That one didn't involve her at all. The event we didn't choose to handle directly (it got handled off-screen by the Black Knights) was the Chinese Eununchs attempt at selling out to Britannia and trying to push their country and the rest of the HRL to join with them.
Also, Charles needs two Codes for his plans. CC has one, VV has the other. If the following bit of information is still relevant to Code Geass' plot in this universe, then Charles has written off VV and intends to remove his Code for lying to him, mainly about Marianne, but for him to remove the Code, either he has to able to reach VV/VV be able to reach him or he needs Marianne to be present for our attack so that he can have her steal VV's Code. If neither of these conditions happen, then we can sink Charles' plan quite easily by taking VV captive and putting him in a place where any Geass users aligned with Charles can't reach him. So, even if Marianne never intended to betray Charles, it's too early for her to return to him.
... Now, I understand they're the Titans and everyone hates them.... But who, in the name of our Lord, sent someone out in the GM FUCKING II!? That pile of scrap is a contender for the worst MS of the Universal Century - why would we send even someone who we don't care about dying out to fight in one?
[X] Reserve for the interior
This is why we called them, and besides, the Marasai and Asshimar are the only non trash units we've bothered giving them, so they'll just die if we throw them in.
... Now, I understand they're the Titans and everyone hates them.... But who, in the name of our Lord, sent someone out in the GM FUCKING II!? That pile of scrap is a contender for the worst MS of the Universal Century - why would we send even someone who we don't care about dying out to fight in one?
[X] Reserve for the interior
This is why we called them, and besides, the Marasai and Asshimar are the only non trash units we've bothered giving them, so they'll just die if we throw them in.
The GM II, while not the most advanced mobilesuit from the U.C side of things still comes equipped with beam weapons as standard load out which means one good shot and most Armslaves and Knightmare frames are tost and it can fight on even or better terms with a lot of the suits from the other Gundam series we have present. The GM II was not a bad mobilesuit as it was a straight improvement of the GM Kai, what it was at the start of the Gryps Conflict was a part of the last generation of Mobilesuits and everyone knew that which is why they were designing and fielding new suits like the Nemo and the Marasai throughout the conflict. Also the Asshimar is one of the better suits of the Gryps Conflict for what it was designed to do which is achieve power flight for a mobilesuit in a cost effective manner while also having good firepower with its heavy beam cannon. Their is a reason it got a successor in the Ankshasa, that was the Federations preferred air superiority mobilesuit from the lead up to the Second Neo-Zeon war and for years after that.
This is way later than I first intended it to be, and it turns out I'm fleshing this idea out as I go but fuck it here we go. I would like to note that this is basically the third major thing I've written all year, and the first being publicly posted. Please, have no mercy upon my out of practice soul.
Omake: Bardiel Aftermath
Shinji flinched as the latest shake given to EVA-01 by the recovery equipment threatened to unseat him from his position. The seemingly ceaseless jostling had woken him up far earlier than he suspected had been intended. He idly wondered what he would find once he'd be allowed to exit the entry plug at the cages. In his idleness, all Shinji could do was mentally prepare himself to purge the LCL from his lungs, and allow his imagination to run rampant about his near future.
Another unpleasant note about his current situation, with all but the life support powered down their was essentially nothing to do in the entry plug. Nothing Shinji could readily use to distract himself
Would Misato be there to lecture him on the finer points of insubordination? Would his fa- no, would the man calling himself his father be there to some taunt him about what little value he held in his eyes? Would Toji turn out to not be so uninjured as he had seemed when they had first opened EVA-03's entry plug? Perhaps a gaggle of those ridiculous excuse for intelligence agents would drag him to the commander's office in chains wherein Shinji'd receive a vicious tongue lashing on his every inequity. While Asuka watched, scorn readily apparent, thusly destroying the relative improvement they'd been having in their relationship lately.
Ah no, hyperventilating was rather counterproductive towards getting LCL out of your system. Shinji forced himself to calm down. The mission to suppress the latest Angel had gone off without a single complication, indeed they had rescued the stricken EVA unit and it's pilot in remarkably short order. That said pilot was not only yet another of his classmates, but easily one of the closest friends Shinji had ever known was besides the point.
