41Chapter Four
The risk of a wrong decision is preferable to the terror of indecision.
Maimonides
Tokyo Settlement Area 11, May 2017
It was on.
For once, in what felt like a very long time, Kyoshiroh Tohdoh knew precisely what he had to do. There were no more complexities, no more complications, no more nagging doubts. Only a clear objective, and the means to achieve it.
"All squadrons! Advance up the incline and secure the edge at street level! Follow me!"
He couldn't not lead the advance. He had not led from the rear since Itsukushima, and had vowed never to do so again.
With a roll and click of his joystick rollerball, he selected and drew the enormous Brake Sword sheathed over his custom Gekka's back. Like his black-armoured knightmare, it was one of a kind; its saw-toothed blade longer than any other. And like his knightmare, it was a weapon he could wield to perfection.
He pushed down the pedals, and his Gekka leapt from its hiding place; amid the ruins of a tall skyscraper. It landed lightly, speeding across the barren ground that divided the ghetto from the foot of the settlement plateau, its long tails of red hair wafting like banners in the wind. Glancing at his rear-view screen, and his tactical map, he could see friendly knightmares falling in behind him, swarming like so many hornets.
A great many hornets. All eight of the Black Knights knightmare squadrons had deployed, each of twelve, with ten more squadrons from other rebel units following close behind. Over two hundred knightmares, with over two thousand more massing behind, waiting for their turn.
Before him was the bottom of the incline; a great field of debris two kilometres across, narrowing to a point at street level far above. To either side of the bottom stood the tall, thick concrete walls that barred access to the plateau's underside. Smoke and dust hovered around them, and for a moment Kyoshiroh could see the cracks and craters in the once-smooth concrete, where the artillery shells had struck. An instant later they were gone, vanished in a flash of light, replaced by a fresh cloud of dust; a loud crump reverberating over the empty ground towards him.
The Britannians would surely realise their intent; to penetrate the walls, and send infantry swarming up the maintenance stairways to secure the cargo elevators. They would send troops to guard the elevators, and the stairways and corridors; the great warren of tunnels that ran throughout the plateau, allowing the complex honeycomb structure to be maintained. The battles in those tunnels would be hellish.
So it was up to him to do his part. By forcing his way up the incline, he became the primary threat, the main focus of their attention. They would fixate on him, throw all they had at him, and with any luck forget about the others until it was too late.
With any luck.
All at once, he reached the bottom of the incline. Whereas it had looked reasonably smooth from a distance, up close he saw the truth. A tangled, twisted mass of rubble, undulating its way up to street level. This was going to be tricky.
He slowed, as he drew up to a jagged slab of concrete with steel cables sticking out of it like frizzy hairs, then jumped. He landed easily, pausing a moment to let those following him catch up. Most managed the jump, but some stumbled and wobbled, and a few even used their Slash Harkens.
His lip curled. There were a lot of new pilots, and plenty of experienced pilots who had nevertheless learned by doing. He couldn't expect too much, but they weren't up to standard. That would have to change, when there was time.
"Keep moving up the incline!" he ordered. "Spread out, and watch out for enemy units!"
The knightmares swarmed past him; mostly Burais but a handful of Sutherlands too, hastily resprayed and rushed into battle. He could see Zero Squadron too, the crimson shape of the Guren Nishiki at its head, a handful of Gekkas among them.
Then his dashboard buzzed. He glanced down at his screen, and saw a knightmare icon turn into a LOST icon. He looked up, and saw the flurry of movement to his left, as something emerged from the wreckage. It was a Sutherland, its blue paint stained with dust, firing desperately at the knightmares around it. One of the Burais put it down with a quick burst into its chest, blowing it apart.
But more and more were beginning to appear. Sutherlands and the odd Gloucester, dragging themselves out of the wreckage, firing or lashing out at anything within range.
Tohdoh allowed himself to smirk as he watched them go down. His pilots might have lacked polish, but they had their dander up, as the Britannians might say. This wouldn't take long.
And then he saw something else. A flash of purple in the corner of his eye. He turned, and his heart leapt as a purple shape erupted from a patch of darkness, tearing into a pair of unsuspecting Burais. One went down to the Gloucester's Shot Lancer, the other a moment later to a pair of Slash Harkens.
Tohdoh stared as more knightmares closed in around the newcomer. There was no mistaking that billowing black cape, or those long, antler-like antennae stretching out from the head.
Cornelia.
His knightmares had seen her too. Already a half-dozen were heading her way; leaping and racing over the debris, guns blazing as they drew close. More enemy knightmares appeared; mostly purple Gloucesters with the same long cloaks, but blue Sutherlands too. They fired upon his knightmares, and the Burais began to fall; blasted apart as their batteries were hit, or maimed by well-aimed bursts.
He gritted his teeth, but satisfaction and excitement were mingled with his anger. He could have expected no less from Cornelia's knights, not when their mistress was on the field.
He drove down the pedals, and charged straight at Cornelia, grasping his Brake Sword two-handed. The purple Gloucester turned to face him, and with a thought he leapt, raising his sword for an overhead strike. With a roar he brought the sword down, the whirring teeth glowing as they raced along the blade.
But Cornelia was moving, dodging out of the way as he landed, his blade cutting through empty air. He straightened up, in time to see Cornelia come about in front of him, Shot Lancer at the ready.
A flicker of instinct made him dart to the right, as the Shot Lancer fired; its head bursting from the haft and blazing towards him. He swung his sword, knocking the heavy missile away as he dodged. It spun away and exploded, the blast almost knocking him off his feet.
He recovered, but Cornelia was upon him, Stun Tonfa deployed on her right arm. The crackling maul flashed at him, so fast he could scarcely believe it. He fell back under the onslaught, dodging again, and again. He needed space to use the Break Sword, but Cornelia would give him no respite.
He jumped, the leap taking him up and back, landing on a nearby slab. Cornelia jumped after him, but he had gained the space he needed. He charged at her again, swinging his sword, forcing her to dodge. He turned, ready to strike again, only for her to vanish from sight.
