Chapter 72
As Marcus was getting acquainted with his brother-in-law in the Indian sub-continent, a Britannian private plane landed.
Not long after, the Prime Minister of the Holy Britannian Empire left the plane.
He was greeted by an old man who was the leader of the newly restored state. Before the restoration of the country, he was simply known as Maharajah.
"Your Highness, I wasn't expecting to meet you so soon."
"Well, I had to visit the new player that has emerged on the political scene." The blonde man smiled as he looked at who was behind the old man.
As expected, in quite an honourable place was a woman with long blonde hair dressed in a lab coat…
'So that's her.'
Not only that, but Schneizel can see Knightmares he has never seen before.
It would seem India has Knightmares of their own. Better looking than Chinese Gun-Ru.
"Oh, please. No need to be so kind. You have quite a hard opponent appearing in your backyard."
"...Anaheim won't stop with the Chinese Federation or my Britannia. Their goal is world domination." Schneizel wasn't playing around as he went straight to the point.
"That is why I want your help." He looked at Maharajah and who was behind him.
"Come, let's speak at a more fitting location."
The group walked to the limo that took them to the man's palace.
Not long after, they continued their conversation.
"I would like to employ your head Knightmare developer." Schneizel went to the right for the most valuable individual.
"...You need to offer me something good for me to work for you." The blonde replied with a bit of a lazy voice.
"I have Anaheim technology."
"..." She lost her lazy attitude.
"We took down their three machines in California, and my spy spent time in their hangar; he picked up data on their machines." The Prince explained to them.
"My… that is fascinating."
"...And my brother poached my head developer… You might know him quite well." The Prime Minister knew he got her!
"Hmm?" The woman perked up.
"Yes. You two went to college together."
The woman immediately reacted, as she knew.
"Pudding? He works for Anaheim?" She looked hooked.
"Indeed. I lost contact with Camelot when they got into Area 11. Later on, my spies reported that the entire staff of my Camelot is working for my little brother, and they are developing arrays of technologies to assist in Lelouch's quest for world domination."
"...Is that so?" She pursed her lips.
"I will agree, but there are conditions."
"Let's hear them." Schneizel smiled as his diplomacy was working. Well, he got what she wanted, so it was expected.
~~~
Not long after, Rakshata was in Schneizel's workshops.
The lady was reading through the data provided by the researchers and developers.
"Fascinating… your brother is something else. I do want to meet him."
Schneizel frowned when he heard that.
"But don't worry, I keep my word. I will help you, but with this…" She taped the tablet with a small frown.
"One thing for sure is that your little brother doesn't use standardised technology at all."
"...What do you mean by that?"
"Well, for example, regardless of nation, if we take any knightmare, we will be able to recharge it regardless of whether it's your Sutherland or Chinese Federation Gun-Ru. They all use the same battery fillers."
She then pointed at this data.
"This, however, is different." The lady showed the unique liquid-type battery used by Setantas.
"Your brother developed the infrastructure for technology first before making this machine."
"Can you replicate it?" He asked her what was important.
"Replication is not the issue. The issue is how. This is the same as dealing with a plane. Just because you build an engine, it doesn't mean it will fly. I need the frame where the engine will work.
You understand that, don't you?" She explained to him.
"If we can't figure out how these batteries are recharged, then it's pointless trying to develop anything on this platform." Rakshata sighed.
"So we need to take over one of their facilities to learn the method." The Prince concluded.
"That would be a good start."
"Very well. Then we will begin gathering troops for an incursion into Anaheim-controlled lands." Schneizel motioned for his secretary to arrange that.
"Meanwhile, I will do what I can with these tools."
"Yes, please do." He nodded before walking away.
It would seem he will need to work hard to get into a competitive stance against his little brother.
The prince immediately recalled a small Lelouch and how they used to play chess together.
'He did not like losing back then.'
'Neither do I.'
~~~~~~Back In Japan~~~~~~
"Do you really need to show everyone that you pilot Flidais?" Leila complained to Milly as she saw how the President of the Student Council was using the mobile suit like a taxi.
In broad daylight and in school grounds no less. This is pissing Leila off as it's a gross misuse of the powerful machine.
"Hey! It takes ages to go from the old workshop to the academy!"
"It doesn't mean you should do that in public! Now, Britannians will know your face and which machine you pilot." The blonde complained.
Before Milly can say a thing, someone knocks on the student council room doors.
Leila makes a motion that she is watching her, to which Milly smiles sheepishly. They are no longer in Britannia, so she doesn't have the same worries as before.
"Come in."
When the doors open, they see a girl with long black hair and blue eyes. She was dressed in a yellow academy uniform.
'Isn't this the delinquent girl?' Leila had heard of her before—a girl who regularly ditches classes and disappears from the academy grounds.
"...you are Maya Garfield, I think?" Milly first spoke as she put a name to a face.
"Yes, Student Council President." The girl bowed for a second; it was a Japanese bow. Now that the Britannia rule is not here anymore, people with Japanese roots have begun to reveal themselves.
"I have heard that you are one of the pilots of those Anaheim machines… is that true?" The girl asked. Leila looked at Milly with a burning gaze.
