Disclaimer: I do not own Gate: Jieitai Kano Chi nite, Kaku Tatakaeri while Shingeki no Kyojin is the property of Hajime Isayama, I only own the OCs I create.

"Hi!"=Yelling/Title

"Hi"= Speaking

'Hi'=Thinking

"Hi" = Flashback

'Hi'= Flashback thinking

Hi=Intro

"Hi!"= Flashback Yelling

Author's Note: Hello everybody I just wanted to state that I will be taking a month break after I finish writing the Battle of Trost so that I can start another fic in this series. The series will be under the same two fandoms and will start a few days after the Battle of Trost ends and go through the conquest of the Shinganshina District. I wish to give you all a heads up so that none of you are alarmed at my brief pause and as a heads up that this is where my fanfiction will begin to hevavily deviate from the established SNK/AOT cannon.

Anyways, thank you for electing to read this newest chapter and I hope you all enjoy.

Sincerely,

JackieRobinson

Chapter 16

June 7th 08:30 hrs., AOT Universe, Trost District

It had been a quarter of an hour since the counter attack on the Trost District had begun. A quarter of an hour since the main and auxiliary gates that controlled the traffic going in and out of the lost district had been thrown open allowing the Coalition troops to drive their equipment through, while the Eldians dove from the top of Wall Maria to do their duty. A quarter of an hour since the first official Coalition military offensive against the titans had begun, yet to those on the ground it felt a lot longer.

Something which Rico Brzenska could attest to as she stood on top of one of the damaged roofs of a former house in the Trost District. Hyperventalating after the brief, yet intense, period of combat that she'd endured; using the brief pause in action to look back at the Coalition column she and her squadmates had long passed. In the original briefing Rico and the elite members of Alpha Squad, along with several squads from the Survey Corps, had been tasked with providing cover for the Coalition vehicle columns.

Distracting any titans that crossed their path by luring them away from the planned route and at first everything had gone according to plan with the distraction squads managing to easily lure the titans away, even killing some. But by the operation's ten minute mark it become clear that she and her squad had realized that their distraction plan only worked for titans above 10 meters tall; all those below that height elected to focus heavily on the convoys. Which innevitably slowed the convoy's progress, stretching out the trip which the commanders had hypothosized at being at most a half of an hour.

'Of course things wouldn't go as planned?' she thought to herself as she observed another faint flash from the barrel of the lead vehicle before a sound seemingly loud than thunder echoed down the street. The head of the small titan, that had made the illfated decision to attach the convoy, suddenly being torn from its body in the explosion and send flying several miles down the street. Prompting several of Rico's squad mate to let out a round of cheers inspite of their ragged breaths, while she turned her attention towards the empty skies.

'Where are those flying things that they bragged about clearing these streets?'

"Leader Brzenska" a voice called, causing Rico to turn and see a rather young Garrison soldier standing in front of her.

"What is it Private?" she asked, taking in the soldier and immeditately noting that she must've been a recent graduate of the military training program. Of course any veteran soldier in the Garrison could tell the same thing with a simple glance at the woman's stiff jacket and the strong odor it emitted, evidence that the young soldier wasn't experienced enough to know the strong smelling abilities of the titans.

"I've got some new orders for you" she stated, reaching into the small bag that she had and withdrawing a small scroll of paper from it before handing the scroll to Rico. Who promptly took it and, after casting a glance around to make sure that there weren't any titans in the immeditate area that might get a drop on her squad, she then proceeded to take off the painfully prim looking ribbon that had been tied onto it. The red and expensive piece of silk causing the small orders to look like some sort of grand royal summons.

'You think if they were able to make one of these things, they'd invest a little more in our branch' she begrudgingly thought; remembering all of the developement applications for better gas tanks, swords, and maneuver gear the Garrison had filed that were wholly rejected by the monarchy. Instead claiming that the denied funds were desperately needed for the continued funding of "royal security", a statement that still made Rico's eyes roll.

"Royal security? Wouldn't the royal family be more secure if the people had room to work their trades free of fear" she remembered her squadmate Mitabi Jarnach asking upon hearing the reason for the application's denial. The frustration of the claim pushing her into to reading the message; initially skimming the whole thing until she reached two words that caught her attention.

