A few lasers weighed in on one of the Britannian ships, impacting the heavy hull with a small explosion that created a shock wave. After the first strike, two more lasers pounded the fleet until another set did the job easier. While the explosions were destructive visually, the ships who were shot by lasers kept going.

No weapon could ever stop a battleship dead on its motors, unless you had bigger guns. The Fleet was making the offence while The Rig made the defense. It was like one of your American football matches except people were dying. The sea could tell you this side was going with the Britannians.

Nonette made a pleasurable mental note to the fact that this Oil Platform was certainly no ordinary structure, this was a functional fortress built to withstand enemies. Whoever was commanding that base ought to have a medal for cleverness. Too bad they have to abandon ship once this Rig was going down.

"Speed up men! I wouldn't want to have some paperwork to fill out after the fleet dies you know!" Nonette cheered on, her eyes closed for a second. While this wasn't as fun like fighting knightmares on the battlefield or sparing with Cornelia, she might as well make this battle last before any crewman manning the cannons ruin the fun by firing at the sea fort early. Of course she was leading, no one was going to fire without permission.

"We're trying malady, but those strange defensive weapons are putting a strain on our fleet!" An officer shouted to the high soldier with all due respect. 'This was expected, there was always resistance when it came to foreign people' Nonette thought to herself. She admitted it, she was almost expecting air support. At least some ships attacking other than artillery from the other side. Where was the action? Are they seriously thinking a few weapons on a platform could do them good? That was disappointing to the Knight of Nine, she wanted to be challenged. Where was the fun in that?

She came all the way from the Homeland to see this Oil Platform unexpectedly appear across neutral territory. She heard the reporting news months after the Black Rebellion. Some structure actually put up a good fight against two Britannian ships coming board. Odysseus informed her later as a casual chat with the Imperial Prince. Quite possibly next in line to take the throne of the Emperor. Odysseus was a charming man same as one of his half-brothers like Schneizel. These resistant gentlemen weren't actually going all out were they?

"Start firing! I was hoping not to do this but… I guess it has to end this way." Nonette commanded. She wouldn't have wanted this as much as she liked fighting, neither would any warmongering fighter. The crewmen were glad to be of service now, they had the all clear to start making fireworks towards the Indian Ocean. Until one sudden move from afar made the ships eerie. The Oil Rig was starting to get covered in something. A mist of some sort, fog perhaps? Maybe even smoke. Wait, that was smoke, colored smoke in fact.

The smoke was consuming the giant structure out of no reason of what so ever. The smoke distracted the Britannian fleet from firing. Yet the Oil Rig's laser defenses kept launching barrages until the soldiers on that platform realized it was poor common sense to fire without clear view within the smoke. Eventually the fight came to a halt.

Each side went silent. The Knight of Nine was wondering if the real battle has actually started at all. Perhaps she will get the fight she wanted after all. A warrior's dream.

No one on the platform could obviously see from the thick smoke, which was clear enough. While not toxic it was rather annoying having to wait it out before it goes into the air. Luckily, there's wide space at least. The soldiers could hear a faded chopping noise coming like fans blowing through the smoke. The noise got louder and louder until it was noticeable reinforcements arrived. By the loud multiple sounds, you could say there were a lot of reinforcements.

Just then, out of the nasty smoke were hardened vertibirds, coming to the rescue as the Britannians didn't know what to expect. With a few surprising friends from the Black Knights, the vertibirds used cables to haul knightmares with them. The knightmares were dangling on, knightmares like the Guren in red was also there to settle the score.

Kallen was ready for another battle, as well as the Holy Swords…

It's been awhile since Kallen fought Britannians, at least she was able to keep up with her combat skills due to the extensive sparring she have had with Tohdoh before Zero came out of the blue.

Kallen changed due to the unfortunate events happening throughout Japan lately, fleeing her homeland, harsher laws against her people, and her mother in jail. That took her the hardest when she came to the realization she had always loved her. At least she didn't stop from giving up.

This was Kallen's last chance of redeeming herself, redeeming Japan. Everyone was in on it. This wasn't a goal, this was plain redemption.

And if anyone were to believe otherwise then they were a fool. A cold-harded fool...

"We're dropping the Black Knights towards the enemies!" One of the pilots spoke through the universal comm, which meant everyone was hearing it. Kallen focused on the major threat at hand once her vertibird carrier moved out of the smoke. Kallen was in her regular devicer suit, clenching her controls as she gave a defensive expression on her face.

She saw a dozen battleships at the front line, these weren't your average man boats sieging cargo. These battleships carried multiple anti-aircraft guns on the sides, you could say this was state of the art. Britannians have been working on their equipment during these years. The Lancelot, Avalon. That was just the tip of the technology scale, who knows what weapons they're hiding under their armories now.

"I'm rather skeptical of this now…" She said to herself, nearly choking during the process of getting plunged to the fleet.

"Are you sure flying into hostile area that could literally take down the vertibirds is a good idea?!" Chiba asked through the universal comm. At least Kallen wasn't the only one who was afraid of getting shot at by anti-aircraft. The idea was pretty good only on a text document, in actual practice this wasn't their brightest. Might be justified, Lelouch wasn't really going along within the operation, just spectating.

"Relax, we may not be knightmare pilots, but we're true aces when it comes to flying!" A pilot responded back. These pilots were trained for this, spending hours in a flying simulation could do wonders sometimes. Although, some recruits tend to blow things up just for the sake of fun. This didn't convince the Black Knights surprisingly. From the vertibirds fighting through the Bureau people would think that would convince them.

"Let's hope that's actually the case!" Asahina replied. The vertibirds were reaching their destination. With all the work Rakshata and Herman went through just so they could get some prototypes running, the scientists decided to go against the idea of knightmares going underwater. Everyone is going to have to take a risk, without no knightmares capable of pulling out once their business was done, the vertibirds will need to pick them up manually.

