Aldnoah Zero The Knights of Earth

Chapter 9

…And he That sat Upon it, his Name was Death

Disclaimer: I do not own or any of the characters therein, only the characters that I have created.

A/N: Just a forewarning this chapter might be a bit…controversial in regards to how the Aldnoah Drives work. After all there is nearly no canon information as to how they function only that they do; (leaving me a LOT of creative freedom on that front) so some of my ideas as to how they operate may not fit well with some readers/reviewers minds. So please give it a chance.

And in case some of you were wondering why Marito's PTSD isn't as bad as it is in the anime well, the fact of the matter is that he's been undergoing therapy for the past 10 years. He hasn't completely gotten a grip on it but it isn't nearly as debilitating as it was during certain parts of the anime.

Also a quick thank you to Kimek for your advice even if I didn't agree with all of it and may not implement everything you suggest I still think that the story has improved greatly from your efforts.

For everyone else, please read and review, I enjoy constructive feedback.

-Saazbaum's Landing Castle, Saazbaum's quarters-

In comparison to the personal chambers of many of the other Orbital Knights, Saazbaum's weren't nearly as opulent as some of the other Knights and nobles. In fact by comparison Saazbaum's dwellings were downright Spartan in how it looked. True there were more than a few things that the average commoner on Vers could never hope to purchase but there weren't nearly as much luxuries in comparison to some of the other nobles on Vers.

Currently the man was at his desk, thinking on matters that were extremely important. Over the last ten years, Saazbaum had amassed a large following of loyal supporters some useful and some less so to his plans. Most that weren't already in his pocket were being watched by those who were. Granted he didn't have everyone on his side, case in point was Cruhteo who had been a good friend of his for well over a decade.

Before the events of Heaven's Fall, Cruhteo and Saazbaum had become friends back when they were still only teenagers and it had continued into adulthood. In fact they had been so close that Saazbaum had declared Cruhteo be the best man at his wedding to Viscountess Orlane. After the events of the first war which ended in a cease-fire for both sides, Saazbaum began to enact his plans to shape the future of Vers from the shadows. The Empire needed to change and he would make sure that it would, no matter what the cost was. If more than a few people had to die then so be it. At the rate the Empire was going, it would fall in less than a few decades at most.

The best possible outcome for Saazbaum if he were to actually voice such an opinion would be his immediate imprisonment in the darkest, most isolated prison cell on the planet, and if anyone knew of what he was thinking, well…he had heard that the firing squad was very proficient at its job. Now obviously this meant that his work had to be carried out from the shadows if he was to change Vers without causing a massive civil war that could turn the fledgling empire into either a failed state or simply just a large crater.

In the ideal world, after Asseylum was dead and Earth conquered he would miraculously 'find' Asseylum who had been held prisoner by the UFE since the assassination attempt. Of course it wouldn't be the real Asseylum, it would be a certain bastard daughter of Gilzeria that Saazbaum had acquired years ago. Given the girl's activation factor and ability to bestow it upon whomever she wished, he would have a perfect stand in for Princess Asseylum. From there he could take control over the Empire and make whatever changes he wished using Lemrina as his mouthpiece. With Earth conquered and the Imperial royal family essentially in Saazbaum's pocket, he could make the Vers Empire the utopia it was always meant to become.

If everything went according to plan, then Count Cruhteo would never even have noticed what was going on. In fact given his near blind loyalty to the crown he would doubtlessly never even question the direction that the Empire would take under Saazbaum's shadow governing. Now though it was becoming more and more clear that Cruhteo was slowly starting to become aware of the plans he had put into place. And it was all because of a certain idiot who for some reason decided that it would be a good idea to keep a black box in the Nilokeras.

What was Trillram thinking doing something like that? Was he planning on using the recordings as a form of insurance? To prevent himself from ending up like their assassins? Or did he intend on using it as leverage to jockey for a better position in the new government Saazbaum planned to create out of the lifeless husk that was the current Vers Empire? He should have known that securing Trillram into his movement was a mistake as he was too foolish and self-centered in his ambitions. However the benefits of the man's position in Cruhteo's court had seemingly outweighed the risks.

In the end such things were pointless at this time. That moron was dead so he couldn't exactly provide any answers as to why this was and now Cruhteo was in possession of something that could very well expose everything that Saazbaum had been working to achieve. Something that could end the war before Saazbaum's plans even had a chance to truly take flight. The only real solution to this problem was to eliminate Cruhteo and his entire Landing Castle as quickly as possible but it would take some time before everything could get into position. It wasn't something he wanted to do but considering everything that was at stake, he probably had very little choice.

Saazbaum pulled out a bottle of brandy and poured himself a small drink, all the while looking at the picture he had of his beloved on his desk. Taking a sip of the wine, Cruhteo wondered what Orlane would do in the current situation. He knew that she would doubtlessly have similar sentiments on the current state of the Vers government to his own. Still though would she be willing to murder an old friend like Cruhteo, he wondered? To murder someone that Saazbaum once considered a brother? Perhaps she would if it meant saving the Vers Empire, which was what Saazbaum's true aims were for.

In an effort to redirect his thoughts, Saazbaum's mind then turned to that of a certain Terran boy. Slaine would need to be brought into the fold but from what he had gathered about the boy it may prove somewhat difficult given his obvious feelings for Asseylum. Still though there were more than a few things he could use to help bring the boy around. He owed it to Slaine's father to make sure that the boy would make it out the war alive.

-Tanegashima, Sky-Carrier-

Slaine had been flying for several hours across the open ocean without so much as a hint of where the warship fleeing Shinagawara had been heading. The young boy had known full well that he was looking for literally a needle in a haystack. The only real clue he had to the location of the ship was from one of the surviving Orcus units that claimed that the Orange Kataphrakt had boarded a vessel had started heading southeast but that was all. The ship could have easily changed course once it got out into the open ocean, perhaps even take a more roundabout way to get to wherever it wanted to go. Still though he had to at least make an attempt to find Asseylum.

She was clearly with the pilot of the orange mecha and so it stood to reason that they would have boarded the ship leaving Shinagawara at some point. If he managed to find her and get a message out of her survival then they could end the whole war right then and there.

Unfortunately it seemed that there were multiple problems in the current situation. The most pressing of these was that an Orbital Knight Kataphrakt was attacking what was quite possibly the same ship that Princess Asseylum was on. This meant that he would have to deal with the Hellas before he could even think of trying to contact Asseylum.

To make matters even worse for Slaine, Countess Femieanne seemed to take particular issue with the fact that the boy was interfering in her battle, especially that he was opening fire on her in order to protect her enemies. The Hellas fired off all of its rocket fists at once, and they began to close in on his Sky Carrier.

