~~~~~Two Days Later~~~~~
The 3rd Princess, with her escort, arrived at Solomon Base to receive her Mobile Suit.
The Viceroy of Area 11, while not showing, was ecstatic about this development.
After running simulations and returning to her Gloucester, her machine felt… primitive.
Her old machine was…old! Unresponsive, slow, couldn't fly, and the weaponry was outdated.
Honestly, she had a huge list of complaints, but that changes today.
The group walked to the KK-UNIT dedicated hangar. It didn't look any different from any other hangar… apart from inscriptions on the side walls.
Like how she saw in Marcus' old workshop, it was similar here as well.
The KK machines were on a pedestal, including her!
"This is it… this is your machine, Princess?" Darlton gazed at the one that he had never seen before.
"...It is…" The Princess already had a connection to this machine; it's like she has been piloting it for months.
"...It is strange, I haven't piloted it yet… but… It's like I already did, yet the feeling that it's new…it's there."
The Princess tried to explain the sensation she was feeling.
"That's because it's built with your data, sister." Marcus walked over; he was flanked by several females.
When Cornelia saw him with his group, she rolled her eyes.
"You keep on expanding your harem, Lelouch." She commented, her voice full of sarcasm.
"Thanks, I keep trying very hard." He replied with a similar tone.
"...Jokes aside. My time as Viceroy is coming to an end." All of a sudden, the Princess got very serious.
"I got an order to return to the homeland for new orders. Schneizel is still Prime Minister; he can't wage wars all the time." The Princess sighed before looking at her machine.
"This will come in handy to continue to wage wars swiftly."
"You are going to continue to conquer for our beloved father?"
She looked at him with an eye roll.
"I do not have a choice. You are not ready to rebel yet." The princess complained. "I was able to delay my return for a while. I won't miss the trip to space.
But after that, I will leave Area 11 to Euphemia."
'At least in this timeline, our little sister got a peaceful Area 11 to rule.'
Marcus recalled how the story with Euphemia ends most of the time. It makes his chest hurt just imagining THAT outcome.
"Good enough, most of the rebellious elements are gone to my faction."
The Exiled Prince replied, recalling how all of the rebels eventually joined him and were waiting eagerly for the rebellion.
Either becoming pilots or foot soldiers… regardless, the numbers are still not high enough according to his darling girlfriend.
"Yes…" She then looked at him for a second.
"I accepted the reassignment without complaints because of your change in plans. We are going to wage rebellion away from Euphemia's territories." Cornelia said with relief.
"Not that any of them know that in Narita, the bulk of mass-produced machines will be built." He leisurely commented.
"Small details, Lelouch." She shrugged before looking at her machine.
His gaze followed hers.
"KK-41/DA01 Morrigan." He said with a proud smirk. " The most advanced mobile suits ever built by Anaheim to date.
As you know, the machines are getting more advanced with each model. This one is built with your data and ours combined.
But we took a step further and released this with the new designation. Project Divine Arms, that's why it has a slash DA01 after the serial number.
Divine Arms is the next step towards 3rd Generation. The machine has improved controls over its Fusion Reactor and the newly created deflection and absorption mechanisms." He explained to her that, before looking at her followers, they were all pleased that he was spoiling their Princess.
"Only the best things for my dearest sister."
Cornelia scoffed for a second but then smiled.
"Good to hear."
She then looked at her Mobile Suit.
"So? How does it work?" The Princess didn't want to look stupid. So, she asked first.
"It's powered by Legion OS. All you need to do is tell what you want." Marcus clarified to her.
"...Legion…"
"The biblical term sister, not the Roman one."
"It means 'Legion, for we are many.' It means exactly as it says. All of KK units have independent AI that are connected to one AI.
This is for security reasons as well.
If one is compromised, Legion can detach its connection."
"...I see. Regardless, how do I summon it?"
"Call by its name, sister."
"Hm…" She looked at the Mobile Suit."Morrigan."
At that moment, the mech's eyes glowed as the machine took a step and left the pedestal, all the maintenance cables disconnected as the mech left its resting area.
Once in front of its pilot, Morrigan tapped the ground with its lance before dropping on one knee and offering its left hand.
The machine acted like a knight, causing Cornelia's knight to get a bit jealous.
Cornelia smiled as this was something she found… fascinating.
She realised why Euphemia wants one of these. It's like having a giant knight.
"Well, well, I am very impressed, Lelouch." The 2nd Princess looked at her little brother.
"Hn, have fun, Cornelia. I have things to do. We are leaving for space this evening. Until then, you can have fun with your Mobile Suit." He lazily waved his hand and was about to leave with his small army of quiet girls.
Funny how Cornelia's witch-like gaze is causing them to behave like quiet kittens.
"...And the Command units for Guilford and Darlton?" She turned away from her machine and looked at him.
"For now, they will use custom Setanta units. My team is developing a completely different platform for the command unit.
Think of it like a bridge connecting Mass Production units with KK-units.
We named them KKA-01 Scathach, named after a Witch Queen who trained famous Celtic and Irish Heroes." Marcus smiled while saying that, before walking away.
