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

Chapter 21

June 13th 13h00, Paris, Frace, Elysee Palace

Far from the dangers of the front line, and comfortably situated in the Elysee Palace, the young President Emmanuel Macron couldn't help but let out a sigh of both fatigue and relief. If there was one thing that no one ever told any of the incoming Presidents, even if they were the most seasoned of politicians, it was the almost radical infrequency of the hours of the office. During the previous week the President had been able to turn in relatively early, around 11pm and had been able to sleep relatively uninterrupted until 6 am the following morning, but the past few days had been a different story.

The previous evening he'd been up well past midnight in the Palace's situation room, trying to keep up with the information that was flooding into the situation room late into the night due to there being a several hour delays in the signal coming from their troops on the front line. While the late arrival of information had caused him to have to be woken up only a few hours later to try and hear the most recent news regarding the military actions on the Paradis Front. So, one could understand why, after sitting through three previous meetings, the young President felt a little more relaxed as he ran through the most recent operations report from the front.

'Mon Dieu' crossing the man's mind as he skimmed the report, then glanced up slightly to see the two generals who'd brought him the report sitting in silent anticipation of some sort of word from him.

'We will need to be careful with this', he mentally added before calmly placing the report down on the table in front of him.

"Is this everything?" he asked, breaking the silence that had fallen over the trio since their arrival.

"Oui, Monsieur President," Lecointre answered, in a firm tone that made it clear that all the important information that Macron could wand were contained in the report, a report which Macron returned his gaze to and scanned once more, placing a hand to his lips in brief contemplation. On the surface the compiled pieces of paper appeared to be little more than a standard military report which might end up on the desk of any president following any military operation. A report that was filled with the same overabundance of technical details that manage to practically fly over his head without rendering the whole picture unintelligible. Nonetheless, even with his inexperience, Macron could tell that the devil lay in the proverbial details that even he could understand.

"Has the number of casualties been finalized?" he asked, earning him the attention of the main general who'd presented him the report, General Lecointre, and his aid, General Theodore Carillon.

"Unfortunately, Monsieur President, that hasn't been the case" Lecointre answered, earning him Macron's attention, forcing Lecointre to continue on and clarify his statement.

"There have been some revelations about certain tendencies by our current foes that has slightly delayed our ability to count all of the dead" he added, his careful description instantly piquing the interest of Macron.

"What are these 'tendencies?'" Macron naturally asked, causing both Lecointre and Carillon to exchange glances before Carillon nodded, and Lecointre returned his attention back to Macron.

"These things, titans, it appears that they eat people," Lecointre began, is words failing to earn him any set emotional reaction from Macron, and then uncomfortably added.

"And then vomit them back up after a few hours", his admission being met by an uncomfortable silence that settled over the three men. As both Lecointre and Carillon let the implications of what Macron had just heard fall on their president, the two of them watching as the gears began to turn in Macron's head.

"Gentil Dieux" barely escaping him as he covered his face to mask his disgust at the mere thought, finally asking.

"How often?"

"Judging by our observations" Carillon began, more than willing to lighten his fellow general's load in describing the unsavory act.

"Anywhere between 4 to 6 hours after they have become 'full'" he continued, making a point of pausing to put visible air quotes around the word "full".

"But the Eldians have indicated it could be a shorter period of time if the act of becoming 'full' takes longer"

"So, there may be more?" Macron asked, earning him nods from both of the generals.

"But it would be wise to release the figures we have now, even if we have to make revisions later," Lecointre added, making a point of tapping on the table as he did so.

"Otherwise, we might be accused of censoring the information"

A point Macron could only answer with a nod as his gaze fell back upon the military report, his silent gesture causing both men to stand up and give Macron a salute before turning and leaving the room as Macron returned his gaze towards the casualty report.

M. President,

After extensively examining the unit reports available, I can affectively list the following casualty statistics.

40 Eldian Legionnaires

25 Foreign Legionnaires

23 British SAS Operatives

7 Canadian Expeditionary Force Members

13 Belgian Expeditionary Force Members

12 Pilots from L'Armee de L'Air and Royal Air Force

573 Members of the Eldian Garrison, Cadet, and Survey Corps

Further reports will come as the information becomes available.

General Joakim Dreyfus

June 14th, 11h00, Coalition Headquarters, Ehrmich District

Unfortunately for General Dreyfus he'd found that since his arrival in the Eldian city-state the most tedious assignment that he was made to endure wasn't his daily action and logistics reports, the bucket loads of paperwork, or the need to read security reports about the movement of the various reporters that came in every day. But rather rested int he Eldians themselves, even under normal circumstances the obsession that the Eldian military brass with being inflexible and in the adherence to the to a strict hierarchy that was unable, or unwilling, to adapt was something straight out of a cliched and poorly funded B-list TV show where the writers and show runner couldn't be bothered to do any research.

