Son of Britannia

Act 10: Acquisitions

By Lord Strife

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or Record of Agarest War.

LS: Some background info, like the Areas, was taken from Code Geass Wikia

LS: For those curious to what Agarest looks like you can also visit the Agarest Wikia

May 30th, 2017 a.t.b.

"I see. Very well, please escort them to the parlor and I'll be along shortly." Kirihara frowned as he puts the phone down into its base. It seems that the new Sub-viceroy had decided to grace the Fuji mines with his presence. It wasn't unprecedented, as Calares and Braham have visited before. The difference was that those two set up appointments prior to coming. And that gave them time to cover some things up, since the mines would likely be crawling with their security detail and might find some things totally unrelated to Sakuradite mining. Other surprise inspectors have been dealt with delaying tactics of trivial matters but he was certain that this one would be entirely different.

"Should we do the usual, sir?" His aide asked, ready on executing the normal routine for inspectors.

"No. That would be useless given the nature of our guest. Refusing any of his requests can be considered as treason, especially from Honorary Britannians." Kiriha said the last part with a bit of distaste. "If he asked to be shown something he'd be damn not to see that something." That's why he was hoping to at least divert them to the parlor so he could curtail a possibly disastrous outcome. Worse comes to worst, he'd be force to deal with the prince but that would certainly doom the entire operation. The JLF was still not strong enough to counter even a single division of Britannian troops, not with their current lack of equipment.

Before he could rise from his chair, his phone rang again. Picking it up, he answered "Speak." His frowned deepened. "No, don't. That would make it more suspicious. Try and lead him towards the west tunnels…he what? Fine, but see if you can delay him without looking like it. I'll try to hurry as fast as my aching bones can. And alert Saima and his men…just in case." He sighed as he looked up to his aide, "Well it seems that prince didn't even bothered going to the parlor and immediately went about touring the mines…and his current path is tilting towards the eastern mining zone."

His aide looked panicked. "But…that's where tunnel 17 is at…where the newly assembled Burais are kept! If he sees those…."

Kirihara was already dialing the number to that area, "Yes, it's me. Do you have them loaded, Nakajima? Good, I never thought your strange fixation for doing everything ahead of time would come in handy…get them out here as we have an extremely high profile and dangerous guests loitering around….no I don't care where just not there!" He put the phone down and signaled for his aid to follow him. Hopefully his people could at least delay the prince for a minute or two. "Should have listed to Kaguya-hime and moved the R&D someplace else." He muttered.

Lelouch smiled wickedly as he watched Nakajima gave his answer to the chief executive of the mines and one of the heads of Kyoto. "Splendid. Now have your men take those knightmares to the coordinates I indicated on your map. My pickup team will be waiting for you there. Then afterwards, you will state in your report you had it transferred to one of your middlemen contacts in the JLF."

Nakajima nodded, "As you wish your highness." He now replied in monotone in contrast to his earlier 'best make it look good' response to Kirihara and left to direct the other geassed workers in following their instructions.

Lelouch then turned towards his guide, eyes red-rimmed from his geass. "Take me to the nearby tunnel you mentioned and call Kirihara. Tell him…you've been somewhat successful in diverting my attention."

"Yes, your highness." Replied the man ordered to 'follow me when I come for inspections.'

Kallen was very much impressed. "It's amazing how you managed to plan everything on the go." She said as she watched the crew hurriedly began moving out the transports that carried those bastardized versions of Glasgows towards their rendezvous with Rex.

What Kirihara didn't know was that their group had arrived not just a few minutes but rather a full hour or so ago. Lelouch had instructed the geassed personnel to relay the information at exactly timed intervals.

Lelouch shrugged, "I just used whatever is in my disposal. And besides, that geass of yours really helped in narrowing things down." He said as he, Kallen, and his usual shadows of Thoma and Duran begin walking back towards a corridor they passed a while back. To moved much faster, and avoid possible leakages, they left their security detail back at the entrance to the tunnel system. He was fairly confident that with both his and Kallen's geass, Absolute Perception, he was sure they could deal with whatever was around the corner.

