Chapter 1: The Order of Downing Street

"This morning, the commanders of the 1st Independent Fleet of the British Region and the 8th Fleet of the Alliance North Atlantic were officially handed over, and the two sides exchanged each other's communication codes in accordance with the Global Strategic Defense Agreement, and the British Regional Independent Fleet officially joined the Allied Navy sequence and accepted the command of the Allied Navy, and the spokesman of the Allied military said that 'this means that mankind has one more partner on the road of order and civilization', and Downing Street also believes that 'the peace, security, freedom and development of mankind require the joint efforts of every country' ……”

-- The Alliance Times

***

London, October 5, 2180.

Nearly half a year has passed since the second anniversary of the "Pittsburgh" incident, the British Isles in the North Sea have entered late autumn, the streets have changed into thick coats, and the frequent precipitation that lasts for almost half a month has made this island nation in the north of Europe look unexpectedly depressed.

A poster was dropped on the ground and lying in the shallow stagnant water on the side of the street, the blue badge of the Global Strategic Defense Alliance on it looking unusually cold under the gray sky.

A month ago, on September 9, the new president of the League, Deborah. Francis signed the Global Strategic Defence Agreement with Britain at Big Ben in London, and Britain became the 55th independent country to join the alliance. Philips became the local administrator, and Britain took the initiative to transfer national sovereignty and diplomatic power, but as a country that has just joined the alliance, it will have the right to retain military power for 3 years, and the British three armed forces are still responsible to the local administrator and the royal family, Charles IV, in addition to the obligation to cooperate with the alliance's military operations.

Many countries with strong militaries, such as Russia or the United States, can retain local military autonomy. There is no military reorganization, and there is no need for military reorganization, after joining the alliance, but countries such as Ukraine and Canada must accept the leadership of local military autonomous states, and on the continent, France and Germany have joined forces to form the European Central Command to solve this problem.

But Britain is still the exception, and the once empire on which the sun never sets can't even get a decent aircraft carrier formation in the early 21st century. Even the annual royal parade was changed from the North Sea to the Thames, from battleships to rubber boats, and was once jokingly called the "Great Thames Fleet".

However, Britain, which owns the North Sea oil fields, was much less affected by the energy crisis, and more importantly, after the establishment of the Privy Cavalry, Iceland has always regarded Britain as the first line of defense against the attack of the European continent. By 2178, 15 years after the alliance between Iceland and the United Kingdom, Britain had regained three aircraft carrier battle groups, the fourth, the newest one, not inferior to the alliance's newest Kilimanjaro-class. The Ford's redesigned aircraft carrier "Counterattack", which comprehensively surpassed the Alliance's large-scale equipment, was also launched in March 2180 and is expected to be combat effective by the end of the year.

In order to avoid such a large-scale "dumpling" causing a backlash from the alliance. In 2165, the sleek British signed a "Memorandum of Understanding on the Military Presence of the Atlantic" with the Alliance, which simply means that the Royal Navy had in fact begun to cooperate with the Alliance on sovereign equality more than a decade ago, and fought together against the infiltration and attack of the ACA in the North Atlantic.

In this way, Great Britain and the United Kingdom of Ireland, which have two extreme contrasting evaluations of "the balance of power in Europe" and "the-stirring stick of the millennium", maintained sovereign independence between the alliance and the cavalry for 20 years.

Incidentally, Ireland voted to join the UK in 2083, although conspiracy theories continue to emerge. However, Britain under the energy crisis still did not let this little brother repeat the Great Famine in Ireland.

Such examples are not uncommon in the era of the energy crisis.

However, after the Cavalry and the Allies formally entered into permanent military cooperation, Britain had to reconsider its position - although it was clear that an attack by the ACA would only push Britain towards the Alliance, Britain's strategic position had already changed subtly - if Britain were to fall by the ACA. The north can attack Iceland, the south can attack the European continent, although the feasibility of this plan is very low, but the ACA navy's sense of survival in Europe and the Mediterranean is far stronger than in the Caribbean, in the back garden of North America, basically the ACA's surface ships are pressed by the alliance, and in the Mediterranean, the alliance does not take much advantage of surface ships, not to mention the storage of submarines.

The Battle of Gibraltar in 2179 confirmed British speculation, in order to cooperate with the Allied Army, which had already crossed the Pyrenees, to cut off the Strait of Gibraltar, the 3rd, 5th, and 8th fleets of the Confederate and the Royal Navy's Second Fleet in the Celtic Sea and the Cantabrian Sea and the four fleets of the ACA launched a large-scale naval battle, each with the cover of roadbed fighters from Spain and France, the alliance had the advantage of satellite reconnaissance, and the ACA's submarines were silent, The end result was a tactical victory for the Alliance, but a strategic defeat due to the loss of too many living forces, and given the defense of the huge sea area in northern Europe, if the ACA attacked the United Kingdom, it would be difficult to resist it with its own three carrier battle groups alone.

In the strategic alliance agreement between the Cavalry and the Alliance, the Cavalry fleet has the task of protecting the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean and carrying out regular patrols, and it is impossible to stop at Portsmouth all day and listen to the old guys in Whitehall in Downing Street.

Even if it is blocked, the devastated Britain will have to join the alliance sooner or later, so when the time advances to 2180, the British government's consideration is more similar to that of the cavalry two years ago.

Sell at a good price when your price is still right, and fight for more autonomy, Anglo. The Saxons have never lacked this political wisdom.

And judging from the results, it is obvious that the political animals of the fog capital have made another profit.