Even as they did Femieanne's enraged voice could be heard over the communication channels "Interloper! Identify yourself immediately and explain why you dare to aid these filthy primitives at once! If you refuse I will put you down like the dog you are!"

Slaine just ignored her and attempted a hard turn to get the oversized arms off his tail. While this did work on two of them, the other four were still in hot pursuit. Not only that but it also seemed that they were steadily gaining on him even when he attempted evasive maneuvers.

The boy could feel the G-forces starting to put a strain on him and when one included the exhaustion he was already feeling from the lack of rest, it was clear even to him that he was only prolonging the inevitable. Despite losing the pursuing arms for a second or two they quickly caught up with him and Slaine was now finding it more difficult to keep his eyes open despite the situation he found himself in.

One of the fists that were chasing the Sky Carrier unfurled into a claw as it loomed ever closer over Slaine's machine and for a brief moment it looked as though it was about to grasp onto. Almost instantly Slaine's eyes shot open as the sound of an explosion filled his ears. The arm that was so close to engulfing him fell out of the sky and into the water below. Slaine looked for the source of the shot and only saw an Orange Kataphrakt, with a DMR aimed upwards in the general direction of the sky, smoke rising from its barrel.

-Tanegashima, Wadatsumi deck a few moments earlier-

For the briefest of seconds, it was like time had just stopped. The arm that had been flying down towards the bridge of the Wadatsumi was knocked off course and had simply impacted the water like an oversized stone, sending a massive plume of water into the air. When the beleaguered defenders to turn to look at the source of their aid, they saw something that they never truly expected to see. A Vers sky-carrier was flying right towards their battlefield and had just saved them from an Orbital Knight.

It was like the world had just turned on its head. Why in the hell was a Martian aiding the people they were supposed to be at war with? It made absolutely no sense.

"A Versian just saved us?!" Nina exclaimed in utter shock but she wasn't the only one who was…for lack of better term surprised by this new development. The girl simply echoed the thoughts that were in the heads of everyone on the bridge and those who were still outside fighting against the enemy. It was even more surreal when the flying arms started chasing after the newcomer with a near zealous fury. In fact their attacker had seemed to have completely ignored the ones she had been striking at earlier in favor of this newcomer.

"So there's infighting now?" muttered Braddock with a cocked eyebrow. "How very interesting." He was about to start giving orders for the ship to start making its way into the docks while the two Martian hostiles fought one another but was prevented from doing so when a loud "boom" resounded from the main deck of the ship.

Inaho was firing his DMR at one of the flying arms that had come rather close to the Sky-Carrier which had at this point ceased performing evasive maneuvers and was now only flying in a straight line. The arm had been sent into the ocean once again only this time it appeared as though chunks of it had been blown off when it was struck. Braddock wondered for a moment or two if his eyes were playing tricks on him. They had unloaded god knew how many high-ex rounds into those damned arms but not once had they ever been able to make a dent in them and yet somehow a single shot from Inaho's DMR had managed to destroy one of them?

Braddock had no real time to ponder what was going on as he heard the comm. officer speak up "its Mustang Leader, he's requesting the well dock be opened!"

The bridge office that had control over the well dock looked over at the captain expectantly only for Magbaredge to nod and say "Do it."

Almost immediately the well dock started to lower and the Sleipnir that Inaho was piloting began to all but sprint towards it.

The refugees weren't entirely sure what was going on when they saw the well dock begin to open, exposing everyone to the elements outside of the ship. They did however hear the telltale footfalls of a Kataphrakt making its way quickly towards them from another section of the ship. Sure enough Asseylum and the other refugees were treated to the sight of an orange painted Kataphrakt jumping down onto the very large ledge in front of them.

In the distance Asseylum could make out the faint images of two of the oversized fists flying straight towards the ship and she almost instantly knew what the pilot of the orange machine was going to do even before his voice came over the machine's loudspeaker system "Everyone, cover your ears, now!"

Sure enough the Kataphrakt raised its weapon and aimed it downrange at its intended targets. Asseylum then turned to the other refugees who seemed somewhat confused by the order and yelled at the top of her lungs "EVERYONE DO WHAT HE SAYS COVER YOUR EARS!"

Fortunately most of the refugees did as they were told and kept their ears covered. Unfortunately for Eddelrittuo she only had her hands partially above her ears by the time Inaho opened fire. The resulting sound resulted in her ears ringing and she could barely hear anything else around her. The ringing was so disorienting that she was having a difficult time keeping herself standing upright.

However despite this, Eddelrittuo managed to keep her hands over her ears to make sure that she suffered no further damage to her eardrums when Inaho opened fire once again. Sure enough the high explosive rounds hit their mark and just like before both of the arms were sent careening into the ocean.

It was at that point that the ship started moving once again, this time at best possible speed towards the now open entrance into an underground dockyard.

Asseylum watched as the Orange Kataphrakt jumped off of the ship and onto one of the walls that lead into the hidden dock. The Kataphrakt was followed by four Areions as it made its way off. As Inaho sped off into battle once again, there was a strange feeling in her chest, she didn't know why but she felt afraid. Not for her own wellbeing but instead it was for the Terran boy that she had only known for such a short time.

-Tanegashima, shoreline-

"Nao what are you doing? Why are you leaving the ship?!" demanded Yuki as they finished making their way from the wall to the shoreline of the island.

Infuriatingly, Inaho didn't give Yuki a straight answer and instead decided to turn the question back on her "I could ask the four of you the same thing."

"We followed to try and make sure that you didn't end up getting yourself killed kid! Now could you please explain why in the hell you decided to run off on your own?" asked Marito who by this point was more than just a little bit irritated by the fact that the boy wasn't telling them what he was trying to do. Not only that but he refused to sit back and watch a repeat of what happened on Tanegashima the last time he was on this damned island. He wouldn't let it happen again even if it killed him!

"We're going to beat that Orbital Knight," he said simply as he watched the Vers Sky Carrier get closer and closer towards their position.

-Tanegashima, hidden dock interior-

Much to Captain Magbaredge's surprise it wasn't nearly as chaotic when the civilians were taken off of the ship. There was a group of security and medical personnel already waiting for the refugees and any wounded personnel and they were being directed very competently by another officer. A blond woman in her mid-twenties. Her long hair was done up into a professional bun and her blue eyes radiated focus and commitment.

The instant that she spotted Colonel Braddock however she motioned for one of the other personnel on the base to take over for her and started to make her way over towards the man. As she did Magbaredge and her XO both noticed the first lieutenant insignia that the woman was wearing on her uniform.

The instant that the young woman finished walking up to the trio and gave a crisp salute "Sirs, First Lieutenant Maria Wilkes. It's good to see you're still alive!" she declared.

