Despite the ‘sudden’ activation of the emergency fire-suppression system which in turn ruined the giant pizza event, it looked like the festival was proceeding along just fine. Not that Lelouch truly cared about that but having the festival proceed as normal gave him time to gather his thoughts and take care of unfinished business. Hence why he was on the school’s roof overlooking everything with C.C. and Kallen. Thankfully during the earlier confusion, C.C. managed to slip away and Kallen managed to escape from Shirley, allowing the trio to meet up where they would not be noticed. The green haired immortal did take the time to sneak into the school warehouse and reclaim her box of things; things that Lelouch wished he could burn right now with a torch.
“All this happened because you had to recover that damn doll on your own and dine on an oversized slice of pizza,” grumbled the young man out loud as he turned to give the immortal his glare of disapproval.
With a hand on a dolly-cart that had her box of personal items, she merely looked him right in the eyes. “It wasn’t like I was intending to get stuffed into a tomato crate and enjoy being tossed around like a salad.”
“There’s also the student that was in there with you. He got away.”
She shook her head. “Actually we parted mutually. I can’t fully explain yet since we lack the time needed but I promise that I will tell you and Kallen everything about him and why he still remembers things as they should be.”
Lelouch felt some of his anger ebb away since his accomplice was using that ‘I am telling the truth and will spill the beans’ tone of voice. That fact gave him a bit of comfort that the answers he wanted would actually come forth. “So you do know him.”
“Yes and he told me something quite interesting which guarantees that we will meet him again. That’s why I didn’t try harder to bring him to you.” Upon seeing their puzzled looks, C.C. proceeded to explain. “He says he is with Celestial Being and is training to be a Gundam Meister, which is apparently his rank in their organization. He also gave me a communications device that we can use to set up a dialogue between them and the Black Knights.”
This information made Lelouch and Kallen’s eyes widen dramatically before they exchanged glances with each other. The fact that they now have a link with the group behind Gundam opened many possibilities.
“If that is true, then I’d say that putting up with all of this today has been worth it. If this really gives us a chance to actually get in touch with that organization, Britannia’s fall may certainly come faster than expected.” Lelouch filed this thought away for later before he turned his head to face Kallen. “Now then, you said you bumped into someone from the Swim Club and your mask fell off. Did they recognize you?”
The red head shook her head, “No, it was very brief and she didn’t act like she recognized me. I think she was the new teacher.”
“Villetta?”
“I didn’t catch her name,” said Kallen as she shrugged. “However the weird thing was I think I remember seeing her with Ohgi at last year’s festival.”
This caught the leader of the Black Knights by surprise. “Ohgi and Villetta, together?”
Kallen nodded. “Yeah, I thought she was his like secret girlfriend. Anyway I recall Minami telling me that Ohgi may have had a collaborator that reported directly to him up until their capture during the Black Rebellion.”
This information disturbed Lelouch a good bit. He was more accustomed to being the one who kept secrets, not the other way around. “Ohgi kept… a secret from me?”
An amused smile crossed C.C.’s lips before her neutral expression returned as she walked up to Lelouch. “You’re very thick when it comes to these sorts of things aren’t you?” She leaned in closer to his ear so that she could whisper directly to him. “You see the truth is like this…” While Kallen couldn’t hear what the other woman was saying, she could tell that the information was something useful to him by the way he reacted.
“I see.” The young man had a wide smile on his face as C.C. pulled away. “That will give me the leverage I’ll need. This makes keeping up my act as a mere high school student all the more feasible while I continue to act as Zero.”
“So C.C. was allowed to go her own way after Rai was rescued from the tomato container. And she was given a com-link to get in touch with us at a later time?” confirmed Sumeragi.
“I know it isn’t exactly an ideal outcome, but I felt it was for the best not to pressure C.C. And I know it was also risky telling her I was with Celestial Being but I ultimately felt that telling her that information would be a fair exchange so that she would be more willing to explain more about the Geass Order. I hope I didn’t overstep myself in my actions Ms. Sumeragi,” explained Rai from the co-pilot seat of the shuttle craft that he occupied with Setsuna and Alice. Right now, he was having a conversation through the vid-window with the ship’s captain while Setsuna continued to fly the craft.
