Nunnally of the Insurrection
Chapter 26
Things were... tense, in the Chinese Republic.
The plan to invade Area 11 had, on the surface, looked nearly fool proof. Members of the Japan Liberation Front would rebel against Britannia. They would then appeal to China for aide, China would land a sizable force on the island then take over. The Area 11 military would be wrecked, and the ability for Britannia to land reinforcements would be limited. By the time SERIOUS reinforcements could come, China would be dug in and very hard to force out.
Sadly, they had underestimated Viceroy Cornelia and her military skills. Despite being grossly outnumbered, her loyalist forces held out for days. Plus there was that white Knightmare, the Lancelot. It had, bluntly, been nearly unbeatable in single combat, and had itself nearly turned the tide of battle. Only by swarming it with expendable JLF forces could they keep it in check.
The final nail in the coffin of their 'fool proof' plan was the sudden arrival of the mysterious Black Knights. All their projections had said the Knights would be their allies. Or, at worst, be neutral and act to help themselves. Instead they arrived as allies of the Area 11 forces, completely disrupting their plans. They caught the Chinese and JLF forces in a pincer movement, crushing them between two forces and nearly wiping them out.
"HOW COULD YOU LET THIS HAPPEN?!" one Eunuch wailed.
Empress Tianzi sighed as she sat back in her chair observing the meeting and listened to another High Eunuch rant hysterically. Her 'advisors' who actually ran China were now dealing with the fallout of their actions. A fall out, possibly, that might get them all killed.
"Calm down!" another cried. "We can... manage this."
"Even after your representative to Japan talked?" Tianzi noted mildly, pitching her voice loud enough to be heard.
There was another wailing cry at THAT. Somehow, both the Eunuch and the general who had accompanied the expedition to Area 11 had been forced to talk. Indeed, it appeared they had revealed the full plan quite willingly to their captors. Who, in turn, broadcast it across both the Empire, the Chinese Federation, and Europe. It was vaguely possible Europe might still help them, if things got bad, but it wasn't likely...
"Are you enjoying the show?" Li Xingke asked mildly, the bodyguard of the Empress standing just behind her.
"I'd be enjoying it more if we weren't in danger of being invaded in a few days," Tianzi said with a sigh.
Li Xingke looked startled, "It's THAT bad?"
Tianzi nodded slightly. "It's at least possible," she said, "but it depends on Britannia being willing to risk destablizing the overall political picture."
"Between them, us and the European Union. If they try going for us, it might free up the EU to jump them," Li Xingke observed.
"Exactly," Tianzi agreed.
Li Xingke felt a quiet surge of pride for the young woman before him. Despite her youth and being confined in the palace, she was politically well informed and very intelligent. Once again he felt the determination to try to get his ruler real, practical political power...
Excitedly Tianzi added, "Did you SEE the report on Nemo? She's SOOO cool! If she was a man I'd marry her!"
'Then again, she IS a thirteen year old...' Li Xingke thought.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Brrr," Nunnally shivered.
"Hmm?" CC asked curiously as she ate a pizza slice.
"Just had a chill run down my spine," Nunnally noted as she worked on catching up with her school work. Running around as the mysterious Nemo was fun, but it severely cut into her class work.
"Are Nina's notes helpful?" CC asked as she casually lay on the bed.
Nunnally had borrowed Nina's notes from their shared classes, and was going over them as she rushed through the assignments. "Very," she said, "if a bit too in depth."
"Well, she IS a genius," CC observed.
Nunnally watched enviously as CC ate another piece of pizza. Where did it all GO? If she ate pizza like that, she'd be ROUND.
"What?" CC asked, lounging back as she gleefully ate more pizza.
"Never mind," Nunnally sighed as she went back to work.
The next morning, the student council was meeting before class started.
"You look wakeful," Milly teased the somewhat bleary Nunnally.
"Oh shut up," Nunnally sighed. She smiled at Nina and passed over the laptop, "Thank you very much for the notes."
"You're welcome," Nina smiled. "Did you get me the autographed Nemo photo I asked for?" she said impishly.
"Fans are strange people," Nunnally passed the photo over.