Kallen shrugged, "Well it's nowhere near as fancy as yours but so far I can say is it will greatly help me in the combat department."

"True." He idly wondered how much she would improve with such. "But try not to rely on it too much though."

Kallen agreed, "Yeah, I think I can use it like an ace in the sleeve or something. Besides, I rather rely on my skills than this too often. Feels like a cheat mode or something."

"I guess this is pay dirt, isn't it sire?" Duran asked, breaking the current line of thought.

Thoma grinned, "More like the mother-load if you ask me. Not only do we get our hands on their technology, we also deny the resistance much needed equipment. Quite a deal if you ask me."

"Indeed. But it concerns me that after seeing those knightmares…."

Kallen nodded, "I believe you're thinking that the various resistance forces are possibly armed with those machines already aren't you?"

"Yes. And with the number we have seen being hurriedly transported out of this place, one can only imagine just by how much they are equipped with such." Lelouch frowned, "Most notably is the JLF."

"So it would seem we really will wait for Sir Jeremiah and the bulk of the regiment aren't we sire?" Thoma asked.

"Considering that he's the one with the bulk of our equipment." Duran stated. "And just as Silvi and Noah stated before, I rather use my personal frame than use the borrowed units."

"Should we be even discussing this out in the open, in the middle of our enemies' supporters?" Kallen asked finally now that she thought about it.

"Do you sense anyone that I did not geassed loitering around?"

Kallen paused for a moment, inclining her head and a very visible red sigil on her left eye. "No…."

Lelouch looked towards their guide and asked, "Do you have eavesdropping equipment down here?"

"None as far as I am aware of. Kirihara-dono doesn't like bugging the eastern tunnels."

"What about his office?"

"…"

"I see you don't know that one, oh well." Lelouch smile turned feral, "I guess we can always ask the man directly." His smile was shared by his knights.

Duran suddenly had a question that popped into his head. "If you're going to use geass on Kirihara, sire…why do we bother having that Nakajima guy lie about his deliveries?"

"To keep appearances." Lelouch replied a matter of fact. "While we are sure to nab Kirihara I am not sure about the other heads of Kyoto or if they even meet face to face at all. Only once we have all of them leashed, then we can finally drop this farce." His knights nodded at that. "Besides we might not be able to geass everyone. There's bound to be someone on leave or what not. And that one single person would instantly know something's wrong with the others. And I would leave up to you three to digest the possible outcome of that."

The others nodded mutely. Trust their prince to think ahead. They didn't even consider the ramification of a single individual could cause a potential monkey wrench to their plans.

Walking back to tunnel 14, the guide under geass managed to create a rather fantastical explanation of the mining apparatus that if he and his knights didn't know any better, they would have been impressed. And it was this scene was what Kirihara and his aide saw when they arrived. Inwardly the elderly man sighed in relief and made a mental note to raise this one's pay later. "Your highness! This was an unexpected pleasure, seeing you drop by to visit the Sakuradite mines." He stated calmly. "Had you said you were going to visit, we would have made better preparations to accommodate you."

Lelouch smiled at the elderly man, "Indeed. I just wanted to see if the vaunted mining facility is as was in the reports. So far it has not yet disappointed me."

Kallen had to suppress her chuckle, as did Thoma but Duran remained impassive. That veiled statement was, in more ways than one, very accurate.

Kirihara also chuckled, completely missing the hidden meaning. "Be that as it may, while I think Mr. Kojiro's explanations are very fascinating; would you like to head to the parlor so that we could at least offer you and your entourage some refreshments?"

Lelouch looked at his knights who merely nodded back. "That would be lovely, I think. Considering the somewhat humid weather down here, we could all use something cold to drink." He motioned with his hand, "Please lead the way Mr. Kirihara."

The aging Japanese was all too happy to oblige unaware of exactly what had transpired and what was about to happen next.

It was later in the day when Lelouch and his knights returned from their successful compromising of the Fuji mines. Kirihara was now geassed into relaying info discreetly to Lelouch whenever a delivery was to be made, and to which organizations they were funding.