The tactical forecaster rubbed her chin in thought as she mulled over what she was told. “While having a face-to-face sit down would have been a more ideal outcome, I also can understand your way of thinking Rai. Given that she was interested in reconnecting with you, there’s a good chance she will make contact with us so we haven’t lost our only chance for a meeting in person. Overall I’d say good work everyone.”
“So what is our current plan of action once we return to the ship?” asked Marie from the cockpit of the GN Archer, which escorted the shuttle and provided additional jamming capabilities thanks to the particles coming from the large GN condenser.
“We’re going to head back into space to the Celestial Being. The Gundams could use some more thorough overhauls since some of their repairs were done rather quickly before we came here. Also we can resupply, as well as pick up Seravee and the new GRM Gundam,” explained Sumeragi as she checked the distance between the Ptolemaios and the shuttle. “The down time will also give us all a little time to recover while we plan out what our next course of action will be in regards to our planned interventions against Britannia. We can get some more mobile suit training in for Rai. I believe that the Zero-Gravity environment and free reign of space will be a boon in that regard.”
Onboard the shuttle, Alice jumped from her seat, and moved towards the vid-window, poking her head between Rai and Setsuna’s seats. “We’re going into outer space, like for real? No humans have gotten into space yet! We’ve just sent probes and satellites!”
Setsuna turned his head to the young teen and explained things to her. “The Ptolemaios is capable of both atmospheric re-entry and can break free of Earth’s gravity by itself. Our current main base is behind the dark side of the moon.”
“Holy cow… Rai and I will be the first humans from our world to go into space!” Her enthusiasm dropped a bit. “Man, it’s too bad we can’t get public credit for it!”
Reaching up to ruffle her hair, Rai himself chuckled at that thought. “Given the secrecy in this organization we’ll just have to roll with the punches of not getting any well-deserved fame Alice-chan.”
Inside the GN Archer, Marie gave a light giggle. “Oh that’s right; space travel is not the norm here. Unlike the rest of us you two have never left Earth’s gravity. Well I hope the experience will be memorable for the two of you.”
“Once we dock, we’ll take you both to medical to receive a nanomachine injection to help deal with space sickness and prevent any long-term adverse affections to staying in space where the gravity is lighter than Earth’s,” said Setsuna as he continued to fly the shuttle on the guided route on the nav-computer.
“Space sickness? Is that anything like sea sickness?” asked Alice as a worried expression crossed her face.
“There are some symptoms that mirror that, but the more worrisome symptoms are muscle atrophy, and bone density issues. While our base has full artificial gravity in many areas, the rule of thumb for most space stations and ships from where we come from is to keep certain areas to purely zero gravity environments so it would be easier to move people and equipment around. So while on the Ptolemaios, you’ll experience ninety percent zero-g weightlessness which can have long-term adverse affects on the human body the longer you stay in space if not kept in check,” explained the GN Archer pilot over the com-line.
“Which is why nanomachine therapy and treatments were created to help combat those adverse affects so humans could live and work in space for durations beyond the norm without contracting such ailments in the long run,” explained Setsuna, taking over the conversation from where Marie left off.
Rai whistled upon hearing all that. Going into outer space was not as romantic as some science fiction novels he’d read at Ashford made it out to be. “Wow, lucky for us you guys have those nanomachine treatments. I wouldn’t like to get sick and miss out on the experience of being in space. And I can also get in some more training with-”
The white haired young man was interrupted by the early warning alarm that went off on both the GN Archer and the shuttle. “Oh, that cannot be good,” muttered Alice. From her experience, hearing that type of alarm was not good news.
“Marie, status!”
“I’m detecting two Britannian Float Carriers to starboard! They’ve already begun launching Knightmare Frames to intercept us! You go ahead while I keep them busy!” shouted Marie as she changed direction, transforming the GN Archer to mobile suit mode while heading towards the carriers.
Meanwhile, Setsuna throttled the thrusters on the shuttle, giving it as much juice as he dared. “Ms. Sumeragi, we just ran into enemy units. Requesting support now, please!”
