5 Chapter 4

The arrival of Princess Euphemia in Japan was met with caution by many, not least the nobles and elites that had prospered under Clovis' less than efficient governance. More than a few had heard rumors of the Princess' involvement in the dismantling of Toronto Arms, a major munitions conglomerate that had been found guilty of substandard production and overcharging of the Britannian military. The execution of Duke Constantine was fresh on the minds of many though a few took comfort in the fact that it had been the Princess Cornelia who signed the death warrant, not her younger sister Euphemia. Others held out hope that the Princess would be less capricious than her brother and would actually advance the development of Area 11 instead of letting it stagnate. For the Princess however her arrival in Japan set in motion several fateful meetings. One was with of course with the Lady Kallen Stadtfeld-Kouzuki. Another was with the Ashford family, a disgraced noble house that would play a major role in her rise to power. The other was with Suzaku Kururugi, perhaps the greatest traitor in all of human history.

-Toward a New Dawn: The Rise of Euphemia I

Chapter 4: Video

Field Marshal Alphonse Pierre Juin was widely considered one of the best strategists in all of Europe. For this reason he held the position of chief of the General Staff of the unified European armed forces, making him the highest ranking uniformed officer in Europe. His opinion on military matters was highly regarded and the man held equally many political opinions, a trait shared by many officers of the time. Whether opinions of either category were acted upon by those that held the reign of political power in the European Union was another matter entirely.

"-and at the rate of her advance Marshal li Britannia will defeat all standing forces large enough to threaten Britannian control in the Middle East within the week," Juin said.

The men and women seated around the council chamber responded with a sullen silence to those words. This was not the news they had wanted to hear but the politicians really only had themselves to blame. Juin had warned them, the General Staff had warned them, hells and damnation even several of the officers recalled from their field commands to offer testimony to the council had warned them, but no, the council had not listened and now their erstwhile ally in the Middle East was about to be crushed beneath the Britannian war machine.

"Is this conclusion, inevitable?" one of the councilmembers asked.

It was so hard not to roll his eyes, especially since the man asking was a fellow Frenchman.

"It is," Juin stated brusquely. "At this point nothing we can do will prevent the collapse of the Middle East Federation. They just their last major port three days ago and with it gone even if the council was willing to authorize a large enough expeditionary force to match Britannia's deployed strength we have nowhere to land them much less keep them supplied."

That was a moot point as the council would never have found the political will to commit the EU to an open war with Britannia, something everyone in this chamber knew. The resentment the military felt at being so restrained when the future of their respective nations was at risk was causing increased friction with their nominal civilian masters. Juin was not the only one inclined to sarcasm when responding to what he regarded as stupid questions, he was just one of the few officers whose reputation allowed him to get away with it.

"Three months ago such a deployment might have stemmed the tide and provided the MEF enough breathing space to allow them to survive in the long term," Juin went on. "Now however it is too late."

The chamber fell silent save for the clearing of a throat here and there. The field marshal was hardly being subtle about his disagreement with the council's chosen policy and that disagreement was not something that could easily be ignored. Juin's opinion did after all reflect the general mood within the military and no nation or group of nations could survive in this day and age without maintaining a strong level of morale in its armed forces.

"Thank you for your insights today Field Marshal," the council president said, "as always they have proven enlightening."

Juin nodded at the dismissal and rose from his seat. His cane clicked every time it touched the ground as he left the chamber. At the age of 73 by all rights he should have been long retired. The politicians were however reluctant to let a man of his experience and wisdom fade into obscurity, even if they tended to ignore said wisdom when it proved politically inconvenient. Juin was a patriot however and he would serve however long his country needed him. At least with the EU capital in Paris he did not have to commute far to work.

The Field Marshal emerged from the chambers and the two soldiers standing guard outside saluted. The Marshal returned it and made the slow walk toward the exit, his aide following a few steps behind to give the elderly man at least the illusion of independence and a bit of privacy. As they exited the elevator to the ground floor Juin came face to face with another holder of the baton.

"Ah, Erwin," Juin greeted with a warm smile.

"Field Marshal," the slightly younger man said with his usually wry smile. "The paper shufflers call you in too?"

Juin chuckled. "More or less. They wished to hear suggestions on how we might salvage the Middle East situation."

The other man snorted. "Months too late and a few thousand marks short. They never learn."

"Perhaps not, but we do our duty to the best of our ability nonetheless," Juin said. "Have you completed your own errand, Erwin?"

A nod. "Just a quick chat with the defense council, I don't quite warrant the full executive council like you sir."

"Well in a few years when you're in my shoes you might," Juin said.

The other man burst out laughing. "In a few more years I hope to be joining you in retirement. This is a young man's game and I'm not quite as spry as I used to be."

That was true enough, Juin acknowledged with a nod. Only three years Juin's junior Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was hardly in the position to take to the field himself, not that the man did not try to get out and about when the opportunity presented itself. The German was widely regarded as one of the EU's best tacticians and maneuver warfare specialists. He had distinguished himself in one of the many hotspots that sprang up in the last half century between Britannia and the EU, making his reputation in Africa by pounding flat a supposedly rogue Britannian officer on an unauthorized military adventure. No one on either side believed a word of the Empire's denial and denunciation of the officer in question but much as now back then the EU was unwilling to call Britannia's bluff. Still once the dust had settled Rommel emerged as something of an icon to the European people and quickly climbed the ranks, now serving as Juin's direct deputy. In other words he got all of the work that Juin did not want to do.