Amphibious Knightmares were great but limited. Unless they were going for torpedo weapons then that was fine, it was the real weapons that were the problem. Maybe that design could come through someday when the Enclave and Black Knight scientists got the time to do so.

All of this battle planning will be determined by sheer luck and timing.
"This is it everyone! Operation: Fading Mushroom has commenced!" Autumn declared. One of the first operations to occur in the year as the Black Knights regain their needed strength.

"Fading Mushroom? That sounds like we're going to nuke the place up or something." A pilot said inside his assigned vertibird, chatting with other operators inside.

"Maybe we will, I don't know maybe that's why we have mini-nukes." An operator said to his face with sarcasm.

"Come on, Fading Mushroom sounds like someone tried to crap but ending up farting. Hence Fading Mushroom."

"No one has a fart that's shaped like a nuclear mushroom cloud. That's only in the cartoons."

"Why make it like that then?"

"It's the same thing with the turtle without it's shell. It's a myth."

"Meh, oh well."

The vertibirds were risking destruction by the time the Britannian ships aimed carefully, those ships are packed full with firepower. Fortunately, these VTOLS are fast enough to launch the selected knightmares like catapult bombs.

Kallen and the Holy Swords got propelled like stone rocks out of a cannon, a sudden push made the knightmares a big blur that no Britannian saw coming. It was almost nauseating. The squad's expressions were the expected result of catapulting knightmares, except Tohdoh's face. Bad son of a gun. They took back everything good about this idea, it was like a roller coaster out of control. Almost makes you want to throw up.

Nonette couldn't believe her eyes for a straight second, right now she was staring at warriors who disappeared for a short time. Now she was one of the first to witness the Black Knights' great come back. This has definitely raised the bar for the Knight of Nine.

"The Black Knights!" A crewman screamed out, surprised to see the notorious terrorists that wreaked havoc in Area 11.

"Annihilate them!" The Knight of Nine commanded, pulling out a shifty smile on her face. Everything was happening at the same time. Britannian battleships waged war with the vertibirds, throwing tremendous amounts of power across the Marina Trench. Anti-aircraft guns at each ship fired continuously at an equal pace.

The Black Knights arrived before the Britannians noticed they were already on the fleet's rear ships. With their intense speed, the catapult launch was that fast.

A set of ballistics quickly punctured a vertibird's front hull after taking a massive amount of damage. Smoke aroused outta of the vertibird until it completely lit up like a match. Combusting comically. By the time it exploded the vertibird only had its remaining doors left. The crew on that VTOL never said their last words in that final moment.

The first casualties among the living…

"A vertibird is lost! Let's smoke em already!" A pilot declared over the comm. Autumn gestured his eyebrows and quickly turned to face Zero, sitting on his comfy chair. The mysterious man stood still, only pressing his side of the helmet with his left hand, as an act of expression. Lelouch wasn't concerned, at least not right now towards the vertibirds. It's the safety of his members that worried him the most.

'Just as I thought, even Enclave vertibirds aren't that strong.' Lelouch thought. It was a good thing he was prepared for the worse…

Over 20 vertibirds closed in on each other, forming a large arrow formation that began the smoking gun, dodging the fierce turrets on the naval ships. Things are going decent, as long as the pilots know what they're doing there should be no worry. The vertibirds performed a large carpet bomb towards the destroyers with their formation in tact.

"God! They're going to bomb us!" Lord Jasper yelled, widened at the real realization this whole operation was rigged from the start. The General should have taken the chance to blow that platform once he spotted it. How was he going to explain this to the Royal Family now? His life was quite literally on the line here, one of the royal members might court him for his failures.

Maybe the Knight the Nine could talk to them, another chance Jasper hoped.

"Don't give up on me yet Jasper. Those units landing on our side are suicidal. There's no way they'll survive..." Nonette said to the exaggerated Britannian. The Black Knights were getting cocky, knightmares in the middle of the ocean limits their usage in battle. Her fleet will shoot them all down by the time they could reach for the Rig.

Suddenly, luck struck down on her enemies. The vertibirds all launched dozens of small canisters, small enough to fit in a car's muffler. The canisters worked similar to bullets, except it explodes half way to create a massive amount of pink smoke. The Black Knights were using clever tricks over conventional force this time. Just as when the Britannians got a naval advantage, the same tactic that covered the Oil Rig was used a second time towards the naval destroyers.

They were pulling Gureilla Warfare into the oceans. No one has managed that.

"What?! They would do the same thing against our fleet! They've blinded us!" Lord Jasper exclaimed.
Nonette gritted her teeth to the max, Jasper's windows out there now weren't able to see anything due to the smoke clogging up. The Knight of Nine needed to take extensive action before the terrorists succeed. The interior shook by the impact of the knightmares landing, the crewmen turned to the noise. Nonette power walked to the end of the room, a door opened automatically for the knight. She wasn't going to stand there and let defeat stare at her all day, she was going to win.

"Where are you going?!" Jasper shouted towards the Knight, Nonette didn't look back, she answered with a bleak attitude.

"I'm going to have some fun. You take charge." Nonette said, a hidden grin ran across her face. Those who know of the Knight of Nine's cheery attitude and tendency to cause destruction while at her finest mood shows she isn't a threat to be reckoned with. Cornelia, a war princess in the Britannian family that earned the nickname "Witch of Britannia" learned that the hard way.

Jasper had no idea what to do in this situation. The Black Knights had taken away their element of shock and awe, no crewmen was manly enough to think up a solution, ironically the only man around was Nonette, and she was preparing a surprise.

"Christ, gentlemen launch the portmans from the hangar! We cannot let the Black Knights secure that Oil Rig!" Lord Jasper commanded the amphibious models to action. The General is hopeful the reliable Portman of the naval branch is able to ease the skirmish to Britannia.