The vid-window image nodded at him. “Use whatever evasive maneuvers you must but maintain your course on route RGM-79. We’ll surface the Ptolemy and while we provide cover with our weapons, you and Marie can land in the third hanger.”
“You won’t launch the Gundams?” asked Rai.
“We’ve already plugged the Gundams into our particle tanks to achieve Trans-Am for the escape velocity. I’d have preferred to have taken the time to prep you and Alice for takeoff and space travel but the enemy won’t let up. They’ll swarm this airspace which is the optimal place for take off to reach the dark side of the moon without a million course corrections. So our best chance is to take off now once we recover the shuttle and GN Archer.”
“Roger that. We’ll rendezvous at point Zeta and prepare for emergency docking and takeoff into space.”
Alice, who had gotten back into her seat behind Setsuna and Rai, looked over at the Meister piloting the shuttle. “We’re gonna take off after we land onboard? Why not blow all these jerks up and wait to take off like before?”
“Even if we destroy this patrol fleet, they’ll send back up and while our weapons are superior to theirs, the last thing we need is a whole fleet waiting for Ptolemy to ambush us when we surface again,” explained Setsuna. “The plan is for Ptolemy to surface and provide support fire against anyone Marie missed, allowing us to land. Once we’re docked, they’ll activate the ship’s Trans-Am and lift off into space.”
“What the heck is Trans-Am? It sounds like some sort of car or engine,” asked the small girl.
Rai looked over at Setsuna. “I can just vaguely recall from when I saw some of your memories but isn’t Trans-Am the special trump card feature for the Gundams?”
“Yes, but with enough particles in the storage tanks, or better yet, one of the Gundams plugged into Ptolemy, it also can achieve Trans-Am and become enhanced as well. In this case, the ship will have enough power to lift off and escape Earth’s gravity.” Setsuna checked his instruments once again. Right now, Marie was keeping the majority of the Knightmares away in the GN Archer but a few were still trying to make a break for the shuttle. He hoped it wouldn’t take long for the Ptolemaios to reach them. The shuttle did not have weapons so if any Knightmares did break away from Marie and managed to reach them, they would be in trouble.
Meanwhile the GN Archer was kept busy dealing with a large wave of float-equipped Sutherlands, and a few spare Vincent Ward machines. Their size and speed made them harder to hit, but she was an HRL super soldier. They would not get past her if she could help it. Taking aim with one of her GN rifles, she fired a few low-energy bursts that took out the legs of two Sutherlands, and melted most of the arms to nothing, forcing the pilots to break off.
“Even if it isn’t a Gundam, the Archer is still overkill against these Knightmares. There should be no need for lethal force,” muttered Marie, or more precisely, Soma Peries who had assumed control over the body for combat. Just like Allelujah, there were two personalities who inhabited the same body. With the second persona more accustomed to combat, Marie preferred to leave things in Soma’s capable hands since she was the one who went through HRL super soldier training, and was the ace pilot. Soma Peries was not a borderline psychopath like Hallelujah, but knew battle, understood the need to fight, and could stomach the duty.
The two personalities agreed to lower the energy output of the Archer’s weapons and stick to disarming the enemies. While she had no problems with Celestial Being taking the fight to Britannia, this still felt like being a bully to the super soldier.
Taking note that several of the Knightmares were moving into a circular formation around her, Soma stopped the Archer and armed herself with both GN rifles before spinning the mobile suit, firing the rifles in a spread that hit six of the ten Knightmares attempting to surround her, while the others wisely veered away to avoid damage.
Getting an idea, she put away her rifles and changed modes to mobile armor mode before boosting herself above the enemy, making a beeline for the closest float carrier as if she was going to ram it. After confirming that all of the Knightmares were in pursuit, she changed course at the last second. One sharp aerial U-Turn later, her new flight path took her straight towards the Knightmares.
With the press of a button, she unleashed a small swarm of GN missiles programmed with particle disruptor smoke. Once they exploded, they filled the sky with gray smoke and GN particles, which would obviously cause intense jamming to their instruments. Flying into the smoke herself, she transformed back to mobile suit mode and drew her GN beam sabers. While the smoke scrambled her instruments as well, it wasn’t as extensive given the countermeasures built into the GN Archer. She was allowed basic visual sight but no advanced radar or any other sort of radar detection.