In reflex he leapt back, barely avoiding a Stun Tonfa thrust to his flank. He gritted his teeth as the purple Gloucester straightened up, its Landspinners retracting. The old Splits trick; dropping down and slewing round to the side. He hadn't seen that one in a while.
Kyoshiroh straightened up, readying his sword. The Gloucester stowed its rifle, and unleashed the Stun Tonfa from its wrist, the pair crackling as the Gloucester eased into a combat stance. Kyoshiroh stared at it, imagining Cornelia's face staring back at him; those purple eyes, so determined, and so hateful.
She moved. He moved too, dropping his sword to his side and thrusting as Cornelia came on. She dodged, the blade shrieking as it sliced into her armour, then lashed out with her left Stun Tonfa. Kyoshiroh dodged, and again, jinking right and dropping back as she jabbed again and again.
She was fast. He had to keep her at a distance, wear her down so he could properly use his sword.
He leapt back and fired his Slash Harkens, the anchors whistling as they cut through the air towards her. Cornelia leapt back in turn, and fired off her own Harkens. Kyoshiroh broke left, batting the anchors away with his sword, then bringing it up to slice her in half. But again she dodged him, leaping out of his reach, his blade barely scoring her plastron.
She landed nearby, and Kyoshiroh turned to face her, teeth gritted. Frustration and exultation warred within him. The joy of the battle, and the need to finish it. The desire to take her alive, and the knowing that he could not. Whatever the outcome, this was a battle worth fighting.
The buzz of alarms cut through his focus. He glanced down at his sensor screen, and saw the contacts spreading out above him. A quick glance above, and he saw the rockets above him, a cloak of glistening stars in the night sky, ready to fall upon him.
He leapt back, letting himself fall down to the debris below, and crouched down. An instant later he felt the rockets tearing into the debris all around him, the detonations buffeting him from all sides.
He couldn't hear the noise or feel the force of it; not like that one time when he didn't have a knightmare to shield him. But it was enough to make him remember, enough to awaken that horrid, sickening thing inside him; that thing that wanted only to burrow into the earth and never stop.
Then it was over.
He looked up, peering over the edge of the slab; now pock-marked and scorched. Around him, his knightmares were emerging from their hiding places. He could see Cornelia, leaping up the incline towards a line of five Gloucesters, the Saddlewaffen rocket pods easily visible on their shoulders.
He gritted his teeth in frustration. He had been so close.
Then he glanced down at his sensor screen, and cursed himself. He had let himself be distracted by Cornelia, and the attack had stalled. Time to get things moving.
"All units, form up on me and prepare to advance!" he bellowed into the comm. "Anyone who can still fight, rally on me!"
(X)
Lelouch glared down the incline, as the purple and blue knightmares retreated back up towards street level.
It had been close, very close. If Tohdoh had been able to capture Cornelia there and then, it would have been all but over. But Cornelia was clearly not going to fall that easily.
His HUD beeped. He looked, and saw six new contacts emerge from behind the settlement buildings and move towards the top of the incline. He didn't need his IFF system to tell him what they were; with their narrow, almost bird-like fuselages, twin jet engines above the tails, and stubby wings from which rocket pods hung, ready to fire.
AV-01E Raven; Britannia's VTOL gunship, and beyond doubt the latest model. Cornelia never settled for less than the best if she could avoid it. And now there were six of them moving into position above the incline.
Lelouch's lip curled. The obvious thing to do was fly down and take them out, but he could see more Britannian forces moving into position around the incline. There were Caliburn assault guns, and Morrdure APCs, and plenty of knightmares too; more than enough firepower to make interception a risky business. He would have to time this just right.
He reached for the comm panel. The airwaves around him were thick with jamming, but the Gawain's Druid system was equal to the task.
Then it beeped; indicating a message from an unknown recipient. Lelouch frowned, and hesitated. A simple comm connection couldn't carry a virus, and the Druid system was well protected against such things. But if it was from the Black Knights, it would carry one of their recognition codes; the codes he himself had formulated.
The beeping continued, and Lelouch let out a sigh and pressed the button.
"Who is this?" he demanded, irritably.
"A friend," came the reply, "watching you from nearby."
The voice brought Lelouch up short. It spoke in Japanese, Japanese that was technically perfect, better even than his own. But there was something not quite right about it.
"What do you want?" he asked.
"To warn you," replied the voice. "There are two flights of bombers approaching you from the south; twenty-four in all. Their vector suggests low-altitude bombing of your rear positions. I recommend that you act immediately."
Lelouch's brow furrowed. Mysterious phone calls with possibly useful information were supposed to be his calling card.
"Why should I believe you?"
"Because you can't afford to take that risk."
The message ended. Lelouch gritted his teeth as his instincts warred for dominance. There was no immediate reason to believe a word this mystery person was saying, and if he went charging off to the south, Tohdoh would have no air support; and without the Gawain's comms to act as a booster, no way of communicating with Ougi in the rear either.
But if it was true, his was the only unit capable of stopping those bombers. And he knew, only too well, what those bombers could do if they had a clear run.
The mystery man was right. He could not afford the risk.
He keyed for Tohdoh, and waited for the comm to connect.
"Tohdoh, we have a problem. I've had a report of enemy bombers inbound from the south. I have to go and intercept them. There are six gunships inbound on your position. Get ready."
He paused a moment, his stomach churning with embarrassment and anger. The thought of having to abandon Tohdoh and his troops like this infuriated him, but there was no choice. He could only hope the older man would understand.
"Understood Zero, we can handle them. Stop those bombers."
"I'll be back soon. Hold out until then."
He ended the call. As CC took the hint and banked the Gawain away, he felt a twinge of guilt, and more than a twinge. He supposed he should call Kallen too, but every second was precious; and Tohdoh knew what he was doing.
"You believe that fellow?" asked CC, as they levelled off and accelerated away to the south.
"I'm not sure," Lelouch replied. "But he's right; it's a chance I have to take."
"He wasn't Japanese, you know."
"So I suspect."
