[Episode 249204] [Episode 249204]Inside the communications hub of the Tokyo Settlement garrison, Nonette Enneagram waited patiently for the encrypted communication line to connect. Eventually, the visage of Bismark Waldstein appeared on the monitor along with the remaining Knights of the Round back in the homeland. On his right side was the Knight of Twelve Monica Kruszewski while on his left side, the Knight of Ten Luciano Bradley, and the Knight of Four Dorothea Ernst stood by. “Lord Waldstein, I’m glad I was able to get a hold of you.”
Bismark nodded once in acknowledgment. ”We just received word of the battle on Kamine Island. It sounded like you all had your hands full.”
“To put it bluntly sir, it was a one-sided ass kicking. Only our skills as Knights of the Round kept us from joining many good soldiers on the KIA list. Even our custom Knightmares barely gave us any edge; the Tristan is in pieces, the Mordred’s power systems are going to need a total overhaul on top of replacing the outer armour, and even the customized Proto-Gareth I brought didn’t bring anything helpful to the table. As it was, the only damage we dealt to that Gundam was when Gino sliced the barrel of its sniper weapon, and Anya managed to destroy those remote attack drones that thing unleashed upon us. But that wasn’t enough to slow it down. And we let a golden opportunity slip by us when the inactive Gundam that had landed on the island earlier managed to reactivate and escape. We utterly failed and I accept all responsibility as the one in charge in the operation.” She bowed her head, waiting for the judgment of her superior.
”Given the sudden appearance of these Gundams, their size, overwhelming physical stature and fire power, the fact you all survived your encounter is a miracle in of itself,” said Monica in that soft tone of hers. ”Based on the information from the reports we received from you and the head of the survey team that attempted to study the inactive Gundam, I can say with certainty that it may not have mattered if all the Knights of the Round gathered to fight off that thing. The end result may have been the same no matter what.”
“Monica speaks the truth. Even Prince Schneizel pulled out his entire fleet off the German coast when that flyer-type assaulted his forces,” stated Dorothea. “As it is, the fact the Emperor sent as large a force as he did, along with four Knights of the Round to Kamine Island just to try and secure one that was inactive goes to show the threat of these things is not to be taken lightly.”
“You can be at ease, Nonette. There will be no punishment for failure in regards to the operation. Right now, it’s important to get any valuable information from survivors who’ve seen or fought these Gundams and lived to come home,” said the Knight of One as his one visible eye focused on the other woman on the other side of the monitor.
”Now that we have the ‘touchy-feely’ assurances out of the way, let’s get to that important thing that you mentioned in that message of yours. Something that you felt required us all to gather here together and discuss in a secure video conference.” Luciano idly toyed around with his knife before speaking again in that same condescending tone of voice. ”So what is this big secret you need to tell us?”
The Knight of Nine moved to get a chair and placed a laptop on it which was already booted up before hooking it up to her side of the communications console. “I was given this video to show you all by someone the world had thought gone for good.”
It didn’t take long for the four assembled Knights on the other side to gain shocked expressions just as Monica opened the video-link on their side.
”N-no way, is that? It can’t be… isn’t he dead?”
“Professor Steamhein? After all this time, he’s alive? Where has he been?”
“Everyone be quiet! I want to hear what the message says!” exclaimed Bismark. Nonette noted that his shock was genuine so that meant even the Knight of One had not known of Steamhein’s whereabouts for the past four years . The opening few seconds consisted of the infamous scientist taking a moment to adjust his glasses before he addressed his audience. ”Greetings my dear Knights of the Round! O’ warriors of the Empire, the best of the best, the Emperor’s personal swords! I hope this message finds you all in good health and tidings. The rumors regarding my disappearance, especially those rumors claiming that I had died, have been greatly exaggerated. I am very much alive, and now it seems the secret project that I had spent the last four years working on can now come to light, and be put to use.”
He paused for a second to catch his breath before continuing. “Allow me to briefly explain the secret project I had been working on. I have created ten prototype Neo Knightmare Frames; all of them on the same size scale as these Gundams that have appeared to bother our Empire. They are equipped with special weapon systems of my own design, as well as refined versions of the systems and features that are currently used by the latest generation of Knightmare Frames. Given that the Knights of the Round are the best soldiers Britannia has to offer, when the Neo-Frames are finished, which should be within the next week or two, I believe that you all will be the right pilots for the job. When we meet again in person I will gladly answer what questions I can, but for now I will have to rely on this video to throw you the sales pitch as well as photos and some additional specs of my work for you to review. If you all accept and wish to claim a Neo-Frame for your own, all you need to go is gather your support teams, yourselves and give me your answer when next we meet; and so until that day my dear Rounds, tootles!”
The eccentric scientist waved to the camera before the video footage cut off and several photos of the Neo-Frames started filling the monitor, as well as some of their basic specs as he had promised. Bismark looked up from the data to address Nonette again. ”I assume the rest of you have already agreed to this?”
“When the man who takes the impossible and makes it possible offers you an ace in the hole, you accept it, my Lord.”
He nodded in agreement. ”A wise choice. While I prefer to engage in battle as a last resort, the party behind these Gundams has no intention of speaking. So if it is a war they want, we the Knights of the Round shall give it to them, armed with the machines that Professor Steamhein has promised.”
”Those machines look pretty dangerous. I like them already,” said Luciano, licking his lips with anticipation. “I’m with Bismark. If that quack personally made these babies, then there’s a good chance they can let us take the slaughter to those damned Gundams.”
