Yelena and Onyakapon were allowed to leave, leaving Alto, Alexander, and the Scouts to their own devices.
"As I suspected, our key weapon is the Founding Titan." Alto breathed.
"I suggest a full-scale rumbling on Marley-" Alexander began, but Alto stopped him.
"No, not yet at least." Alto said, "For two reasons, for one, activating the Rumbling will take tremendous amounts of power, which Eren and I can - shamefully - not provide. The second reason is that if we do that, we will only alienate the rest of the world, at a time we need allies more than ever."
"Then what do you suggest?" Erwin asked,
"We continue as we have, developing our army, conscripting new recruits, but we change one thing - we will use the Z90 to explore the outside world, and try to obtain allies."
The next day - Mitras
The following day, the Marleyan POWs were separated and sent to a prison camp within the walls, and the Anti-Marleyan Volunteers shared whatever they could with them.
"These are three communications technologies that will be imperative for interaction with the outside world, and your military." Onyakapon explained, motioning to the three items in front of him.
"The first is the radio. It uses a special type of energy known as electromagnetic waves to send signals to other radios, which are converted to sound. Conversations can be held through them."
"Oooh~," Hange said eagerly "Can I dismantle-"
"No." Levi and Alto said at the same time.
Onyakapon chuckled at Hanji's eagerness. "The second is the telegram, by connecting it to a series of cables that span the world, you can send written messages via electrical signals transmitted by said wires."
"Finally, we have the telephone, similarly, it uses electrical cables that span the world to conduct conversation when they are too far apart to be heard directly."
"You said the telephone and radio could transmit sound, right?" Alto asked, Onyakapon nodded.
He clapped, "This solves a major problem of ours. You see, we have new types of artillery that have a range of about 11 miles-"
"Eleven miles!" Onyakapon shouted in surprise.
"Yes." Alto nodded,
"The maximum range of the average artillery piece is usually around seven or eight miles, even the heavier ones tend to be 10 miles at most." Onyakapon told them, "To outrange that will give you a major advantage in battle."
"Yes, but the problem is that we can't target it properly. Since communication from that distance will be impossible for us."
"The radio and telephone will solve that problem." Onyakapon nodded,
"How quickly can we produce them?" Alto asked,
"Not long, a few weeks." Hanji said, "A month at most."
"The first thing we should do is begin construction of a proper port." Yelena advised. "Normally, it would take until the end of the year, but with the Founding Titan controlling Pure Titans, we can undoubtedly do it within the next month."
"We can also connect Paradis's telegrams to the global wiring, since we came with our own set of cables in order to set up communication lines back to Marley when we established a beachhead."
Alto nodded, "That would be good, thank you, Yelena."
"No need to thank me, Herr Burke, I am merely doing my duty. To the people of Roma."
"Roma?" Alto questioned,
"Yes, it was a nation west of Marley on a peninsula next to Balan. It was invaded during the Europan War and was annexed."
Alto nodded.
"Now that the Anti-Marleyan Volunteers have joined us, what will we do about Zeke?" Historia asked them, having shared memories, they were all aware of Zeke's sickening euthanasia plan. And now, they'd reached the first major turning point of the next four years.
"We should leak his plans and involvement with the volunteers immediately," Eren suggested.
Alto shook his head, "Short-sighted, as ever." He sighed. "If we do that, then the Marley-Mid East war won't last until 854. The Mid-East Allies will defeat Marley within a year. We need the war to drag on as long as possible. Not to mention many of the volunteers are loyal to Zeke, we leak his involvement now and we will drive a rift between them and us."
"So what do you suggest?" Eren asked,
"We play along, for now. Eren, you will still need to go to Liberio and cozy up to Zeke, get him to cooperate with us for as long as possible." He smirked slightly, "Once the Raid on Liberio comes, we cut him off, and Kommandant Magath will be 'mysteriously' tipped off about Zeke's plans. By then, there'll be nothing the Volunteers or Yelena can do."
"We're allowing the Beast Titan to remain in Marley?"
"A risk, yes. But it will be much worse if Zeke somehow manages to arrive on Paradis and scream."
"Speaking of - we're allowing them to drink the tainted wine?" Historia asked, and Alto nodded.
"Yelena will undoubtedly notice, and besides, we can't let anyone know about our memories. It's a gamble - yes, if something else changes, there's no telling what the consequences might be, but it's ultimately our only remaining path."
"Not the only path." Eren corrected, quoting Armin, "Just the only one that has presented itself."
Kavalan
Evangelica wandered the streets of Kavalan. It was much different than the still lively city that it was in October. Now, buildings were shelled and bombed to ruins. The citizens were sunken eyes, thin, and starving. The only ones that looked remotely healthy were the Marleyan soldiers.