Braddock gave an almost fatherly smile to the first lieutenant and said "At ease First Lieutenant. Now give me the situation with projects Rapture and Ares."

The first lieutenant gave a curt nod before gesturing for everyone to follow her. Soon the first lieutenant was leading most of the command staff along with some of the other soldiers that weren't injured deeper into the complex. "Both projects are proceeding well sir, in fact right before the Martians began their assault the science team was more than ready to begin field trials on both Hephaestus and Rapture."

That was what Braddock had been expecting as both projects had been all but ready for field testing when he had left Headquarters. His smile was more than just a little bit self-assured "That is excellent news. We'll inaugurate both projects with a victory against our enemy."

At that point Magbaredge, who was looking between both the First Lieutenant and Colonel Braddock with an almost frustrated expression "Colonel Braddock, you said that you would explain everything once we arrived at this island, I respectfully request that you do that and assist those that are still out there fighting for their lives."

The Colonel nodded in understanding before gesturing them to follow him. He continued to make his way further and further into the depths of the facility all the while the command staff, the crew and even several of the refugees followed just behind him.

"Don't worry I had every intention of doing both. As for your first question though, ever since its discovery nearly sixty years ago during the first lunar landing Aldnoah has all but utterly stumped almost every single scientific mind in the world. After all each one of those little orbs has more power than a fusion reactor and it never seems to run out of energy or draw energy from any real source of energy."

At that Mizusaki asked "And the Martians haven't figured it out either?" to which Braddock gave an almost condescending scoff.

"From what my people have managed to gather the Martians haven't even begun cursory examinations of the Aldnoah Drives. The very thing that makes their entire nation what it is and they don't have the slightest clue as to how it even works outside that the Emperor and his offspring can power it up. Honestly I would go so far as to compare them to a primitive tribe that has never seen technology before that has just discovered a working car. Eventually after some work they would find that turning the key in the ignition switch turns it on and they can use it to move around faster than with their feet but they don't understand nor do they care to understand the intricacies of how it works, so long as it does. One might even go so far as to say that the so-called Empire of Vers is literally nothing without Aldnoah."

That threw everyone for a loop, especially the hidden princess and her maid, the latter of which was absolutely fuming at the Terran's insinuations that Vers was anything but a great nation. However she was smart enough not to make such a statement in the company that they were in.

"What do you mean?" asked Magbaredge.

Braddock continued as he led everyone through a series of doors that went even deeper into the facility "Every last piece of their technology is based entirely off of already discovered pieces of Aldnoah technology that was on Mars to begin with. They haven't truly discovered or created anything on their own, they've just copied and attached technology that they found to whatever they wanted to use. They never earned any of the knowledge for themselves and instead stood on the shoulders of geniuses and proclaimed themselves the masters of the cosmos without doing anything to earn that kind of title. Besides if they had figured out how Aldnoah worked then their nobility would have begun building their own Aldnoah Drives. They clearly haven't done this because if they had their arrogance wouldn't allow them to cease bragging about it."

It was then that Braddock finally took the group to a final door, a massive door that was quite frankly enormous. Everyone was staring at the enormous closed entryway with curiosity and wonder of what might be on the other side. Braddock looked to one of the guards and gave a quick nod. The guard gave a quick salute and radioed ahead.

With that having been done there was a momentary pause before the massive doors started to open and the floor underneath everyone started to shake slightly. It reminded some of them of action movies where the heroes are about to go face to face with the bad guy who had some kind of giant doomsday device that he was about to unveil to the world.

Well, they would soon see that such a metaphor was a rather accurate depiction of what came next.

When the door fully opened there was an enormous ship on the other side in some kind of dry-dock. The ship much wider and longer than the Wadatsumi. Upon further observation it became clear that this ship was not something that was made for use on the water, at least not entirely. It appeared as though there were four massive engines built into the stern section of the ship. There were also a four sets of triple barreled railguns mounted on the ship. The strangest part of it though was that there were some portions of the ship that were completely red, in stark contrast with the black and grey of the rest of the ship. It looked off, like it was part of some different piece of equipment that was simply mounted on the ship.

"What you see before you is one-fourth of project Rapture, the UFE Death."

At that point Magbaredge looked Braddock dead in the eye and asked "You mean you have more of these things?" to which Braddock nodded.

"Yes, they're called: War, Famine and Pestilence."

The bridge officers looked at one another for a second before Mizusaki asked quizzically "The Four Horsemen of the apocalypse?"

Braddock shrugged "I'm not the ones who named 'em you'd have to talk to the higher ups if you wanted to know that answer. I wanted to call this one the Enterprise."

Asseylum looked confused, how could the Terrans make something like this, much less power it? Such a massive machine could only be powered by Aldnoah! Curiosity began to eat away at her as to how the Terrans managed to not only make this machine but Colonel Braddock seemed completely sure that it would work. So they must have figured out some way to make it work. But how?

At that point Braddock continued to walk towards the ship but when asked about a more obvious question such as "How do you power something like this?!" Braddock simply gave a smile that was a smirk too arrogant to be a smile but too nice to be a leer. Instead it resembled a parent who was planning on surprising their kids with something they would enjoy and was refusing to tell them what it was.

"I'm afraid that would be spoiling things a little too early, I'll explain everything once we are aboard."

And that was the Colonel's final answer on the matter, even if there were some people in the group who had requested an answer immediately.

Eventually though someone did ask something different even as they continued to approach the machine "Can you at least tell us where some of this technology to build this thing comes from?!"

To that the colonel actually did provide an answer "During the initial expeditions to Mars thirty years ago, several years before the colonization project, several pieces of Aldnoah technology were found there and brought back for research and development purposes. The study and application of these artifacts was of the highest priority for the UFE before the events of Heaven's Fall, and while we were able to reverse engineer them, there was always a problem with energy supply. To be blunt, Aldnoah powered pieces of technology guzzle more energy in a minute than entire state of New York does in a year. It wasn't until we found a workaround that these were even considered practical."

"A work around?" asked Asseylum.

"Yes, something everyone will see very soon."

With that the colonel said nothing more as he led them onto the ship.

-Tanegashima, Shoreline-

It had only been a few seconds since the group reached the shoreline of the island and already they were wondering just what in the hell Inaho was planning. "So, here we are," said Marcus as he looked out at the environment around them "What now?"

Inaho said nothing at first and instead watched as the Martian Sky Carrier was heading in their direction while some of oversized fists were returning to their home back at the Martian Kataphrakt's side. However everyone noticed that one of the arms was carrying on of its brethren in its clutches. This one was badly damaged as all of its fingers were gone and it hung completely limp in the grip of its brethren.