“I most heartily agree with you,” said Dorothea; who had her own look of excitement on her face, minus the blood-lust that Luciano expressed earlier. ”When Steamhein vanished along with all his work, including the first true Sixth Generation Knightmare, I wept at the loss of a great mind and the loss of progress. Now we have a chance to not only try his new machines but they might just let us strike back at those accursed Gundams.”
“Not only that, but we can put an end to the Black Knights and all the other resistance groups that keep popping up in other Areas,” noted Monica. ”I cast my vote in favor as well. Besides what have we got to lose?”
Upon seeing the unanimous decision by her comrades, Nonette prepared to send another data packet over the link. “This contains some contact information he sent along with the video after he initially called the others and me about his Neo-Frames. Hopefully he won’t be hard to get a hold of.”
”We can hope he doesn’t take too long to finish whatever adjustments he needs to make to these machines. I doubt the Black Knights or those Gundams will wait around for us to receive our trump cards,” said Bismark quietly. ”Thank you for relaying this to us Nonette. Get some rest and continue to support Kururugi and the others in Area Eleven until further notice.”
Nodding in affirmation, she lifted her arm over her chest as per the traditional Britannian salute. “Yes, my Lord.” As the transmission cut off, she fell back in her chair to collect her thoughts. ‘Even Bismark didn’t know that the Professor had been working on this black project by the Emperor. I guess he wasn’t kidding about how insane the secrecy was.’ That surprised her given how Bismark was privy to many things that none of the other Knights were not. Such was the privilege of being the Knight of One. But it was still odd that someone so close to the Emperor was left out of the loop regarding the reassignment of Mikhail Steamhein.
“Urgh… I can think this over later. It’s getting late and I’m getting tired.” Time to hit the showers and after she cleaned herself up, it was off to bed. She would need to be well rested as there was a lot going on in Area Eleven.
Especially since the New Viceroy is scheduled to arrive within a week.
Ashford Academy
“You want to hold a festival in honor of Suzaku’s return?”
Nodding eagerly, Milly Ashford sat down on the desk where Lelouch was working on some budget calculations. “Yep! Suzaku’s our friend and a hero of the Empire; he ought to enjoy having a grand welcome home!”
The young man ignored the instinct to roll his eyes. “Honestly Suzaku would probably enjoy a smaller-scale party with just those of us who personally knew him. He isn’t one to bask in glory or popularity.”
The Student Council President waved her hand dismissively. “Tish-tosh! The party can also serve to boost morale around here. Ever since Zero returned, and that Gundam thing appeared helping him free his Black Knights, people are getting nervous. Especially since the Black Knights have started small hits on military outposts and government buildings.”
’Which were merely small supply raids and information gathering operations. Still not bad for a day’s work given that half of the Knights had been locked up for a year,’ thought Lelouch to himself. He briefly massaged his forehead to get his thoughts refocused before he spoke to Milly. “I have this feeling that even if I continue to object, you’ll still make this happen, Madam President.”
“Fufufu, you know me all too well, Lulu!” said the blonde woman with her usual catty grin, which grew wider as she saw how he reacted to the nick name, complete with twitching. “I do know my excesses can be heavy on the budget, but I am willing to make it worth your while to help balance the books as needed and coordinate the efforts.”
“Now I suddenly feel the urge to run and throw myself out the window,” replied Lelouch in a rather snarky tone.
Pouting, Milly slid off the desk and right on to Lelouch’s lap, causing him to suppress the gasp of surprise that nearly escaped his lips. “Oh come on now, I’m not that bad!”
Okay he was used to Milly being clingy-touchy, but this was a new one. He took a moment to try and calm his nerves before addressing his friend again. “S-so far the jury’s out on that. By the way, what sort of ‘worth my while’ are you getting at?”
She tapped her chin as she thought about it. “How about an official IOU from Milly Ashford to Lelouch Lamperouge? I’ll even write up a contract and we’ll have a witness if you want.”
“A favor of my choosing as a gift for all my hard work, huh?” Now that could be useful down the road. “Alright I’ll bite. So what exactly is your big idea for Suzaku’s party? ” “Remember the festival with the giant pizza last year? Same thing but we’ll just put in a few changes here and there. The last one got ruined at the end, so I say let’s do it right this time!” stated Milly energetically while unintentionally grinding in the young man’s lap. Of course, Lelouch being Lelouch kept his cool… for the most part.
“O-okay, we’ll have a haunted house, booths, expos, vendors and a giant pizza finale.” Honestly, he felt certain that the pizza finale was really going to be trouble since C.C. was guaranteed to come to the school campus to get her share of the pie. “From the looks of things, we can work that in and stay within budget. Now do you think you can get off my lap?”
Milly’s wicked smile stayed on her face, liking the way her friend was trying to remain cool and aloof even while he was blushing a little. “Aw, but I like your lap! Especially since I’m getting a reaction… a very nice reaction at that.” She slowly rocked herself against him, enjoying the way he was squirming and struggling. “Oooh, that was nice.”
“M-Milly, we’re in the Student Council room! Someone could walk in and this is highly inappropriate!”
“I locked the door on my way in. Plus Shirley has swim class; Rivalz is doing some metal-shop class, and Rolo’s running errands. I doubt we’ll be walked in on anytime soon.”
Highly powerful enemy armies that want to kill him he could deal with… but the crafty wiles of a lovely young woman? He was way out of his league here.
Read the comments on this episode
See other episodes by Ninja Kasuga of the Demonite Race
(Posted Wed, 27 Jul 2011 05:52)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.