"...Hehe, yes… I do pilot one." The blonde sheepishly confirmed it.
Her response made the girl enter the room and close the doors behind her.
"...So you were there when Prince Clovis was killed?" The black-haired girl asked, quite seriously. Making the atmosphere in the room shift.
"...Yes, I was there." The Council President replied, no longer amused.
"I see… I was there as well. I wanted to kill him, too, for what he did." Maya's eyes gleamed with deep hatred; it was something the pair of blondes didn't expect to see.
"...I skip classes so that I can be with homeless children in Shinjuku ghettos. I am half Japanese, you see, and seeing them without food and shelter while I have those makes me feel…guilty, that is why I try to help as much as possible…
But then… Clovis ordered Massacre!"
The pair of blondes knew where this was going.
"...I will never forgive him or Britannia! First they took my parents and now they took my friends!"
After releasing all that pent-up frustration, she walked over closer and looked at the pair.
"You both are close to Marcus Goldman, the Exiled Prince Lelouch. I wish to join Anaheim!" The girl declared with a heated tone.
'Revenge, huh…'
Leila realised why this girl wanted to join Anaheim…
"You do know that Anaheim desires complete world domination so that we could focus on space exploration and development." The Andraste's pilot reminded her why Anaheim was doing what it was doing.
"I know, but you will be fighting Britannia, and that is where I desire to be." The girl replied as she gazed at Leila.
"...Revenge… It's a great driving force. Just don't get consumed by it." The blonde tried to help, but the black-haired girl had already made up her mind.
"Yes, that much I am aware."
Milly looked at their interaction, midway, she realised that they could help this girl. She had this feeling that the girl had a great talent.
"Hmm, well, we could get you in contact with our dashing prince." Milly stroked her chin, pretending to ponder.
'...This is great… another girl!'
Leila realised that something was amiss here! Why only girls pop-up!?
"...Good…" Maya slowly nodded; there was a small smile on her lips. Will she finally be able to do something?
~~~
'I was wrong…where are these two taking me?' Maya's happiness lasted less than ten minutes as she realised that the pair of blondes were taking her to the Student Clubhouse!
Once inside the fancy building, they walked in front of a bookshelf.
Milly pulled out her phone and did something on it, and the very next moment, the bookshelf section opened, revealing a corridor with a lift door at the very end of it.
"..." The black-haired girl's mouth slightly gawked at this.
'Just how deeply is this academy connected to Anaheim!?'
"Follow me."
The Student Council President motioned to follow her.
The trio soon took a lift to the underground, where Maya ended up face to face with rows of Knight-like mobile suits and a selection of planes…
'This is a garrison!'
"This used to be Lelouch's original workshop. He made our machines here." Milly explained.
"He used to have a huge workshop but was living in a clubhouse," Leila complained.
"Oh, please, you used to love to sleep in his bed day in and out. To the point that you desired to build a house just for him and you because you wanted to relive that~." Milly grinned like a Cheshire cat while saying that.
Maya had no comment on that. At least she knows that those two are a proper couple.
After walking to the hangar, the trio got into a smaller plane that was meant for around twenty people.
Before long, Anaheim people went to assist them with transportation. It would seem that there are actual military personnel in the academy…
"This garrison is an active one. Lelouch's little sister is still attending this academy, because of that, there is a considerable number of soldiers, and even Milly is here most of the time." Leila explained to Maya.
'Perks of being the head of a nation…' The girl realised that his little sister is quite lucky…
"Yes, I am… sadly, Nuna misses Lelouch more than she cares about security." Milly showed a strained smile.
As the trio were talking, the small plane blasted out from the old workshop, using the old route which was used by Mobile suits. Before long, they were high in the air.
"Do use the seatbelt, we will leave Earth's atmosphere soon." Leila locked herself in, Maya didn't say a thing and followed her lead.
Sure enough, he new girl noticed that her hair began to float around. Her eyes widened as she looked through the window.
It was… Earth! And she could see the planet's curvature!
"We leave the planet before reentering in a different place to shorten our journey considerably… flying inside the atmosphere, we encounter resistance, in space it is a bit different."
"...Hmm…I see…"
Maya wasn't really paying attention as she was looking at the world below. This was the first time she saw her world like that. It was a new experience.
After a few minutes, they began to reenter the world, and the plane trembled a bit before they were flying over tropical islands.
Eventually, she saw what made her see Anaheim differently…
Previously, her experience with Anaheim was that of a corporation, with employees dressed in suits. But now? She saw thousands of soldiers training, with actual navy in the docks and tens, if not hundreds, of those knight-like knightmares.
What she saw was a nation, not a corporation.
~~~
'Well, well… it would seem I found my fifth person…'
Marcus looked at a new individual who wants to join Anaheim.
'She is just the right person for my Project GUNDAM.'
The Inventor looked at the five prototype machines that would define the 3rd Generation of Mobile suits.
~~~~~~Meanwhile on Other Side of the Globe~~~~~~
Rakshata looked at the new project for Britannia machines named Project ZAKU.
A project based on Anaheim technology, alongside hers and Britannian, it was no longer a Knighmare but a Mobile Suit.
Taller machines that can perform as well as, if not better than, Knightmares.