Tohdoh's squad has destroyed at least 2 battleships so far, they were going on a kill streak that would mount up as far as it could hold up. Kallen stuck with the Holy Swords for now, they were unstoppable killing machines as a group. Tohdoh's gekka jumped from ship to ship, finding the best threat he could find as a challenge. So far, he was disappointed. Tohdoh's gekka raised his brake sword, the highest he could raise it to make his slash more effective against the bottom of a destroyer.

It may be enough to destroy that warship completely down to its inner structure.

The brake sword slashed across the hull continuously until Tohdoh felt that it was enough to do the job. One quick moment, the severe wound on the destroyer combusted spectacularly. Flames grew out of proportion, everyone could see it, and the poor bastards inside would see more as the flames consumed the destroyer. Then on, Tohdoh caught up with his fellow soldiers.

Tohdoh gave pity to the crewmen on that war vessel, it was personal he can admit but he's still human to give a grief towards many lives slain by his own sword. It was something he's used to as a soldier.

"Zero, we're attacking the Britannian fleet from the rear, now's the time!" Tohdoh said through the radio, as he hopped from ship to ship, handling the fleet with no problems up ahead. You could put the whole group against a thousand naval units and they would still keep going until their energy fillers were empty. Zero selected the right men and women for the right job, that's why he was smiling right now. He expected results. And he did…

"Good, the ferryboats will dock within the Oil Rig. We'll take everything that's useful." Zero remarked, having the all go to send the ferryboats. In fact by the time the vertibirds launched Tohdoh's group to the opposing side, they were half way there. Zero predicted this scenario will go well. Unless someone were to mess this up like old times.

"Vertibirds, assist Tohdoh's men by engaging the frontal invaders! The smoke is nearly gone now!" Autumn commanded. He was doing it, the chance of saving everything and everyone on the Control Station increased. The Colonel wanted to return the favor by sending in help to the Black Knights rather than doing nothing.

"Things aren't looking so grim after all…" Rakshata said with her reassuring attitude as she laid on her iconic couch. She was delighted on helping the Enclave secure their most important assets, probably because she could study the archives Autumn said a while back.

"Hell, we just might be able to get those needed technologies to improve the knightmares around." Herman said.

Over the last year, the blonde scientist worked with Enclave scientists, specifically a man named Herman. Both taught each other the fundamentals of their field of research. Herman told the Indian how the Enclave's advanced technology actually surpassed the field of medicine, genetics, machinery, and military science. Rakshata was intrigued, she had to experience the secrets behind them all.

Rakshata was always studying inside Raven Rock, experimenting with the typical robot models such as the Eyebot or her assistant Mr. Handy. She never heard of these kinds of robots. Except one in India who was basically an automated mininature knightmare, or the knightmares that acted like drones in Europe.

"Zero, we got a big problem!" Ohgi shouted near to the Masked Man. Lelouch might deal with one problem right now, as long it isn't one of 'Suzuku's big grand opening coming to ruin their plans once again.' Ohgi doesn't look as nearly concerned as Lelouch thought he would be.

"Yes, what is it Ohgi?" Lelouch asked, almost as if he was bored talking to people. The submarine in the bridge opened a screen slot in front of the Hierarchy. The sensors underwater saw multiple knightmares swimming towards the support beams in the Oil Rig. From what they've understood, these are portmans sent in to destroy the Control Station.

Lelouch narrowed his eyes, and frowned.
"Do you think we could intercept those portmans?" Zero asked to his operators like Minami for an answer. Surely the submarine can take care with the water knightmares in a little dog fight.

"I don't see why not." Minami answered, looking at the screen with a few portmans keeping pace in the ocean. Oh how it was great to have a submarine counterattack interior pieces of metal.

The destroyers at the front lines threw firepower at their fullest, not even the vertibirds were invisible to mere anti-aircraft guns. Which is why you should switch to the real firepower if your chopper's regular guns aren't effective enough. "Switch to the mini-nukes. But for fucking christ's sake, don't aim at the Black Knights!" Phil the pilot remarked at his squad mates.

The vertibirds' slowly opened the ejected nuke doors, revealing an automatic small nuke launcher from its front hull. "On the count of 1…2…3! Carpet Bomb!" Phil screamed out. The vertibirds in the same arrow formation sprang towards the destroyers throwing firepower at the same time. The VTOLs were getting closer until they unleashed the same tactic used in the Black Rebellion.

"Stick this into the King's ass for me." Phil declared. Reaching out for a latch, he lifted the latch up and spotted a button, pressing it with no hesitation as hard as he can.

The vertibirds fired their mini-nukes, not all at once to make a huge mushroom, but enough to cripple the Britannian fleet from causing great threat. And from the look at those mini-explosions, they aren't doing well. Tohdoh's group watched in the vertibirds launch the mini-nukes while fighting off the destroyers simultaneously. They were winning, and it goes to show you shouldn't mess with the Black-Enclave Alliance.

"Col. Tohdoh, I believe we're gaining the upper hand here!" Senba exclaimed to his superior. Senba has been on the battlefield as long as he could remember, meeting up with Tohdoh. Both of them got to know each other, building up their partnership until Chiba and Asahina came along. Now they were five forged companions that fought for the same purpose. They could bet they'll avenge one of their own if need arises.

"I make sure everyone gets the relaxation they need once this is over. You guys deserve it." Tohdoh stated to his soldiers. The Bushido warrior could already tell his comrades smiled at the enjoyment of R&R after this. Hopefully Autumn would understand too. Autumn has his moments too.

"It's an honor sir…" Senba replied back.

The eldest of the group smirked as he believed the battle was surely over. However, one swift move from an unknown presence blinded the old warrior. He was too drunk over victory that he couldn't see what was actually going on in his line of sight. The only thing Senba ever saw in his interface was a crimson edged blade mark his Gekka's head. Senba's interface suddenly went off, he was defenseless without his eyes, there was no hope fighting now.