But basic visual sight was all she needed. Using the trained instincts as an HRL super soldier, she spun around and sliced the float wings off two Knightmares, careful so the saber didn’t snag the cockpits. Another spin later, the other Knightmares were down for the count with the cockpits being forcibly ejected just as the machines fell towards the ocean. The sight of their cockpits ejecting and parachutes deploying eased her concern. ‘Good, so far I’ve managed to avoid outright killing any of them. Dead men tell no tales but men who cross our paths and live to tell about it will spread the word of how another monster machine from Celestial Being tore their mighty war machines asunder like they were nothing.’
Flying out of the smoke, she replaced the sabers into their holsters and took out her rifles before taking evasive action as the float carriers began firing long range missiles and some particle beams at her. She fired another volley of GN missiles. This time, they were armed with live explosives that easily intercepted the carrier’s missiles so that they would harmlessly explode with nobody in the vicinity. With precision aim, she fired four shots, easily taking out all four beam turrets on the first carrier; effectively disabling it.
Back on the shuttle, both Rai and Alice watched in awe. “Man, she’s kickass!” proclaimed Alice. “And she isn’t even piloting a Gundam!”
“Her piloting skills are nothing to scoff at. Behind the controls of any mobile weapon, Soma Peries is a foe not to be trifled with.”
Rai blinked once as he gave Setsuna a puzzled look. “Soma Peries? Don’t you mean Marie?”
Setsuna realized that Alice and Rai did not know about Marie or Allelujah’s pasts as HRL super soldiers, or their alter egos. “I’ll explain later but let’s just say Marie has a combat persona that handles the fighting.”
Still confused, Alice and Rai just accepted Setsuna’s words at face value since he was busy flying them to safety and shouldn’t be bothered with questions he could answer when they were safe. From its personal jack into the shuttle’s console, the blue Haro began to flap its ‘ears’. “Signal from Ptolemy, signal from Ptolemy!”
“They’re here.” The ocean began to swirl and bubble as the large mobile suit and attack carrier surfaced from the ocean like a great Leviathan. While the middle third hanger began to open, several beam cannon ports opened along with GN missile ports and began providing cover fire.
“Marie, Setsuna, we’ve got cover going now. Return to the ship!”
“Roger that!” replied Soma as she made her retreat from the combat zone towards the Ptolemaios.
“Preparing landing vector.” Setsuna pressed a few buttons to engage the landing cycle as he continued to fly towards the ship at top speed. Once he was within one hundred feet of range from the ship; he eased back the throttle and moved the shuttle in position to be enveloped by the Ptolemaios as it flew onward. As he completed the landing sequence and shut down the shuttle’s engines, the GN Archer hovered in above it, allowing wall-mounted clamps to move away from the wall to grab onto the sides of the transformed mobile suit and hold it into place.
Inside the GN Archer, Soma hit her com button. “We’re all onboard Ms. Sumeragi!”
Up above the hanger on the bridge, Sumeragi looked to Mileina. “Close the third hatch.” She then turned to face the front looking specifically at Lockon in the co-pilot seat next to Lasse which had the bridge weapon controls. “Retract the cannons and seal the missile ports, after firing one last cluster of disruptor particle missiles.”
“Already on it,” replied the Irish Meister as he launched a salvo of the disruptor missiles to hamper the Britannian fleet while he then started to seal up the weapon ports.
From his console behind Sumeragi, Feldt and Mileinia; Allelujah looked up from a console monitoring the Gundams which were plugged into the ship’s GN particle tanks. “Tanks are at full capacity. The GN Drive links are fully stable!”
“Good, then we don’t need to delay. Lasse, take us up! Feldt, engage the Trans-Am system!”
“Roger!” As the Ptolemaios began to ascend into the atmosphere, a remote signal was sent to the Gundams to activate the Trans-Am systems of the three GN drives. The red hue that came from the GN drives soon enveloped the ship, allowing the engines to gain the needed power to easily escape the Earth’s gravity into the void of space.