"Interesting." Inaho declared with stoic fascination as he watched the remaining hands start chasing after the Sky Carrier. Inaho then opened up a comm. channel to the rest of his team and said "Everyone, I'm going to need you to start putting pressure on the enemy Kat."

The response he got was almost immediate, and predictably it came right from his sister "Are you insane Nao, that thing will swat us like flies!"

Inaho just as predictably, had a response for that, "That Kataphrakt hasn't moved at all since the battle began, and has been repeating the same strikes over and over, if it had some other method of attack it would have done so by now."

"He's got a point," agreed Graves. "Almost all of the enemy Kataphrakts we've encountered to this point have been one-trick ponies. If that thing had any other offensive capabilities it would have used them by now, especially given how long we managed to hold out against it."

As much as Yuki hated to admit it both Graves and Inaho made some very good points, even as Rayet gave her own two cents on the matter "They're make a very good argument you know."

It was then that Marito noticed something "Wait, since we're the ones putting pressure on Shiva over there, what are you doing?" he asked.

Inaho didn't say anything at first before he drew his Kataphrakt's sidearm and fired a round up into the air, presumably to get the attention of someone. It was only when the Martian Sky Carrier started to make its way towards them at a much slower speed and lower its boarding platform that things became blindingly obvious, even more so when Inaho's Sleipnir started to make a run towards said platform.

Almost immediately almost all of his teammates started to either question his actions or his sanity.

"Nao what are you doing?!"

"Inaho are you nuts?! That's the enemy!"

"Why are you doing this? It doesn't make sense!"

"Inaho don't do this!"

"You can't trust them."

However the leader of Mustang Platoon ignored them and jumped onto the boarding platform. Once onboard Inaho opened a comm. back to his teammates and simply said "Even if the enemy of my enemy isn't my friend; they can still be useful."

Inaho almost heard Marito sigh as he turned his attention to the rest of Mustang Platoon "Well you heard the man, let's go see if we can give Shiva a headache."

With that done, Inaho turned his attention directly to the one who was piloting the Sky Carrier and opened a direct contact channel to the pilot "We don't have much time so I'll be quick, what are your armaments."

There was a brief pause as the pilot seemingly checked. "About twenty howitzer rounds. You?"

Inaho checked his own ammunition stores and found that he had one additional magazine, not including the near half empty magazine that was already in his weapon. However Inaho's apparent ally didn't really need to know that much, especially if the Martian pilot turned on him the instant that the battle was over. "I have nine rounds left, after that I only have my sidearm." he lied.

They began to gain altitude and of course the oversized fists began to start chasing them instead of the soldiers that were already on the ground. As she watched her little brother fly off on the Martian Sky Carrier, Yuki's only real thought was that she was going to make sure that Nao was going to have one hell of a lecture after this battle was over. "Alright, fine, we're going to start putting pressure on the enemy Kataphrakt. Any questions?" she asked.

No one gave any indication that there were any and Yuki simply said "Good!" before they started to make their way across the island.

Back up in the air however the two soldiers that had come together to fight a mutual foe were attempting to work on a plan to defeat their enemy. "So how are we going to do this? The Hellas' fists are able to turn into a single molecule, drastically increasing their defensive capabilities. Bullets won't even scratch them."

There wasn't even a pause as Inaho decided to correct that statement, "You're wrong," he said and continued before the Vers pilot could even ask what he was talking about "There was one arm that was destroyed earlier. The molecular structure must return to normal when it moves."

"You're sure?" the pilot asked.

"Positive, now look out Bat." The pilot of the Sky Carrier was about to ask what in the hell that last comment meant when he noticed that one of the Hellas' fists heading straight towards them. Immediately the sky carrier began to increase its speed to if not outrun the fist, at least make it difficult for the Hellas' primary weapons to pursue them. Meanwhile Inaho raised the Sleipnir's DMR and waited for the opportune moment to strike.

He didn't have to wait for very long as the fist unfurled into a grasping claw. Knowing that this was the perfect moment to strike, Inaho fired off a high explosive round from his DMR. His aim was true and the bullet struck the projectile in the palm, and exploded on impact. Just as Inaho had predicted the finger on the oversized arm were blown off in the explosion and the arm that they were attached to crashed into the ocean. Only this time it would not be flying back out again.

'Knew it,' Thought Inaho as he readied his rifle even as the other arms began to converge on them. Even then he thought he heard his sister's voice over the radio saying something about "Him and his crazy stunts."

Inaho had the feeling he knew what she meant but that didn't matter as he noticed that the rest of the group was heading towards the enemy Kataphrakt as they were supposed to. However there were more pressing concerns at the moment as two of the arms were coming straight for them. Thinking quickly Inaho fired off the Sleipnir's writs mounted grappling unit and watched as it wrapped around one of the fingers of the arm. This, combined with the fact that the Sky Carrier suddenly jerked to the left, caused the arm to slam into the one flying next to it.

The impact forced the molecular armor to disengage for a brief moment. Unfortunately for the arm the pause in the armor's functions was long enough for the pilot of the Sky Carrier to fire off several shots from the machine's howitzer turrets. Almost immediately the arm's fingers fell to pieces and the weapon itself rapidly lost altitude before crashing.

"Get us behind the arm Bat" Inaho ordered.

"Fine Orange!" That comment caused Inaho to cock an eyebrow 'Orange?'

Despite the comment the pilot aboard the Sky Carrier did as he was ordered and immediately slammed on the airbreaks and fly upwards slightly. This caused the arm that was right on their tail to fly right past them. Immediately, Inaho took aim with the DMR and fired a round right into the engine. There was an explosion and the arm's from changed from a fist to more of an open gesture, even as fire began to push through the seams and joints of the weapon. Less than a second later the arm had completely exploded from inside, with pieces of it began raining onto the ground and ocean.

'The engines and propulsion systems can't be covered by the molecular armor, therefore they are just as vulnerable to our weapons as the entirety of the arms when their armor is deactivated.' Almost immediately the Hellas' last two remaining arms started to come at the Sky Carrier from the bow and starboard sides. Inaho looked at both the incoming weapons and said "Pull up just a few seconds before impact."

It was a close thing but the Sky Carrier managed to avoid getting hit by the Hellas' last remaining arms and just like before Inaho fired a round at the propulsion units of the arms, destroying both of them.

Now all that was left was the seemingly defenseless Hellas.

-Tanegashima, Inland-

'This is impossible, this is impossible, this is IMPOSSIBLE!' was the thought that was circulating through Femieanne's mind as she went over what was happing in her mind over and over again. Terrans had no Aldnoah, they were little more than monkeys! Filthy, degenerate, monkeys! So how in the hell could they have managed to destroy Marax, Botis, Ronove, Halphas, Raum and Vine?