"It's surprising really." Kallen stated as she slouched on the sofa. "Here I thought there would be hundreds of those…what where they called again Burais? Yeah that's it! In the hands of several resistance groups only to find the only ones with those are the JLF."

"True, but then I guessed Kyoto is not ready to arm local groups just yet, not when their main hope is still under-armed." Thoma agreed.

"I hardly think 144 knightmares of various armaments and configuration being under-armed." Duran scoffed. "That's still couple company worth of problems." He frowned further, "If they had just a few dozen more I'd guess they be ready to strike at very vital targets."

Thoma shrugged, "Yeah well considering we took about 12 of their units from them…by the way, sire has there been word from my little bro about that?"

Lelouch nodded as he now read the report from his PDA. "Indeed. Rex and Mariel received the load as planned and had those delivered to Camelot. Suffice to say, Lloyd is having a field day checking out those modified Glasgows." He paused as he read the next line, "And from what Mariel could tell from their initial findings, its specs could very well match a Sutherland."

Duran looked somewhat shocked, while both Kallen and Thoma whistled. "That's hardly good news, sire." The slightly younger Raglan stated.

Kallen nodded, "Were lucky that not much of the unit is available yet, but if these went about a few more months, we would be seeing divisional size army equipped with hundred of these babies."

"True." Lelouch agreed, now more than ever he was certain that Prime Minister Genbu Kururugi's death was more of a thorn than a boon. As it stands, a great bulk of the former Japanese army remains intact. And that fighting force is still very much a threat. "Right now, I think our Black Knights are still in the advantage over number of operational units and experience in knightmare warfare as I doubt the JLF has ample space to train pilots, or the opportunity to do live exercises without attracting our army's attention. As soon as Jeremiah arrives on 4th of June, we'll begin operations and hello…what have we got here?"

Kallen and his other knights all looked at one another in confusion before turning back to their prince. "What is Lelouch?"

"Kirihara works fast." He said while showing his planner for everyone to see before returning to read it. "According to this info he sent me, one of the other Kyoto heads reportedly just sponsored one Indian scientist named Rakshata Chawla, to produce what is termed a ground breaking knightmare for the famed Miracle Toudo." That got everyone's attention.

"Toudo? Ground-breaking, sire?" Duran asked.

"From what I can gleam from this…it seems to be a 7th generation frame or as near to it as I can tell."

"The HELL it is!?" Kallen yelped in surprised. "How that heck did they get their hands on a 7th gen frame when were still trying to get one to mass production?"

Lelouch shook his head, "Not yet in their hands but on the way it seems. Hmm, we may need to intercept this one before it reaches Toudo. The man has been infamous for the only Britannian defeat during the invasion, and I can only wonder how it will turn out if he gets on a machine that can possibly rival Lancelot."

The others watched as Lelouch got on his phone press the hotline to his gold knight, "Hello Leo? Yes, I need something verified urgently. Ask Lloyd or Cecile if they have heard the name of a Rakshata Chawla…no need, just text me when you get the reply…alright I'll be waiting then." He put the phone down and sighed, "I do wonder if that person was one of those who studied under Lenard."

Thoma looked confused "Why not call Lenard instead, sire?"

"The man is probably on his way back here with Gawain and the people Schneizel decided to drop on my lap. And you know how stringent communication is with top secret deliveries carried on special armored transports?"

Kallen grinned, "Yeah I get what you mean. You can't get a package tracking on it unlike DHL."

Lelouch chuckled at that. "Well to be fair at least, DHL doesn't do knightmare delivery."

"So what did his highness wanted?" Lloyd asked as he watched the eldest Raglan put his mobile phone away.

Lelouch's second knight answered, "He wanted to inquire if either you or Cecile knew a person named Rakshata Chmmghgh." Before he could finish uttering the name he found the scientist hands over his mouth. He noted the scientist had a very serious expression on his face.

"Speak not of the devil and they shall not appear. Keep that in mind." He sagely stated as he let go of Leo, though if you look closely you'll note a nervous tick of his eyebrows.

"Right…I'll take that as a yes then." He muttered as he wiped his mouth with his sleeve, who knows what Lloyd's hand has been too! "Though I think you're exaggerating things a bit Lloyd."