He'd simply felt that it was pertinent, need to know information. Really, Shinji'd had just wanted to talk about all variety of things that were need to know that he hadn't been informed of.
The roughly fourty-five meter katana Unit-01 had happened to be armed with at the time had simply seemed like the best way to make his point.
Or perhaps Asuka has been a worse influence on him than he'd thought. Ah but those few tiny, perhaps even imagined smiles he'd stolen from the corner of his eye when she thought he'd not been paying close attention had made the entire experience living in the same apartment as her feel that much more worthwhile. Not to mention that date they'd gone on relatively early into the new year, that contrary to all his anxious fears, hadn't been a complete disaster. Why, if Shinji had been reading the situation with any degree of accuracy, always something of a gamble when the ever enigmatic Asuka was concerned, She had even implied the desire to go on another!
Shinji was struck from his reverie by the familiar noise of Unit-01 being settled into the hangar's glorified harness. Which meant that the LCL was about to start draining.
He does his best to not consider the uncomfortable sensation as he follows through with some advice he'd received from Ayanami on the subject following a sync test back in October. As soon as he could reliably breath above the LCL he made sure to do so, somewhat proud of himself for not feeling the urge to cough the bizarre tasting fluid from his system.
It would seem, however, that his anxieties took their chance to loom against him as he strides towards the exit hatch of the entry plug. Some of his prior worries danced in his minds eye, joined by a few newcomers that were almost too terrible to truly consider.
As he clambers out of the plug with what he felt was a miserable display of agility (but what Asuka would later insist on calling remarkable improvement considering where he started,) Shinji's breath caught on a most unexpected sight:
To start with, the Getter Team were standing close to one of the doors out of the EVA cages all wearing matching grins as they loomed over a set of truly ridiculous restraints that looked like they'd been on the receiving end of Ryoma's tomahawk. Sayaka Yumi looked to be suppressing the urge to facepalm as she helped a NERV staff member to her feat. (Shinji made a mental note to apologize in person to someone for all this fuss.) And Kazuya was staring down a handful of section two agents that seemed to have beaten within a centimeter of unconsciousness. In the back of the small crowd, Ayanami glanced at Shinji briefly with an unreadable expression as she began making her way towards the locker rooms.
And off to one side, Asuka slouched against a wall. To his eye, Asuka looked to be a particular, he'd call it flavor, of beside herself that Shinji had not seen since he'd walked in on Misato lecturing her on what was and was not acceptable words and phrases to use in reference to or in conversation with openly homosexual comrades. If it had been possible to die of embarrassment, he was sure Misato would be the single greatest cause of Eva pilot fatalities in all of NERV's history.
Shinji shot what he thought was a reassuring smile Asuka's way, getting a small scoff that looked something along the lines of an affectionately leaning 'Baka!' before refocusing on the non-NERV pilots.
"How ya holding up, tough guy?" Ryoma uttered once he was sure the young teen's attention wasn't about to wander.
"Could be worse," He replied. "You guys had it rougher that we did, what with the thing actually getting a few punches in edgewise."
"This Bardiel was little more than a fool that thought itself invincible," Kazuya remarked, "It was arguably a public service showing that thing the error of it's judgement, rescuing its would be victim all the while."
"While I'm thinking about the fight, what are you guys doing down here? I'd figured the Vanguard wasn't allowed in this section of the base?"
"Get this, Third Child," Asuka interjects as she struts closer, "Central Dogma didn't manage to disconnect from the Vanguard comms before a certain high ranking individual started issuing orders about how you'd be punished for 'Insubordination.'" Apparently just thinking about it caused her to redden in anger, or maybe she felt he was staring at her too much again.
"Your father," Hayato clarifies unnecessarily.