And he did. Languages were only a passing interest of his, one of several, but he knew enough to notice things. The mystery caller's Japanese was technically perfect, but so was his own, and while no Japanese had any trouble understanding him, even his own Black Knights had never taken him for one of them. As Ougi himself had awkwardly explained, it was his too-perfect Japanese that had given him away.
"It's like…when you've spoken a language all your life, you just speak it in a way that's natural to you, and you don't notice. But when you learn it from scratch, you learn it from books. Even if you get a lot of exposure and practice, it's still noticeable sometimes."
So it was with this one. This one sounded a bit more natural, but there had still be something off about it; his accent perhaps, or just little hints here and there.
"Anyway, keep us on this course. I'm switching to active scanning."
He keyed for the Factsphere, and set it to active scanning. The miniature radar set into the Gawain's head set to work.
An instant later, the HUD began beeping. Lelouch looked down at the screen, and his chest tightened to see large aircraft contacts just out of sight. Twelve, fourteen, sixteen, eighteen….twenty-four.
The caller had been right. Twenty-four contacts inbound, all showing Britannian transponder codes.
Lelouch gritted his teeth. They were coming in hard and fast, and would reach his rear positions in minutes. He had one chance to stop them.
"Bring us into range," he ordered CC. "We have to take them out quickly."
He keyed for the two Hadron Cannons set into the Gawain's shoulders. They had more than enough firepower to take down those bombers, but the range wasn't all that great - Rakshata had reckoned five kilometres max – and they would drain his energy filler rapidly. This was going to take some finesse.
He could see them now; little dots barely visible against the night sky, marked out by red targeting reticules on his screen, growing slowly but surely into shapes as they drew closer. Britannian ATC-1C Albatross transports, with their broad fuselages and wide, forward sweeping wings, flying in four chevrons of six; two in front and below, two above and behind. Anything the first two missed, the latter two would mop up.
It was a plane he knew well. The first of the A model had come out in 2009, and one of them had been tasked with carrying himself and Nunnally to Japan as hostages; to a bitter exile, and the happiest time of his life. He had seem them again a year later, when Britannia had attacked and conquered Japan. He had seen them overhead, firing missiles from their wing pods, their rear hatches opening to unleash clouds of bombs, or swarms of paratroopers, or supply crates.
They were drawing closer. He could see their shapes now, as the metres ticked down. He would get one shot at this…
He squeezed the triggers. Twin streams of charged particles, like captured bolts of lightning, erupted from the Gawain's shoulders. The beams lanced across the darkness, striking the outermost bomber of the nearest chevron. Lelouch let it hold a moment, then eased the triggers left, drawing the beams across the formation to the next bomber. As he did so, the bomber blew apart, hurling blazing wreckage across the sky. On and on he drew the beams, the hapless bombers exploding in its wake as the beams sliced through their armour, detonating fuel and cargo bays packed with bombs.
It was done. One flight down; six clouds of burning debris; twenty-four men dead before they even realised what was happening.
He turned to the other forward chevron. The flight was responding, the bombers breaking apart as they drew close. One heeled over, its flank guns spitting streams of tracer at the Gawain. CC evaded, the Gawain leaping and jinking through the sky as Lelouch targeted the scattering bombers. He fired, blowing one of them apart, then another, and another; the beams zig-zagging across the sky as he tried to keep up with the evading bombers amid CC's dodging.
All gone. Six more bombers, twenty-four more unfortunates sent to an early grave.
He turned, as CC dodged ever more frantically. The rearmost two chevrons were closing in fast, the bombers splitting up and down while maintaining their course; a bracketing formation, designed to wear him down more easily. Lelouch fired, taking down yet another bomber, but already the formation was breaking up, his shots going wide before he managed to fix on one of them, taking down a second.
He snarled with mingled frustration and panic as the bombers shot past him. Ten more to go, and their goal was already in sight.
As CC brought the Gawain around hard, Lelouch watched the bombers. They were reforming into a new formation, this time much further apart, as they edged back into their previous vector. Clearly they meant to run across his rear echelon from south to north, catching as much of his forces as possible. If even one of them managed to drop its bombs, it would be a disaster.
And yet…if he could just…
"After them! Straight down the middle!"
CC complied, and the Gawain accelerated, closing the distance fast. Lelouch lined up the Hadron Cannons and fired, his first shot tearing through the centremost bomber and blowing it apart, then sliding neatly onto its nearest neighbour before it could evade. Two down, but eight remained, splitting apart to avoid him. If he could just drive them further away, make them lose their vector.
He turned right and fired again, the first shot missing as CC jinked, dodging the fire from the bombers. He fired again, and again, finally shearing off his target's left wing, sending it spiralling down towards the dark morass of the ghetto bellow. With no time to finish it off, he turned to another, his shot blasting through the fuselage at close range; so close that for an instant he could see the crew, lit up as if by an x-ray machine. As the bomber blew apart, he saw the other two banking hard, their course taking them away and over the bay; and well off their vector.
"Hard left, now!"
The Gawain turned, and four more bombers were in sight, trying to bank back onto their attack vector. Lelouch lined up on the nearest, and squeezed the triggers, blasting it out of the sky. The other three heeled over, letting their flank guns target him. He struggled to line up another target as CC jinked about. He felt the thud and shudder as rounds struck the Gawain.
He fired again, and again, missing the nearest but hitting the furthest. He snarled in frustration as the other two banked towards him; goaded back onto their vector instead of away from it. He fired, the shot shearing one of them in half, its wreckage smashing into a ruined skyscraper on the edge of the settlement. His heart pounding, he lined up on the last one, and jammed down the triggers.
Nothing. Just a warning buzzer, and a panoply of red lights.
Lelouch's heart dropped out of his chest as the bomber opened fire, a stream of stand-off missiles leaping from its wing pods and lancing down into the ghetto. He could see the explosions, his heart clenching at the thought of the damage, of the deaths. But worse to come, as he saw the bomber's rear hatch opening. He could see the bomb racks inside, the black cylinders ready to be dropped.
He had no choice.
