Code Sekirei: L.L. of the Plan (Code Geass x Sekirei Crossover)

Turn Five: The Knight of Orange

Ascension Throne Britannia (a.t.b.) 2018

California, Holy Britannian Empire :

Jeremiah Gottwald, former Margrave of the Holy Britannian Empire, was once a man of distinction. Well-respected not only for his skill as a Knightmare pilot and civil administrator, but for his fearlessness in battle and loyalty to the empire and its noble cause; there had even once been rumors of his coming ascension to the Knights of the Round, a position of honor appointed only by the Emperor of Britannia himself. In short, the name Jeremiah Gottwald had once been associated with such words as valorous, honorable and, above all, loyalty.

How, then, had it come to this?

"Jeremiah Gottwald, you stand charged of treason against not only Britannia, but the Royal Family!" Prince Schneizel el Britannia, acting in his office as Prime Minister, began without tone or inflection. The assembly of young lords and ladies arrayed around the room murmured their assent and approval. "Firstly, you stand charged of conspiring with the usurper, the exiled Prince Lelouch vi Britannia, to assassinate His Majesty, the 98th Emperor, and over-throw the lawful government of our beloved homeland!"

Even amidst the sudden jeers of the assembly, Jeremiah Gottwald remained resolute; his face passive and calm. He stood tall and proud at the center of the room, even as his arms and legs were bound in a straight-jacket; his only piece of ornamentation being his feather-shaped, orange eye cover. "Secondly," the Prime Minister continued. "You stand charged of supporting the Usurper by personally suppressing loyalist to the true Crown, most notably Earl Rosenkreuz."

The Earl Rosenkreuz had been Viceroy of Area 2, now the United States of Canada, and was amongst the largest of the early uprisings against Emperor Lelouch. Jeremiah Gottwald, as a General of Lelouch's Britannia, had seen to it personally that uprising was quashed; that and many others like it. The current Earl Rosenkreuz, a young man of barely sixteen, sneered down at his father's killer; like many in the assembly, he was a young man forced to assume his dead father's title. Jeremiah Gottwald was motionless; his single orange colored eye meeting his accuser.

"Thirdly," said Prince Schneizel, his sonorous voice rising over the chatter of the assembly. "You stand charged of supporting the Usurper in his indiscriminate war-mongering that threatened the very peace of this world! Among such offenses: you, personally, led the forces that invaded Japan and attacked the United Federation of Nation's ruling council."

The assembly murmured their disapproval, but they were clearly not as enraged by this as they had been the former. For the wider world as a whole, however, this was his most serious crime and there were many within the UFN that demanded Jeremiah Gottwald, as the only survivor of Emperor Lelouch's regime, be handed over for an international tribunal.

"Fourthly, you stand charged of supporting the Usurper in his reign of terror across the globe!" Behind the Prime Minster, and illuminating the dimly lit assembly hall around them, a massive screen flickered into life revealing a map of the world. "The Usurper, in an attempt to justify his war of hatred against the world, willfully destroyed his own Capitol of Pendragon, killing millions." A black mark appeared over Arizona. "Then, after establishing a world dictatorship, in an attempt to suppress riots against his corrupt authorty, the Usurper than destroyed the city of St. Petersburg – then a territory of the his empire and killing millions of his own people." A black mark appeared over Russia.

"Then, to enforce his tyranny and suppress riots within UFN territories, he destroyed the Chinese Vermillion Forbidden City, killing millions." A black mark appeared over China. Prince Schneizel released a mournful sigh before continuing, "Finally, to crush the last bastion of hope against his tyranny, the Usurper destroyed the capitol of Europe, Paris... killing even more millions. All these deaths, totaling well over forty million, and using the most dreadfully conceived weapon in human history – the FLEIJA war-head."