One of them got him.

The other Black Knights saw the unknown presence, exposed, they even saw Senba's Gekka get incapitated by a crimson double-bladed sword. This certain knightmare revealed itself to have a bright purple detail encased around, following with a primary white. Its entire body was similar to the Lancelots' but purple. It even had a similar float system back on the Tokyo Settlement.

Kallen widened her eyes, she actually believed she was going for another round with the Lancelot. The familiar Lancelot stared down at the two skilled knightmare pilots hopping like bunnies, wanting to end its very existence. Could it actually be Suzuku Kururugi?

If he was here then they all know why...

"Senba!" Tohdoh shouted through the comm, things were going so well too. One of his oldest comrade went off the grid by the Lancelot.

Their teammate was in trouble, Kallen and Tohdoh hopped from ship to ship while Chiba, Asahina, and Urabe dealt with the incoming turrets. Five teammates together was great, but three teammates can struggle with overwhelming forces between the destroyer's defenses. The Holy Swords were wearing down quickly all of a sudden.

"Damnit! Is that the Lancelot?!" Kallen shouted as she followed pursuit with Tohdoh, gritting her teeth in hopes to help Senba from escaping. Ejected cockpit or no ejection, they wouldn't stand seeing a member defeated by the hands of a Britannian. Or someone in the same nationality like her if the similar Lancelot was to imply anything.

"It seems like it, but it's different…" Tohdoh replied back.

Seeing how it's useless fighting now, Senba immediately founded the ejection button, pressing it in a millisecond before the unknown Lancelot sliced his entire torso apart from its crimson double blade. Yet the wisest soldiers of the Holy Swords heard impacts, gunshots, and swift attacks. Something was happening in front of his Gekka-not-sliced-torso right now.

The Guren reached out its crimson dagger from the pouch, holding onto the purple Lancelot's handgun with her signature metal hand from firing. It was like a wrestling match that determined skill, the Guren fought the Lancelot many times before yet no one won in any of them. Kallen finally had the time to end Suzaku's life once and for all.

"So this is the Guren… I'm impressed, you've managed to handle the entire fleet by knightmare." Nonette politely said to Kallen, holding the Guren up in an equal match. Kallen was surprised to hear that sounded nothing like Suzaku, perhaps a more suitable person replaced him. Maybe he died on Kamine Island? It was ambiguous to say, she had no idea what happened between Lelouch and Suzaku.

All she could see was a confrontation between the two, moments later the cave collapsed by unknown reasons. She never saw what became of the two's fates until one showed up, and that was Lelouch.

Some of the Enclave members say the reason of the collapse was 'an act of the natural'. When the cave collapsed, she was carried away via medical bed by Eden's soldiers. Getting sent to Raven Rock, where it all started. The reconstruction of the Black Knights. Now this was her revival. An act of new loyalty towards Lelouch's comeback.

"Who are you and why do you have the Lancelot in your procession?!" Kallen shouted out to the fake Lancelot, trying to talk during a fight of live or death. Nonette could only smile at her question, she heard of the stories about the Guren. How the red baron matched up to armies, Cornelia's knights, even Cornelia herself. She was hoping to get the challenge she wanted.

Nonette noticed her mention of the original Lancelot. "The White Death", or "Snow White" she liked to call it.

"The Lancelot? Oh, Kururugi's knightmare. You're looking at the new pre-production Lancelot Club. A sister unit to the original Lancelot." Nonette stated to her knightmare. Behind Club's back was her doubled blade, she planned to slash the Guren straight in the center.

A dirty trick but whoever said a duel had to be honorable? Nonette had a sour personality, she held advantages over honor any day, it was just who she was out of all the other Britannians who placed pride and honor over results.

Kallen suddenly threw a strike first, nearly landing her heat-enhanced dagger at the Lancelot Club's upper chest until Nonette counteracted using her double blade. Two blades clashed into each other, both swords were equally matched. Whoever made a move didn't matter, someone had to get hit eventually.

Kallen gritted while Nonette smiled, two opposing fighters willing to take it all.

"Kozuki, you have my support!" Tohdoh roared throughout the battle, making a surprise entrance to the Lancelot Club as it dueled with the Guren. Tohdoh's Gekka raised its brake sword once again, this time using a built-in thruster system to enhance the impact his sword can make.

The blue flames scorched his brake sword, making it faster and deadlier to close combat as the Black Gekka attempted to slash the Lancelot Club. Pouncing at the purple knightmare with all his might.

Skilled Nonette was, she gestured her double blade to hit the Guren by making a turn towards Tohdoh, shooting at his Gekka in the process. Neither attacks were successful as Guren dodged her incoming tilt attack while Tohdoh managed to deflect the projectile towards the battleship all three of them were on. An explosion occurred outta of the punctured hull the deflected blast went into. Smoke arose, little though, so nothing to worry about.

The three Holy Sword members are getting overwhelmed, there are so many destroyers in their way, it's impossible to get out of this mess. It's as if you destroy one knightmare, another two will come after you. This was a familiar scenario.

"How much longer are we defending you guys til you're done packing?! There's too many, the vertibirds are almost gone!" Asahina reported through the universal radio as he jumped with his teammates from cruiser guns. The three went to their best efforts to keep the destroyers at bay, yet still had more to demolish. If Tohdoh and Kallen weren't coming back, they could be in deep trouble.

"Hang in there, we're doing the best as we can!" Ohgi responded.

"So are we!" Asahina replied back, with more negativity this time, Ohgi doesn't blame them.

Max Payne pushed a poor bastard citizen out-of-the-way, he was nearly there. As much as he felt sorry for the guy, there were lives at risk. The word for evacuation came throughout the Base, word-to-word. The word of Autumn spread around saying

"Anyone who was a Commanding Officer of the Enclave Military, report to the Black Knight submarine docked in the Oil Rig. The rest of the men and women should be placed in ferryboats." The aged Colonel announced. Taking authority over the Oil Rig.