A structure which, when combined with a zealous tendency to arrest and execute those who broke otherwise unsensible orders, led to a disincentivizing of ingenuity and action that was straight out of the Soviet Union. All of which combined to create a people who, while undeniably brave and loyal, kept balancing out these positive attributes while possessing an ability to screw everything up that their dedication to duty was partially in vain. As could be seen in the fact that Dreyfus, his staff, and several representatives from nations within the Coalition were about to start their third meeting since the end of the Battle of Trost in four days.

'Give me allies to fight against!' running through his mind as he watched the latest delegation of Eldian dignitaries step into the large, make-shift conference room that had been set up in Dreyfus' command center.

'Isn't that what Napoleon said?'

"General, Commander Pixis and the Eldian delegation" coming from a young staff officer before stepping aside from the door to let the aforementioned delegation in. The announcement and the act prompting Dreyfus and his fellow representatives, British General Douglas Simmons, Canadian General Alfred Diop, Belgian General Joseph Strauss, and a Japanese political attaché Hideyoshi Ito, to all rise from their seats. Thei well-rehearsed greeting standing as Commanders Dot Pixis, Nile Dok, Erwin Smith, and Commander in Chief Darius Zackley entered the conference room and arranged themselves in a long line to stand across from their Coalition counterparts before Dreyfus gesture towards the seats at the table with a friendly.

"Gentlemen, please" before all nine men silently made their way to their seats and sat down in a well-rehearsed manner. Fortunately, unlike their first meeting, the point of this overly well-coordinated get together appeared to be aimed at disseminating information between the two parties as swiftly as possible rather than strictly adhering to any sort of ceremony. As indicated by the fact that the central figure of the group, Commander in Chief Darius Zackley, immediately signaled to Commander Dok, who silently withdrew a piece of paper from his pocket.

"So, gentlemen, what can my fellow staff and I do for you?" Dreyfus asked, his answer coming in the forming of sympathetic look on Pixis' face that instantly made Dreyfus' heart sink.

'Oh, good God above, what could they want now' running through his head as the paper made its way past each member on the right side of the table and moved towards where he sat. Only pausing when it was received by his second in command, Brigadier General Louis Samsonov, who made a point of reading the entirety of the note in question before passing it to Dreyfus. The combination of Samsonov's unimpressed look and the wrinkling of his nose managing to make Dreyfus even less optimistic as to the type of conditions that the decree, or attempt at a decree, would impress upon him and his staff. As well as the innumerable difficulties that would probably come from it.

"General Dreyfus, do your subordinates normally make a point of reading private communiques between their superior officers?" Dok asked in an inquisitive manner that Samsonov refused to acknowledge, the man instead turning his attention over towards Dreyfus as he handed the paper to Dreyfus.

"No need to be offended Commander Dok, General Samsonov was simply making sure to fulfill his verification duties as the second most senior officer in our operation" Dreyfus replied as he turned his eyes towards the paper, meaning that he wasn't able to see Dok over his mouth for an additional comment or the way that Zackley gestured, a definitive wave of the hand, to cut him off. A brief period of silence falling over the group as Dreyfus made a point of reading the paper, only getting through the first half, before Zackley cut in.

"It's perfectly alright General, no offense taken", earning him a raised glance from Dreyfus before the General could finish reading the document given him; though, judging from what he'd seen in the first bit of what he'd read, he knew what was coming.

"We're more focused on the topics at hand"

"The Yeager boy?" Dreyfus asked, taking advantage of the little bit of the document that he'd managed to read.

"Yes" Zackley answered, leaning back slightly as he did so, earning himself several raised eyebrows from the commanders of the Coalition as he did so.

"If you will excuse me" General Strauss stated, cutting in as politely as he possibly could.

"But I am not, as you say, well versed in what this Yeager gentleman, or boy as you've called him, is" he continued, pausing, and occasionally adding linguistic qualifiers, in an attempt to hide his Flemish accent; an accent which only became serious noticeable, or for that matter impactful on his speech, when he utilized such tactics. Looking between Dreyfus and Zackley in an expectant manner as he did so, his look giving Dreyfus the opportunity to cut in and begin to explain.

"General Strauss, do you recall the reports of the friendly titan who helped us retake Trost?"

"Of course, my boys were quite surprised by your orders to not fire on it, but we managed to pull it off" Strauss replied, his accent disappearing along with his linguistic qualifiers, to which Dreyfus gave a simple tap on the table before adding.