Asuka grumbled a few German insults under her breath, "Anyways some enterprising soul, who for their own well being will remain nameless-"
"-Decided to leak the transcripts of today's operation directly to Relena Peacecraft's office." Asuka had a complicated expression on her face. "Treize Khushrenada is raking the Commander over the coals as we speak."
"He ordered us to intervene in Gendo Ikari's overstepping any reasonable boundaries about the treatment of soldiers under his command," Ryoma interjected. "Before he hung up so he could plan his reaming out of your utter trash excuse of a father I overheard a few choice words about his competence and general depravity."
"I know I wouldn't have reacted much better if it had been Hikari in there instead of Jock Stooge," Asuka admits quietly as the assortment of Solar Vanguard super robot pilots share a few disparaging remarks about the Commander the likes of which probably would have inspired Ayanami to slap some or even all of them had she still been in the room.
"And you're heart is in the right spot, baka. The more I think about it, the more there is about all of this that we probably should know that we haven't been told." She proceeds to hit him with a glare that is relatively mild on the harshness scale, considering some of the things she's said and done to him in the time they've known each other. "But couldn't you have just let it simmer until you were not in a situation where you could be knocked out at the push of a button?"
"Anyways," Sayaka interrupts everyone's trains of thought, "I think you'll want to check up on Toji, He should be about done with his check up by now." At the Getter Teams knowing look she sighs, "Yes we will escort the both of you down to medical just in case another group tries something."
"At least our stay in Tokyo won't be boring," Kazuya allows with a smile of his own.
"Heh, yeah," Ryoma continues, "Imagine being stuck in space escorting the diplomats right now?"
Actually the upgrade of the GM Kai is the RGM-79N GM Custom, which is outright superior to the RGM-79R GM II in... every way except cost? And yeah, the Asshimar is good, I just would've preferred if we could've gotten them a Barzam or something. Now the Barzam, there's an under rated mass production unit for ya.
Actually the upgrade of the GM Kai is the RGM-79N GM Custom, which is outright superior to the RGM-79R GM II in... every way except cost? And yeah, the Asshimar is good, I just would've preferred if we could've gotten them a Barzam or something. Now the Barzam, there's an under rated mass production unit for ya.
The GM Custom was a suit based on the GM Command and Sniper frames of the One Year while the GM Kai was a improved version of the basic GMs used during the war, The GM Custom was a attempt to get a Suit that had similar performance to the RX-78 except in the weapons department, They were successful making a suit with similar performance to the RX-78 that was a good bit cheaper to produce but they failed to make it viable to equip all EFF Mobilesuit units with them. The GM Custom was often equipped with projectile weapons and lacked the Panoramic Cockpit of suits like the GM II and the Hizak for it's entire production run. After Operation Stardust the Newly formed Titans started with the GM Custom as their mainline mobilesuit but they. Quickly began to come up with a Upgraded version called the GM Quel which was a more efficient to produce mobilesuit and acted as the test bed for new technologies and design ideas like the Moveable Frame. However by the time of the start of the Gryps conflict the Quel was considered outdated and the Titans were using Hizaks and GM IIs. The GM II was the first mass produced Mobilesuit to come with the Panoramic Cockpit as standard and it had a more powerful generator then the Hizak which let it use ranged and close combat beam weapons with out any draw backs.
The Panoramic Cockpit and the increased awareness it gives the pilot of everything happening around him is a Huge advantage comepared the the monitor setup that something like the Leo's use to feed the pilot data on their surroundings.
A good pilot can make a lot of difference and a clean hit with a bean gun shot will destroy any suit or blow of a limb. Hell a Zaku Sniper is capable of getting Mobilesuit kills in 0098 according to Unicorn and the differences in those suits and it are a lot bigger then the ones between the best all around GM of the One Year War and the GM that the Federal forces overall were working on replacing in 0087.