At least panic was to a minimum. From the look of things, they were going okay. Okay, as in no one in the Rig is dying yet Max thought.

From what Max saw and heard from his own eyes and ears, there was a war going on. He needed to keep this place safe from foreign forces attacking. He found out there were water cracks from the interior hull of the Rig, which was bad news for everyone really. Max ran to a room full of electrical equipment the scientists keep up and running, he saw two specific men with lab coats packing all of their funky freaky objects at hand. Probably men assigned to this room.

One of them looked up to Max as if he was feral, the guy was sweating like crazy, heart beating like a race car. Poor guy was shaking in his lab coat trying to get out of the room. Max wouldn't blame him, hell he wouldn't blame anyone for all this shit happening. His crappy day was only about to get worse.

"What are you doing here!?" The scientist yelled towards Max. Unfazed by the question Payne just stared, then realized what he needed to do.

"I need to reactivate the primary defensive weaponry system right now or els-
The scientist walked up to the soldier like a mad man, eyes rolled up like crazy by the time Payne replied.

"Are you deaf?! They told everyone to evacuate! This is a serious matter that could get us all killed!" The crazed scientist said back, Payne felt sorry for the guy. The scientist was probably looking out for his family just like the rest in this bunker, he wanted to avoid death whenever he could.

"Look, all I need is the directions to find the primary systems, the quicker you tell me the sooner you can leave!" Payne said. The scientist looked down upon his feet, not showing eye-contact not a second less as he immediately pointed the back of the equipment room. Max watched his finger point to the back of the room, revealing a man-sized hatch on the bottom of the floor, it must be underneath.

Once Max knew where the systems are, he nodded for both scientists to leave. Max made one final turn to see the men leave out the room, he headed for the systems, a major priority.

Max Payne kneeled in front of the hatch, observing it for a quick glance. With nothing to lose at this point, the soldier reached for the valve in the center, pressing his armored hands against it. He turned the valve to the left side, putting some effort as the hatch begins to unseal.

Once he was done, he lifted the hatch carefully. Max's heart was pumped up, the adrenaline filling up in his entire body. The fact the Rig was a live bomb from those water cracks in the hull didn't make things much better. A single hard shelled impact can implode everything in here.

Once he entered underneath the room, there was no going back to the lives people had back when things were civil. Max climbed down from the built-in ladder. Max founded the room, notably the reaction room, the hardened soldier found so many tubes and buttons you could probably fill them inside the house walls.

With no time left to spare, he ran towards the small corridor, looking for the primary defenses endlessly. It was a maze down here, an engineer's sole pathetic dream. In a weird way Max did find the system at the end of the corridor, covered in buttons and flip off switches.

He probably should have told the scientists which is which but he didn't care, as long as he doesn't accidently blow the whole place up he'll be fine. Eventually Max found the Poseidon weapons system deactivated. A note above showed the instructions how to get the guns up and running again.
Max narrowed his brows, following the notes to turn this damn thing on.

It was like a game of checkers or playing the piano again but this time he can't figure out the controls. They all look familiar.

"Left, left, push, flip, press."

And the Poseidon weapons were online. Max could hear the engine rumble to the point you need headsets to cover your ears. But at least he was relieved to find out they were working. In fact, who was the dumbass that disabled the systems in the first place? It didn't matter now. Max Payne saw a small screen up above the reactor room, it showed some rough action right now.

The screen was in the eyes of one Poseidon gun, along with the gun showed an enormous fleet that seemed to be crippled at the moment. Max could almost see the action out there. Chaos erupted between battleships, you never see that everyday.

With his job done, he needed to evacuate to the submarine. The worse thing that could come out of staying here is going out with a bang…

The Poseidon weapons on the huge platform rattled like chains, causing some awe-inspiring attention from frenzied workers going to the docks. In any moment, those weapons will slowly aim at the Britannian fleet, oblivious to Tohdoh and Kallen's fight with the Knight of Nine.

The Burais near the docks held room-sized machinery with their hands, the pilots were being extremely careful not to wreck them up. Members who didn't pilot knightmares were escorting groups of innocent people onto the ferryboats, gesturing their hands as a way of fast communication.

"Tamaki, do you have any idea where that noise is coming from?!" Sugiyama shouted at the top of his lungs as the chatter among the Enclave citizens made it difficult for them to hear. It was nerve wrecking for the Special Forces leader to have to yell across the crowd of people for Tamaki's attention. The irritating noise on top of the platform made things worse by the minute.

"How the heck should I know?!" Tamaki yelled out. The idiot had no idea what he was doing, everything was happening at the same time. Had he suffered more, Tamaki would want to tear his own hair out. How much longer will this nightmare end?

General Jasper might see the light of day after all. With the Knight of Nine fighting the Black Knights, his chances of surviving this onslaught were increasing. While his fleet suffered the amount of casualties he didn't expect to see in his entire career of being a military noble, he was glad it was better someone else than him. Right now, the Black Knights are at no position to fight their somewhat acceptable fleet(You could say half of it was destroyed awhile ago.)

The Enclave's air support has nearly exhausted their amount of vertbirds needed to assist Tohdoh's group, the vertibirds were in no shape to fight anytime soon. Most of them weren't destroyed or anything like that, it was just a matter of massive damage taken. The poor models probably suffered enough for today. The vertibird fleet did get a decent battleship kill count though.

The Holy Swords on the other hand, fought continuously to their heart's content. The members' energy fillers were almost empty, sooner or later they'd have to eject like Senba did. If that were to happen Kallen and Tohdoh were going to have to deal with the fleet on their own. And they were already dealing with a hefty problem as it is.

