In the conference room aboard the battleship Avalon, Schneizel sat at the head of the table, with Ask in the first seat to his right and Euphemia across from Ask.
Everyone else, including their respective knights, stood behind their masters.
Suzaku Kururugi stood off to one side in handcuffs, held by soldiers like a prisoner awaiting judgment.
A computer sat in the center of the table, playing a recording of the commanding officer's conversation with Suzaku Kururugi during the missile bombardment.
"Major Kururugi, obey your orders!"
"You're so damn annoying! Who cares what you say? I'm going to survive!"
The earlier exchange could all be ignored. That statement alone established Suzaku Kururugi's breach of discipline.
When the recording ended, the commanding officer turned and demanded:
"Although I don't know how you piloted the Lancelot out of there, you squandered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to kill Zero simply because you wanted to live! Do you have anything to say in your defense?"
"...Was that really... me...?"
Suzaku Kururugi looked blank and utterly lost.
The voice was indeed his, the communications frequency matched the one used at the time, and the transmission had indeed come from the Lancelot...
Yet he remembered none of it!
But the evidence sitting on the table all but proved his breach of discipline!
Any defense would have been futile now, much less an absurd excuse like "I don't remember."
Fortunately, Schneizel spoke up. Citing the need for exceptional measures in exceptional times, he declined to take disciplinary action against Suzaku Kururugi.
The word of royalty carried the same weight as the law. Once someone like Schneizel spoke, those beneath him could only obey. Otherwise, they would be guilty of showing contempt for the imperial family.
That charge was more serious than even the charges against Zero for