"Well now that we've both completed our respective errand, shall we return to the ministry?"

"Of course sir," Rommel agreed and fell in step next to Juin.

"So what did the defense council want with you anyway?"

"They wanted to know what the General Staff's read of the situation in Japan is," Rommel replied. "I gave them our current assessment and left it at that. They seemed a mite disappointed I did not present some sort of grand strategy to take advantage of the viceroy's death."

Juin snorted. While many people were quick to claim Rommel's ability as a strategist was on par with his tactical acumen, the man in question only rated himself as a middling practitioner. In Juin's opinion that was an accurate assessment, Rommel's decisiveness and daring were excellent qualities for a field commander but the man's impatience worked against him when he needed to deal with the larger picture. Still that Rommel was honest enough about his own limits only made Juin respect him more. And the man really was an able administrator. The General Staff would have been nowhere as efficient if he had been forced to rely on something else as his chief of staff.

"I've actually given some thought to the Japan question," Juin said as they exited the building.

"Oh? This should be interesting."

"Nothing too dramatic," Juin said. "We need to gather some more intelligence first. The Empire's reaction to Clovis' death was remarkably swift, what with the Emperor appointing his daughter to the viceroyalty so quickly. At the same time the confusion and chaos surrounding the transition might allow us to establish some channels with, say, the JLF."

Rommel raised an eyebrow. "Do you honestly believe the JLF stands a chance of evicting Britannia from Japan?"

"Anything is possible," Juin said. "The JLF is fairly well equipped and has good overall discipline. You're right, it's probably not enough to overcome the material disparity between them and Britannia, but with the right support they could tie down the Empire for years in Japan. And if they do succeed in throwing Britannia out, I'd rather they feel obligated to us than the Chinese for helping make it happen."

Rommel rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "There is that. I presume you have something specific in mind?"

"As I said, we need more intelligence before we can start laying down concrete plans. I'm thinking of sending a fact finding mission to Britannia, relatively low profile with orders to keep their heads down. If they can make contact with the JLF or other resistance movements, excellent. If not, they should at least be able to get a read on the domestic situation."

"There is the sakuradite conference coming up," Rommel noted. "We should be able to slip in some of our personnel amongst the delegation."

"My thoughts exactly," Juin said. "And I have just the person in mind."

Rommel frowned. "You can't be serious?"

"You object?"

The German scowled. "He's just a boy."

"He's 17 and of enlistment age," Juin corrected his old friend. "Besides, can you think of anyone better suited for this mission?"

"Yes," Rommel said immediately, "if only because they won't have nearly as much of a personal stake in it."

"Sometimes having a personal stake will make a person work that much harder."

Rommel sighed. "It's your decision sir, I've voiced my concerns. But if you are going to send him, might I recommend we send someone along that can rein him in if the need arises?"

"Of course," Juin agreed. "He is young, that I will not dispute, and the young can be reckless within their passions."

Rommel acknowledged the concession with a nod, catching the twinkle in Juin's eyes. The German passed it off as his old friend smiling inside. Had he given it more than a passing glance he might have noticed the unnatural red tint.

Euphie rubbed her forehead. The aspirin she had taken at the start of the flight had proven useless and while the headache of the dull and throbbing variety having to put up with it for the fourteen hour flight from Pendragon to Tokyo was not pleasant. It seemed the less she tried to focus on numerical patterns in the various reports she had brought with her the less severe the headache was but it was so tempting to dip in and see what new tantalizing tidbit might be revealed. The young woman refrained from indulging. At least long enough to let the migraine subside to a more manageable level.

One problem that continued to occupy her mind was who exactly this mysterious V.V. was. He obviously had some connection to her father but for the life of her Euphie could not conceive of what it might be. Then there was the fact that he had given her this strange power. Whoever he was he was definitely not human. Or he might have been but he certainly was not anymore. Euphie's instincts told her that this V.V. was bad news, a threat not only to her own plans but also to her family at large. But to protect herself and those she cared about she needed to know more. The timing was unfortunate as there was no way for her to delay her departure for Area 11, that would have been a monumentally bad move from a public relations perspective. But just because she was away from the homeland did not mean she could not continue investigating this V.V. And how ironic that the very power granted to her might just provide the edge she needed to dig up the boy's secrets. If she could keep the headaches from killing her of course. Power always came at a price and only fools thought otherwise.

The transport carrying her to Japan was making its final approach. The flow of people Euphie had set into motion was not inconsiderable from her own personal serving staff to the men and women of her auditing team. The latter would be especially important in the coming days as she worked out how best to reform the regulations in Area 11 to promote genuine growth in the area and cut down on the opportunistic pillaging some of the officials and nobles were obviously engaged in. True this would make her some enemies, but the ensuing prosperity would make her much more popular with the common populace and that popularity was a potent weapon if wielded properly.

The transport landed with a gentle thud and spent the next few minutes taxiing off the runway. When Euphie emerged she was greeted by a full honor guard of knightmares and soldiers lined up across the base. At the bottom of the stairs stood Margrave Gottwald and a woman, Villetta Nu if Euphie's memory served her right. Another member of the Purist faction and the Margrave's right hand woman. As Euphie approached the two bowed deeply.