Stand by

Words that made it clear that this was not a simple order for a status update, nor a complain about a lack of progress, which prompted her to read the message again.

To all members of Alpha Squad you are under orders to not advance before a window of five minutes has passed since you received this message. Reports from infantry squads have shown a massive build up of titans around the convoys and as we speak we are sending a joint force of Survey Corps elites and Coalition Air units to clear the streets. You are hereby under orders to remain on the roof tops at all costs, as the air units will be using incindiary rockets and bombs which will likely kill all unarmored units on the street level. It's also suggested that you should take this opportunity to take cover within the upper floors of any sturdy buildings to avoid any debris from the strikes.

Standy by until after the air strike before you continue to proceed on towards the hole.

With that the message ended, leaving Rico nowhere to look but up at the messanger that had brought the message to her. This time noting that the woman was breathing as heavily as Rico's squad had been after they'd reached the roof for a brief pause.

"Any orders ma'am?" the soldier asked, snapping Rico out of her analysis and redirecting her attention to the intense look on the woman's face as she stood straight up. Getting the mesage across to Rico that she truly did expect Rico to give her some sort of borderline suicidal order to carry a dispatch back to headquarters, probably confirming that she'd received the initial message the woman had carried.

"At ease" Rico stated in her typical, sterile tone before asking.

"What's your name Private?" a question which seemed to surprise the woman.

"Panchenko, Private Alisa Panchenko" the woman answered, just as Rico proceeded to roll up the message.

"Well then Private Panchenko, I want you to hand this to the rest of the officcers in the squad so that they all know what our orders are, and then I want you to stick with us until this whole thing is over" Rico calmly instructed, pausing briefly to adjust her glasses before adding.

"Is that clear?"

"Yes ma'am, right away" Private Panchenko answered promptly taking the now re-rolled message, before turning and rushing over to the rest of the staff on the roof. Her figure reaching the small out crop of Rico's squadmates no more than ten seconds before Rico heard a loud sound, far louder than that of the foreign craft firing, caused her to turn around and be greeted by an uplifting sight. No less then a dozen large v shaped formations, each containing five air craft, go soaring over Wall Maria; gaining altitude before diving towards the ground and beginning to unleash their paylods.

The act causing cheers to come from every direction around Rico's roof top a sign that, contraty to some of the fears put forth by her less experienced squad mates, they were not the only survivors.

'About time' she thought to herself as she watched several green colored air craft, "jet planes" as she recalled the foreigners saying, circling around the area; trying to see which targets were more of an immediate threat to the convey. So that they might make good use of their limited ammunition. The thunder from each missing going of making it so that she had no idea that any of her fellow officers were calling for her until she had a firm hand fall on her shoulder, causing her to look up and see Ian Dietrich standing next to her.

"A marvellous sight isn't" he stated, though she was unsure as to if he was speaking into her or talking to himself.

"We're finally fighting back"

June 7th 08:30 hrs., AOT Universe, Trost District Air Space

Several hundred feet above Rico's squad, Cesar watched as several escadrilles from the first dispatch flight dove agressively towards the titans. Firing off their rockets and their machine guns into the gathered mass that chocked the streets around the convoy, a certain relief coming over him as he personally saw the convoy's vehicles. A relief which turned into confidence when he also saw the faint plumes of smoke which came from the muzzels as the vehicles fired back at their wood be attackers.

'It's a good thing they were put in the main streets, otherwise we might have a harder time nailing these bastards' he thought as he watched a Mirage straffed one of the narrow streets that the smaller titans had jammed themselves into. Tearing nearly hald a dozen of them to bits as they little blighters had been so desperate to get at the convoy that they'd packed themselves into any gap or back alley they could use to get to the main roads.

But of course, each strafing attempt was not one without any risks; as when the Mirage that followed the initial plane attempted to do the same, a small titan lept up in an attempt to snatch the pilot and the air craft out of the sky. An act which caused the pilot to pull back hard on the stick and pull out of his run at almost a 90 degree angle to avoid being eaten.

"Green Leader, this is Bronze Leader, you and your boys are cleared to dive" a voice crackled over the radio, being the first one that Cesar had heard in nearly five minutes; causing him to be temporarily taken aback before responding.

"Bronze Leader, this is Green Leader, I hear you loud and clear" Cesar responded, before glancing first to his left and then to his right.