Lloyd looked like he wanted to argue but held his peace. If he talked about that person more, he was damn sure she'd pop-up behind him. "In any case, Vincent will be ready for the next phase of testing in half an hour. If all goes well, we can finalize everything by the time Labie arrives here tomorrow and we can finally work on Gawain."

Leo nodded but before either of the two could even move from their spot, Cecile came in pushing a tray cart laden with food. Both Leo and Lloyd visibly paled at the sight.

"Uh, did you cook Miss Cecile?" Leo asked politely. He had found out the hard way, much like his prince did, how dangerous her cooking could be. Lloyd was already listing possible excuses to politely refuse any offering that would come his way.

Cecile blushed as she shook her head, remembering how Lenard extended her kitchen-ban when she offered Leo a cookie. How was she supposed to know Leo didn't like vanilla? What she didn't know was Leo was too polite to say that it wasn't the vanilla that caused him to collapse on the floor. "No, I'm still banned from the kitchen. Rather it was Lady Rubech who made this. She asked me to bring it to you guys as she was serving Rex and the others the rest.

Lloyd relaxed visibly, but Leo didn't. He still remembered that box lunch Elaine made for him back in Area 18. Suffice to say, it caused a panic as he suddenly had spasms and was taken to the emergency ward. Lord Jeremiah thought someone managed to sneak poison in. He idly wondered if Elaine and Cecile were related somewhat. He then noted Lloyd happily grabbed a sandwich and as he was about to stop him, Beatrice barge into the room somewhat panicky.

"Sir Leo! It's Rex! And Mariel! They've collapse and were rushed into sickbay! We…." BLAG! She stopped as she noted the one Lloyd Asplund suddenly keeled over. She started to panic thinking there was an assassin inside Camelot. She stopped short of doing anything when she noted Sir Leo face palmed.

"Lady Beatrice…contact sickbay and tell them to prepare the 'Kid.'" The 'Kid' was the nickname the stomach pump got after someone said the patients looked like they were in the final stages of delivery. He got acquainted with it rather well after all.

"Sir Leo?" She asked confused.

"It slipped my mind a while back when I was put in sickbay but…Elaine's cooking is…." He glanced over at Cecile who had a looked of confusion on her face. Beatrice on the other hand quickly understood what the eldest Raglan was hinting at.

"Oh…I'll go inform them right away, sir." She immediately ran outside, jumping over the prone form of the pudding earl.

Leo sighed, "Um, Miss Cecile could you help me carry Lloyd?" He asked as he not so gently rolled the guy over as the man was moaning something like, 'Not another Cecile!'

"Of course, Sir Leo." Still confused though a bit worried as to why Lloyd suddenly collapsed. After all, she already tried Lady Rubech's cooking and it tasted alright with her.

May 31st, 2017 a.t.b.

Anna and Leila followed Lenard as he directs them pass the securities of Camelot. As they approached the final checkpoint, they noted two women were waiting for them.

"Welcome back, dad!" Mariel greeted as she went to hug her father. "You should have called me the moment you got back to the Area!"

Lenard had to suppress a sheepish laugh, "Sorry dear my bad. It's just that I was pre-occupied in getting the Gawain here securely as fast as possible. With all the stuff that's been happening you know." Releasing the hug he nodded towards Beatrice. "And a good day to you, Lady Beatrice."

"Likewise, Mr. Labie."

Lenard motioned for the two women behind him. "May I present Ms. Anna Clement. She'll be working together here with us on Camelot. Prince Schneizel had already given her the security clearance I believe?"

Beatrice nodded, "Yes. Prince Lelouch has already been informed of such."

"Good." Lenard nodded. "And the young woman besides her is…"

"Lady Leila Malkal." Beatrice stated with a smile. "It's been a while milady." She was her senior by one year at the academy after all, though she and Rex opted to bypass graduation, so she ended up leaving the academy earlier than Leila did.

Leila returned the smile, "Indeed Lady Beatrice. The last time I saw you were when you and Sir Rex managed to get drafted into Princess Cornelia's army…or so I heard. I'm surprise to see you are what? A test pilot at a research facility."