"Your highness," Jeremiah greeted.

Euphie nodded solemnly in response. "Margrave, Dame Nu. Please, rise."

The two did, Villetta looking somewhat surprised at being directly acknowledged. And then she saw the charming smile Euphie was giving them both. There was no doubt about it, Euphemia was truly a Princess of the Realm. Even in her white and light blue business suit the young woman was the epitome of feminine and grace. Jeremiah and Villette stepped to opposite sides and the Margrave gestured toward the waiting vehicles.

"This way, your highness."

Euphie walked down the red carpet, Jeremiah falling in step just behind her while Villetta hung back a bit further. As they passed the soldiers presenting arms Euphie met the attentive gazes of several, offering smiles as she inspected the honor guard. By the time she reached the waiting limousine there was not one soldier present today that was not affected by the Princess' charm. It was all well and good to serve under a Prince, that promised glory of all sorts if he was adventurous after all, but serving under a Princess brought the promise of being shown genuine gratitude, or so the thinking went. Not one of them were cynical enough to consider that Euphie might be playing to their admiration for her own advantage. Whether they would have cared even if they knew was an open question.

Euphie settled comfortably into the limo's seat. Jeremiah climbed into the back with her while Villetta got into the front next to the driver. Once the door closed the vehicle rolled out, accompanied by several police cruisers and even two knightmares. After the assassination of Prince Clovis Jeremiah was taking no chances with the safety of his new viceroy.

"The advisors that served your brother Prince Clovis have assembled at the Viceroy's Palace as per your instructions," Jeremiah reported. "The reports you have requested are in the process of being collated, I am afraid that we have discovered a certain, slackness, on the part of many bureaucrats and there are gaps in some of the records. I am told that we are making progress in filling in those gaps from external sources and fortuitously overlapping records, but sorting through all of that will take time."

"I see," Euphie said. "Has a list of all bureaucrats whose paperwork is not in order been compiled?"

"Yes, highness."

The young woman nodded. "Please ensure that I receive up to date copies of it daily."

"Of course, your highness."

"Has there been any more surges of violence since Shinjuku?" Euphie asked.

"No, highness," Jeremiah answered. "The terrorists seem to have gone to ground, though there have been acts of vandalism and some minor harassment of our police forces along the Concession borders."

"And the investigation into my brother's murder?"

Jeremiah grimaced. "The Prince had detached elements of his own screen in order to maintain the blockade of Shinjuku. We believe this created holes in his security that one, no more than two or three, terrorists were able to penetrate. Several soldiers along the perimeter were found with their throats slit and the two guards watching over Clovis were similarly cut down by a knife. Whomever carried out the assassination, he or they must be highly skilled combatants. What is more, at least one of the knightmare pilots that opposed us was of prodigal levels. He managed to hold me off in a Glasgow and I am fairly certain was also responsible for murdering Sir Kewell and stealing his knightmare. Combined with his other feats once in possession of a Sutherland and I am almost inclined to believe our opponent in Shinjuku was Colonel Kyoshiro Tohdoh of the Japanese Liberation Front."

Euphie regarded Jeremiah. "But you do not believe this to be the case."

"No, your highness," Jeremiah said, shaking his head. "Our intelligence is fairly certain that the JLF was not responsible for the Shinjuku incident and what we know of Colonel Tohdoh indicates he is not one to carry out a rogue, unauthorized operation. In addition, there was a message left behind by your brother, Prince Clovis', body."

Euphie raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And why is this the first time I am hearing of it?"

"Forgive me highness, I had knowledge of it suppressed," Jeremiah said, bowing his head. "I assure you however that it was not substantive, though it does reveal an interesting insight into whomever murdered your brother."

The Princess regarded the Margrave's bowed head for a few lingering seconds. "What did the message say, Margrave?"

"It was in Japanese, highness," Jeremiah answered, head still low. "I can provide you with a photo, but it was of two characters written in blood. I have been informed that they translate to, divine punishment."

Euphie pursed her lips. "Divine punishment."

Jeremiah finally straightened. "Yes your highness. The usage of these characters suggests a, more radical group than the JLF. While the JLF would not have hesitated to attempt your brother's murder if given the opportunity, I believe their goal would have been more nuanced."

"I agree," Euphie said, slightly surprising Jeremiah. "All indications are the Japanese Liberation Front seeks to restore Area 11's sovereignty, not engage in petty terrorism and acts of wanton destruction. Has the Inquisitio any suggestions for which resistance element in the area might be responsible?"

"Not as of yet, highness," Jeremiah said. "The murder of your brother is an, escalation, far beyond anything we have seen before, and most of the cells that might have the skill and resources to be responsible for the Shinjuku incident were regarded as more, restrained than this. We may have to revisit those assessments."

"I see." Euphie took a deep breath. "Margrave. We will find those responsible for my brother's murder. I trust I will have your assistance."

Strange how the Princess could phrase that last sentence as both a statement and a request. But it hardly mattered, as a loyal son of the Empire Jeremiah could no more refuse a direct request from a member of the Imperial family than stop breathing. He nodded.