The sight of the Ptolemaios, with its glow from the Trans-Am and the large trail of GN particles in its wake, was a sight to behold, even to its enemies below who were feeling a mixture of defeat, and yet awe of the technological prowess of their foes.
Lelouch smiled to himself as he disconnected the call. He had just confirmed Kallen and C.C. had been picked up by Li Xingke. To make things better, Xingke’s response to Lelouch’s request to contact the higher officials had not been as negative as had been originally anticipated. He had thought that it might have been pushing it a little but the other man seemed to be somewhat open about that request. Considering his long term plans for the Chinese Fedeartion, Li Xingke was his best option to open a path of opportunity. On top of that, just minutes ago, he erased one more obstacle in his way with Rolo’s help.
Armed with the knowledge C.C. and Kallen gave him, he cornered that woman in the OSI’s hidden base while Rolo held her at gun point. After revealing that he knew of her ties to Kaname Ohgi and explained how it could cost her the title of Baron she worked so hard to achieve, she submitted to his ‘offer’ to be ‘reborn’ and joined his side to aid his deception of the security watching him, especially Suzaku. That called for a little toast to celebrate her correct choice along with her birthday and he had the perfect wine on him.
Yes indeed, things were going his way, despite this afternoon’s earlier mayhem.
He looked over the edge of the stone railing on the roof and noted that the sun had already set for the most part, leaving only traces of light among the evening sky. The evening dance was already taking place, signaling the start of the nighttime activities of the festival and a countdown to the real finale.
‘Wait a moment…’ His eyes caught sight of a glowing red unidentified object, leaving behind a trail of green light behind it as it rose into the air and headed towards the reaches of outer space. “What is that…? A missile? Or perhaps a satellite or space probe being launched?” After a few seconds, his genius mind slowly began to recall where he’d seen the familiar green trailing light before. After all, how could he forget the first intervention of Gundam?
‘Gundam? Is that a Gundam, or something else that belongs to Celestial Being?’
He stared at the object, until it could no longer be seen. The green particle trail it left behind also faded away into nothing. ‘… Did that thing just go into space? Could it be Celestial Being has the ability to travel into outer space? It would make some sense and make their organization’s title more befitting, but no nation has the capabilities of manned space flight yet. Have they pulled it off in total secret?’ The thought both awed and disturbed him, especially given the amount of manpower, capital and time it would take to make all that happen. It would seem Celestial Being valued their secrecy and hidden power just as much as he did. Was Gundam even their ultimate weapon? What else could they have up their sleeves?
In time, he intended to find out, and if necessary, make that power his own.
“Lelouch.”
He pushed away his thoughts and his phone before turning around to face Suzaku who had just joined him on the roof. “The main character should stay on the stage.”
“No, it’s fine. Everyone’s having fun.” He paused for a moment. “Besides I have something to tell you…”
“What is it?” Lelouch turned back to enjoy the sights of the party below.
“I… want to become the Knight of One.”
“Oi, oi… that’s the Empire’s best knight-”
Suzaku interrupted the other youth. “The Knight of One has the privilege of taking an Area he likes. I want to choose the Area of Japan.”
This caught Lelouch’s attention and caused him to face the Japanese teenager.
“I’ve already lost my best friend and an important woman. In order not to lose anyone else, I need power. That’s why the Japanese people don’t need Zero anymore.”
“Indirect takeover? Is your goal to protect your country?”
Suzaku reached into his pocket and pulled out a phone so he could dial a number. “You can ask that question to this person. The new Governor of Area 11 that is coming next week.”
“A student talking to a Governor?” Inside, Lelouch pondered what type of official would be coming to take up that post.
“It’s Kururugi. Yes, he’s standing in front of me.” After a moment, he handed over the phone.
“How troublesome,” muttered the Britannian youth as he took the phone and turned around. “Why would the Governor want to talk to m-”
“Hello, Big Brother? It’s Nunnally! I’m going to become the Governor next week!”
And that was when his world turned upside down as he heard the familiar sweet voice of his younger sister.
“Um… … can you hear me, Big Brother? It’s me, Nunnally!”
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(Posted Sat, 20 Aug 2011 05:21)
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