"Green-2, you take Green 7, 8, and 9 to cover me and my squad before diving on the hostiles yourself" Cesar instructed, before adding.

"Green 3, Green-4, and Green-5 dive on my command" which earned him a round of confirming responses, before the escadrille separated; with Cesar gaining altitude, and turning to the left towards smaller allies and streets where a group of titans had become packed together.

"Dive!" with that he suddenly pushed his flight stick forwards, sending the plane into a gradual dive and guiding it on a beeline towards the street where the titans had gathered. Feeling the momentum of the plane gradually increase as it continued to speed along and downwards, the plane's weight propelling itself forwards.

'Alright keep it steady' was all he could think as he tried to straighten out the plane as he prevented his plane from going into an uncontrollable dive. Straightening up, locking onto the nearest titan, and pulling the flight stick's trigger and firing off a rocket right into the side of one of titan's head. Causing the upper part of the beast's cranium to be torn from the rest of its skull as what he assumed was brain matter went flying thought the air, before Cesar veered felt the plane actually rise as he released it's deadly pay load before suddenly turning right to see his wingmates doing the same.

Or trying to do the same.

"Green-4, Green-5 what're you doing?" he asked, as he watched them each take a turn firing at the titans while flying in a straight level pattern over the street.

"Sorry sir, we're just not used to the weight" one of the two answered as they tried to pull out of the dive turn it properly at its current speed.

'I knew putting the maximum payload on these things was a bad idea' Cesar thought to himself as he strained to not only look back at his wingmates, while also keeping himself from running into anything. Lamenting the fact that the mission planers had been so desperate to bring the maximum amount of firepower from each air wave sent in over the combat zone that they'd ignored each plane's payload limits to increase the damage caused by each air strike.

'I'm surprised none of us crashed on the way here' Cesar thought, as he glanced again looking and seeing that neither of the two planes were gaining sufficient altitude.

"Green-3, we need to pull around and-" he began, only for a loud cry to crackle across the radio waves.

"What is it sir?" Green-3 asked as Cesar pulled around and got a glance at the second worst scenario that had run trhough his head when they'd taken off.

"Green-Leader, this is Green-2, what's wrong?" he heard Joseph called over the radio.

"I don't know" Cesar answered, before asking.

"Green-5 are you hit?"

"No sir, that was Green-4" the feminine voice that answered; reminding him that it was Thomas, not Mina, who'd been hit. The revalation bringing no actual comfort to him as he watched Thomas' plane first fly up before rolling slightly to the left, thick white smoke billowing out of the plane's left wing.

"Bail out Green-4" he called, his cry receiving only static as an answer.

"Dammit Thomas bail out!" one of the other escadrille shouted over the radio as everyone watched in horror as the plane continued to gain altitude while rolling to its left.

"I hope that's not a controlled roll over" Cesar heard Joseph mutter, the consequences of such a decision appearing in his mind as he visualized Thomas being shot out of the Étendard's cockpit like a bullet. Flying directly into a building or into one of the streets, his head being crushed as it made impact with the hard road surface or a rock wall from one of the houses. Luckily it seemed that Thomas had some control over his plane, or at least he hoped he did, as before the plane rolled over too much he was able to activate his ejector seat and shoot out of the plane's cockpit. With plane slamming into a nearby building a few seconds late.

"Poor Thomas" Cesar heard a new voice, Sasha, state in a quiet tone.

"There's nothing we can do, focus on the mission" Cesar countered, taking into consideration what he'd said before adding.

"If we keep the titans off the convoy, maybe they can get to him"

June 7th 08:30 hrs., AOT Universe, Trost District

There's many words that can be used to describe the unique sensation that comes with ejecting one's self out of a fighter jet. Shocking, breath taking, exilerating, and mind numbing are words that some might attach to it in an attempt to seem far less shaken by the whole experience than they really are. Luckily, however, Thomas was not one of those people and as such was willing to give a far more honest description of the whole experience he'd under gone; and that was that was terror.

Absolute, unbrightled, unshakable terror. A feeling that had somehow managed to spike from when one of those blasted tiny titans had managed to score a lucky hit on his craft, as he'd been launched from the cockpit via the ejector seat. Causing his heart to begin pounding at a rate so fast that he was positive that it would suddenly stop, especially when his whole body was rocked by the shock of parashute deploying. With it seeming as though hours had passed from the time that he'd first been hit, to when he finally landed on the ground.