"CC! Get in close!"
"Right!"
CC accelerated, so hard that Lelouch was jammed back into his seat. He forced himself to move, to key for the Slash Harkens built into the Gawain's fingers. Closer, closer, closer. He could see flashing lights in the cargo hold, the bomb racks unlocking, ready to drop.
He fired, the Slash Harkens rushing out from the Gawain's fingers and smashing into the left wing. CC pulled up hard, an the Gawain leapt skyward, the high-tension cables yanking at the bomber's wing; so hard that Lelouch could hear the groan and screech of twisting metal.
And then a great crank, as the wing bent out of shape. The bomber heeled hard over, spiralling down into the darkness of the ghetto, and smashed into a drunkenly-leaning skyscraper. The explosion lit up the ghetto, and for an instant Lelouch could see running figures and even vehicles.
How many had been lost? How many had he failed to save?
"Lelouch! Last two!"
He remembered. He looked towards the bay, and saw the last two bombers; coming in fast over the settlement. Gunfire leapt from the ghetto as the fighters on the ground saw the threat, and Lelouch's heart leapt as he saw missiles fly up from the darkness. But the bombers' chin guns were ready, and lines of tracer flicked from one to the other; shooting them down.
It wasn't enough. It could never be enough. If only there had been more time! If only they could have had the AA units he had wanted!
"CC! Intercept!"
As CC obeyed, Lelouch turned his attention to his HUD. There had been some damage to the frame, but the red lights were mostly to do with the Hadron Cannons. They were overheating, and the failsafes had shut them down. From the looks of it, the damage might be worse than that.
It was as Rakshata had warned him. The Gawain was just too overpowered, and he'd been working it hard that night. Without its firepower, they couldn't have gotten through Yokohama half so quickly. But now it had hit its limit.
His fingers flew over the keyboard, dialling down the firepower and beam width. Maybe a couple of low-powered shots would do it. It was all he had left.
They were within range. The bombers were accelerating, their engines glowing hot as they raced through the sky, braving the ever-growing storm of ground fire. Lelouch drew a bead on the nearest bomber, lining up the near-dying Hadron Cannons, praying to a God he had never really believed in that what little he had would be enough.
He fired. The beam flew, struck the bomber on the flank, and for a moment Lelouch feared he had failed. Then he saw the glow of melting metal as the beam tore through, and an instant later the bomber was gone in a flash of light, as the beams detonated its bomb load.
No time to celebrate. One bomber left, diving in on its final run, even as ground fire pitted and scarred its armoured fuselage. Warning buzzers screeched, but Lelouch ignored them. He had one chance left; one chance to stop it.
He fired. He saw the beam fly, and then it was gone, the failsafe buzzer squawking in his ears. The beam struck the wing, making it glow. For what seemed like an eternity, Lelouch watched, and hoped.
The wing came away, shearing off and spinning down into the ghetto. The bomber heeled over, spinning around and around as it plunged down into the ghetto. It struck one of the broken skyscrapers, plunging through it in a cloud of debris, then rammed hard into the ground, and exploded a new-born star.
Lelouch slumped back in his seat, breathing hard. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt so tired, so utterly drained. Not even when he'd been forced to attend gym class had he felt quite so exhausted.
"Our battery's almost dead," CC spoke up. "We have to land soon."
"Head over to Inoue," Lelouch managed to reply. "I'll call in." He keyed for Ougi, at rear echelon command.
"Ougi, what's the situation?"
"We've taken some damage, but we're okay," Ougi replied, near breathless. "Zero, that was amazing! People are cheering!"
"What about Tohdoh?" Lelouch asked testily. He was in no mood for adulation. "What's the situation on the incline?"
"We got all the gunships, but Tohdoh had to fall back," Ougi went on, sounding a little deflated. "He made it back to start position, and he's ready to go again on your order."
Lelouch forced himself not to curse. He knew there had been no other way, but the casualties would have to have been heavy to have forced Tohdoh to fall back.
And what of Kallen?
"Did you see Kallen there?" he asked, a hint of worry slipping into his tone. "Did she make it out?"
"I haven't seen her." Ougi sounded worried too. "None of Zero squadron. They might have slipped into the plateau."
Lelouch took a moment to master himself. He could not let himself worry, not ever for Kallen.
"I'm coming in. My Energy Filler is low, and the Hadron Cannons are acting up. If Rakshata's around, send her and her team to Inoue. In the meantime, order the second wave units to their start positions, and put all reserves on alert."
"Understood, Zero."
(X)
Sub-basement, Precinct 5 Civil Maintenance Building, Tokyo Settlement
Kento Sugiyama snarled a curse.
He crouched behind an equipment crate, his ears ringing with the sounds of gunfire. He could see a half-dozen of his fellow rebels nearby; a mix of Black Knights in their signature black jackets, and green-clad JLF leftovers. Every so often they popped up and squeezed off a burst, only to drop down again when enemy fire came their way.
The storage bay in which they were fighting was quite large; tall enough for a knightmare to stand up in, and filled with racks of equipment and large vehicles. Kento knew that they were all used to maintain the enormous segments that made up the settlement plateau; but beyond that, he had little or no notion what most of them were, or what they were used for. What mattered was that they were obstacles, and cover, in and around which he was trying to kill Britannians; and Britannians were trying to kill him.
He could see one of them peering out from behind an enormous six-wheeled vehicle that looked vaguely like a cherrypicker; rifle at the ready. He squeezed off a shot in Kento's direction, then dropped back out of sight as bullets bounced off the cherrypicker's heavy flank.
So it had gone on, for what felt like forever. A half-dozen of his men were lying dead or dying on the floor around the bay; testament to failed outflanking attempts.
Kento gritted his teeth, anger and frustration roiling inside him, making him want to throw himself over the barricade and charge at the Britannians; even if it would only get him killed.
A hand grabbed his shoulder. He spun round, bringing up his rifle, and only barely stopped himself from shooting. It was Takeo Kurata and Hitoshi Furata, two of his own, squatting behind him.