"You filthy primates, I'll wipe you all out for harming my children!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.

Femieanne didn't want to have to dirty her own hands with this as she left such work to her children but the monkeys left her no real choice. Especially with a full platoon Kataphrakts heading straight for her from two different directions. If she destroyed the Sky Carrier and that damned Orange Kataphrakt, then she would slaughter the rest of those damned primates hiding beneath the dirt like the vermin they were.

"You may have forced me to do this but now I'll give you a better death than you deserve!" Femieanne activated the last trump card the Hellas had left to play. It's flight mode.

Immediately the propulsion units built into the Hellas lifted it up off the ground even as the limbs began to fold in on each other. The machine transformed into what was quite possibly the most non-aerodynamic craft in the history of the human race. In fact one could go so far as to compare it to a brick with engines that was still somehow capable of flight.

The very instant it was in the air, it began rocketing towards the Sky Carrier at a speed that should have been impossible for something of its size and design. Femieanne knew that the Sky Carrier had no real hope of outrunning her, even if they managed to dodge a few times there was absolutely nothing they could do. She quickly closed the distance, the weapons fire from the Sky Carrier and the orange Kataphrakt doing absolutely nothing to even slow her down.

However at the very last possible second the Sky Carrier stalled to lose altitude at a rapid pace. It managed to barely evade her strike but it would prove to only be a temporary delay, a trick like that wouldn't work a second time. Even now the Hellas was on its way for a second pass at those that had tried to bring it low.

As she tried to close in on her targets, her tunnel vision made her completely oblivious to the ground on the Tanegashima shaking as though it had been struck by some kind of an earthquake that was originating from the center of the island. Dirt, rocks and trees were being shook free as something underneath the island began powering up like some deity that had slept beneath it was awakening after a millennia of slumber.

It was only after a several shots were fired out of the ground and into the air that Femieanne actually bothered to see what was going on. Several more shots fired from beneath the ground as whatever was underneath the earth fought to get out. After the fifth shot, the dirt, trees and rocks fell around a truly massive ship that vaguely resembled a seaborne vessel burst emerged from the ground.

The rather obvious distraction allowed the Sky Carrier and its orange painted passenger to escape her notice.

The Orbital Knight looked at the mighty vessel in utter shock, not comprehending what it was she was seeing. "This is impossible, the Terrans have no Aldnoah, they're too primitive to even-" her blustering denials were cut off when the ship aimed its massive guns right at her, and fired.

The molecular armor that the Hellas used was while not the near impenetrable defense that the Nilokeras had, it was still an extremely effective barrier against almost all standard munitions that most Terran Kataphrakts employed. A ship mounted railcannon however was different, it fired rounds that were much larger than the standard 75mm rounds that the Terran Kataphrakts used in their rifles and they were fired with much greater force, accuracy and speed. So much so that when an artillery round was fired it was capable of hitting a target several hundred miles away at Mach 5. This meant that such a shot was unlikely to miss at the range that was presented when one of the cannons fired directly at the Hellas.

(A/N: I'm actually not making this up, real tests by the US navy have shown that real railguns are capable of hitting targets well over 230 miles away at that kind of force and speed and we don't even need advanced alien tech like Aldnoah to make it work)

The Molecular armor managed to prevent the Hellas from disintegrating upon striking the ground, and the impact dampening system built into the Hellas kept Femieanne from being turned into paste as a result let alone badly injured. However the Kataphrakt was still sent down to earth and if one was to go by the damage reports popping up on the holographic displays, the Hellas was completely unable to move let alone fight.

Femieanne cursed and continued to try and move the Hellas, unfortunately it was clear that the damage it had incurred it refused to even move. To make matters even worse the sensors were detecting those same primitive Kataphrakts coming at her from all directions.

One was walking right up to her and had its rifle pointed directly at the cockpit. Femieanne was able to pick up a small transmission coming from the Kataphrakt and wondered if this particular message was directed straight at her "All Martians will pay for the death of my father."

For several seconds it looked as though the enemy pilot was about to shoot but instead another Kataphrakt put its hand on its shoulder and some sort of message passed between them. The one that had its weapon aimed at the cockpit lowered its rifle.

-UFE Death, A few minutes earlier-

The inside of the UFE Death was much different than the interior of any Versian vessel that Asseylum had been in before. In fact it greatly resembled the interior of the Wadatsumi which alone was far different than most Vers ships. From everything that Asseylum had seen the UFE seemed to value efficiency in their designs whenever possible. It was quite the opposite with Versian ships which almost always seemed less like starships and more like they were well designed palaces, or at least that was the case with the ones that Asseylum was on, which now that she thought about it, made a lot of sense given her position.

"So, we're on board the ship can you explain to us exactly what exactly this workaround was?" Magbaredge, to which the colonel looked at her and shook his head "You wouldn't believe it if you didn't see it for yourself, which is why I'm taking you and the command staff to the bridge, you'll see everything there."

Captain Magbaredge seemed irritated with the lack of answers that she was being given but she still managed to keep herself disciplined, along with most of the bridge crew who were just as frustrated as she was. Asseylum however knew for a fact that whatever this was it couldn't possibly work, a vessel of this size and power could only work with Aldnoah and the Terrans didn't have access to that kind of power. There was no other explanation, Aldnoah had to be used for a power source which meant that in order for any of them to survive this ordeal, she would need to take an extreme risk because whatever the Terrans had, doubtlessly wouldn't work.

"And what about everyone still fighting outside sir?" Asked Nina who didn't seem to be angry or upset with the colonel, instead she just seemed terrified for the wellbeing of her friends. Colonel Braddock looked at the girl and gave her an empathetic expression signifying that he knew full well how she felt "I know you're afraid for the wellbeing of your friends Warrant Officer Klein but I am confident in Mustang Platoon's capabilities, besides I don't intend on leaving them out there to fend for themselves for much longer."

Despite his words, there were several who had noticed that Braddock had steadily picked up the pace slightly ever since they had arrived inside the ship. To everyone it was clear that he was worried about those outside the confines of the base despite the demeanor he put on.

Within a few moments they were at the Death's bridge. Unlike what many were expecting the bridge didn't look anything like something from a science fiction movie or something that the Martian's would build. In fact it looked remarkably similar to the Wadatsumi's bridge.

However there was one difference. In the center of the room was a pedestal, about waist height and on that pedestal was a sphere the size of a basketball with a small cylindrical section of it hollowed out. The instant that it was spotted many in the bridge crew started murmuring to one another in speculation.

It was then that Asseylum burst forward from the crowd and managed to blurt out "Wait I can help!" At that Braddock looked at the girl with a perplexed/amused look on his face even as his brow shot up. "My dear girl, I admire that your gumption but I don't think that there's much you can do here."