"Yes, your highness, you have my sword and my self."

Euphie nodded and gave Jeremiah a disarming smile. "Thank you."

The man felt his heart quicken. Yes, here was a Princess worthy of her heritage. It would be an honor to serve her.

The motorcade arrived without incident at the viceroy's palace, both the residence and the workplace of Area 11's ruler. Along the streets were crowds of people waving Britannian flags and media pressing against the barricades, trying to get just a bit closer without provoking the security abundant security personnel present. Euphie stepped out of the car and waved at the crowds, which only elicited even greater cheering. The Princess managed to keep a smile on her face all throughout the short walk into the palace grounds. Only once she was sure she was outside the sight of the public did her stern demeanor reassert itself. There was much work to be done and no time to waste.

The school was all abuzz with the arrival of Princess Euphemia, something Kallen actually found herself thankful for. With all the excitement her return to school went by almost unnoticed beyond the circle of girls that tended to congregate around her whenever she was actually in attendance. The girls were pleasant enough to be around, even if Kallen did not share their interest in fashion and boys. She could at least feign interest well enough however and sometimes she did pick up interesting tidbits. Who knew tricks for hiding stains on a dress could also be applied to hide smudges of blood?

Today however Kallen was after specific bits of information and fortunately that topic proved easy enough to direct the group towards. Almost everyone had seen the news broadcast of the Princess' arrival at the viceroy's palace and anyone who did see it had their take.

"-and I'm pretty sure the Princess' suit was a custom make from Burberry!"

If only they would talk about something besides the Princess' wardrobe.

"But that's expected of royalty," Sophie said. "Ah, I wish I could see the rest of her wardrobe."

Another girl snickered. "I think it's the person wearing the dresses that you want to see the rest of."

The dreamy look on Sophie's face disappeared and she stuck her tongue out as the others laughed. Eventually Sophie joined in as well. That's right, Kallen thought to herself even as she pretended to laugh with them. Sophie did lean that way.

"Has anyone actually heard anything about the Princess?" Kallen said, trying to direct the conversation onto more useful topics. "I think this is the first time I've ever seen her."

"That's true," Sophie said thoughtfully. "I think she's a year younger than us and is supposed to still be in school. I wonder why the Emperor chose her as the new viceroy? And so quickly after Prince Clovis' murder?"

"Who knows how the Imperial family thinks?" another girl said. "I mean, I know that we have a lot of children from noble houses at Ashford, and Milly herself is former nobility, but none of them can hold a candle to the Emperor and his family."

"Oh, Milly might be able to keep up," said another. "You know she'd wear them down with all of her impromptu parties and whatnot."

The girls giggled again. The granddaughter of the headmaster and current student council president was notorious for her eccentricity. Then again she tended to make sure everyone had a good time in her various schemes so that notoriety was simply another form of popularity.

"Still, if she's as young as us, do you think she'll be okay?" Kallen asked, feigning concern easily enough. "I mean, the terrorists did manage to get past Prince Clovis' security."

That seemed to put even more of a dampener on the mood and Kallen wondered if she had pushed too far.

"I'm sure the Princess will be fine," Sophie finally said. "The military's not going to let anything happen to her, especially now. And they'll definitely catch the terrorists who murdered Prince Clovis."

Kallen reminded herself once more that despite his callous treatment of the Japanese Clovis was actually very popular with the Britannian population in Japan. In fact there were even some Japanese that bought into his propaganda, considering how many were willing to walk away from their heritage and become honorary Britannians. Then again Kallen knew that reality was more complicated than that. For a lot of people swallowing their pride was a necessity if they wanted to get a decent job, have access to real healthcare, and in some cases just survive. The world was not black and white however much Kallen would have preferred it that way.

"Enough with the gloomy talk," another girl said, "let's talk about something else! Oh, Kallen, have you heard about the president's latest plan?"

"Another one?" Kallen said somewhat tiredly. "What is she going to have the students do this time?"

"It's going to be a dance!" Sophie answered excitedly.

"I was going to tell her about that," the other girl pouted.

Sophie giggled. "Sorry, I just couldn't keep it in. But you better watch out Kallen, I know half the guys in our grade will probably try to ask you out."

Erk. It looked like she would be feeling sick for quite a bit from now until after this dance.

"Excuse me, Kallen Stadtfeld?"

The girls looked up to see another fellow student with long brown hair standing over them.

"Yes, that's me," Kallen said.

"I'm Shirley Fennette," the newcomer said with a smile. "Milly asked me to fetch you, could you please come to the student council office with me?"

"Umm, sure," Kallen said, wondering what was going on as she rose.

"No fair Shirley," Sophie pouted. "You're stealing Kallen away from us just after she came back to school!"

Kallen chuckled dryly. "I'll see you all in class."

Note to self, do not allow herself to end up alone in a closed space with Sophie Wood.

Kallen followed the brunette through the school's hallway, responding to her prompts as they walked.

"Are you feeling better now?"

"Yes, much, thank you," the girl said politely.

"That's good," Shirley flashed her an easy smile. "We've been in the same class since the beginning of the term but I think I've only seen you a few times so I never had the chance to get to know you."

Kallen forced herself to smile back. "Say, do you know what Milly wants with me?"