Looking at the people, Evangelica no longer saw a bright and lively city, but a factory, and the people in it were not civilians, but workers. Merely repeating movements ingrained into their heads after months of routine.
Wake up. Eat. Run. Sleep. Repeat.
'Was this…war?' She remembered Paradis, the hollow eyes of traumatized Scouts. The ruins of Shiganshina following their attack.
"You look lost." A voice came from behind her. It was Stella.
The girls sat down together.
"You know, the waiting feels worse than the fighting." Stella said, eliciting a small chuckle from Evangelica.
"Yeah." Evangelica said, "Being able to do nothing but watch as bombers fly overhead…it's horrible."
The girls looked up at the cloudy sky, flashes of light brightening it every so often. Was it lightning? Or artillery flashes? Who knows.
Thunder flashed, and for a brief moment, she saw a man covered in a green cloak, his wings of freedom illuminated briefly.
She stood, ready to transform, but as soon as he appeared, he was gone.
Evangelica relaxed, and Stella looked at her in confusion.
"Are…you okay?" She asked.
Evangelica clutched her head, "Yeah…I'm fine."
Stella didn't believe it, but didn't press further. "What…do you think is going on in Paradis?"
It had been a day, and so far, Karl reported that nothing had come back from the Z90.
"The Z90 has probably been captured." Evangelica said honestly.
"Pessimistic much?" Stella joked, and Evangelica smiled at her.
"More like pragmatic."
Liberio
"Alright, Warriors!" Their instructor, a Sergeant. Berkeley shouted at them. "This is the beginning of your practical training! I hope you enjoyed your winter break, because you sure as shit needed it!"
For the past few months, all they had focused on was building up the Warrior's physical strength, and introducing them slowly to the various workings of the Warrior Unit.
Now, they were moving to their practical training.
"This right here is a Geshin 40!" He picked up a rifle. "This is the primary service rifle of the Marleyan Army. It fires 8 by 57 millimeter rounds. It was introduced in 840, thus the model number."
He picked up another one, "Right here is a Geshin 45, same caliber, but it has a higher rate of fire and is more accurate. All in all, an improvement over the 40."
He picked up yet another rifle, as he set the other two next to the rest. "This right here is a Karabinergewehr Model 850, or simply KG.50, it's a new type of rifle known as a carbine. It is a semi-automatic rifle, meaning it has a higher rate of fire than both Geshins. A special emphasis will be placed on this weapon, as it is the standard rifle of the Warrior Unit!"
Fine eyed the KG.50s.
"Now, I will teach you how to shoot these things! Pick one carbine and one clip of ammunition!"
The cadets approached the table, and in a single file line, picked up the KG.50s.
"These things…kill people." Falco muttered.
Gabi grabbed one, and swiftly loaded it with pride. Johanna listlessly stared down at one, and flipped it over, slamming the clip into it's position, she caught it mid-air before walking to the other armed cadets in a trail-arms position.
"Show off." Gabi muttered.
Fine picked one up, loaded it, and joined them, followed by Falco rushing behind her.
Gabi glared at the girls, who glared back.
"Alright! Now! Present arms by holding your rifle out right in front of you, barrel straight upwards!"
Fine, Falco, Johanna, and Gabi did it perfectly. Berkeley moved up and down the line, yelling at cadets who did it wrong.
"You call that present arms?! I've seen erect penises straighter than that!"
"Fix your stature cadet, oh wait, you're just that short!"
Berkeley thankfully only cast a glancing gaze in the direction of the quad, before nodding and moving on.
"In front of you are a series of targets! There is one for each of you, so I don't want anyone cross firing! In order to cock the rifle, there's a small handle on the side, you will pull back on that! Once done, you press the trigger and hope to hell that you hit something." Berkeley chuckled at his own joke.
"Begin!"
Gabi raised the rifle to her shoulder, and fired her first shot, landing a hit on the wooden dummy's foot. Firing again, she landed a hit on it's chest.
Suddenly, she heard a Crack!Crack!Crack! As someone rapidly fired their carbine.
Out of curiosity, she looked to her side, and gasped, Johanna had - in rapid succession - landed three direct hits on the training dummy's head, leaving three smoking holes in the wood.
"Not bad, Hajime!" Berkeley shouted, "The rest of you, take a look at that!"
Johanna showed a small, smug smile, as if to say "Beat that plebeians".
'I'll show you.' Gabi thought, gritting her teeth. Putting her rifle against her shoulder, she tried mimicking Johanna, only for her to bruise her shoulder after two shots due to the recoil.
"Crap!" She swore, clutching her shoulder.