Braddock watched as the girl's little sister tried to make her way through the crowd, presumably to either help or stop her. Instead of responding immediately like most people would have, the girl in front of Braddock calmly reached for her wrist as though there was something there. Just a second later a bright flash of light enveloped the room and when it finally dissipated, there stood her highness Princess Asseylum Vers Allusia.

It was no exaggeration to say that everyone on the bridge was completely flabbergasted by what they were seeing right in front of them. The supposedly dead Princess Asseylum was standing right in front of them, completely healthy. Even the normally unflappable Colonel Maxwell Braddock had a look of utter shock plastered all over his face. To his credit however Braddock managed to regain his composure quickly and already his mind was going over how to properly process this new development and how to best make use of it.

'Well, that was certainly unexpected.' He thought while knowing that that was understating it.

Almost on instinct, several members in Braddock's security detail, including Lieutenant Wilkes drew their weapons and aimed them squarely at the Versian Princess. Immediately Braddock held up his hand in a stop gesture "Lower your weapons immediately," he ordered much to the confusion of the soldiers in the room.

"But sir she's-" started one of the guards.

"I doubt that Princess Asseylum would be stupid enough to try anything here. Now lower those weapons before I have you all confined to the brig." Braddock declared before arching a brow at the princess "In fact I would go so far as to assume that you thought you could help activate what you thought was an Aldnoah Drive is that correct?"

Asseylum nodded "Yes you need me to-"

Braddock however simply waved the young girl off "This is not an Aldnoah Drive, so I'm afraid your Activation factor is quite useless here. Now, one moment please."

Braddock then turned to one of the soldiers "Do you have the engine room on comms?" he asked to which the soldier gave an affirmative. Braddock gave a satisfied smile and put out his hand and asked "Your radio then please."

Less than a second later Braddock received the radio and everyone continued to watch him, wondering what in the hell was going on. The next words out of Colonel Braddock's mouth completely shocked many of the people in the room, especially Her Highness Princess Asseylum "Doctor Troyard, are we ready to get underway? We have a war to win."

At first Asseylum wanted to ask if this was some sort of sick joke the colonel was playing. That Braddock was mocking her by bringing up the dead father of her childhood friend. Much to her shock, a voice, slightly distorted by age and a small amount of static responded "Yes Colonel Braddock the Pseudo Aldnoah Drives are installed and prepped, we're waiting on you."

"Excellent!" said Braddock a wide smile plastered on his face. He walked over to the sphere that resembled the Aldnoah Drive and placed a small cylinder into the top portion that had been partially hollowed out. At first everyone wondered what was going on and what in the hell Braddock was talking about. It looked as though Magbaredge was about to ask what in the hell was going on when the ship began to shake, as though a slight tremor was going through it.

All of the consoles began to light up and the ship itself stopped shaking "B-but how? How is this possible?" asked the brown haired girl which somehow managed to get through the crowd and right next to Asseylum who seemed to shocked for words. Braddock gave the girl a look "Over the last few decades and through the help of Doctor Troyard we discovered that Aldnoah Drives do not generate power on their own, they receive it!"

The stunned silence was telling at just how much of a bomb Braddock had just dropped on everyone there "Aldnoah is not some kind of generator like everyone assumes. It's a glorified power cord that receives energy from another source through tachyon transmissions. And thanks to Doctor Troyard's help, we've managed to create a machine that can tap into that power source! With five massive PA drives we can power a ship as magnificent as this!"

"Just how big are these things?!" exclaimed Magbaredge "Each one is about the size of an Areion, that's why we haven't been able to make our own Kataphrakts that are on par with the Orbital Knights, they'd be too big to be practical. So, we made something that would work."

Braddock then turned to the bridge crew of the Death "But we have no time for further explanations, right now we have to deal with the enemy outside the base. Have the refugees and base personnel finished boarding yet?" he asked.

Lieutenant Wilkes repeated the question into her radio and soon received an affirmative response. "Yes sir they're all in, we can leave at your discretion."

"Then we head out immediately, spool up the railguns and fire them directly at the ceiling. We're punching our way out!" He declared.

The gunners did as they were told and fired at the cavern's ceiling, punching massive holes through the rocks and into the night sky beyond. It took a few shots but the cavernous entrance finally opened up. The ship flew forwards and broke through the scattered remains of the cavern's ceiling. In mere seconds the ship found itself out into the night sky. The very second they were out of the caverns a strange sight awaited them.

The enemy Kataphrakt had apparently changed into a damn flying brick and was now chasing around the same Vers Sky-Carrier that had come to assist them earlier, and apparently Inaho's Sleipnir was standing on top of the thing's cargo ramp. Fortunately Braddock seemed to take the frankly bizarre situation in relative stride and turned to the bridge crew "Target that flying enemy Kataphrakt."

Less than a second later one of the massive railgun aimed directly at the enemy unit. "We have the enemy in our sights!" called back one of the bridge officers to which Braddock said one single word. "Fire."

The oversized railgun fired off a shot at the flying brick and while it didn't score a direct hit, instead it was merely a glancing blow. Unlike what Braddock had expected the thing didn't disintegrate even from the glancing shot, and instead was sent crashing down onto the surface of the island. The damn thing's armor must have saved it. The sensors officer was already reporting that Mustang Platoon was already making its way towards the enemy. "Tell Mustang Platoon to hold fire, I want a team down there to capture the enemy pilot and bring him aboard for interrogation."

-Tanegashima, Above the island-

To say that Inaho hadn't been expecting anything like this was more than just an understatement. The idea that there was an oversized flying ship underneath Tanegashima was ludicrous, it was like something out of one of those bad science fiction movies that Yuki always liked to watch. Sure she enjoyed them but there were so many flaws in how everything worked that Inaho just couldn't stomach them without pointing out the many physics flaws each one had.

However he could see the windows that showed the inside of the bridge after zooming in on it with the Sleipnir's cameras. He could see that apparently Asseylum had chosen to reveal herself if the fact that she was walking around the bridge without her camouflage device activated. Inaho knew full well that the princess would have to reveal herself eventually and if this ship ran on Aldnoah then perhaps now would have been a relatively decent time to do so but there would be several people that probably use her as a scapegoat for what was happening.

"Princess Asseylum, at last I've found you."

The instant that Inaho heard those words he knew instantly what brought Bat to Tanegashima. He was looking for Princess Asseylum. But why? After all the assassination attempt showed that up until very recently, absolutely everyone was of the impression that she was dead. So why would this Versian pilot have been looking for her?