Leaving aside the quality of the mobile suits used by the Ex-Titans pilots (even the best stuff they have access to is decent to good, but outclassed by some of the other stuff present for the mission, like the GM III, the Jegan, arguably the Akatsuki, arugably the Vincent, arguably the Vincent Ward and the GN-XIII), we brought them to have someone who's willing to go shoot first, ask questions later on people who seem innocent at first glance, but who could cause problems if they aren't stopped (aka any Geass user we find inside the Geass Order HQ). So long as they don't get to use Geass, even the worst mobile suit utilized by an Ex-Titan is good enough at stopping the Geass user in question.
Also, considering that the Geass Order made some of their gains with regards to Geass via Dimensional Distortions (as per International Reformation Committee Resolution One), there's the potential that they may have access to some Council technology, like some of their mobile suits. No matter what, we should exercise care as much as we can when it comes to this attack. Best to keep our Newtypes grouped up as a rapid response unit to serve as a counter to any Geass user that's actively involved with the defense of the Geass Order.
"-Decided to leak the transcripts of today's operation directly to Relena Peacecraft's office." Asuka had a complicated expression on her face. "Treize Khushrenada is raking the Commander over the coals as we speak."
"He ordered us to intervene in Gendo Ikari's overstepping any reasonable boundaries about the treatment of soldiers under his command," Ryoma interjected. "Before he hung up so he could plan his reaming out of your utter trash excuse of a father I overheard a few choice words about his competence and general depravity."
When ever the antagonists of the Gundam series sit down and have conversations half of it is probably Treize asking how people like Ribbions Almark and the leadership of Gajallhorn manage to get anyone to be loyal to them when they clearly don't give a shit about the soldiers under their command. Listening to Gendo explain himself probably made him want to challenge someone to a duel so he could kill them with his own honor intact.
Winning Vote:
[X] Reserve for the interior February UE 0084
Geass Order HQ, Taklamakan Desert
The boyish-looking V.V. lounges on his command throne as his underlings apprise him of the current situation.
"So, we're still in a stalemate? So much for Blue Cosmos being a paper tiger. I told Charles not to underestimate the International Reformation Committee as well. Or is it because Marianne's son is with them?" V.V. scowls, his look of frustration at odds with his eternally youthful face.
"Milord, we have control over the Thought Elevators north of London and in Antarctica. Surely those will be sufficient for the Ragnarok Connection?" One of his subordinates asks.
"True, but the one in Antarctica needs time to properly prepare, and we haven't been able to make any further developments for the one in the homeland without spooking the Europeans. If they got an inkling of what we were up to, they'd annihilate us without hesitation." V.V. laments.
One of V.V.'s subordinates suddenly reaches into his pocket and takes out a tablet.
"Milord, we're receiving an incoming communication from...Jeremiah's communication network?" He says in confusion.
"Ah, so he managed to escape. Patch him through." V.V. says.
A video link opens up, and the person who appears on the other end is not Jeremiah, but Lelouch.
"How do you do?" Lelouch says casually.
"Lelouch!" V.V. snarls.
"Where is the transmission coming from?" One of V.V.'s subordinates asks.
"Area 11, Ashford Academy, by the look of it." Another, more technically inclined subordinate answers.
"So, you're the one they call V.V. Was it you who caused me to lose control of my Geass on Kamine Island? Was it you who kidnapped Nunnally and installed Rolo as her false brother?" Lelouch asks.
"So what if I am? C.C. is with you, correct? Hand her over to us, and we'll let you do as you please without interference." V.V. drawls.
"It's too late for that! I'm already at war with you people!" Lelouch retorts.
"Oh? By the time you get here, we'll have already moved locations-" V.V. is interrupted by one of his base's alarms going off.
"Director V.V.! Incoming Knightmares and Mobile Suits! They seem to be converging on our location!" One of V.V.'s subordinates reports in alarm.
"I see. So that's how it is." V.V. says as he stands up from his command throne.
"Yes. Thank you for giving me a bit of your time." Lelouch says. He stands up, and the walls of his 'room' at Ashford Academy fall out to reveal the desert sands and blue skies. "Making you think I was still in Japan made you think you still had time to escape. V.V., prepare to face judgement at my hands!" You are C.C., and as you charge forward leading a force of Black Knights in the newly made Lancelot Frontier, you address your troops.