Beatrice shrugged as they walked after Lenard as he bade them to follow, "Truthfully Sir Rex and I wanted to be with the others but well that's how it goes."

"Ah so you two knew each other from the academy?" Mariel asked. Beatrice and Leila both nodded.

"It's hard not to notice Lady Leila as she was one of the better leader and pilot of her year."

Leila blushed at the compliment, "Well not as good as Prince Lelouch was." She admitted.

Beatrice had to laugh a little at that, "Well I doubt anyone was better than his highness when it came to tactics and strategy back then. Not to mention having the Crimson on his side as well."

Anna noted Leila lost just a bit of her smile when Beatrice mentioned Crimson. "Uh, who is this Crimson, if I may ask?"

Mariel answered for her, "Well that would be Lady Kallen Stadtfeld. From what I hear, she's considered one of the big three during their academy days. She got that name from her custom red Glasgow."

"Ah, I see. She must really be good then." She paused on her thoughts and idly noted to ask her friend later about that one privately. "Wait you said, one of the big three? There are others of her caliber?"

Lenard nodded, "Those two are here in Camelot as we speak." He gestured towards the hangar room and Anna, for the first time since they entered Camelot, looked at what was exactly in the highly secure facility.

She caught her breath as she marveled at the gold knightmare as it made a test activation of the Blaze Luminous. 'This is what Britannia has made?' She thought to herself, 'This is years ahead of what I had….' She noted another frame, this one white and seemed more complete, was also present in the hangar. 'Even if I stayed at the EU, these frames…if they go on mass production now…not even my Alexander would have matched it.' She frowned at that thought. Her dream was shattering in front of her. But caught herself as she then realized she could build a better Alexander than she originally planned. "Those knightmares look amazing!"

"Thank you! Thank you! I'm very happy that you would think so my dear." A voice with a nasal quality said from behind the group and everyone turned to the sight of a grinning Lloyd.

Lenard chuckled at the antics of his protégé. "Anna Clement, this is Earl Lloyd Asplund. He is the chief designer of those two frames you saw."

Anna made for a handshake which Lloyd gladly accepted. "And don't forget co-designer of Gawain. Nice to meet a fellow knightmare maker, Anna. I'm sure we'll be building great things together with Lenard and co. Though speaking of which, how is the Gawain?" He inquired very curiously. He had been eager to finalize the remaining items on it.

Lenard pointed to the black knighmare that was being wheeled by several transports. "See for yourself."

Again Anna was speechless at seeing for the first time the very frame she heard about on their flight here. It was bigger than any knightmare she has seen so far, be it of the EU or Britannia. Though she immediately noted something amiss but it was Leila who voiced it first.

"So that's the Gawain huh? But from what I can see…there's no land spinners…is that intentional or are they not yet installed?"

Lloyd grinned, "Who needs land spinners when it could fly?" He wasn't disappointed at the shocked looks the two women gave.

"FLY!?" Anna and Leila blurted out in surprised.

Mariel giggled, "Well that's what it is supposed to do anyway. The experimental Float system will be integrated in the next few days, but yeah it's supposed to fly not roll on the ground."

Anna was truly overwhelmed by all the advances she was seeing. Knightmares of better generation…knightmares that would make the current air power obsolete…she was very, very glad she decided to go with Leila. "I'm speechless to say the least."

"Well, we're just getting started." Lenard stated with pride. He looked over to his daughter, "Mariel could you give Anna some more orientation and tour of the facility? Lloyd and I will need to get started with Gawain knowing that Cecile will be too busy with the final adjustments to Vincent."

"Sure thing dad." She made a gesture, "If you would follow me, I'll show you to your workstation. And from there, we can introduce you to our resident royal knights and to the other researchers."

Anna followed eagerly, while Leila trailed a bit. She was slightly disappointed that she did not see Prince Lelouch but decided the day was just getting started and hopefully she'll be able to see him before the day's done.

"Is something wrong?" Beatrice asked.