While at first glance it seemed like this individual might be to save princess Asseylum, there was a possibility that whoever was piloting was with the assassins and this was some sort of ploy to get in close to make sure that he could be the one to make the kill. It was unlikely true but there were too many inconsistencies in this situation.

Inaho needed answers before he could let whoever this was anywhere near Asseylum "You princess was dead," he stated as a-matter-of-factly. "So why did you try to find her?"

"Huh?" was the only response Inaho got.

"You must have known she was alive this whole time. How? And why did you try to do so?"

Before the enemy pilot could respond Inaho spotted that two security officers on the bridge were escorting Asseylum and her maid out. They weren't resisting and the security personnel weren't using any physical coercion so it was clear that they weren't in any immediate danger.

The pilot of the Sky-Carrier, seemed to take offense to this as the howitzer units that were previously aimed forwards were now directly pointed at Inaho.

"Where are your friends taking her? Bring her back now!" he demanded. Inaho didn't radio the ship nor did he even acknowledge the demand at all. Not that he would try to get Asseylum back into a vulnerable position. If the pilot was with the assassins then it was clear that he would simply open fire on the bridge the second she was back on.

Instead he simply said "Answer my questions."

Slaine could feel red hot rage bubbling up underneath the surface of his psyche as he grew more and more frustrated at Orange's evasiveness. He hadn't had any sleep for a little over twenty-four hours and he had just gotten through an intense battle. There wasn't time for any of this shit!

Suddenly a very dark thought came over his mind. Were these Terrans using her for their own ends? Without thinking Slaine asked that very same question to the orange painted Kataphrakt. His response? "Use her? Would it bother you if I was?"

That was the straw that broke the camel's back. The anger that had been building in Slaine boiled over and without truly even thinking he pulled the trigger on the joystick. This sent a command straight to one of the howitzers to open fire. Unfortunately for the pilot, while the howitzers mounted on a Sky-Carrier had a wide firing arc, they were unable to truly aim at anything that was located on the cargo ramp. This resulted in the shot going well off the mark and into the ocean below.

To make matters even worse for Slaine, the pilot of the orange Kataphrakt opened fire with his own weapon, sending a single high explosive round into the enemy air-transport. The damage inflicted by this single round at such a short range was quite clear, it tore through most of the more important internal components. Thus Slaine's Sky-Carrier began its journey downwards towards the ocean.

The instant he returned fire Inaho jumped off of the Sky-Carrier knowing that it was about to fall into the ocean. Once he landed he heard a garbled transmission but he was able to understand the gist of it. The pilot was demanding to know if he was an enemy. "Yes," said Inaho not caring if the Versian soldier heard him or not "I am your enemy."

To be continued.

A/N: Now before anyone goes completely off the wall and asks why I still kept Inaho and Slaine going at each other after the fight, it's actually quite interesting. By this point, Slaine hasn't gotten any sleep for well over twenty-four hours. Now this may not sound like that big a deal but human bodies, require between seven to nine hours of sleep per day. The longer we go without sleep the more it can impact our brains.

After about seventeen hours without sleep, the body starts to suffer from sleep deprivation and the human mind's ability to make decisions takes a nosedive. To make matters worse, things like anxiety and aggression start going up very quickly. The fact that Slaine just got out of a highly stressful combat situation would be like pouring several drums of gasoline onto an inferno. This combined with Inaho's…less than graceful social skills was a perfect storm that was only going to end violently

And I'm also sure that there were many of you who were surprised at the fact that there was someone named Doctor Troyard working for Braddock. You must be wondering how in the hell is this possible, how is Doctor Troyard still alive and on Earth as in canon he died on Mars…well I'm not going to tell you until the next chapter ;)

As for the Pseudo Aldnoah Drives, don't worry the UFE isn't going to be getting any supermecha on par with the Versians any time soon. I am going to add in something new and different to the UFE's arsenal but it's nothing like what the Versians have. Besides like Braddock said the PA drives are enormous and they can't create a Kataphrakt big enough to accommodate that kind of thing as it would be far too big to be practical. it also takes several PA drives to even make the ship function so unfortunately no supermecha for the UFE.

One last, important note.

Lately there have been several readers who have contacted me in regards to how seemingly weak the Orbital Knights have been portrayed. Well let me explain: at first glance the Orbital Knights seem like they are a pretty powerful force with all their supermecha and those badass landing castles but honestly, when you get into the details, I'd say that they are without a doubt one of the worst sci-fi armies I've ever seen in my life. In fact I'd go so far as to say that they are just as bad but probably worse than the Federation from Starship Troopers. (But don't despair, Inaho and the others will have quite a few challenges coming.)

Here's just a few of their biggest problems.

Their Mecha: While the Orbital Knights Kataphrakts may seem very impressive at first, they are ALL one trick ponies. Once someone figures out a way around their attacks or defense, they are going to be destroyed very quickly because they generally have no hidden ace up their sleeves to cover those weaknesses, what you see is what you get and I'd much rather put my stock in something that isn't so overly specialized to the point that it will be easily defeated the second it's out of its element. In fact the only decent Vers Kataphrakt I saw in canon was the Tharsis because even after Slaine turned off what made it predict the movements of the enemy it was still able to put up a relatively decent fight.

Their leadership: From what I've seen in the show, the Orbital Knights have very little if any coordination between their forces. This makes sense as they are based on a feudal style military where each noble commands their own levied troops at the behest of their king or in this case emperor who would actually be the one coordinating everything. But given the Emperor's health condition and distance away from the battlefield, he isn't going to be making any decisions in regards to long-term strategy, general battlefield planning or logistical support.

Besides even if he was, Emperor Rayregalia isn't a soldier, he was an astronaut and scientist before being crowned emperor. Granted he could have read about such things but theory always gets trumped by reality especially when you have zero experience fighting let alone commanding in any kind of war. If I had to choose between a general with several campaigns under his belt or a scientist and astronaut with a seeming messiah and/or god complex, I'd pick the general. Every. Single. Time.

This means that the commanders of the Orbital Knights are all off doing whatever it is they want and are not coordinating their efforts aside from maybe one telling the other which territories that they are going in to conquer and that neighboring forces belonging to other Knights should stay away from those areas. If they had gone in as a fully unified military force and properly coordinated their efforts, then the UFE may very well have been signing surrender papers within a short period of time. However they are so spread out from one another that I'd go so far as to say that even if they were willing to cooperate with one another, they are so cut off from each other that it may as well have been pointless.