"V.V.'s location has been confirmed. Once we breach the interior, converge on point Alpha 7. Cronus Battalion, you're on point once we get inside." You say, addressing the former Titans members Lelouch had managed to pull in for this operation.
"You sure about the orders to kill anyone and everyone on sight?" One Hizack pilot asks.
"You read the brief, didn't you? Anyone in there who isn't a researcher or security personnel is some kind of freaky-ass Cyber Newtype. Even the kids! Frankly, we're probably doing them a favor by putting them out of their misery." A Marasai pilot responds.
A number of Sutherlands, Glasgows, and Gloucesters emerge from the hidden base. Before you get into firing range, a telepathic voice speaks out in your head, one you haven't heard for a long time.
C.C. How is my darling Lelouch doing? Marianne vi Britannia asks.
Just fine. He's about to join us in an all out attack on your brother-in-law. You respond.
I expected no less from him. Make sure you don't wrap things up too quickly, hm? I still have a score to settle with that little shit. You can feel Marianne's anger.
I doubt we'll be able to get inside that quickly. You'll be able to get your pound of flesh. More, if Charles hasn't taken his Code. You respond.
Wonderful. I'll be joining you shortly. Marianne says.
What will you be driving so that we don't accidentally shoot you on sight? You ask.
You'll know it when you see it. Besides, I have an escort of Newtypes! Did you think I'd be able to do something like this without the Solar Vanguard signing off on it? Marianne says coyly.
I sincerely hope you didn't upgrade the Ganymede. That thing's an eyesore. You say.
Oh, I'm not THAT behind the times. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised! Marianne ceases all contact after that.
You sigh before leveling the Lancelot Frontier's VARIS at an enemy Glasgow and atomizing it with a single shot. You are Lelouch, and as you destroy an enemy Sutherland with the Shinkiro's Slash Harkens, C.C. contacts you on the private channel.
"What is it?" You ask.
"Your mother is making her grand return to the battlefield shortly. I just thought you should know." C.C. says almost languidly.
You suppress the urge to facepalm before turning your attention back to the battle.
"All forces, push through and break into the interior!" You order.
As a pair of Gun-Rus go down in flames courtesy of an enemy Gloucester, you charge up the Shinkiro's Diffusion Structure Phase Transition Cannon (no relation to the Nadesico's Y-Unit Phase Transition Cannon) and blast a hole in the side of the mountain entrance to the Geass Order's Headquarters.
"Rally to Zero!" A GM III pilot yells. You hover in the Shinkiro above the cavernous facility of the Geass Order's Headquarters and note some similarities to NERV's Geofront. Convergent design, perhaps?
You clear your thoughts as the former Titans take point and start shooting at anything and everything they see that isn't friendly, including individuals on ground level.
A GM II fires its head vulcans at a trio of people on a walkway connecting two buildings, while a Hizack levels its machine gun at a fleeing crowd of people and empties the magazine. An Asshimar transforms back into mobile suit mode and smashes its fist into the front of a building, several people falling out of the crumbling structure to their death. A Marasai looks inside the windows of a building before drawing a beam naginata and thrusting it in.
"Zero...is this really necessary?" A Black Knight pilot asks you.
Before you can respond, you see an Akatsuki open up its cockpit in the distance.
"You idiot, we're under standing orders to never open up the cockpit while inside!" Tamaki chastises.
"But there are children here!" The Akatsuki pilot retorts. "What are you kids-"
The pilot lets out a scream as he dives back into his cockpit, closing the hatch. His Akatsuki then empties a magazine into the closest friendly, another Akatsuki.
"Mori, what are you doing?!" The stricken Akatsuki pilot yells.
"I-It's not me! My hands are moving on their own!" Mori yells.
Mori's Akatsuki fires wildly at friendly forces for a few seconds until a Marasai steps in and destroys it with its beam rifle. The Titans mobile suit then turns toward the group of children that infected Mori with Geass and brings its foot down on them.
"Targets neutralized." The Marasai pilot reports.
