Eunuchs commanded.

The tall, handsome young man nodded slightly. "The Black Knights of Area 11 have successfully absorbed the Japan Liberation Front, as well as bringing the majority of rebel groups under their sway," he told them.

The eight Eunuchs frowned, chattering among themselves softly. "Will this interfere with our plan to attempt to seize Japan ourselves?" another demanded.

Li frowned in consideration. "Possibly," he conceded, "a large part of our plan was having the JLF trigger a uprising in support of our invasion. It would give our actions legitimacy in the eyes of the EU and ensure their support."

Carefully Li didn't say that without the EU support, they might not be able to hold onto Japan. Saying that in front of the Eunuchs might get him killed, which would leave Empress Tianzi without his protection.

There was a annoyed rumble in the Eunuchs, then a third spoke up. "Can we make contact with these Black Knights?" he asked.

"We're trying," another Eunuch sighed, "but they're much more security conscious than the JLF was. They operate under a strict cell structure, which makes it much harder to pass messages."

"Should we delay preparations for the attack?" Li asked formally.

The Eunuchs fidgeted uncomfortable, talking among themselves. "No," the leader decided, "make contact with the remains of the JLF, and continue to prepare the Knightmares. Even a partial uprising can be played to our advantage."

"And if we need to cancel the operation?" Li had to ask.

A Eunuch smiled coldly, "Then they'll just have to manage on their own."

To be continued...

Notes: We haven't seen much outside Area 11, so I figured it was time to take a look. Plus I'm setting up the seeds of a few plot bits from the original Code Geass, with some twists from me.

I don't know if I've mentioned it yet, but Insurrection will NOT end like Code Geass season one. I have a twist in mind, but I won't say what it is.