Or more specifically when he came crashing in through one of the widows of a house on the ground, the crash sending short pieces of glass into his boots. No doubt, alerting several titans in the surrounding area to his presence.

"Come one" Thomas muttered as he rapidly undid the saftey straps that kept him tied to the seat, doing so with great relish until he felt the seat tilt back. At that moment he instinctively stopped what he was doing to grab the frame of the window, adrenaline rushing through him as he looked down to the street below.

'One wrong move and my legs will be gone' he thought, not having needed any military training to realize that the only way to survive a fall from the fairly high second floor was to do so with his legs or back. Both of which coudl leave him paralysed on the ground and an easy target for any titan that happened to be strolling, a thought which incentivised him to balance himself properly on the window ledge before using his non dominant hand to gently undue his straps.

'Alright easy does it' was all he could instruct himself, before he returned his hand to the window frame and proceeded to hoist himselv out from the seat. His momentum propelling him forwards into the house, while the seat fell into the street, it's landing causing a nearby 5 meter high titan to suddenly snap its head in Thomas' direction, before lumbering down the street.

No longer at threat of falling and becoming injured Thomas proceeded to lift his visor, allowing him to see the interior of the house he'd parachuted into. Which made him realized that he was not in the midst of a proper second story floor, but rather in an attic; with the room's low ceiling causing him to nearly strike his head on an exposed wooden beam. The poor light coming in through the now destroyed window being the only reason he noticed it in the first place.

'There must be a door around here somewhere' he thought as he slowly shuffled his feet across the attic floor, until he noticed a faint sound off in one of the darker corners of the attic.

"Is someone there?" Thomas called, a question which caused the faint sound to get worse; as though they were hoping that by hiding in the dark he might go away.

'Or that I might come closer into a trap' he thought as he reached down to his leg and lossened the strap from the gun holster which held his MAC Mle 1950.

"I mean you no harm" he continued, returning to his regular height and raising him arms in a neutral manner before adding.

"I'm with the Eldian Legion, please come out of the shadows and show yourself" a statement which caused the weak sound to suddenly hitch before a voice called out.

"You're with the military?" the question causing Thomas' whole demeanor to change.

"Yes, I am, who are you?" he asked, earning him a faint rustling sound before a tall man with ragged clothes emerged from the shadow, a downwards pointed knife in his hands.

"Ionas Jacobsen"

"I'm Sous-Lieutenant Thomas Wagner, my unit was doing runs against the titans in this part of the district when my plane was hit and I went down" Thomas began, taking the opportunity to introduce himself before turning towards the attic window and adding.

"I'm sorry that I broke your window"

"You could break every window in the house if it means that you and your friends will be able to get us out of here" Ionas replied, a statement which earned a full blow sob from the corner before a woman with a young baby emerged as well with tears streaming down her eyes.

"Thank you, thank you" she stated in between her sobs, almost sprinting over and firmly shaking Thomas' hand; seeming to have forgotten any of her previous fears.

"What's wrong?" Thomas asked, as the woman took a step back and clutched her child firmly to her chest.

"We thought you were one of the raiders" Ionas answered as Thomas removed his helmet, allowing Ionas to see his now raised eye brows.

"Raiders? I thought that all able residents left?"

"Most probably did, but some either stayed or were left behind and figuring that the military would never come to save us they began to form their own little patches of territory; taking whatever they wanted and killing anyone who refused to cooperate" Ionas clarified, causing Thomas to realize what the man was implying.

"So when the military clears the area, they might try to slink back to saftey and pretend nothing happened?" the statement earned Thomas a simple nod of the head from the man, who then focused on comforting his wife.

June 7th 08:35 hrs., AOT Universe, Trost District

"Are you sure you saw it over there Jean" a voice called from behind Jean as he cautiously exited the VBCI, his Famas raised up to his shoulder and him looking down the sight as he did so.