The girl held up a finger to her lips. "You'll find out soon enough."

That, was not reassuring from Kallen's perspective, especially considering the student council president's reputation. The rest of the walk was spent with Shirley trying to get to know her better and Kallen answering the girls with care. It would not do for her to claim that her hobby was knitting if the girl had no idea how to knit. Fortunately Kallen did know how to, a skill she picked up from her biological mother, and one of the few pastimes the girl engaged in to help relieve her stress. Most other things she did seemed to almost always increase it.

They finally arrived at student council office and Shirley knocked to announce their entry. She opened the door and held her hand out for Kallen to enter first. Kallen blinked. Was this a trick of some sort? The girl was tempted to use her new power to peek into the room but did her best to resist. There was definitely a cost to her ability and Kallen doubted it was limited solely to her headaches. Ohgi was right, she should only use it when she absolutely had to. If the student council wanted to pull a prank on her, then so be it. She stepped in. And walked right into a shower of confetti.

"Surprise!" two energetic voices and a third more subdued one shouted.

Kallen blinked, running her hand through her hair to brush off some of the paper scraps. "What?"

The blond haired girl she quickly recognized as Milly grinned as she stepped before Kallen.

"You must be the elusive Kallen Stadtfeld," she said.

"Umm, yes, that's me," Kallen said in confusion.

"Don't worry, don't worry," Milly said, "you're not in trouble or anything. But don't just stand there in the doorway, c'mon!"

The girl grabbed hold of Kallen's hand and started pulling her into the room. Kallen held her ground for one second before remembering she was supposed to pretend to be the frail sick girl at school and let the president haul her along. If Milly noticed the initial resistance she gave no indication, happily pulling Kallen to the center of the room where a large cake waited.

"What, is this?" Kallen asked.

"A cake!" Milly said merrily.

Kallen sighed. "I can see that."

The other girl chuckled. "It's a little welcome party for you."

The look of resignation turned into confusion. "For me?"

"Well I had a thought," Milly said. "You've been missing school a lot and because of that haven't been able to join any clubs. That's really a shame since club experience is such an important part of school life since it lets you meet people with similar experiences and whatnot. So, I thought, why not have you join the student council instead? You'll get to hang out with us and you'll also get to hang out with people from the clubs."

"Though they're mostly here to complain about the budget we give them," the only boy present said. "The name is Rivalz Cardemonde. I'm the student council vice-president."

The bespectacled girl with her hair tied up in a ponytail smiled at Kallen. "I'm Nina Einstein, the treasurer."

"And you already know me," Shirley said, "but let me introduce myself again. I'm Shirley Fennette, the secretary."

"A pleasure," Kallen said, still working out just what Milly was trying to do. "Umm, but is it really, alright?"

"No worries, I talked it over with grandpa," Milly said. "And don't worry about your absences, the student council's work is really irregular, sometimes we get a lot and sometimes we have nothing to do all day but drink tea."

"That's usually when the president comes up with some new plan that creates a lot of work, which stresses her out and then she comes up with an even crazier plan to-ouf."

Milly withdrew her elbow and went back to slicing up the cake with her trademark grin. Another note to self. Don't piss off the student council president.

"Milly, I brought the cups," a voice called out.

"Oh, thank you Nunnally," Milly said, setting down the knife and walking over to the latest person to enter the room.

The girl wore the uniform of Ashford Academy's middle school section but what really set her apart was the wheelchair she rolled in on. Kallen regarded the new girl curiously. She had only heard in passing that Milly had a little sister but had never seen the girl before.

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance," the girl said with a slight bow from her wheelchair. "My name is Nunnally Ashford."

Kallen smiled gently at the girl and bowed herself. It would have looked really stupid trying to curtsey in the relatively short skirts of the school.

"A pleasure to meet you as well, I am Kallen Stadtfeld."

"Nunnally here is an honorary member of the student council," Milly said cheerfully, "so we make sure to invite her to all the celebrations."

The girl giggled. "My sister likes parties a lot so I have plenty of chances to come and play."

Kallen continued smiling. "Is that so?"

"But anyway, now that we're all here, grab a slice!" Milly said. "Here Nunnally, a big one for you."

"Thank you," the girl said sweetly.

As Kallen bit into her own piece she realized that Milly had basically given her no chance to actually decline the invitation. The girl was good. Kallen made a third mental note. Be very careful around Milly Ashford, there was no telling what insanity the girl would end up dragging her into.

The first day had passed in a flurry of meetings and reading reports. None of the advisors Euphie had inherited from Clovis were outright incompetent but most of them tended to suffer from limited imagination or tunnel vision. That was unfortunate seeing as this would require Euphie to basically build up her administration from near scratch, a process that would take time. It was hard to accuse the young woman of impatience but Euphie did not like to dawdle. Still she at least had a basic idea of what needed to be done to improve the situation in Area 11.

Since becoming viceroy Clovis had passed a raft of regulations pertaining to businesses in the area, restricting ownership and requiring a variety of registrations and licenses, many of them redundant, overlapping, or irrelevant to what activities a business might seek to engage in. The goal was blindingly obvious, the first being to stifle commercial activity by Elevens and the second to protect the vested interests of the larger Britannian commercial entities. Euphie already had a list of regulations and licenses she would be cutting along with another list of simplified registrations businesses needed to have to operate. Cutting that much red tape along should see a percentage or so of increased economic activity for the fiscal quarter. And that was just the start of it.