The sky was hazy with rain and fog falling again, and a jeep with the Royal Navy logo painted on the hood and the Union logo still not painted on the door ran over the Union poster and turned left onto the Vauxour Bridge. A young girl in a Royal Navy white uniform raised her hand to comb her long, burgundy hair, and her azure pupils reflected the MI6 headquarters in front of her.

The Sixth Bureau of British Army Intelligence (MI6, Military.Intelligence.6), also known as the "Government Telecommunications Bureau" or "Office of the Permanent Secretary of the British Foreign Office". This centuries-old intelligence agency has long been considered the progenitor of Western military intelligence, and over the past few hundred years, countless men and women have served the British here, and the famous fictional agent 007 is a member of this agency.

Although the name is Army Intelligence. But the founder of MI6, Royal Navy Captain Mansfield. As an island nation, the importance of naval and air forces is now much higher than that of the army, so the resources of MI6 have been increasingly tilted towards the navy and air force over the centuries.

The red-haired officer of the major drove into the parking lot after verifying his identity, pushed the door open, and the slender legs wrapped in boots stepped on the concrete ground, the girl cut her hair, and then took out a pair of glasses from her pocket and put them on the bridge of her nose and walked into the elevator.

"Report."

The red-haired girl walks through the building. Shouted in front of a door that hung "Office D".

"Come in."

The girl pushed the door in, and inside was a middle-aged man in a black suit, who stood up from the table, picked up the electronic board in his hand and flipped through it.

"Major Charlotte Cromwell, Captain of the TF Squadron under the Royal Navy Special Boat Squadron (Special.Boat.Service-SBS)"

The red-haired girl stepped forward and gave a military salute.

"Charlotte. Scott. Major Cromwell ......" The middle-aged man flipped through the electronic board and nodded, "24 years old." Meat system TF, 6 years of service in SBS. Very beautiful resume...... Especially in the latest naval battle of the Sea of Keitel, single-handedly sinking a destroyer, right. ”

"It's my duty, sir."

Charlotte was expressionless, and raised her head to speak.

"Very well, so I heard that you volunteered for this mission?" The middle-aged man turned to sit down on the table. Putting down the electronic board, in a chatty tone, "I've read your resume, your promotion order is stuck halfway, if you continue to serve in SBS." There should be a bright future, can I know why you gave up this qiē and became a commando? ”

The "commando" in the middle-aged man's mouth refers to MI6's Special Operations Division, also known as Division D, which is also a two-hundred-year-old assault and sabotage agency under MI6 formed by former Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

"I think this assignment suits me, sir." Charlotte didn't hesitate, she looked up at the front with her chest straight, and didn't meet the middle-aged man's eyes.

"And, I don't think there's anyone in the whole of Britain better suited to the task than I am."

"This operation was a secret order from Downing Street himself, and to be honest, I don't know where you learned about it, but I'm not surprised given your family status." The middle-aged man picked up the electronic board and flipped through it a few more times, "The Cromwell family, the emerging capitalist aristocratic family during the energy crisis, does have a lot of energy in Whitehall. ”

Charlotte didn't answer, still staring blankly at the air in front of her, and the middle-aged man was silent for a moment, and then slowly spoke.

"I've heard of your code name, 'Helwell', the one of the nine Valkyries, who is the protector of warriors." The middle-aged man looked at the girl in front of him with interest and narrowed his eyes, "But the Special Operations Division is not the same as the SBS group of big-headed soldiers, this operation is not completely sabotage, your job involves infiltration, infiltration, disguise, and you also have to cooperate with the agents of the Alliance's new Secret Service to gain the trust of others to hunt down one of the most dangerous criminals in human history...... Or the second-ranked criminal, I'm interested in why you say you're the most suitable person. ”

"I graduated from the Royal Military College Sandhurst in the United Kingdom and was trained by MI6 during my service with SBS." Charlotte's words remained cold and stiff, like a machine, "I have faith. ”

"Our people are more experienced." The middle-aged man shook his head, obviously not satisfied with this answer, "Again, compared to the experienced 'agent' in my hands, does your 'special forces' have any advantages?" ”

Charlotte was finally slightly moved, she gently hooked the corners of her mouth, closed her eyes, took a breath, and then spoke flatly.

"The content of the 'bolt' plan is to approach the former 191 Mobile Force member of the Alliance, Logan. Craig, finding the whereabouts of the globally wanted Ling Yu and investigating the effects of the virus attack on Valencia Island and him and ValentiaIsland, it's important to gain the trust of the target, right? ”

"That's right." The middle-aged man nodded.

"There's one thing, Rogan. Craig's real name is Richter. Wo Fo Root. Feng. Schiller. ”

"I know that, so what?" The middle-aged man frowned slightly.

"Eighteen years ago, on August 12, 2162, after the end of the energy crisis, the British arms, shipping, and manufacturing giants of the Cromwell family attended a business reception in Munich, Germany. Cromwell wanted his daughter to be engaged to a boy from the Schiller family, a German arms, energy, and manufacturing tycoon, and finally decided to marry Murat. Wo Fo Root. Feng. Schiller's only son, Richter. Wo Fo Root. Feng. Schiller. ”

"And that one and Richter. Wo Fo Root. Feng. Schiller, that is, Logan. The name of the girl Craig engaged to. ”

"Charlotte. Scott. Cromwell. ”

Charlotte maintained an upright posture, looked up at the somewhat embarrassed middle-aged man, and smiled triumphantly. (To be continued......)