Superkoola: No nukes, I'm trying to keep everything between 1916 and 1941.
Super Comrade: In the past two timelines, they just ended up executing him without any thought for his use, which is why Alto said: "Perhaps he needn't die this time.
Guest: Thanks! I try my best!
Several Months earlier…October 2nd, 851 Liberio Port, Marley
The Warrior Unit was finally coming home.
Five years of blood, sweat, and tears. But they were back.
And it felt so empty.
Two of their number would not be returning with them. Marcel, their ever stalwart leader, and Bertholdt, the source of quiet strength for the entire unit.
Reiner scrunched his nose, 'God, what am I going to tell Galliard?' He knew that Porco likely already knew about his brother's demise at the beginning of the Operation. But that wouldn't stop him from being angry seeing that Reiner survived in his place.
Evangelica came up beside him, and leaned on the rail. "Home." She said simply, and Reiner nodded.
"It feels like we're marching to our own death sentence." Evangelica said, her voice mirthless.
"We probably are." Reiner said,
"No. They'll keep us around." Evangelica said,
"Maybe you Princess." Annie said to them sarcastically, "Not all of us have the luxury of being Tyburs."
"Wow, good to see you too. Where have you been this entire trip, the brig?" Evangelica retorted, but they both smiled, but the smiles disappeared as soon as they came.
"We're pulling into harbor." Pieck crawled up to them,
Evangelica looked down at her, "Reminder: Don't do that when we're coming off the ship. We're returning home in shame as is."
Pieck pouted, "But this just feels so much more natural." She whined
"Don't. Seriously, just don't." Evangelica turned back towards the incoming port.
The Marleyan ship landed quietly in port, likely the work of the PSA stifling information about their return.
Pieck yawned as she got off the ship. Zeke followed behind her, with Reiner, Annie, and Evangelica following behind them somberly.
Zeke stepped forward, and greeted a man in a Marleyan Officers uniform.
Kommandant Theo Magath.
"Vice-Chief Tybur." Magath nodded to her, "I'm glad to see that you made it back."
"I'm glad to be off that damn island Kommandant." Evangelica saluted,
"Well, General Calvi and the others want to hear all about it." Magath nodded, motioning to the car, the warriors entered.
The return drive through Liberio was much quieter than they expected. Somewhere, they'd held on to the hope that they'd succeed and be lauded as heroes when they got home.
Of course, reality soon sunk in.
After a few minutes of silent driving, they were finally in front of the Northern Front Military Headquarters, or at least, that was it's official name. Most simply referred to it as the Liberio Military Headquarters, or Liberio HQ.
Here was where any and all operations against Paradis Island were conceptualized and planned. It also happened to be where the Warrior Unit made their base as well.
As the Warrior Unit passed, Marleyan soldiers respectfully saluted Evangelica, but gave Zeke and the others only wary looks.
The Warriors filled into the room, where the Marleyan Oberkommando awaited them.
Seated at the head of the table was the Marleyan Chief of General Staff, Generalfeldmarshall Calvi Mikkelsen. With a thin sunken face and perpetually bored expression, Calvi was seemingly lax in his duties, in reality, he was a cunning Marleyan nationalist who - for all his faults - was desperately trying to keep the Marleyan military together in the face of immense corruption, international pressure, and incompetency.
Next to him was Großadmiral Karl Haldesten. A man Evangelica disdained but was nonetheless forced to tolerate. He was the representation of the slothful bureaucracy, incompetency, and racism within the Marleyan military. However, he was also firmly entrenched within the Marleyan nobility and was thus - untouchable.
Across from Karl was Marshal Norman Pöloker, the head of the Marleyan Aerial Corps. Similar to Karl, he was a man who made his way up solely through the virtue of being born into the right family. However, he was also rather naturally talented at his duties, and - uncommon for most officers - he was not a blatant racist like Karl or uber-nationalist like Calvi, but a humble man who simply wanted to do the best for his nation. He was also - surprisingly - not a born-and-raised Marleyan, like most of the people here were, but an Eastern Europan from the border with the Klatsky Tsardom, a Marleyan ally.