"Did you get them?" he asked. Kurata nodded, holding up two grenades. Kento could see that his and Furata's belts were packed with them. He took the two grenades, and gestured at the others. Both nodded in understanding, and began crawling along the line, distributing the grenades. He waited for another of his fellow Black Knights, Akira Yanagida, to glance his way, then gestured at him to come close.
"I'm going for the left!" he yelled, leaning in close so that Yanagida could hear him over the gunfire. "Get Kuribayashi!"
Yanagida nodded, and crawled back to pat Shino Kuribayashi, a young woman in JLF green, on the shoulder. Kento glanced to his left, along the flank of the cherrypicker until it disappeared behind a rack packed with equipment crates. He didn't like not being able to see down there, but he didn't have an alternative.
He glanced back, and saw Yanagida and Kuribayashi squatting there, eyes fixed on him. They were as different as soldiers on the same side could be. Yanagida was a man like himself, a resistance fighter hardened by survival, his black jacket open at the front, clutching a black market SMG that worked reasonably well but looked like a toy. Kuribayashi had come up through the military discipline and traditions of the Japan Liberation Front; evidenced by the green pre-war army uniform they had given her. Her weapon was a Chinese-made Hong Long rifle, with bayonet attached.
"We're going round the back, over there," he jabbed towards the rear of the bay. "Me and Kuribayashi first. Grenade first, then we go in hard. Right?"
Both nodded. He supposed he could have used the hand signals in that manual Zero had given him, but he wasn't sure how many people understood them, and he didn't have time to find out.
"All right!" He leaned past them, and made the Grenade gesture at Kinoshita; whom he knew understood it. Kinoshita gave the Understood gesture, pulled out one of his new grenades, and threw it straight at the front of the cherrypicker. Kento crouched down, and counted down the seconds, until he heard the blast.
Then he was moving, around the crates and down the cherrypicker's flank towards the back of the bay. He glanced round the corner, and mercifully no one was there. He could hear the sounds of running feet, as the Britannian soldiers behind the cherrypicker moved in to replace whoever had died in that grenade blast.
So far, so good. If they thought he was coming that way, and just being a little slow…
He glanced back one last time, making sure Yanagida and Kuribayashi were there. Then he pulled a grenade from his belt, popped the pin with his thumb, waited one second, then two, and tossed it round the corner. He heard the grenade clink on the concrete floor, heard yells of surprise, and then the crump as it detonated.
He darted round the corner, SMG at the ready. He saw a grey-clad Britannian soldier at the front end of the cherrypicker, turning and raising his rifle. Kento fired, sending a quick burst into his chest and throwing him back. Kuribayashi let out a feral shriek as she dashed past him, firing quick, disciplined bursts at two more soldiers emerging from behind an equipment rank. One fell back, his plastron blasted open, and Kuribayashi leapt at the other, driving her bayonet into his neck. With only grey fibre-cloth to protect it, the blade slid through, and the soldier fell back, gurgling horribly.
Kento dashed along the cherrypicker's flank, far enough to see past the equipment rack. Lightning flashed through his veins as he saw two more enemy soldiers come dashing in through an open door, levelling their rifles at the exposed Kuribayashi. He brought up his SMG, firing desperately. One soldier fell and the other fired, barely missing Kuribayashi as she realised the danger and darted back behind the rack. He heard a burst of gunfire, and the second soldier fell.
It took Kento's frazzled mind a moment to realise that it was Yanagida who had fired.
"Grenade!" he yelled, pulling the second grenade from his belt and hurling it out through the open doorway. A crump, and the cries of dying men.
"Get up here! Now!" he bellowed. He heard footsteps, and Yoshida emerged from around the cherrypicker, followed by the others. Kuribayashi did a quick check behind the equipment rack, but there was no one left.
"Barricade here!" Kento jabbed his finger at the gap between the cherrypicker and the equipment rack. Two of his fighters complied, grabbing a crate from the rack and lugging it into position.
"Yoshida, go and see if anyone else has made it! Get them in here!"
"Right!" Yoshida hurried back the way he came.
Kento took stock. In front of him was the big main door, which allowed the cherrypicker to move out into the maintenance tunnel, or straight across to the cargo elevator. The small door, through which the Britannians had been entering, was right next to it. Each of the equipment bays he had fought his way through thus far had a side door – allowing movement between bays – and a rear fire door, connecting to a separate fire escape corridor.
There was no side door. They had evidently reached the end of the line of equipment bays. So, unless the Britannians one or more of the others behind him, the equipment bays were secure, and he could bring up more troops from the stairwell.
And that, in itself, was a problem. The stairwell led right up into the building, but the Britannians had managed to block it at this level. The only thing they'd been able to access was an access corridor that led under the maintenance tunnel and up into the fire escape corridor behind the equipment bays. It was that very corridor that they had used to assault the equipment bays from behind, only for Britannian soldiers to come swarming out of the cargo elevator and drive them back through the bays.
They must have killed thirty or forty Britannians at least, as they struggled to retake the bays. But he had lost around twice that number in the process; and he doubted the Britannians would just give up. They would be back soon, and perhaps in even greater numbers.
"Sugiyama!"
He looked up. It was Yoshida, with the welcome sight of a dozen men behind him.
"Are the rest of the bays secure?" he asked.
"All clear. We've got fifty more guys, and there's more on their way up. And the phones are fixed as far as Level 2."
Some good news, at last. The service stairwells had landline phones running from top to bottom, but between battle damage and the Britannians cutting the wires as they retreated, they had thus far been unusable. They had comm earpieces, but those couldn't manage any distance; not with the heavy metal and composite plateau segments blocking the signals.
"Send somebody down there. Tell them we're about to attack street level, and we need reinforcements and supplies; plus heavy weapons if they've got any."
"Right."
As Yoshida set about selecting a messenger, Kento tried to think. If they opened the bays' main doors – assuming the Britannians hadn't wrecked the controls – they could swarm straight out and attack the cargo elevator directly. But if that failed, the Britannians could come right back at them, and drive them back into the stairwell. The doors were keeping him hemmed in, but they were also, paradoxically, keeping the Britannians out.