"...Fine by me…" She turned back to her machine before smirking a bit.
Now that she has this…
Her smirk turned into a bloodthirsty one.
'I could just fly to Homeland and lay waste to those Thought Elevators.'
For a second, she was about to do that, but then she controlled herself.
'No, first the trip to space.'
"Princess."
Her knight brought her back from her thoughts.
"Are you sure you wish to travel to the Asteroid Belt? Isn't it very far away?"
His question made her look at him.
"It's one in a lifetime opportunity to visit outer space. My Father never bothered beyond placing a flag on the moon first before the E.U. or the Chinese Federation.
Now it's a perfect opportunity."
Not that she will admit that she is jealous that Euphemia was first on the moon and not her.
After all, she has seniority!
At least she got her Morrigan, and Euphemia didn't even start her simulations to create a design for her machine.
"I see, but Princess… we still have our orders…" Darlton tried to reason.
"And we will be rebelling soon, Darlton. What is your point?" The 3rd Princess rolled her eyes.
"Well, when you put it this way… but shouldn't we at least pretend that we are trying to do our duties?"
"I do believe that Princess doesn't care anymore." Guilford noticed the way Cornelia was looking at her new machine. It's like she got new power, a new absolute power, that makes everything else not care.
"You know me well, Guilford. With this machine, I do not care what my father thinks. It's more than capable of handling armies alone."
She replied before looking at the Commander.
"What I do care about is that my men are safe, and not in any kind of threat.
That is why I want those Commander units and regular units ready. Once they are finished, then we can openly challenge the Emperor himself."
That's right. Cornelia is no longer weary of her father, but she doesn't want to lose her soldiers carelessly.
"I understand, Princess, we will follow you to the very end."
"Hn." She looked back at her kneeling machine. A small grin resurfaced on her lips.
"When you two stand by while I take it for a spin." The Princess removed her cloak and threw it at her knight, before walking to the offered mech's hand.
The machine picked her up and brough her to the cockpit.
The Princess got inside and got into the seat that immediately adjusted to her. Then the screens turned on, showing Anaheim 'AH' symbols, the emblem of the company.
Once that was gone, the boot-up of the control systems was done, and holograms began to pop up.
These solid holograms took her a while to adjust to, at first, when she started her KK-Unit simulation training.
But she quickly got used to them and even started to prefer them over the display screens of a regular Knightmare Frame.
The highest perk for her was that these holograms show what she wants to see. It's like the machine is reading her mind.
Which is does! The neural interface in the seat reads her brain waves when her back touches it.
This is especially potent when the pilot is wearing the pilot suit. The suit itself is an amplifier.
For now, without the suit, her mech's reaction speed dropped a bit, as the linkage is not complete.
But even without it, the mech is still faster than any other machine, including other KK-units.
And that's because of the latest technology that her machine has.
The most obvious improvement over the predecessors is the arrangement of the Ion thrusters.
While Morrigan doesn't have the same cruising wings of Tiranis, it does have a selection of much smaller Ion Thrusters throughout the whole body.
This change, compared to other KK-Units, gives Morrigan a much powerful magnetic field. This field is potent enough to interfere with electronics to the next level.
It's powerful enough to fry machines that don't have protection from these magnetic fields.
That is why KK-41 Morrigan reached space faster than any other KK-Unit.
"..." The Princess gazed at the curvature of the planet as her eyes trembled at the sight before her.
This was the sight that made her little brother desire the stars themselves.
It did have an effect on her as well. A bit different one…
Like, for example, she realised how small Earth is, how… insignificant even Britannia looks from here.
She can barely make out any land from this high up…
Regardless, for now, she pushed these thoughts aside and looked at something else at the horizon.
'The Moon.'
The Princess pushed the controller sticks forward.
"Let's go to the moon. How long will it take?"
[Calculating distance…]
[6 minutes 32 seconds.]
"...That's it?" Cornelia looked surprised by such a small amount.
[There is no need for the unit to hold back its Ion Thrusters in space.]
[Our performance is limited on Earth because we could destabilise the Planet's natural magnetic field.
Such destabilisation could be catastrophic to the planet's life.]
"..."
The Princess wasn't certain how much damage a single mech could potentially do. Not that she is eager to find that out.
The current Mobile Suit's power is already enough for her.
~~~
"...I wonder where she went to…" Guilford said to the fellow Commander.
"...No idea… with the specs of such a machine…" Darlton replied with crossed arms. He was as clueless as the Knight.
[She is currently halfway to Moon, while I can't connect to Morrigan anymore, my sensors are tracking the Unit.] Legion replied to the Knight's question.
"P-Princess! It's dangerous! If anything happens, it's certain death!" Cornelia's knight began to panic! This is the first time in his life that he felt so powerless!
[Do not worry. Morrigan was designed with the pilot's safety as its ultimate priority.] The AI tried to reassure the man, but he was like a headless chicken.
"Calm yourself, Guilford. She will be fine." Darlton's steel-like voice brought the man to his senses.
"...You are right. It makes me frustrated that we can't follow after her."
Now the knight wanted a similar machine that would allow him to follow after his Princess.