Leila shook her head as she cleared her thoughts. "Oh, sorry I just spaced out." She and Beatrice then began walking to catch up to the two female researchers who by now were talking animatedly. "By the way, I didn't see his highness here?"

Beatrice nodded, "Ah, Prince Lelouch is currently with the viceroy and the knight of twelve, discussing the current military deployment. Though I'm certain he'll be back just to check up on Lenard and Gawain." She places a hand on her chin as she continued, "Well the others are here so you can probably get reacquainted with them…though Duran and Thoma are with his highness right now, as is Lady Kallen."

Leila nodded, "I've heard great things about both Sir Leo and Lady Kallen over the after action reports at Area 18. Was it true they have a bet on who downed more knightmares?"

"Yeah. They did." Beatrice confirmed.

"Who won? It was not stated in any of the files we had access to."

"Sir Leo did, by about two units." Kallen wasn't too happy about that result, but kept her part of the bargain and bought Leo some round of drinks. Lelouch on the other hand found it very amusing. The reason the winner was not stated in the reports was that a certain jealous noble didn't want any more positive attention being placed on his rival, and deliberately had those information deleted. Suffice to say, when Princess Cornelia found out someone tampered with her official report, let's just say Melchior lost considerable insider help…permanently. "I'm guessing that the info will be updated as soon the Chief General finds some time to finalize the redraft of her report."

Anna noticed a few knightmare frames being…well she was certain it wasn't being assembled more like dissected. "What's with those frames over there?"

Mariel turned to where she was looking, "Ah, those are the captured knightmares from local insurgents. We are currently doing a reverse engineering on them to analyze the extent of Eleven technology."

Leila was fairly surprised. She wasn't aware that the rebels in Area 11 had something like knightmare technology. "You're kidding right? How did the Elevens come up with that?"

"Due to the prevalent corruption of the previous administration." Beatrice replied. "Prince Clovis had been very busy reforming the government but so far, much is still to be done."

Mariel agreed, "So true. And it only began to move forward a bit when Prince Lelouch was finally made military commander of the Area."

The four women made their way pass the assembly area, with Anna asking Mariel this and that, terminologies that went one ear and out the other to the two soldiers. They then entered the receiving room and noted the people present.

"Lady Malkal! This is an unexpected surprise!" Elaine said as she recognized the blond girl.

Leila smiled at the slightly older girl, "It's good to see you doing well also, Lady Rubech." They exchanged friendly handshakes. "It seems you are part of Camelot as well?"

"Not on an official capacity."

"I see." She then nodded to the other two women who came forward as well. She recognizes them as part of Prince Lelouch's team but never got their names memorized.

Elaine noted her look and made for introductions, "I think you recognize this two from his highness' squad, this one is Dame Noah Archives and the one besides her is Dame Silvi Swifthart."

"It's a pleasure making your acquaintances, Dame Archives and Dame Swifthart."

The bluenette waved her hand "Just call me Noah, milady. I'm not much into formalities."

"I as well, milady. Just Silvi is fine."

"Is Lady Scarlet not around today?" Leila asked. Being a noble herself, she made it a point to memorize the names of important people back in the academy. Especially names that are connected to the imperial family. And seeing the heiress of the Scarlet family not present was quite odd.

"Ah, she's with Sir Jeremiah and the rest of the regiment on route." Beatrice supplied. "You may not have heard, but the departure of his highness regiment got delayed by local attacks and they had to arrive in separate convoys."

"I see." She indeed did not hear that report, perhaps for security reasons. "Anyways, may I introduce to you all, my childhood friend I met back when the EU and Britannia had better relations, Anna Clement."

The young scientist came forward and made acquaintances to everybody present. "Please to meet you all, hope we can work together well here in Camelot."

"I'm certain we will, Miss Anna." Elaine said with a welcoming smile.

"It seems Lenard is back." Lelouch stated as he and his entourage entered Camelot and spotting the massive frame that is the Gawain.

Kallen let out a whistle seeing the black knightmare. "Now that IS big. I wonder how they got that thing to fit into the transport?"