"Don't be a dumbass Kadett Braun! The only thing you'll get from holding it like that is a recoil bruise!" Berkeley shouted, and several other Kadetts chuckled.
Gabi gritted her teeth, standing back up, she lined up the iron sights…and fired twice. This time, the managed to hit the dummy's neck, silencing their chuckles.
Berkeley nodded, "Much improved!"
"Honestly, that Gabi girl is such a show-off. She hurt herself just trying to one-up you." Fine complained.
Johanna quickly wrote: I could honestly care less about her.
"I think…she's pretty lonely." Falco said at last, "She sits alone every day, and the other cadets say she's just taking up space, since her cousin is already an Honorary Marleyan."
Fine fell silent, lots of people believed she was only qualifying to get the Warhammer Titan because she was a Tybur. Was that like what Gabi was going through?
Fine shook her head. No, Gabi didn't understand, how could she? At the end of the day, she was a Tybur, with her own set of duties to fulfill, they were different, there was nothing either of them could do about that.
"This is absurd!" An MP beside Nile yelled, "This is the Beast Titan we're talking about! He turned the people of Ragako into titans and hunted the Scouts to near extinction!"
"Zeke Jaegers singular goal has been to steal the Founding Titan. However, now that stealing it by force has failed, he is attempting to acquire it through diplomatic means." Premier Zachary remarked.
"Yes, and he also knows that we will assume that. Regardless, I would still like to hear what he has to say." Pyxis said calmly.
Hanji nodded, "He claims to have an actionable plan that will resolve all of Paradis's problems at once. To carry out said plan, we would need two key assets, the Founding Titan and a titan of Royal Blood."
"Presumably, he is referring to himself and Eren." Alto noted,
"We can assume that, yes." Hanji nodded, "He also states he will only reveal the details of his plan once his conditions have been met."
"This proves we don't need Zeke at all!" One MP cried out, to the agreement of his comrades.
"I wish I could say that were true." Alto said quietly, "But the Anti-Marleyan Volunteers are led by Zeke. We can't ostracize their leader and expect the group to cooperate. Not to mention, Zeke and the Volunteers may have contacts in the outside world that we can exploit."
"Hold on, Lord Burke, with all due respect, are you saying that you trust them?"
"We can't let those Marleyan soldiers roam around freely! If we were smart, we'd hang them!"
"No." Historia stood, "That's hardly an option. Not with all the technology and knowledge they're offering us. Right now, our only option is to play their game…"
Z93
"This - kzzz- This is the Z90 - kzzz - please respond! Requesting immediate aid!" The radio squaked with chatter
"This is the Z93! What's your situation?"
"Thank goodness! Our ship ran aground and we need help!"
"We're coming immediately!" The radioman dropped his headset and ran to the bridge.
Alto watched as the ships - apparently the destroyer Z93 and the light cruiser Arbuckle, approached the shoreline, driving straight for the cove, where Pak.40s could keep a near 180° field of vision from their concealed positions.
"Hey!" A Marleyan soldier called out to the beached Z90, "You alright?! We're coming to pick you up!"
"Keep it down, the devils might hear you!" His comrade hissed
Suddenly, a green flare shot up from behind the Z90, and without warning, a massive explosion rose out from under the water as the Colossal Titan revealed itself.
"It's the devils!" The 'crew' of the Z90 shouted, "Swim for it!"
Too panicked to question it, the Marleyan crews of the Z93 and Arbuckle quickly ditched their ships and swam for the coast.
The first Marleyan soldier gasped for air as he scampered up the rocks, only to come face to face with the wrong end of an Anti-Titan cannon.
"Welcome to our island of devils." A metallic chill pressed itself against his neck, a gun.
"You'll love it here, as long as you enjoy pig piss. Of course, feel free to leave. But we'll be taking your ships, so you'll be swimming back home."
One week later…
"-so if you wire that here…" Onyakapon finished reassembling the radio. "It should work just fine now!"
Sure enough, once he tuned it, he could pick up a bit of chatter from the few prototypes and captured radios on the island.
"Oooh~ neat!" Hanji looked at it with an almost childlike wonder.
"By the way, Onyakapon." Sasha asked him, "Why is your skin so dark?"
The room fell silent at the question, then Onyakapon gave her a smug smile. "It's because our creator thought the world would be more interesting if there were many kinds of people in it. Even you Subjects of Ymir exist for this exact reason, because you are wanted."
"Wait, we were created?" Armin asked, "By who!?"
Onyakapon gave him a cryptic smile, "Who else but the same one who gave your Founder Ymir her power? It was God."
Official Flare Titan Wiki:
the-official-flare-titan .fandom. com