He glared at the bodies of the Britannian soldiers, as his comrades set about looting them of anything remotely useful. As much as he hated Britannia, they had fought well this day; damn well. They were killing two or three for each of their own lost; and his troops were the best the Black Knights and their allies had to offer. He dreaded to think what they were doing to the others elsewhere; the ones not half so well trained, or organised, or equipped.
In the meantime, he had a job to do.
He stepped up to the small door, pressing himself against the wall beside it. The fighters around him noted what he was doing, and ducked behind the equipment racks or the barricade of crates. Slowly, carefully, he peered out.
He could see the cargo elevator; set into the wall on the opposite side of the tunnel. The tunnel itself was wide and tall; big enough for large vehicles or even knightmares to move through it easily.
And he could see Britannians; lots of them. They had used equipment crates and riot barriers to create a series of foxholes; four of them along the middle of the tunnel, facing the equipment bays, and two more behind them, guarding the corners of the tunnel mouths. His heart jumped as he saw two pairs of Knight Police Glasgows, shields forward and guns at the ready, facing away into the darkness,
No wonder they had faced so few in the service stairwell. They had been concentrating their defence here; where it truly mattered.
Kento did a quick count. He could see about forty troopers, arranged evenly between the barricades, plus four knightmares. Against them he had a little over fifty fighters, plus whatever more had arrived in the last minute or so. If he opened the big doors and charged, they could probably overwhelm the infantry; but those four Glasgows would slaughter them in turn. If they tried to slip out via the small doors, the soldiers facing him would have little trouble keeping them contained. And there would doubtless be more knightmares and troopers topside, ready to come down the elevator if needed.
So what to do? If he had some RPGs he could take down the knightmares, and Yoshida had already sent for them. But it could take them a while to reach him; and the longer he waited, the more time the Britannians had to move additional troops into the streets around the civil maintenance building. They had to have guessed Zero's intent by now.
He looked at the men and women around him; twenty of them now. They were not all Black Knights, but they were hardened resistance fighters, honed by years of staying alive amid ghetto and forest and mountain, battling nature and their fellow Japanese to survive, and striking at Britannia in any way they could. They were the best of the rebel infantry, the best Zero could throw together from among the ragtag rebel bands and bandit gangs that had answered his call. They had made it this far, but had paid for it in blood.
And now there would be more blood. He had no weapon but them, and no time to wait.
"Zero…is this what you meant? Is this the only way?"
He glanced out the doorway again, looking for something he had missed, something he could use.
Nothing.
He sighed. There was truly nothing to be done. He stepped away from the door, and readied himself to command their deaths.
Then he heard an explosion.
He threw himself back against the wall, heart hammering, looking back and forth for attackers; but there were none to be found. Confused, he peered out of the doorway again.
Gunfire was whipping along the tunnel; bright tracer rounds marking its path. The two Glasgows to his right were firing, their 20mm pistols blazing at something racing along the tunnel towards them.
Then one of the Glasgows exploded, and the other two charged past him, racing to the survivor's assistance. Kento looked around, and saw that the infantry had ducked down out of sight, hidden behind their barricades.
Now. Now or never.
"All units!" he bellowed into his comm earpiece. Open the main doors and attack! Knightmares on your left!"
A moment later the big door clunked, and began to rise.
"Two grenades, on my mark!" Kento yelled, pressing himself against the wall between the doors. He waited until the door was more than half up, then swept his hand down. Two fighters drew back their arms, and send their grenades flying towards the barricade. Kento pulled back, and counted down the seconds, until he heard the explosions.
"Now!"
He rounded the corner and ran for the nearest fighting hole. A soldier popped up, levelling his SMG, but Kento caught him with a quick burst. He leapt the barricade and crouched down, snapping his SMG left and right, ready to fire. But there was no one there, just four corpses.
He rose, turning right. The rest of his fighters were moving, swarming over the foxholes, guns blazing. But the two rearmost foxholes were still firing, and Kento saw some of his fighters fall. Further down the tunnel, he saw another Glasgow explode, and shapes emerging from the darkness.
It was the Guren Nishiki, its crimson armour gleaming in the sterile white light. Kento watched, awestruck, as it turned on one of the remaining Glasgows and thrust out its clawed hand, grabbing its shield and tearing it aside, before thrusting a golden stiletto blade into the Glasgow's plastron.
Bullets whipped past his head, making his ears sting. Kento cursed and ducked, wondering where the shots had come from.
The other foxhole.
He popped up, firing off a burst towards the left rear foxhole. One of the soldiers within it returned fire, forcing him to duck again. He glanced around, and saw that Kuribayashi had joined him; and was currently reloading her rifle.
Cautiously, he peered out again. There were two soldiers in the foxhole, both of them firing desperately. But behind them he could just make out a third, hefting what looked like a long, black tube onto his shoulder.
He let out a curse.
"Kuribayashi, they've got a LAW!" he yelled, hoping she could hear him over the din of the battle. "I'll distract them! Take him out!"
Before she could reply, he stood up and leapt the barricade. He landed, and ran back the way he had come, firing full auto at the foxhole. One of the riflemen shot back, while the trooper behind him rose up, the LAW on his shoulder, aimed down the tunnel at the Guren. Kento fell through the doorway, bullets tearing into the concrete and showering him with dust. He saw a puff of white smoke, and his blood ran cold.
Then the man fell, just as the rocket flew. It slammed into the tunnel wall and exploded, showering the Guren and a nearby Burai with dust.
Silence.
After a moment's bewildered pause, Kento pulled himself up, and crept out into the tunnel. His fighters were rising from where they had taken cover, some hurrying to help the wounded. The Guren stepped forward, and Kento could see several Gekkas and Burais behind it.
"Kozuki!" he yelled, waving at the red knightmare. "Kallen? Is that you?"
"Hey, Sugiyama!" replied Kallen Kozuki, via his earpiece. "You okay?"
Kento blinked, trying to master himself.
"What are you doing here?" he replied. "Did someone else make it to street level?"