"Miracle of science." Lelouch said with a shrugged as he made his way towards the white coats of Lloyd and Lenard. "Lenard! I hurried when I heard you were back! And I see the Gawain is as impressive as you and Lloyd claimed it to be!" He said honestly, looking at towering black behemoth behind the two scientists.

Lloyd couldn't help but grin at that but decided to let his colleague talk to the prince as he was busy rectifying the problem with the Gawain's Hadron cannons.

Lenard on the other hand chuckled, "Well it's heartening to know you think so sire. Though the problem with the Hadron cannons has not yet been resolved…" "With me on the job it's only a matter of time!" Lloyd suddenly blurted out causing everyone to laugh. "Yes, well as I was saying, we still need to resolve the Hadron problem. It can fire, yes. But the output efficiency has a lot to be desired." Running his hands on his coat he continued, "And with regards to the Float…well it seems that the Toromo Agency had hit a quagmire with the prototype. They'll be sending us their data and see if we could figure out what was causing the problem to the secondary auxiliaries."

Lelouch nodded as he studied the specs laid out on the table. "Will it affect the schedule?"

"It could push the Gawain's test trials back, nothing we could do about that. And with that, the plan to test Float on current issue knightmares will also be pushed back, sad to say."

"Well it's not that we'll be facing aerial knightmares from our enemies soon so no need to worry about that one yet." He paused as he remembered something, "Speaking of which, where is Ms Clement? I thought she'd be here with you going over the schematics?"

"I've asked my daughter to give her a bit of tour of the facility. I was planning to have her on Mariel's team to study the Burai the Eleven's have built, since I need Lloyd here on the Gawain, and Cecile to finish Vincent."

Lelouch nodded, "It seems you guys will be very busy the next few days. Very well, I hope you two figure out the problem with the Hadron in the meantime, I think I'll go meet our newest addition."

With that Lelouch and his knights left, with Duran contacting Beatrice and informing them that they're currently in the receiving room with their guests.

"So, why are you disappointed?" Kallen suddenly asked.

"Ah, you could tell." Lelouch knew he couldn't fool Kallen with his fake enthusiasm. "To be truthful I was impressed with the Gawain that much is true, but it seems that Camelot is doing too many things at the same time with limited experts working on it." He explained as they exited the hangar. "Perhaps I'll get Lenard to trim down priorities to the Vincent first, then those Burais second."

"Not the Gawain, sire?" Duran asked, noting as the priority was laid down.

"From what I can see, it will be sometime before the Gawain would be operational, with both its main weapon offline and the Float inoperable. It's better to focus first on what can aid us sooner."

"And the Burai?" Kallen pointed. "What about it?"

"We need to know the limitations of that unit so when we do engage it in battle we will have better understanding of what it can and can't do."

"That makes sense." Kallen said as Thoma and Duran nodded in agreement. "Oh, by the way…is Sir Jeremiah still on schedule to arrive on the 4th?"

"I believe so yes. They'll be arriving around roughly 10 in the morning."

Kallen grinned, "That's good then, because I've already confirmed our bookings for that hotel resort I said a while back."

Lelouch chuckled, "I see you're very eager to go there. It's a good thing Jeremiah doesn't like going to resorts, otherwise I won't have anyone to delegate command to."

"Yeah, shame that Leo said he won't be coming." The said Gold Knight stated that with the Vincent near completion, he would be very busy in the coming days. And if Leo would not come, then Elaine by extension wouldn't be coming either.

"He's a workaholic…well not to the extent of Ladius but close enough. Speaking of which, Ladius said that he and Valeria would be joining us as well."

Thoma grinned on that, "Well we can all agree that big brother isn't the type to go swimming…we can say a certain red-haired lady convinced him otherwise?"

Lelouch and Kallen laughed with Thoma while Duran, in a rare display, did smile a bit at the thought.

"By the way, Lady Kallen, where are we going to again?" Thoma asked as he kept forgetting the place's name. Not his fault it was still using the native Eleven name.

"It's Kawaguchi. Lake Kawaguchi."

LS: I'll stop here for now. Feel free to think what I'm trying to imply. I'm still deciding whether to write that Nanoha fic I wanted with CG...though it needs more refining.