In fact I'd go so far as to say that the lack of cooperation between the Orbital Knights may even be worse than one might expect. Think about it, the society in Vers does not encourage any kind of cooperation, instead I would argue that it encourages almost cut-throat byzantine competition between everyone. Everyone is trying to look good in the eyes of their superiors so that they can advance and climb higher up the proverbial ladder. The regular soldiers are trying to show off to their commanders so they might get promoted, the commanders are trying to show off to their noble masters who they hope may put in a good word for them to the Emperor who would in turn make them nobles and the nobility are trying to show off for the Emperor to improve their standing in court. They will likely go off to seek out glory even at the expense of tactical and even strategic objectives if they thought it could make themselves look good in the eyes of their betters.

To make matters worse the discipline of the higher ranking officers is utterly atrocious. The majority of Orbital Knights that have been shown on screen acting like blood hungry psychopaths who toy with their enemies like a pack of serial killers. These acts of "I'm superior to you," grandstanding merely give the real soldiers' time to regroup, reorganize and launch counterattacks.

They also don't follow orders even if they are from the very top of the chain of command: They started a war without their first having been a formal declaration of war from Emperor Rayregalia, although to be fair this was partially due to Saazbaum's machinations. Not only that but at least one of their number (in this case Vlad) completely ignored orders that were impossible to misconstrue because they came directly from the Emperor to cease fighting immediately, in order to pursue a personal grudge he had against a specific enemy pilot despite it being blatantly obvious he knew about the orders to stand down.

Now given Cruhteo's loyalty to the crown I very much doubt that he would have allowed Vlad to continue on his vendetta and either assumed that he would be a loyal member of the nobility and return immediately to cease pursuing said vendetta or he contacted Vlad and told him to turn around and head back to base. If the latter is true this means that not only did Vlad disobey orders from his commander in the field but he disobeyed direct orders from his sovereign ruler something that would doubtlessly have some very serious consequences if anyone found out as even for a noble that kind of action can and will be considered treasonous. And people, even nobles who show that level of disloyalty, usually end up on the literal chopping block because the longer they're alive the weaker they make the current ruler look.

If that is the level of discipline and obedience from the higher-ups (granted it was only one example but given that Vlad's attitude is shared by many other Orbital Knights it's likely that more would have been doing similar actions), I shudder to think how utterly lacking in discipline the general rank and file are. I'd be willing to bet good money that the vast majority of them are more than likely going to engage in widespread looting, killing and raping in every area they have under their control. Not only that but given the lack of discipline and sociopathy from the leaders of the Orbital Knights, they probably aren't going to order them to stop, in fact I would go so far as to say that at least some of them probably encourage it given their seemingly psychopathic mental states. This isn't going to make the UFE or local guerilla fighters likely to show them any mercy when they come through to liberate an area, and the likelihood of these guys ending up mysteriously dying during imprisonment or when they attempt to surrender will probably be high.

Their equipment: While the nobility have relatively decent mecha, the general rank and file soldier doesn't seem to have much in the way of weapons or equipment. In battle they seem to just simply wear the standard fleet uniform along with a helmet and a protective vest over it. No camouflage no night vision goggles, no protective layering for cold temperatures, nothing. To make matters worse, their standard uniform makes them stand out like a sore thumb in most environments (especially that of the nobility who wear flashier clothing) making a squad of Vers soldiers turn into a shooting gallery because they'll always be spotted by the UFE infantryman long before they see their enemy.

Their weaponry: their infantry seem to be outfitted with a standard issue pistol and assault rifle, with maybe a rocket launcher for fighting against vehicles and some grenades. That's it. They seemingly have no shotguns for close range combat environments such as room clearing or DMRs or sniper rifles for long distance shooting (not that they would have the ranges or environment to even train for long distance shooting in a Landing Castle out in space) both of which are essential for fighting in most environments on Earth. With that combined with their easy to spot uniforms they can easily be targeted by a trained sniper or hell even a local with a decent hunting rifle and neither would need to worry about counter sniping operations.

As for tanks and IFVs well, in the show they seem to be roughly the same as their Earth Counterparts without the overspecialized tricks of the mecha only the crew of those vehicles will have had less training and experience in said vehicles because they are stuck out in space and can't properly train on how to use them in a battlefield situation. Meaning that in real combat they are going to start dropping like flies, especially in early engagements where they have no real experience in fighting with the equipment and haven't been able to adequately train with said equipment.

This brings me to my final point and perhaps the most important one of all.

Logistics: Logistics are perhaps the most important part of war, it may not be as interesting as what goes on in the frontline but every army needs a steady stream of supplies to keep it fighting: food, equipment, weapons, ammunition and other supplies are essential to for an army to do its job and win the war, and given the sheer distance from Mars to Earth and how long it takes for supplies to get shipped? Yeah, The Orbital Knights aren't going to be resupplied for months at a time at the very least, not to mention that given the small population of the Empire (only one million), they won't be receiving any replacement meat for the grinder. Meaning that every single soldier or support personnel they lose isn't going to be replaced.

Granted they could try to recruit locals into their armies but that would be like inviting a rabid fox into the henhouse while covering said hens in barbecue sauce. At best the locals would actively sabotage whatever they were ordered to work on, and if the Orbital Knights were actually stupid enough to give them weapons and try to have them fight for their new overlords (who see and treat them all as inferior beings mind you), well, I'm pretty sure you are all intelligent enough to know what would happen next.

Not only that but they have a very, very small army in comparison to Earth's. Assuming that the Orbital Knights have say roughly…5,000 men and women for each of the 37 landing castles, which makes sense given the size of each ship. That brings their numbers up to about 185,000 in total (not including the lunar base of course but most of those are probably just support and security personnel). Now that may sound like a lot but most of those individuals are probably going to be in a supporting role, tasked with keeping the landing castles and equipment including the mecha functioning. Therefore the number of fighting men and women on the frontlines is going to be a small percentage of that, possibly 20-30% at most.

This may not be a problem if they were a unified force but they aren't. In fact they are all off doing whatever it is they want, spread out carelessly all over the Earth, and as a result, easily cut off from each other. In comparison let's say the UFE has a population of at least 5 billion, even after Heaven's fall. If even 5 percent is in the military, that is easily 250,000,000 men and women in the armed forces and that's not including local guerilla forces who will probably fight tooth and nail to defend their homes and won't care about how viciously they go about doing it.

Any way you look at it, the Orbital Knights are hopelessly outnumbered even if they were working as a unified force. Eventually they are going to use up supplies faster than they can be replaced and their soldiers will be picked off in hit and run raids and those can't be replaced. By that point if they haven't already been surrounded and wiped off the map by massive assaults by UFE forces they soon will be. Even if they have a supermecha supporting them.

In essence, it was a damn miracle that the Orbital Knights managed to last as long as they did in the anime. I would have expected an army like this to be defeated in a year at the absolute most and yet somehow, against all odds they managed to last 17 months. The only way that they would have lasted that long is if the UFE military was being run by complete idiots.