Nonette activated the Lancelot Club's classy float system, exploiting an ability the Black Knightmares didn't have at this situation. The Knight of Nine wanted to finish this quick and easy, she realized what the Guren was capable of. The Lancelot Club flew away from Tohdoh and Kallen, having the half remaining fleet take care of them while she threw a few handgun shots for herself.

"Shit!" Kallen yelled out, dodging the firepower talent gave her to survive this entire time. It was the same thing with Tohdoh, only he was dealing with more enemies. It was clear, they were dealing with a very experienced opponent that served herself as bait just so she can expose a weak point in both.

Dealing with the Knight of Nine was smart but risky, Tohdoh and Kallen would leave themselves open at that big of an altitude. A choice needed to be decided.

"You both must be tired right now, dealing with all these destroyers ruining your victory… sometimes you can't always rely your skills over technology." Nonette taunted at the two knightmares, while floating above them like inferior models of an old age. The knight had the upper hand, there was no doubt about that.

The skilled Black Knights needed to find an opening in this environment, the reason why things are going so badly was the fact their models were beginning to show their age. This type of area was limited to a knightmare, and they were surrounded.

A naval military wasn't much of an option seeing how the Black Knights barely had one, and even air support were going dated. They couldn't win without sacrificing a dozen assets. A stroke of luck would be nice.

"Gentlemen, it looks like we've turned the tide over this battle! Maneuver the Britannian carrier to the Knight of Nine. I'm sure she needs all the help she could get." Lord Jasper demanded, all the General wanted to do was to get this battle done with.

His desk jockeys at the Homeland had enough paperwork to fill out for the number of deaths he's seen today. Poor soldiers were lost that day, but at least he was glad it wasn't him dying.

"Yes, my lord." A crewman said. The crew were about to celebrate the Black Knight's defeat in this skirmish, only they didn't notice defensive weaponry from the Oil Rig slowly aimed at the Britannian fleet. Things were about to get ugly, in fact, it was best for all of them to be unaware of their holy deaths waiting to happen.

The Poseidon guns around the colossal-sized platform founded their target, a fleet that threw firepower across the Marina Trench. The Poseidon weapons needed to charge up, thankfully all it took was 10 seconds and not one long minute.

The procedure of the charge takes the long barrel of the weapon to fill up with pure light, encasing with electrical currents that could scorch a man's hand so badly it would spread to his body until he turns to ash. Dealing with the particles inside a Poseidon gun is extremely dangerous that required heavy precaution. The fact those weapons demanded so much energy was a reason why engineers needed to turn it off once they were done with any enemy naval.

Now it was being put to good use, once the Poseidon guns were charged up, they didn't hesitate to fire at the frontal fleet. The Poseidon gun near the half fleet was one of the first to fire, a known target among them happened to be General Jasper…

Jasper, oblivious to the oncoming gun nearly finished drinking up his cup of tea. The lord gulped down the tasty beverage until all the people surrounding including him were encased in bright light. Unaware he had died a soldier's death.

It was an extraordinary sight to see, the giant electrical laser current blasted the Britannian carrier in under a millisecond, in perspective a blink of an eye and you would be seeing a carrier get consumed in a ginormous explosion. Everyone and I mean everyone saw the certain event unfold in their very own eyes. The tide of battle has changed indeed.

"Autumn, what's going on with the Oil Rig?" Zero asked to the Colonel near him in the submarine, they couldn't tell what caused the great blast until they were informed that the enlarged laser came from the Oil Rig's defensives giving an unexpected advantage over the seas.

Lelouch felt a sign of relief, the Britannian fleet were being thrashed immensely one by one as the laser defensives from the Oil Rig charged up and shot another round as the battle kept going.
Everyone could see it, it was nothing new. The Britannian fleet was crippled enough as it was but the Poseidon cannons fractured the ships even further to the point this would hurt the military budget.

Their shocking effective power was too much for the ships to resist damage, there was no way of blocking that kind. With General Jasper dead and the Knight of Nine still fighting with Kallen and Tohdoh of hopes of destroying that Oil Rig were tattered to shreds. It was hopeless.

"I'm truly amazed Autumn. You managed to turn your own home into a deadly fortress." Lelouch said to the aged Colonel, surprised to be the one responsible for activating the Posiden guns despite the fact he didn't authorize any defensives to be activated.

He actually needed to go in the Control Station to have that jurisdiction for Congress to approve that but he was too late to do that. Whoever turned on the Poseidon guns might have saved Tohdoh's group from losing members.

"That wasn't prepared by me though…" Autumn said as he felt amazed from the hellhole the Britannian crewmen must be going through right now. It was that one time the Enclave Colonel actually felt sorry for those poor Britannians.

Rakshata was shocked as she stood near the leaders in charge, her fascination of the Enclave's technology just by the sight of the Poseidon gun firing made her want to desert the Black Knight comically. She needed those weapons at her lab room right now. Imagine putting those guns onto a knightmare. That's too overkill.

Nonette lost her stride as she noticed the close explosions coming from the destroyers, including Jasper's carrier. The Knight of Nine was surprised, widening her eyes as a result of an attack from the Black Knights. She noticed they weren't even taking this battle seriously, they took the kid gloves off by unleashing a powerful weapon from the platform. There was no way these Knights had the arsenal to pull those out, someone was supporting them.

Someone else was planning an attack with the Black Knights and it could be the faction back at Area 11 and European's areas.

As a result of getting distracted, the red Guren popped out of nowhere using a slash harken to launch herself up to get a closer range at the Lancelot Club. Tohdoh followed pursuit as he tried to land a slash on the Lancelot Club before Nonette blocked it using her double blade. With her fleet deceasing in minutes she had no sort of help except scared destroyers firing everywhere or ones deciding to retreat without authority.