Finally, sitting to the left of Karl was Generalleutnant Gröer Bering, the head of the PSA. With a thin, wiry mustache that Porco mockingly nicknamed "The 'Stache Of Doom", his very presence made the Warriors uncomfortable. Officially, the PSA was a paramilitary organization designed to keep the internment zones in check. In reality, it was not only the secret police of Marley, but one of the largest intelligence agencies in the world.
However, his skill was only trumped by his utter cruelty, racism, and xenophobia. A stoic believer in Marleyan superiority, he made it no secret that he disdained non-Marleyans, but despised Eldians with a passion, especially the Warrior Unit.
Finally, to the left of Gröer was Hermann Reindal, a man who was the bitter cocktail of both skill and worthless bureaucracy. A skilled strategist, he was nonetheless - like his counterparts Gröer and Karl, a racist xenophobe who despised the Eldian race and constantly believed that they were practically destined to one day stab the 'Great Marleyan Empire' in the back.
Magath, Evangelica and Zeke took their seats at the table, and the divide was clear. Marleyans on one side, non-Marleyans on the other, with Calvi in the middle.
The virtual description of the relationship between the people in the room.
The Warriors - meanwhile - stood at attention behind Zeke and the others.
"Now, let's get started." Calvi said, "First, I want to know everything about the Eldian military."
Zeke nodded, "Eldia's Military is divided into three branches. The Survey Corps, the Garrison Regiment, and the Military Police. The Survey Corps is the main threat, as they are trained to fight Titans, if anything, they might be single-handedly responsible for our defeat at the conclusion of this Operation. Individual soldiers of this unit single handedly change the tide of battle, not to mention they are also in possession of the Attack Titan."
"Then, we have the Military Police, essentially the counterpart to our PSA, featuring many similarities in the way things are run." Zeke made a subtle jab to the corruption that was rampant throughout both agencies. "Finally, the Garrison Regiment acts as their primary defensive force for the island, they are - by far - the largest regiment, with 30,000 members. I estimate that Paradis's forces may number - in total - about 34,000 thousand."
Karl scoffed, "A mere two divisions? Then they should've been wiped out!"
"If we were dealing with a normal enemy, then we would've wiped them out 845 and I would've seen my sister grow up." Evangelica interrupted bitterly. "But, that isn't the case." Nodding to Zeke, he unwrapped a package, revealing the motor for a set of ODM Gear
"They call it Omni-Directional Mobility Gear. And it's designed specifically to fight titans." Evangelica paused, before continuing. "At close range." She said.
"Impossible! This tiny thing can't possibly work!" Hermann said dismissively,
"It's not a complete set, but I can assure you, it works all too well." Evangelica said to him coldly. "Normally, a full set would have two blade boxes storing ultra-hard steel with gas tanks providing fuel. However, they've recently developed two additional weapons that pose a threat to Titan Warriors and regular personnel alike." Evangelica told them.
"First, they've developed a new variant of the ODM gear, designed specifically for use against enemy personnel."
"Second, they have flying bombs capable of piercing through Titan hardening, especially mine and that of the Armoreds."
Gröer looked contemplative, and Karl spoke. "Nonetheless, Marley has a numerical and production advantage, no? We can just drop titans on them and call it a day."
"There's more." Evangelica noted, she proceeded to explain how the Island was unaware of the outside world and the true nature of Titans, as well as how the Founding Titan was usurped by Eren Jäger.
"Having said that, once - and just once - Eren Jaeger managed to control the Coordinate with the aid of Alto Burke."
The Marleyans gasped, and Evangelica nodded, "The Founding Titan is a threat once again."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Norman asked, "We need to bomb that island to hell and back!"
"Hold on," Zeke stopped them, "If we launch a blind attack, we'll find ourselves repeating the same tragedy that lost us the Jaws and Colossal. We need information, they only used the Founding Titan once. Which means it's pure chance they activated it that time, they may not be able to reproduce it, especially given the 145th King's curse."