"No, we ran into trouble on our way up the incline, and we had to duck into one of these tunnels further down. We've been clambering up the inside of the plateau ever since. My energy filler's running low."
He blinked again. He had gone strangely…numb, as if a part of his brain had simply shut down. He couldn't feel anything, and he couldn't really think either.
"Hey, Sugiyama," Kallen prompted. "Are you okay to keep going? How many more levels is it?"
"Uh…just the one more." Kento shook his head, trying to master himself. "Just…give us a minute to see to the wounded, and get some more guys up here."
"Okay. That was a great charge, Sugiyama. You totally rolled them up. And thanks for taking out that rocket guy too."
"Uh…it was nothing." A twinge of conscience. "Uh, it was actually Kuribayashi who took out the rocket guy, I think."
"Huh?" Kuribayashi faltered. "Ah, it was nothing!"
Kento couild have sworn she was blushing.
(X)
Shinagawa Station, Shinagawa Ghetto
The supply depot, if it could be called that, was busy.
It had been busy for the past several hours, ever since the armoured train Black Thunder had arrived there, and the Black Knights' logistics division had set themselves up; in the grounds of what had once been major railway station. The site was largely abandoned, the only trains passing through being freight trains between the settlements; the only official use left to Japan's once-mighty railway network. But that was at least plenty of space to work in, and plenty of roads leading away in all directions; making it easy for the supply vehicles – ranging in size from heavy wagons to pickup trucks – to get in and out.
And there had been many of them. The roads running parallel to the tracks had been gridlocked with them; the air a din of honking horns and angry men yelling. But they could do little but wait their turn until someone could get to them, and try to organise them by how much or how little they needed. Streaming them by vehicle size and intended load had sped things up, but it had taken them the better part of an hour just to make it work.
Even then, amid the ultimate battle for the fate of Japan, some people just couldn't or wouldn't read road signs.
Such was only one of many sour thoughts haunting Naomi Inoue's frazzled mind as she glared at her tablet, scrolling down through the inventory. Opposite her stood a heavy-set, sour-faced man in grubby fatigues, waiting with evident impatience.
"I can give you ten crates of 80mm mortar rounds."
"That's it?" snapped the man, losing his temper. "We need fifty or we're gonna run out!"
"Ten crates is all I have left," replied Naomi, forcing herself to speak calmly. "There won't be any more until the next train, and that's…" she checked her watch, "…half an hour at the earliest. Take them or leave them."
The man glowered, then nodded. Naomi pulled a notepad and pen from her breast pocket, marked down the ten crates and her signature, and handed it to him.
"Take it over there!" she pointed towards the area set aside for light ordnance. The man stalked off, and Naomi looked up for the next in line to make her life miserable.
"Ano…"
"What is it!?" She spun round, her resolve weakened by weariness, ready to snap at whoever was bothering her with some stupid question.
Except it wasn't. It was a young girl, holding a mug of steaming tea, and wearing a skittish look.
"Tea?" she offered, holding out the mug.
Naomi let out a long, deep sigh.
"I'm…I'm sorry, Benio-chan, thank you." She took the tea from the girl and glugged down a mouthful; the heat cutting through her weariness and shocking her back to life.
"Lieutenant Kanzaki asked me to bring it to you," Benio Akagi said, smiling a shy smile. "She thought you could use it."
Naomi shot her a smile as she sipped her tea, allowing herself to taste it that time. She had been dubious about the girl at first. She had no useful skills, and wasn't strong enough to lug boxes or heave crates for any length of time. But she was earnest and honest, if not a true believer than at least someone ready to work hard, to help.
"Captain Inoue…"
"You can just call me Inoue," Naomi said, smiling. "I'm not used to that whole rank thing, and you're not a Black Knight just yet."
"Okay, Inoue-san." The girl glanced awkwardly about. "I was wondering…how is the battle going?"
"The battle?" Naomi sighed again. "For the moment, not well, but not bad either."
Then she saw the look Benio was giving her.
"Well…it's not done yet," she said, wondering how to say it without giving her false hope, or making her lose heart too soon. "From what I've heard, the first attack failed, but there'll be another one soon. And Zero shot down all those bombers."
"I saw…" Benio breathed. "I remember them from the invasion, and after. But, seeing them go down like that…"
Naomi knew what she meant. She too remembered those days. The Britannian bombers, big ungainly things with forward-sweeping wings, soaring through the skies above; invincible, unstoppable, or so they had seemed. She remembered how people had cheered to see even one shot down, so terrified and hateful were they of the mere sight of those things.
And Zero had downed twenty-four in one sortie. A legend had been born that night, no matter what else happened.
And it gave her an idea.
"Since we've got a minute," she said, noting that no one else had arisen to torment her since that last guy had stormed off. "Why don't we check on Zero?"
Benio's eyes lit up.
"He's here?"
"This way."
Naomi led the way through the station concourse, the walls covered in decaying, graffiti-ridden posters, faded remembrancers of a lost golden age. On they went, past piles of crates and caskets, past men and women using labour frames, forklift trucks, and their bare hands, to shift loads from the stockpiles to the trucks waiting nearby. On and on, until they moved out of the concourse and into an open area where the tracks divided.
She heard Benio gasp as she saw the Gawain kneeling there, while one of Rakshata's technicians worked with CC in the cockpit. Rakshata herself stood nearby, her long pipe in her mouth and a tablet in her free hand.
And there was Zero too. He was using a field telephone, with a long cable running up into the cockpit.
"How's it going here?" Naomi called out cheerfully as they approached. Zero glanced at her, but continued his call; his face unreadable behind his mask.
"Just patching up this poor child," replied Rakshata, in her usual tone. "Zero has been working my adopted son far too hard."
"Without its firepower, we would still be grinding through Yokosuka," retorted Zero, setting the phone back in its slot.
"That doesn't mean you can run my children into the ground," quipped Rakshata; the sour, slightly arrogant look in her eyes ruining her put-on maternal outrage. "I did warn you Zero, this design is completely mad. Trust the Zevons to come up with it."