"That was Eren Yeager"

"Ah, yes, I see" Strauss replied, before glancing over to Zackley and repeating Dreyfus' question.

"What do you want with him?"

"His majesty has decided it to be within the interest of the Kingdom if Yeager was returned to the Eldian military forces for future operations" Zackley explained, an explanation which Dreyfus met with a single, unimpressed, and raised eyebrow.

"How so?"

"His majesty believes that it would be unwise to allow your military forces to have so many advantages at your disposal," he continued, bringing up three fingers as he did so.

"First, your military is technologically superior to ours", Zackley statement seeming to cause Dok and the Eldian military police officers sent to guard them to wince, as though this admission was as painful as getting a tooth removed.

"Second, you've taught your advanced tactical and technological skills to an entire unit of Eldians that are under your command, and now you have the control of the Yeager boy; his majesty feels it unwise to allow an outside ally to have such a strong hand" Zackley finished, clearly trying to find a polite way to make what ultimately boiled down to a paranoid accusation of a political coup. Even as Dreyfus could see that Zackley, along with Pixis and Erwin, found that the prospects of what their king was implying to be extremely unlikely.

'After all, if conquest was our aim why would we have supplied you with so many of our own guns and taught you our tactics before trying to install a new government', being the uncomfortable admission that hung in the air.

"Well, Commander in Chief Zackley" Dreyfus began, taking care to place the file in question on the table before him.

"I would first like to reassure you that unless some information were to come up about your king being responsible for the attack on French soil that triggered our intervention, such an action is highly unlikely" his choice of words causing a barely muted heaviness to begin to befall the opposing half of the conference table.

"Our publicly declared mandate limits us to humanitarian actions aimed at the elimination of the titan threat and the stabilization of your kingdom, the complete opposite of a coup, and militaristic imperialism has lost quite a bit of popularity and support on our side of the gate", seeming to reassure the Eldians.

"You mentioned this was the first reason?" coming from Commander Smith and sending Dreyfus' attention that way.

"What is the second?", causing Pixis o visibly tighten up slightly. After all, he knew exactly what Dreyfus was about to say, for the experienced French general had been made to have the same talk with him about utilizing Eren for his planned counterattack, only a few days before. Which meant that he knew that Dreyfus' answer would contain a surprise that none of his fellow officers were going to like.

"The second reason," Dreyfus began, pausing to clear his throat.

"Is because, simply put, the Eldian government has no direct right to control the fate of Private Yeager", the direct and blunt nature of his explanation causing the temperature of the room to plummet more than a few degrees. While a large vacuum of silence settled over the group for a few seconds, as though all of the Eldians, with the lone exception of Pixis, were struggling to understand what he'd said.

"Excuse me?" finally coming from Dok.

"Like all members of the Eldian Legion, Private Yeager agreed to sign over the next ten years of his life to the French government in exchange for the possibility of French citizenship," Dreyfus continued, turning to look at Dok as he did so.

"If you wish to put him on trial for any reason you must first apply for him to be handed over to you, and if your application is accepted, then he will be transferred to you for a trial then returned to us so that we may punished accordingly, if he is found guilty" he clarified, earning him looks of disbelief from the Eldians, once again except Pixis.

"Sir, I believe they wanted to put him on trial as to determine if they were to execute him or give him to a specific military branch" Samsonov added, earning him a look from Dreyfus. Leaving Dreyfus partially unsurprised at the fact that, given the disparities of their militaries and the details he'd skimmed from the document, that Samsonov was thinking the same thing that he was.

"Well, in that case, the answer is still a firm no for the reasons I mentioned before" Dreyfus repeated, unimpressed with the slight changes in the details of the request.

"But I do believe that the General would be more than willing to cooperate with us in military operations given his recent actions" Pixis cut in, trying to find something positive about the conversation. Only to have his attempt at optimism and reconciliation shot down by a firm and dismissive wave from Commander Dok.

"And what would that be?" still somehow coming from the man with an even-tempered face.

"As soon as I deactivate my units' resting orders and I get a reasonable plan of attack" Dreyfus countered, before leaning back in his own chair.

"But I have yet to have received the latter and have had all gestures for joint military operations made by my staff rejected by your king, thus I refuse to do the former" his retort causing Zackley, Commander Dok, and Commander Pixis to all turn their attention to Commander Smith. The looks on Zackley and Dok's faces, and the trio's silence, making it clear that Smith had something to say and that they at least one of them was mentally retracting more than a few words that had been said about it earlier.

"Actually, General Dreyfus, I do have a plan" Smith countered, withdrawing a map from one of the inner pockets of his jacket.

"It's far from perfect, however, I have more than enough confidence in its ability to succeed".