"You were planning this all along? I'm impressed. Very impressed." Nonette said to the knightmares fighting her. She expected a great fight and she got one right at the start when she didn't even know it. Just when Kallen was at a feet's length from the Lancelot Club, she grabbed the floating knightmare off the air, raising the bar for her knightmare finishing move that all Britannians fear. The Radiation Wave Surger.

Kallen's been wanting to use her rad weapon on the Lancelot Club, but she never had the chance to get close until now. It was payback, the red baron's face said it all. Kallen was pumped up for the moment she will end this fight.

She lifted up her wave surger control, pressing as hard as she could to increase the rad with her right thumb. The Guren initiated a large crimson reaction around her silver right arm as she held on to the Lancelot Club's hand. Nonette's cockpit shook to all turns, watching her knightmare interface blinking red on her left arm as the wave surger was scorching through the flashy metal.

The metal on the Lancelot's arm distorted in ways the laws of physics could not comprehend, burning the arm with intense radiation coming from Kallen's Guren.

"You've caught me." Nonette stated clearly, she was not amused when the Guren's special move pulled her down in the fiery fire of explosions. She disengaged her left arm before it distorted to the point it began to boil, explosions right in front of their faces as the upcoming smoke consumed the knightmares.

Tohdoh and Kallen got their suggestive victory back into motion, it was only a matter of time once the Holy Swords can assist them into battle so they can finish off the Knight of Nine. She was at her end game, and she knew this very well.

"Colonel Tohdoh, we're closing in on your location hang tight!" Asahina warned the two as he and Chiba hopped from the decaying war vessels getting destroyed by the Poseidon guns. Smoke consumed everything, covering the skies of thick blue with mucky darkness as the battle continued. Nonette tried her very best defending her personal space dealing with the black Gekka and Guren, covered in deep scratches and small dents.

The Knight of Nine had to keep going, she had one card up her sleeve as her knightmare suffered severe wounds and an arm lost in the process. She was officially handicapped. The duel went from a mighty fleet to a reducing husk of it once was, smoke dominated the field, and flames emerged in every angle the pilots could imagine in a hellhole.

The Guren latched onto the Lancelot Club as it performed a double jump across the scorched ship all of them were on. Significant to say the Club stood up to the flying red knightmare, wielding its double blade as a last defensive position.

Both went on the offensive, launching direct attacks from both sides. Someone was going home to send a message to their respective faction either way. Nonette charged towards Kallen, a last resort.

Her double blade pointed towards the red knightmare to signal the fact Nonette was getting ready to penetrate the Guren's hull. Kallen readied her Rad Surger arm as this was the final strike. What Nonette didn't realize was the fact no one should ever play fair in a battle, that applies to the Black Knights.

Tohdoh swiped the Lancelot Club's remaining arm out of nowhere with his unique sword, both female pilots widened their eyes for the sudden event unfold. The purple knightmare's arm was thrown across the ship, latching off from the main torso as it flew into the ocean. Never to be discovered again. Kallen was surprised yet glad a superior teammate came to assist her in battle.

Ever since she started out as a rebel to Area 11 she always looked up to the Japan Liberation Front for their great deeds trying to restore Japan's freedom, Kyoshiro Tohdoh was one of the people Kallen had heard who managed to win a battle against their foes without a single knightmare in his asset during the war on Japan. It was great to have the Modern Samurai join in on Zero's Rebellion.

Nonette lost. She was outgunned by the vicious knightmares on board her fleet. She didn't play fair so why should the Black Knights have to? The Knight of Nine let that thought sink in as time passed slowly. Tohdoh needed a swift move to finally put an end to the elite member. A single stab through the hull would be appropriate.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure your death will be quick and painless." Tohdoh muttered throughout his cockpit. Remembering his Bushido code as an act of morality. Then he looked up, turning to his side as a mystical object from a very far distance, barely visible. It was coming to the Oil Rig for an unknown detailed reason.

Kallen wanted to finish the job herself until this flying aircraft showed up. The Guren and the Gekka stood silent seconds away from destroying the Knight of Nine's knightmare, it was very convenient for the unknown aircraft to drop in at the worst time both black knights could imagine.

"What the hell is that?!" Kallen asked in confusion, barely the Lancelot Club activated its ejection cockpit at the worst time ever. Both of them saw the cockpit in the purple knightmare shaking, immediately move to the safest place across the sea, not before saying a little speech first.

"I knew there would be trouble in the Indian Ocean so I'd thought I'll send in a little help. It's been a pleasure fighting Black Knights, but I'm afraid you've put me out of the battle. Farewell." Nonette said, giving a final smirk towards the alliance. She had to admit it was a pretty good fight for foreign people especially for a rebel group. The Knight of Nine hoped to fight them again some other time. She watched the remaining knightmares one last time as the interface from the cockpit deactivated.

With the battle lost to the Britannian Fleet there was simply no reason for the Knight of Nine to stick around a bit longer. She has a lot to answer for in the Homeland for Lord Jasper's incompetence.

Of course that was just the tip of the news, she had to send message to his majesty's presence. The Black Knights are back, and their forces are growing every day.

It was amazing for the Knight of Nine to observe how well the Elevens had progressed in their line of rebellion. They fulfilled a military no other rebel did in their spare time and now they've managed to take out one of her own fleets. All she could say was that the Black Knights will be a worthy adversary to take on. The Knight of the Round are going to be thrilled when they hear Nonette of this…

"What on Washington's soil is that?" Autumn asked with confusion looking towards the distant airship flowing immensely. Standing nearby Zero as both noticed the large ship at the sunken fleet. Lelouch narrowed his eyebrows, as did Autumn. Someone sent backup to clear the hazard waste of the Oil Rig in case things got bad. Looks like they were right.

"It's the standard Britannian battleship, only it's rather improved. It's actually somewhat different from what I remember." Rakshata answered back, standing behind both of them literally. Two leaders turned back to see the Indian scientist, astounded to find out she knew the secrets behind that airship coming to ruin the day like a machine in shining armor, only that It wasn't Suzuku.