"Does that mean you can't fix it?" asked Zero, a hint of challenge in his tone.
"I didn't say that," replied Rakshata airily. "Ah, but let's see what Kagari has to say."
The technician was lowering herself down on the ascension cable. She looked young to Naomi, maybe about Benio's age, though she wore a Black Knights jacket and a tool belt around her waist. She had black hair, and her skin was brown; about the same shade as Rakshata's. Was she from India too?
"I've done all I can with them," she said. She spoke Japanese, but with an accent similar to Rakshata's. "But the magnetic coils are half-melted. They just can't handle the heat."
"Will they work?" Zero asked, pointedly.
"Yes, but you're limited to low power shots. Try to dial it up and the coils will melt, and the whole thing could explode. Really they need replacing, but that'll take a while."
"It'll do. Thank you Kagari."
Only then did Zero seem to notice Naomi and Benio.
"Is everything all right, Captain Inoue?"
Naomi cursed inwardly. She had been standing there staring, when there might be work needing doing. And she was putting Benio on the spot too.
"Fine so far, Zero. We're short on a few things though. I've sent the orders back."
"Good. Do the best you can in the meantime."
"Oh, and who have we here?" Rakshata turned her attention to Benio, who blushed.
"This is Benio Akagi," Naomi introduced the girl, who bowed awkwardly. "Kallen recruited her at the SAR."
"She seems a bit young," mused Rakshata. "Then again, that's nothing new. Since we're doing introductions, I am Rakshata Chawla of the Technical and Scientific Department, and this is Kagari Savitri, a bright young thing I recruited in Chandigarh. Oh, and Zero needs no introduction."
"N…nice to meet you!" babbled Benio, bowing again. She looked like she was going to faint.
Naomi glanced at Zero, half expecting him to complain, or come out with some harsh put-down. But if he seemed irritated by the scene, he made no show of it. Behind his mask and purple costume, he was completely unreadable.
"I'm sorry about this, Zero," she said. "But Benio-chan was worried about Kallen. Apparently she went…"
She trailed off as the field telephone beeped, and Zero picked up the handset.
"Zero." He listened for a few moments. "Yes. Excellent. Are you ready to go? Good, see to it. I'll be airborne in a few minutes."
He put down the handset, and turned to them with a flourish.
"Good news everyone!" he declared. "Kallen has made contact. She and Sugiyama have taken the Precinct 5 civil maintenance building, and the cargo elevator is operational."
Benio let out a gasp of delight. Naomi let out a sigh of relief.
"Benio." Zero turned to the girl. "You were worried about Kallen, weren't you." It was a statement, not a question. Benio let out an eep, and lowered her eyes, wringing her hands in embarrassment.
"She…she saved me," she whimpered. "She saved me, and she let me come along, even though I'm just a girl, and I can't do anything…"
"I know Kallen will appreciate your feelings," Zero said. His tone was low, and almost kind. "But in the meantime, I need you to do your best for Captain Inoue. The supply trains should arrive soon, and we'll have a lot to do."
"Uh…yes!" Benio declared, mastering herself. "I'll give my all for the Black Knights!"
"So then," Rakshata mused. "The second phase is underway?"
"It will be, in a few moments," replied Zero. "When I give the order, Tohdoh will attack up the incline, and the artillery will provide supporting fire. Also, the second wave with advance under the plateau and up the cargo elevators. Captain Inoue, do your best to keep the supplies coming. Rakshata, take your team and head over to Ougi's position, and make sure you bring all your equipment."
"Oh?" Rakshata cocked an eyebrow. "Expecting a certain someone?"
"Quite likely. When the second wave advances, the command post will go with it, and use the precinct 5 cargo elevator to reach street level. Kallen and Sugiyama should already be there."
"So where are we going?" Rakshata asked, as Zero grabbed the ascension cable and let it carry him up to the cockpit.
"To the command post's new location," Zero called back. "Ashford Academy!"
(X)
And here it is. This took a lot of doing, but hopefully it's come out well.
There were some tricky parts here. I think the fight scene with Tohdoh and Cornelia came out okay, and while Kento Sugiyama's infantry battle took a couple of attempts, I think it finally came up good. Lelouch's air battle scene might be a bit overblown, but IMHO the Gawain is a bit overblown in itself; and it's no worse than the original scene, where he just hovered there blowing away aircraft with his Wave Motion Gun…I mean Hadron Cannons.
The single trickiest part was figuring out how the whole attack would work; vis-à-vis the settlement itself. I have to admit that when writing previous versions, I didn't fully understand how the settlement was built. Based on what I've found, it seems like the whole settlement is built on an artificial plateau, made up of layers of square segments held up by columns; the whole structure being flexible enough to cope with earthquakes. The R2 version is even larger and more ambitious, with the rivers and part of Tokyo bay converted into a series of ornamental canals and gardens, with what look like massive solar panels set in the canals; along with a selection of huge towers, of which Black King tower is one. What remains of the ghetto is kept out, in the R2 case, by a tall, thick wall which also keeps the canals in; whereas in R1, people seemed to wander between ghetto and settlement rather easily.
The big question for me was how would Zero, or anyone else, actually attack a settlement? The plateau alone, if it could be made to work, would be a challenge for any attacker. I reckoned there would be monorail lines and road overpasses leading in and out, but those could be blocked or destroyed fairly easily. Zero created the incline by having a load of segments collapse, but that's still only one way in.
So I took a chance, and added the cargo elevators. These form part of certain support columns, and run from street level – in the civil maintenance building for each precinct – straight down to ground level. In turn, each segment has maintenance tunnels built into it and connected to the cargo elevators; allowing maintenance staff to move easily from segment to segment and carry out inspections and maintenance as needed. It just occurred to me that they'll need some way to move around this structure safely, and that it's going to need a fair bit of maintenance; so it's something plausibly necessary that Zero can take advantage of.
In any case, I hope this has all gone down well. Sorry for the long delay. If Chapter Five doesn't run into any problems, it'll be up fairly soon.