That was of course only the start. The restrictions on non-Britannians working or running their own businesses was an unnecessary and even costly policy. While in theory it reduced competition for jobs and customers for Britannian businesses it also effectively cut off a very large market for those same businesses. Without money the Elevens could not afford the goods offered by those businesses after all. And restricting the access of Elevens to the formal, legal market only caused them to look to more illicit sources for their needs. Demand was not going to go away after all. This shadow economy might have been profitable for some but it exacted a large indirect cost to society as a whole. The loss of revenue from taxes was an obvious one but the abuses and crime that the shadow economy promoted had a knockoff effect. More crime required more police resources to deal with and almost invariably resulted in reduced efficiency of general services.

Of course convincing the current vested interests of this would take some doing, but Euphie's authority as viceroy could take her quite a ways. In the meantime she would need to make allies of her own and position them to displace those interests that ultimately proved uncooperative with her reform efforts. There was also of course the issue of the continuing investigation of her brother's murder.

"Your highness," one of her secretaries bowed as she entered. "Earl Asplund and the representatives from the ASEEC have arrived for their appointment."

"Send them in."

The secretary hesitated. "There is an, Eleven in the party, highness."

The secretary in question had come with Euphie from the homeland and so her reason for bringing that up was entirely different from if one of the old hands of Area 11 had done so. To her the issue was not that a Number would be entering the Princess' presence, it was simply a notification so that Euphie would not be taken by surprise. It was also a warning to the girl that others were watching and would not be so blasé about the Eleven's presence.

"Understood," Euphie said. "Please, show them in."

The secretary bowed once more before retreating. A minute or so later the door opened once more and a party of three entered, the bespectacled man in the lead obviously the Earl while a woman in shoulder length indigo hair followed right behind. Trailing the group was an Eleven likely around Euphie's own age. He looked distinctly nervous and seemed to be trying to avoid looking directly at the Princess.

"Your highness," Lloyd greeted with a bow, the others emulating him. "How may the ASEEC be of assistance to you?"

"Earl Asplund, thank you for making time in your busy schedule," Euphie said with a smile.

The Earl regarded her with a curious grin of his own. His assistant on the other hand looked somewhat irritated, though with the glare she was subtly shooting the Earl he was more likely the target of her ire, not Euphie herself.

"I requested your presence because I understand the ASEEC deployed an experimental knightmare during the Shinjuku incident."

The Earl's eyes seem to almost light up. "Yes, we did. The Lancelot. A masterpiece of a machine if I don't say so myself, it performed wonderfully during its first field run."

Euphie cocked her head. "You believe the results of that day to have been a success?"

Lloyd, as socially inept as he was, was not boneheaded enough to walk into that obvious a blunder. "Ah, I mean, that is to say-erk!"

"What the Earl means to say, your highness," the woman said as she withdrew her elbow, "is we sincerely regret our failure to defeat the terrorists before they could enact their plan. The Lancelot was able to outperform the Sutherlands that had been stolen but unfortunately no one foresaw that the attack by the enemy knightmares was only a distraction."

"And you would be?"

"Captain Cécile Croomy, your highness," the woman said with a salute. "I serve as Earl Asplund's direct assistant on the Lancelot project."

"And as his minder I see," Euphie said with a playful smile.

"Umm, sometimes, your highness," Cécile said, cracking a smile of her own.

Euphie nodded. "And what of you, sir?"

The boy stiffened at being directly addressed and snapped to attention. "Private Suzaku Kururugi your highness!"

Euphie cocked her head to the side. "Private?"

"Private Kururugi is currently serving as the test pilot for the Lancelot," Lloyd said with a grin.

Euphie raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

"Private Kururugi is only a test pilot your highness," Cécile interjected quickly. "He does not have formal qualifications as a Knight."

But he was still being allowed to pilot a knightmare, Euphie noted. This was not entirely unprecedented, she knew of some units that employed non-Britannians as knightmare pilots without actually granting them the title of knight. Still it was highly irregular and Euphie could name offhand a dozen or so nobles or conservatives that would be offended by the mere notion of a non-Britannian in one of the war machines. It was obvious that Cécile and, Suzaku, were worried about Euphie herself would be amongst them whereas the Earl seemed almost completely oblivious to just how much his little project was violating convention.

"Tell me Private," Euphie said. "Were you also the one that piloted the Lancelot against the commandeered Sutherlands?"

"Yes, your highness."

Euphie regarded the young man. He did not seem like much, a bit scrawny and with mussed hair that looked completely immune to attempts to comb it down. Yet appearances could be deceiving and Euphie could see a determined light in his eyes.

"According to the Margrave one of the terrorist pilots was at prodigal levels," Euphie said. "That you defeated the terrorists in knightmare combat, even if the Lancelot is supposed to outperform them, is still a notable achievement. In fact it is because you did defeat them I wished to speak with the ASEEC."

Cécile and Suzaku relaxed noticeably while Lloyd looked on eagerly for some reason.