"Yeah, I swear it came down over here" he answered as he scoured the surrounding roof tops, not wanting to be on the receiving end of any surprises, before returning his focus to the row of housing he and his squadmates had been directed to. The reason for their exiting of the musty, metallic security of the VBCI could be traced to a few minutes earlier when the driver of their column had spotted a fighter jet go down in the area. Or more specifically, when they'd seen an ejection seat fly out of the jet, with the occupant coming down near one of the houses in the area.

"Hurry up Jean, we don't have all day" he heard an irritated voice called out nervously from the vehicle, causing him to grit his teeth as he slowly approached the wooden structure that he'd thought the parachute had landed near.

'Would it be too much for you to just shut up for just five minutes' he thought to himself, as he reached the front door on one of the houses; only then lowering his gun to properly pound his fists on the door.

'Besides, it's not my fault we have a rescue on sight order for any pilots we see bail out' he added as he firmly pounted on the door.

"Is anybody there?" he called before placing his ear on the door and listening in, before once again pounding the door.

"Is anybody there open up?" he asked, his pounding this time being met by the sound of footsteps softly moving throughout the house. Something that caused Jean to return his previously free hand to support his FAMAS, his finger silently running over the gun's saftey mechanism to make sure that it wasn't on before returning to the trigger. His mind returning to the briefing he'd been a part of, or more specifically the tail end of it.

"What do you mean we shouldn't trust the civilian populace?" one of the legionnaires had asked when their head officer had stated the Coalition's official stand point of in operation civilian relations.

"Yeah, they're the one's stuck over there, aren't we going to get them?" another one asked, prompting their head officer to begin gesturing to call for them to shut up.

"Under normal circumstances your concerns would not only be entirely necessary, but the actions of my superiors highly questionable" the man began, earning a couple of affirmative nods from the soldiers as though that was where the conversation was going to end.

"However, during the waining hours of the 4th and the days of the 5th and 6th our observation corps recorded limited footage of small gangs of individuals roaming the streets. Breaking into houses and, on occaision, murdering individuals who they came across; and while we haven't gotten clear facial identification of them, we don't want to take the risk that their new found anarchy based power might cause them to engage in hostilities with any of you" the man continued, before making the conscious statment of ending with.

"Even if you would most certainly win"

"Then what are we supposed to do sir?" Armin had asked, prompting the officer to turn his attention towards the large white board that lay behind him.

"When entering any house you are all under strict orders to the following..."

'Knock firmly on the door until you get a response' Jean thought, before repeating the act of banging his fists on the door again, before shouting.

"This is the military, is anybody in there?"

'Knock no more than three times, if they don't want to come out they don't want to come out'

"Which branch?" a voice called from the inside, snapping Jean out of his thoughts.

"You said the military, which branch?" the voice on the other side of the door asked, causing Jean to take a step backwards before signalling the others behind him to move forwards and take up spots behind him.

"The Eldian Legion, we're connected with the Coalition, we're here to seach for the survivor of an air crash" Jean answered, earning him a short pause from the other side of the door. Prompting him to take a step backwards as he prepared for a hostile confrontation; or at least the would have been has the door handle not been fumbled around. Indicating to him that the current occupant of the house was not it's original owner, making him either a squatter or a looter.

"Who am I speaking to?" Jean asked as the door handle fumbled, placing his finger on the trigger.

"Flight Lieutenant James Bradly of the Royal Air Force, and if can just-" the voice began, before the door suddenly gave a creak as he struggled to move it. Before the door eventually slid open, revealing a man standing with his hands in the air and was clad in a Royal Air force uniform, the only thing missing was his gun belt and holster.

"I assume you're my rescue party?" the man asked, breaking the silence that Jean had barely noticed had come over the group.

"Yeah, I guess we are" he answered, to which the man also added.

"Does that mean I can unsurrender now? Or do the French like you to keep you allies in this position?" a question which Jean simply answered with a gesture from his hands, while his fellow soldiers chuckled at the question, while the man lowered his hands and quickly jogged over to the vehicle. Eagerly climbing in while the other soldiers proceeded to make hurridle make their own way into the vehicle.

"Did you see anybody else in there?" Armin asked, as he sat down by the man.

"No, no the place looked like it had been looted before I dropped in" Bradly answered, before rubbing his wrists subconsciously and adding.

"Though if there were any there, I could've really used some to untangle myself from that giant hole in the roof" as the vehicle suddenly lurched forwards and began rolling down the street towards the breach.