Rakshata put her pipe where her mouth was, looking to the other side if her statement was right. Normally Britannian aircraft wouldn't look that fancy. Of course, it came straight to her after some final thoughts.

"The Logres Floating Battleship. That was what it is, but I wonder why is it doing way out here?" Rakshata asked herself. The scientist had a lot of knowledge with that type of aircraft flowing in attitude. It was strange, who had the authority and right mind to call in air support at the last minute? Surely it wasn't some tough hot shot but a genre savvy person who had the outright nerve to get prepared for the worst.

The scientist watched the two leaders that had confused expressions on their faces, even with a helmet Lelouch shared the same one. Rakshata sighed as she watched the Logres Battleship afloat through the submarine interface. She actually expected more to come for the afternoon party, starring all your guests, the Enclave.

"Standard heavy aircraft, I looked it up on the internet before. It doesn't take an engineer to figure that out you know." Rakshata stated towards the both of them. She was beginning to wonder if she's the only one that's able to look stuff up. Autumn sighed himself to death, he pulled up his personal handheld radio, switching it on with a flick holding it up to his mouth.

"Kaname Ohgi, how's the rescue coming? Is it done?" Autumn asked quickly, for the upcoming ceremony that was the battleship coming in their way. Rakshata and Zero watched him with the radio, hoping Ohgi could give a reasonable response. 'It's been an hour already, surely they would have packed everyone by now.' The aged Colonel thought to himself.

"Yeah, everyone's set! The archives and all that other stuff are in too!" Ohgi yelled through the radio. Hearing that sound of refreshing good news made the aged Colonel a light deep down inside him lid up. Autumn even had the nerve to bring out a little smile to his face. The secrets and history behind the glory of the United States were preserved in machines that were responsible for shaping the Enclave's pre-war culture. Who knows what could have happened if those were destroyed.

Your basic education textbook but in a machine. Autumn coughed for one moment, placing his radio near his mouth for the second time.

"Well done. Get to the submarine, we are pulling out!" Autumn answered back through the radio, worrying about the Logres ship coming quick. The Colonel quickly turned to Zero for a 'small' returning favor.

"If you want some transport for your knightmares at the other side then give me the all go." Autumn explained to Zero's smug expression. Lelouch nodded. He had no reason to be here at this very second, all he wanted were his members to be safe. With the Enclave's air support this shouldn't be a hassle to work with saving the others.

The large aircraft carrier with the ferryboats including the Black Knight submarine stood still, vertibirds and unique aircrafts were dispatched there for repairs or just standing by for further orders.

One specific VTOL was different compared to the other vertibirds, huge to begin with, no weapon defenses except a small laser gun at the front, and a large cargo hull behind. It was your unique armored vehicle carrier capable of carrying knightmares too. The engineers made this design copter up a month after the Black Rebellion ended.

They needed to figure out what better way to make their multi-purpose vertibird into a knightmare carrier, and thus was the creation of K.A.C. Knightmare Aerial Carrier if you wanted to get technical. Its length was 12 meters of hard inch steel, including a width of 10 meters, and a height of 7 meters. Capable of holding up to 10 knightmares.

The KAC was still in its beta processing phase, better than alpha at least. Oh boy the alpha phase, so many volunteers, so many deaths. The knightmare carrier got the signal to move out, the pilots were in a hurry to get the Black Knights out of the battlefield.

KAC activated its multiple thrusters on each side of the hull, taking moments of the day to fly. The thruster's exhausted furious blue flames, pulling its immense weight across the aircraft carrier for a little rescue mission.

"KAC-1 is off. Flying towards the Black Knights' destination." A co-pilot said through the universal comm. The carrier was flying at a reasonable pace, picking up speed as the thrusters boosted off the charts. The hunk of metal was a slow moving machine but who said that it were to be an offensive aircraft? The support unit gave help to the stranded Holy Swords, including Kallen.

Kallen and Tohdoh met up with the others as they all saw the Logres floating ashore with all its menacing glory. Still far away as it gets to the Black Knight's location. Everyone got the chills just by looking at the sheer size of that airship. They've seen some contenders such as the Avalon back on the Black Rebellion but not this one, this was different. The Avalon was a push over compared to this thing.

They couldn't believe Britannia has the funds to build this aircraft.

"Tohdoh what are we going to do? That battleship is coming towards us and I don't know if Ohgi and the rest are even finished with the packing." Kallen said towards the superior ranked member. Kallen was getting worried, she didn't sign up for no air battles in the middle of the ocean. The Red Baroness already pictured her death down at the ocean floor as she gets crushed inside by the Logres. She didn't know how but that only increased her skeptical outlook on the operation.

Tohdoh was silent, awaiting for another minute as air support arrives. As a warrior of the Japanese, sometimes people are too alarmed and they start to doubt themselves. Tohdoh wanted to inspire Kozuki that she needs to be calm and ready for the worst scenario. Even if it looks impossible. She's a great soldier he could give her that, but she lacks the discipline of one.

"Calm yourself Kallen, I'm sure they're done by now. There's nothing we could do but wait for evac." Tohdoh assured. Even if things were grim Tohdoh was always determined to do what's necessary. He might as well fight to the very end until he has his final breath. Something he learned from the Japanese Army before the Britannians invaded.

Just as his instincts told him from afar, the KAC has arrived just in time for an afternoon pick up at the Britannian fleet bus stop. Pay for entry was on the house. The squad watched the carrier fly across the crumbled destroyers sinking. The squad wasn't a stranded group, they were a sinking group.

The destroyer they were on was beginning to sink, and it shows by the ship's exterior going down each single time. The water didn't like the Black Knights' progress very much so with one last move he gave a natural state in physics to sink them down.

"We really need to get off this destroyer…" Chiba muttered to herself in the cockpit.