"At present there has been very little to go on about the terrorists that murdered my brother," Euphie said, clasping her hands before her on her desk. "For that matter we do not even know if the ones the Lancelot engaged were the same ones that ultimately murdered my brother. But they are our only lead, so I ask if there is anything you might remember from the battle that might help us in tracking them down."

Suzaku took a deep breath. "From when I was piloting the Lancelot itself, I'm afraid there isn't anything else I can add your highness, except that I agree with the Margrave's assessment. The first Sutherland I engaged was definitely being piloted by an Ace. Even in the Lancelot I was barely able to beat her and only because I got a really lucky shot. And even then the pilot managed to eject just as I hit him. Whoever she is your highness, she is very, very good."

Euphie nodded. Interesting that two very different people had arrived at the same conclusion about this mysterious terrorist. Had some resistance movement been hiding this ace, biding their time until just the right moment? A possibility, though the probability of it was incredibly small. Euphie blinked. Wait, she?

"She?" Euphie said aloud.

Suzaku cleared his throat. "I, saw one of the terrorists ma'am, when pursing them on foot. It was a girl, probably around our age, except that she looked Britannian instead of Japanese. She had red hair, some of the tips spiking to the side. She was the one in the Glasgow, the same one that managed to escape the Margrave initially."

A girl their age that looked Britannian but fought with a Japanese liberation movement. Was she a half blood? Another variable to the equation.

"Thank you Private, I appreciate you telling me this."

Suzaku bowed his head. "Your highness, may I speak freely?"

"Suzaku," Cécile hissed softly.

"Please," Euphie said, cutting off any further protests by the other woman.

"Highness, I spoke very briefly with this, terrorist," Suzaku said. "I pleaded with her to surrender but she seemed convinced that the only thing that would await her was execution."

The terrorist was not wrong, Euphie thought dryly. Had Clovis still been in charge all she would have received was an execution after a very thorough and likely painful interrogation.

"I don't think she's a bad person your highness, but she seems to be embittered and lacking hope. There are a lot of Jap-Elevens, who feel that way, but it doesn't have to be that way. If they thought they had a chance, I'm sure they would lay down their arms and integrate peacefully."

Euphie regarded the young man. In some ways he was being hopelessly naïve but in others Euphie herself was counting on enough people thinking like him amongst the native population for her plan to work.

"It is true, many Japanese have lost hope," Euphie said, eliciting looks of surprise from the others at her using those people's original name instead of the number the Empire had branded them with. "I intend to try to give them back some of that hope and I myself wish for them to become productive and happy members of the Empire. I trust I will have your help in this, Private Kururugi?"

"Yes your highness!" Suzaku said enthusiastically.

Euphie offered him a smile, causing the boy to blush. Well, he was at that age, and come to think of it Euphie herself was too. But she had yet to find anyone she could consider an equal. And who knew what arrangements the politics of the court would ultimately see happen in that regard. Not that Euphie intended to allow herself to be shoehorned into just any marriage after all.

"Suzaku, try to remember your current obligations," Lloyd said in a mildly irritated tone.

"Of-of course Lloyd! I mean Earl! I'm really grateful to you and Cécile, I mean Captain Croomy, for everything you've done for me already!"

Euphie giggled. Well if nothing else young Suzaku was full of amusing antics.

"I'm sure there will be many ways for you to help without abstaining from your duties with the ASEEC," Euphie said.

"Oh I'm glad you think that your highness!" Lloyd said, his enthusiasm returning.

Euphie tilted her head to the side. "What?"

"Well one of the reasons I came here was to offer you the use of the Lancelot," Lloyd said. "It's still under development but we're at the stage where we need some hard data from field tests to really finish it, and if you're going to be hunting those terrorists then that would be a perfect opportunity for my Lancelot to shine!"

Euphie raised an eyebrow. "The battlefield is not a playground, Earl."

Lloyd's mouth opened to respond but it suddenly snapped shut. Looking down Euphie saw Cécile's foot grinding into the man's foot.

"What Earl Asplund means to say is that the Lancelot itself is ready for field deployment," Cécile said with a polite smile. "We believe that it would be a major asset to any effort in rooting out those that challenge Britannia's control of the Area."

Euphie shifted her gaze from Cécile to Suzaku. "Would you be able to fight your own countrymen, Private Kururugi?"

Suzaku nodded stiffly. "Yes, your highness. I know I just said before that I think most of them will come around when things get better, but right now every time they launch an attack they just get more innocent people killed in the crossfire. If it means stopping that from happening, then yes, I will fight, your highness."

That was a convoluted and somewhat contradictory philosophy the boy seemed to have adopted but Euphie did not point that out to him. True if the Lancelot really was as powerful as the Earl was claiming and with dangerous resistance ace out there with a modern Sutherland knightmare having it available would be not just useful but maybe even essential.

"Very well Earl Asplund," Euphie said. "I will discuss how best to employ the Lancelot with my military advisors."

Lloyd's mouth began opening again.

"And I will make clear that prejudices towards both the machine and its pilot will not be grounds for restricting its deployment," Euphie said with a smile.

Lloyd closed his mouth even as the corners twitched up into a smile. He bowed deeply.

"Thank you your highness. I look forward to a long and mutually beneficial partnership."

"As do I," Euphie said, in effect dismissing them.