(She was REASONABLY sure Nina knew she was Nemo at that point. But Nina didn't bring it up, and she and Milly seemed to enjoy pretending they were two seperate people still. Eh.)
"How did you GET that?" Rivalz had to ask.
"I have skills," Nunnally shrugged casually.
"Morning everyone," Suzaku called. Nearly looking as tired as Nunnally, he walked in and took a chair.
"Are you all right?" Shirley asked, looking mildly alarmed.
"I'm fine," Suzaku reassured her, "I just had my cousin dragging me around the city yesterday. Kaguya's just... TOO full of energy."
"Oh yeah," Nunnally agreed wryly.
Shirley pouted a bit. SHE could have helped escort the young lady around town. Not to mention ask her about young Suzaku stories. She bet he had been very cute when he was younger...
Suzaku felt the weirdest chill, but he couldn't say why.
Milly looked at the two with amusement. It was so CUTE watching Shirley plotting to trip Suzaku to the floor and ravish him. "All right, on to the meeting," Milly said. She looked at Rivalz, "Update on damage done to the Academy?"
"We got off very lightly," Rivalz shrugged. "We've pretty much got all damage repaired."
Nunnally firmly stepped on her feelings of guilt. She had done her best to contain the fighting away from the capital, but SOME had seeped through...
"Suzaku, do we need to do anything with Lloyd and the lab?" Milly asked.
"We're fine," Suzaku reassured her. "It's not exactly a secret that Lancelot was banged up pretty badly. We're just doing repairs for now..."
"Good. I'll have someone send food over. Don't want them getting food poisoning again...," Milly mused as the meeting continued.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Welcome home," Cornelia hugged her sister happily as she walked into her office.
"You seem happy to see me," Euphemia noted, looking up at her in amusement.
"I've just spent several days getting my ass kicked in negotiations with Kaguya Sumeragi," Cornelia admitted wryly.
"That bad?" Euphemia teased as they sat down on a couch off to the side of Cornelia's desk.
"Oh yes," Cornelia agreed. "She came into the meeting with all our trade data for years on Sakuradite, company reports and so on. She skewered any argument that we weren't profiting from the mineral trade," she agreed ruefully.
Smugly Euphie reminded her, "I told you we should recruit more Elevens."
Cornelia made a face, but she couldn't really argue the point. Her opinion on Suzaku had been gradually improving, and both Nemo and Kaguya had proven to be dangerously sharp. She could do much worse than converting them to Britannia's side.
"Father will not be happy with us when we provide better trade deals to Area 11," Euphie noted. Not that she didn't support the idea. But there would be trouble.
"Agreed, but I think my report on the Lancelot will off-set that," Cornelia agreed.
"Oh?" Euphie asked.
"If our battle against the JLF and the Chinese proved anything, it's how effective the Lancelot is in battle. I'm going to urge Father to start putting them into production immediately," Cornelia said.
"It won't be soon though," Euphie cautioned. "I've talked to Lloyd, a great deal of Lancelot is custom made. Mass production will take quite awhile."
"Oh, agreed," Cornelia nodded, "but even having one or two units per division would be a tremendous force multiplier."
"Which reminds me," Euphie mock scowled, "we haven't honored the pilots who fought against the Chinese."
"I've been busy!" Cornelia defended herself.
Euphie gave her a look.
"And when we DO that, I'm going to have to recognize Nemo too," Cornelia added with a sigh. "I'm not sure how I feel about that."
"Hm," Euphie patted her arm. She felt a twinge of guilt over hiding Nemo being Nunnally from her, but... "You're going to have to eventually, if only to satisfy the Japanese," she pointed out.
"I know, I know," Cornelia sighed. She looked over at Euphie and smirked, "I think we should have YOU give Suzaku his reward. Maybe with a kiss too?"
"Cornelia!" Euphie yelped, blushing.
Cornelia smirked. She was so CUTE when she blushed.
To be continued...
Notes: Yes, I'm not following canon with the Chinese Empress. Mostly. I don't really like helpless characters, so she's smart, but limited in what she can actually DO.
Canonly Cornelia is a bit of a sis-con, which I'm MOSTLY ignoring. At this point she's developed enough respect for Suzaku to be OK with him dating Euphie, tho there are political issues still.