Norman looked unconvinced, but nodded anyway.
"I wouldn't have agreed with a second Paradis Operation anyway." Gröer told them, "We have bigger issues, he motioned to his adjutant, and he handed him a file, before Gröer passed it to Calvi, whose face paled.
"How long has this been going on?" He asked,
"About a year now, and when it gets out we lost both the Colossal and Jaws Titans…"
"General, sir." Magath asked, "What is it?"
"The Mid-East Alliance is building up forces in Olturka Ecahrt."
Evangelica gasped, "They're going straight for the heartland!" And Calvi nodded,
The Olturka Sultanate had always been the greatest threat out of the three most dominant countries in the Mid-East Alliance. Not only for its military power, but for the sheer force of location. Not only did it control the Bogazi Strait, a major choke point for trade and travel with and within the Graying Sea, but Ecahrt was the closest any nation had to an invasion point directly into the Marleyan heartland.
"Why wasn't I informed sooner?" Calvi demanded,
"We only just found out. It was done under the guise of national defense, and our agents just found out they plan for war."
"Who do we have?" Calvi asked,
"The 9th Home Army can be there within the next two weeks. The 10th and 8th will take a month to make a trip from South Afrique."
"How many troops do they have?"
"Four hundred thousand." Gröer sighed, "With another Army on the way."
"This meeting is adjourned, Field Marshal Reindall and Grand Admiral Karl, I would like to speak to both of you. Warchief, you as well."
"Those fucking turkeys!" Evangelica said angrily,
"That isn't very princess-like." A red-haired girl stepped forward, smiling, and Evangelica squealed in delight at the sight of her friend, Stella Hauser.
"Stella!" She embraced her friend, "I was beginning to wonder when I'd see you!"
"It's good to see you too Evie." She smiled, then turned to Reiner, before wrapping him in a bear hug.
"Glad to see you're doing well too." She whispered to him, and the tips of Reiner's ears turned a slight red.
"C-crushing me!" He gasped, and Stella let him go quickly.
"I…heard." Stella said at last, "About Bertholdt and Marcel."
Stella had a long history with the Warrior Unit, in fact, along with Porco, Stella was considered a Warrior Reserve, but unlike Porco, had chosen to follow the path of an officer.
"Marcel died trying to save me…and Bertholdt was-"
"Help me! Please guys! Pieck! Reiner-"
Reiner almost hurled as the memory of Bertholdt's screams came into his mind.
Stella said nothing, but wrapped her arms around her best friend, gently comforting him.
Evangelica coughed, and finally took notice of Stella's uniform. "No." She breathed, then Stella helped Reiner up, and nodded, beaming as if nothing happened.
"Yep. I made an officer, you know what that means?"
"You're the very first Eldian to be made a commissioned officer outside Warchief and Vice-Chief?!" Evangelica clapped happily,
"Yep! I'm a hauptmann!" She smiled, and Evangelica grabbed her hands, "I wish I could've been there…" She said sadly,
"Don't worry, I've already met one year of the three year requirement for Staff Officer, and I'm sure you'll be there for that."
"Wait…if you're an officer now that means…"
"I heard about that too. I was outside." Stella nodded, "I'm assigned to the 5th Northern Army, meaning I'll be staying here in Liberio."
Evangelica sighed in relief, "I'm glad…"
"Why?" Stella asked, "I won't see any action in this backwater. I was actually thinking of transferring to one of the Southern Armies."
"There's always Paradis…" Evangelica said, "Please…don't seek out danger like this!" Evangelica's voice was filled with a rare emotion, concern.
"Thank you, but still…I need to prove that I'm as good as any Marleyan." Stella dropped her hands, stepping back. "And besides, you, Reiner, Annie, and all the others will be coming with me! I'm sure that I'll be fine with you guys."
Evangelica didn't look convinced, but nodded respectfully, "Just try not to get killed."
"I wasn't planning on it." Stella grinned, and shared a fistbump with her surrogate sister.
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