While Lloyd and Cécile turned to leave Suzaku hesitated. After a moment he turned to fully face Euphie once more.

"Your highness?"

"Yes?"

"There's one more thing about the Shinjuku incident," Suzaku said.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw the Earl and Cécile freeze up. Interesting, they knew about it as well?

"Speak," Euphie commanded.

"The container that the terrorists stole, there wasn't any poison gas in it."

Euphie frowned. "How do you know this?"

"I was there when it got smashed open accidentally," Suzaku said. "I saw what was inside. It, was a girl with long green hair."

The frown deepened. "If you would, Private Suzaku, could you provide me with every detail you remember."

And so Suzaku did just that, explaining how his unit had caught up with the terrorists and found them trying to load the supposed gas container to a new truck. He explained how they launched an attack to try to stall them, only for the Glasgow to counterattack and kill everyone else. How he then tried to convince the pilot and her compatriot to surrender, only for the seal on the container to be smashed apart when the knightmare tried to flatten him. And how finally a girl with long green hair spilled out of the container instead of the poison gas they all thought was inside.

As Euphie listened she considered the implications piece by piece. Assuming Suzaku as telling the truth, and she could see no indications of him lying, the gas story was obviously a cover for something much, much bigger. The money she had discovered being siphoned from the official budgets was looking more and more suspicious. In fact Clovis himself was likely responsible, using that money for some sort of clandestine project involving this girl. That would explain his panicked reaction when the container was stolen but also why he had only deployed a limited number of troops to try to retrieve her. He was afraid of his secret being accidentally uncovered. But now his secret was out even if the Prince himself no longer needed to worry about the consequences.

Euphie however was still alive and something told her that uncovering just what her brother had been working on could make or break her own rule of Area 11. The only question was how to find it. The migraine in her head throbbed. The numbers began lining up once more. Yes, there it was, the patterns that she had only glimpsed at before but which were now crystal clear. Euphie steeled herself. Whatever she found the Princess just knew would be unpleasant. But she would still dig, for herself, and for her vision.

It had been a long, tiring day for Kallen. Milly's claim of the student council work being irregular might well have been true but when Kallen arrived after last period ended she found the council buried in budgetary work. The school had an absolutely ridiculous number of clubs and student organizations and all of them were clamoring for a slice of the very limited budget. It was not just enough that they go through every application but they also needed to balance the needs of each club in fair and objective ways. By the time Milly had called a break for the day Kallen was seriously thinking about faking sick for the rest of the week just to get out of having to do this again. But that was more liable to attract attention by making her seem unsocial so she would need to suck it up and bear with it. And probably punch Ohgi the next time she saw him for making her go back to school at a time like this.

About the only good news was that she managed to avoid seeing the Lady Stadtfeld upon arriving home, though she still needed to go through the experience of having her own mother greet her as a servant. Kallen was a bit more curt than usual today thanks to her general exhaustion but the girl made yet another mental note to try to make it up to her mother later in some small, discrete way. As she entered her room however that exhaustion disappeared immediately. Kallen's book bag hit the ground and toppled over at her feet. The girl herself was gaping at her bed and the person lounging about on it.

"You!" Kallen cried.

The woman rolled over and gave Kallen a playful grin.

"We meet again, thee to whom I am pledged."

It was the girl with long green hair, the same one that Kallen had seen get shot in the head. She was somehow alive and she was rolling about on Kallen's bed. The girl just barely managed to avoid a hysteric scream. Instead she slammed the door shut and advanced on the bed. The servants did their best to ignore the sounds that came out of the young lady's bedroom tonight, all save one who snuck worried looks in its direction.

End of Chapter 4

C.C. doesn't really need a reason to speak archaically, considering her personality she'd do it just for the trolling potential.

Based on the feedback a majority seem to want the history snippets while there's one against. As such I'll be adding them in though I've tweaked wording to reduce some of the, certainty, in some of them. Some of them are still pretty unambiguous but there's a degree of flexibility in interpretation that I think I've managed to achieve. Be sure to look back at the previous chapters for the added inserts. Some give away more than others.

A pretty lengthy chapter all things considered and there were even a few parts that I didn't add in. But I think I've got a decent amount of content here and so I'll be leaving it here. I'm going to hop back to In Tune to work on that fic's next chapter before continuing with this one. I don't know whether I'll get another chapter out before my trip to NYC next week, but I'll try. No promises obviously.

A word on the size of roles. It's obvious that, well, the dead don't stay dead, and so there will be a lot of characters in play. The main thing however is Euphie and Kallen are the main characters. Suzaku and everyone else are definitely not intended to usurp them in that role, they exist to provide support. That is not to say they won't be seeing lots of action and whatnot but ultimately the story is about Euphie and Kallen. To be frank if I was less than impressed with Jeremiah's character development, I was even less impressed with Suzaku's in the canon. My interest or even ability to write a story where he gets to take center stage would be, limited, to say the least. But he still has a purpose to serve in this fic and he will certainly be leaving a mark in history. Kallen at least needs someone to beat up on after all.

Anyway, drop a review if you've enjoyed A Cold Calculus this far. And if any of you have a guess as to what the title's meaning is.

One final note, all of the chapter titles thus far is in Latin, so Video is not, well, video. What it is I leave for you my readers to figure out.