No one really raises any protests about the former Titans shooting everyone on sight after that.
Things continue in this manner for a few minutes, with the Titans killing all Geass Order staff and test subjects they see, while other friendly forces deal with any Knightmares and mobile suits that show up. Security in the interior is slightly tougher, with Vincents and Jegans painted in Britannian colors showing up in addition to everything else encountered so far.
A panicked call from some of the Titans pilots gets your attention, and you turn to see a familiar custom Vincent seemingly teleporting as it demolishes GM IIs.
"Rolo...!"
As Rolo's Vincent turns to face you, there is an explosion, and when the dust clears, you see an orange and green mobile armor floating in the air.
"Wait, Jeremiah, isn't that the Siegfried?" You ask.
"Yes. They must have finished it after salvaging what was left from the Pacific. But given that it works via direct electrical connection to the nervous system, the only people who can pilot it are me and..." Jeremiah trails off.
"I thought so!" You exclaim as the Siegfried fires an enormous slash harken at the Shinkiro, which you block with its Absolute Protection Territory.
The force of impact propels the Shinkiro back outside, although your Knightmare itself is unharmed.
"You know, I sort of liked you Lelouch, because you remind me of Charles." V.V. says over an open frequency. "But it looks like Marianne's child is getting too big for his britches!"
"Disappear, you foul creature! All forces, open fire!" You order. "C.C., get inside, it's you he's after!"
You, Jeremiah, Cornelia, and several flying Akatsukis open fire on the Siegfried, which starts spinning rapidly, deflecting all of your projectiles.
"So they managed to implement the electromagnetic shield. Damn you, V.V., that Knightmare was meant to show my loyalty!" Jeremiah yells.
"Oh? I thought you hated Zero, Jeremiah." V.V. taunts.
"I did! But when I learned who he truly was, I saw I should serve him, for Lady Marianne's sake!" Jeremiah retorts.
"EVEN YOU DARE TO SPEAK THAT NAME IN FRONT OF ME?!" V.V. snarls as he rams an Akatsuki with the Siegfried before firing a slash harken at a GM III on the ground, destroying both.
"Zero, this is Q-1! Do you want me and the Colony Gundams to assist you, or focus on securing the interior of the base?" Kallen asks.
As you consider Kallen's proposal while dodging a ramming attack from the Siegfried, you spot a trio of friendly contacts on sensors approaching the battlefield. Two of them are immediately identified as the Hyaku-Shiki and a custom GM III, both on Base Jabbers, but the third appears to be some kind of unidentified Knightmare Frame.
Is that what C.C. meant? You think to yourself. Marianne vi Britannia is approaching the battlefield, escorted by Beecha and Elle, in a new Knightmare.
What will be done about the Siegfried and V.V.? (Whatever is not selected will secure the interior of Geass Order HQ and deal with Rolo)
[ ] Checkmate
-Have Kallen and the Colony Gundams assist with V.V.
[ ] Maternal Protection
-Marianne will assist in dealing with V.V. A/N: I apologize for the delay, but familial obligations ate 100% more of the previous evening than I thought they would. Also, no rolls because I didn't want to delay the update any longer. Please vote, discuss, and critique!
And we are back on the question... do we trust Marianne? I'll have to mull on the matter a bit, since there are arguments for either choice here. As of now, I'm tempted to let Marianne deal with VV (while hoping that Judau's friends can position themselves in such a way as to be ready to capture VV if Marianne manages to down his ride) while having the Wing boys and Kallen help inside (IIRC, there's a Thought Elevator here, and we could potentially see if we have the firepower to destroy one, since that would also screw Charles' plans and lessen the need to worry about Marianne's sincerity, though I doubt we can actually destroy a Thought Elevator even with a combination of Wing Zero and Heavyarms Custom).
Rolo's heavily dependant on his Geass to be able to pose a threat, and we have Newtypes mixed with the Black Knights and Solar Vanguard forces. So even if Rolo starts causing issues, we just send some Newtypes after him and they'll render him a non-threat.
