Nunnally of The Insurrection
Chapter 34
"They're WHAT?" Odysseus yelped, the handsome if dull prince getting an emergency briefing from his minder.
Dorothea was a Knight, and was very skilled. Even she looked a little nervous as she said, "The Chinese Federation is moving to a war footing with Britannia."
"Are they insane?" Odysseus wondered aloud.
"Politics," Dorothea said calmly. "While in theory the Eunuchs control the country, they do have to weigh public opinion. And the general public is very upset over what they see as our provocations," she said.
Odysseus digested that. "How is our security situation?" he asked. He knew in theory they were protected by diplomatic rules. However they were deep in enemy territory, and the Eunuchs could decide to toss out those rules.
"Poor," Dorothea admitted to hin frankly. She explained, "We have a small security force, and limited transport."
They had the plane they arrived in, but it was no military craft. The Chinese could shoot it down with ease. And they had only a ceremonial honor guard, with only small arms and limited ammo. They would fight if needed, but...
"I'm sure we will be rescued, if the situation deteriorates," Dorothea said.
Odysseus snorted, "Father will abandon us if needed. You'll remember he left Nunnally in Japan when we invaded... presumably got her killed."
Dorothea opened her mouth, then closed it. She couldn't really argue with that.
"Hell, and Father LIKED Nunnally. Said she was one of the few people to give him a good game at chess," Odysseus sighed.
"Excuse me," Dorothea said, "I will begin readying extraction plans."
"Are we still having negotiations, too?" Odysseus asked tiredly.
"As far as I know," Dorothea answered as she left.
"Oh joy," Odysseus sighed.
The other thing Odysseus had to be concerned about was that Dorothy was probably under orders to kill him, if he was going to fall into enemy hands. Britannia couldn't allow him to be a hostage, obviously. He wondered if he could escape her, if it came down to that.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
The high speed air transports left Area 11, crossing the sea between them and China. They headed towards the coastal defences, which achieved a target lock. Surface to air missiles fired, and the rogue transports crashed in flames.
At a much higher altitude and using sophisticated countermeasures, Nemo and her forces advanced unnoticed using the transports they got from the Viceroy.
"Where did you get the decoys?" Ohgi had to ask.
Nunnally smiled slightly as she said, "Lady Kaguya. They're all surplus, but we decorated them to look military."
Todo nodded admiringly. He was on another transport, so that they didn't have their leaders all in one place. "We're getting reports of border skirmishes," he noted, "nothing big, but both sides are fully occupied."
"And hopefully the Eunuchs are all happy they shot down the surprise attack from the south," Nunnally murmured.
"Here's hoping," CC agreed. "So what next?"
"A reliable source" Nunnally said (Someone she had used her geass on) "has given us the location where Tianzi and the High Eunuchs are. We're moving into position to hit that target, when the time is right."
"We're gonna have to wait?" Tamaki, one of the long time Black Knights, complained.
"We want the border conflict in full swing," Nunnally noted, "it should keep the Chinese Federation from quickly acting against us."
"Oh. Right," Tamaki conceded.
"This raid is going to be EPIC, though," Ohgi noted. "It's too bad we don't have someone to record it all for history."
In Area 11, Diethard Ried sneezed. In another timeline, he had been a Black Knights mole and PR guy, but here he was neither. The bored TV producer watched the news feed, totally unaware that a story he would have died to cover was going on.
Back on the transports, CC gave Nunnally a thoughtful look. "How much have you slept the past two days?" she asked.
"I caught a few hours," Nunnally noted. "Getting us moving was time consuming."
"All leaders should at least try to nap," CC pointed out to the group, "we can't afford bad decisions because of tiredness."
Nunnally was tempted to argue, but CC was probably right. "It's not a bad idea," she conceded.
"Ok, I'm taking Nemo. Be back in a hour or two," CC grabbed her then marched them off.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
The Chinese Knightmare Frames were, one on one, badly outmatched by Britannian ones. They were cheaper built, less well armed, and had pilots that were also less skilled. But both sides suffered losses as their forces met along the borders.
YES Britannia was in all ways better. But the Chinese Federation had weight of numbers. They were willing to throw insane numbers of troops and Knughtmares against enemy positions. Mind you, their losses were huge...
And as the battles started, others watched eagerly.
"We should attack Britannia now!" Pierre Anou declared, the Colonel in the European Union gesturing to the screen where a skirmish was being displayed.
"No, we wait," Gene Smilas shook his head, the General of their forces studyiong the map.
"But why...?" Pierre whined.
Gene fought not to show how much he loathed the little bastard. Damned coward, too. He'd happily send troops in to die, but never do so himself.
A young woman cleared her throat. Leila Malcal spoke up, "Because we want the Britannians to waste as much of their forces as possible before we act."
"How dare you," Pierre scowled at the Captain.
"That is my thinking," Gene agreed with her. He continued, "We must focus on our enemies here, the Euro-Britannians and the Knights of St Michael."
"Oh, of course sir!" Pierre simpered.
Gene pointedly ignored him as he turned to Leila, "Any indications the Britannians are drawing off forces from here?"
Leila nodded, "We're seeing some troops being pulled already. If they have major losses against China, they'll likely pull more."
"The Knights?" Pierre asked, tentatively.
"Our spies have reported no movement," Leila reported, "but we're not completely into their internal communications."
"The Grand Duke is better at security than I'd like," Gene admitted. "And Grandmaster Manfredi?" he asked.
"He's apparently actively resisting sending the top Knights," Leila said. "I don't have his communications, but we have a leak in the main Britannian force."
Gene nodded thoughtfully then looked at Pierre. "Do NOT deploy our forces without my express orders. Understood?" he told the man.
"Yes sir," Pierre nodded, though he was clearly unhappy.
"Leila, be ready to deploy, especially the Wyverns," Gene ordered as he left to report to their leaders.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"WE HAVE TO SUE FOR PEACE!" the leader of the Eunuchs cried as they held an emergency meeting in the capital.
"We can't," another said, "the people would riot."
The Eunuchs had played up the conflict with Britannia in the news, to use the people's patriotism. The commoners being focused on a outside enemy meant they were less likely to notice abuses at home, after all. But that had backfired on them now.
A minion in the propaganda department had released news on the shooting of a Chinese soldier before they could stop it. The public, already inflamed with hatred, demanded Britannian heads. Worse, their anger could easily turn on the Eunuchs if they weren't careful.
"I thought we had some victories?" another Eunuch asked.
"If you can call them victories. We've beaten some outposts, but our losses have been immense," the first one said.
Empress Tianzi was watching the meeting as she murmured to her bodyguard, "How bad is it, really?"
"Catastrophic, depending," Li Xingke answered frankly. "We can, possibly, win some battles by burying the Britannians in bodies."
"Would talking to Odysseus help?" Tianzi asked thoughtfully.
"He's as best a figurehead," Li shook his head, "I expect the Britannians to abandon him if they feel it's needed."
"Well, we have that in common," Tianzi sighed. She watched the Eunuchs bicker as she wondered if the Black Knights had gotten her message... or if they might be coming at all.
To be continued...
Notes: The third segment is based on the Code Geass spinoff, Akito the Exiled. I'm not going into it TOO much, but events in that series are taking place alongside this story. Mostly.