NICHOLAS VERRELL: Each carrier is going to take about a year in-lore, so it'll be done by the end of this year.
Nobody here: Again, I'm still on the fence on whether I want those nations involved or save them for another story.
The armed forces: If Eldia gets nukes its two bombs on Liberio and Vienza (the Marleyan Capital) and its GG.
Mitras, Joint Military Headquarters - January 4th, 851
"Ridiculous!" One MP officer stood indignantly, "We should be interrogating this woman as we speak!"
"We have no idea whether this woman is actually a spy or not!" Hanji countered,
"She was caught near a secret testing facility! That on its own is grounds for arrest in Paradis, regardless of how things might work in the outside world!"
"Hanji is right." Rosalie stood, "We don't know whether or not this woman is a spy. We've had her things and living space combed by MPs, Scouts, and Gehemdist Agents alike - for all intents and purposes, we've found nothing indicating she's a spy. Not even a weapon. So she's either doing a good job at disposing evidence or she's genuinely a foreign citizen who got too curious for their own good."
This triade had been going on back and forth for the past thirty minutes or so. The subject was - of course: the fate of one Caterina Stardust. While it was fairly routine to immediately pass Marleyan spies to the Gehemdist and let them take the appropriate measures, investigation of the woman had raised some serious concerns about whether she was or was not a spy at all.
"On top of that, there is now the issue of foreign mass media and international relations to consider. One false move and we could very well set Paradis back to 850 when it comes to foreign relations." Pyxis added. "At worst, we could trigger a war between ourselves and the foreign nation known as the 'Western Union'."
"Why don't we just try calling them?" Finally, the one who had remained silent throughout the whole occasion spoke up, Armin.
"Calling them?" Hanji questioned, turning to Alexander, "Can we…do that?"
"I think some of the companies from the Union laid phone lines from Paradis back to the West." Hanji said thoughtfully, "So probably."
Caterina couldn't help but sigh at her predicament.
'Well…I can't exactly say it isn't even my fault.' She thought to herself. Paradis was a nation with many enemies, of course they were paranoid of foreign spies. And being the well-versed journalist she was, she was more than aware of Marley's practices of sending titans to the island.
It wasn't like she was being treated exceptionally badly either, her room was locked with the windows barred, and two guards stood vigilant outside her door at all times. But other than that, she was otherwise treated humanely.
'I hope this doesn't become permanent…' It would only prove everyone at home right if this embarrassing fiasco was to come out. Caterina could only imagine what they would say:
"What a silly little girl, getting herself arrested the second she steps out of the country. She should've stayed at home."
"What an embarrassment to our company. It was a mistake appointing a woman to be a foreign correspondent."
She shook her head, no, this needed to be resolved quickly if she wanted to exit this situation with any sort of dignity left.
The cabal of Eldian officers crowded around the phone as a single MP ensign made the call.
"What was their number again…?"
"Try 784-283-9482?" One officer suggested, and the Ensign nodded. Dialing in the numbers.
"Hello? You've reached the Neu Lorien Operating Center, how may I help you?" A woman politely stated.
"What's an Operating Center?" One Garrison officer hissed,
"Shush!" Another shot at him, "We don't want to seem like a bunch of hicks."
"Er…we'd like to talk to the…" The MP fumbled for the buisness card they'd looted from Caterina "G.N.C Paradis Correspondence team?"
At first, the Operator was silent as they rustled through the phone book. Before finally saying:
"Apologies for the wait. We'll patch you through immediately."
Brocar Statfield was sitting in his chair, reading over one of Caterina's drafts.
"Useless." He scoffed, "Absolutely useless." He tossed it aside.
"Why didn't I pick someone else…" He groaned, "Someone more reliable than a woman."
"Excuse me, Mr. Statfield?" A secretary tentatively came in,
"Make it quick…" He snapped,
"Yes, well, there's a call for you. Apparently, its from Paradis?"
"What is she going to gripe about now…" Brocar sighed, "Send it through." He said, picking up the telephone at his desk. The secretary nodded.
"Hello? Is this the GNC?" A male voice said,
'This isn't Caterina!' Statfield realized in surprise.
"Who is this?" Brocar demanded,
"We're with the Royal Government of Paradis." The man said simply, "We wanted to know if a 'Caterina Stardust' was a part of your company."
'Caterina? Why would they need to vet her identity? Unless she's gotten herself into some kind of trouble…' He sighed, 'I could say I don't know her…no, that'll cause problems if this turns into an incident of some kind, and it'll be my head on the chopping block. I should try resolving this quickly before it gets any higher.'
"Yes. Caterina Stardust is a correspondent assigned to Paradis. Has she done something? I'm sure we can compensate-"
"...Thank you sir." With that, the phone went dead, leaving Statfield very confused and worried about what this mysterious caller wanted with the GNC.
The MP ensign sighed, and Hanji slapped him on the back. "That settles it! She can't be a spy!"
"I have to agree with Hanji on this one." Rosalie nodded, "Either this is one very elaborate operation or we've detained an innocent person. And according to our Hizurian sources - the Westerners are isolationists without a dedicated intelligence network, meaning its unlikely they'd go to such lengths to spy on us."
Pyxis sat back down on a nearby seat, "Still, this revelation has left us trapped in another dilemma. We've detained a foreign civilian."
"...Aren't we looking at this the wrong way?" Armin suggested, "This woman is a reporter, right? Maybe we can ask her to do a story?"
At first, everyone was silent. Then Hanji laughed, "Of course! Leave it to Armin to see the best in any situation." She threw her arm around him, causing him to look down abashedly.
"I mean…she might not agree but it's worth a shot…" Armin said,
"Only Armin…" Eren chuckled quietly,
Without warning, the door to Caterina's room finally unlocked. Causing her to look up in surprise.
"Yo!" A goggles wearing woman entered the room cheerfully, "Name's Hanji, sorry about this mess. We managed to confirm your identity and well…" Hanji scratched her head abashedly, "It seems we kind of messed up."
Caterina was too shocked to respond, this - by all intents and purposes - wasn't how she was planning to get out of this cell.
"Anyway, you're good to go." Hanji helped her up, and she looked around in confusion, but everywhere she looked, there was no sign of deceit.
"Although, you're a reporter right?" Hanji threw her arm around the girl, causing her to yelp in nervousness.
"Yeah…?" Caterina nodded,
"Well, we have an offer…"
In the span of about two days, Caterina had gone from a nobody reporter to sitting in front of one of the most famous yet mysterious figures in the international community, Alto Burke.
"So…let me get this straight." Caterina scratched her head, "You want me to do a report on you guys?"
"You are the foreign correspondent for our island, correct? An article from you would be invaluable to our public relations." The blonde boy she learned was Armin explained.
"I suppose." Caterina replied, inside, she was practically squealing. 'This was it! It was the chance she had been waiting for! She was sitting in front of a celebrity and getting the chance to interview them!'
"Great! How soon do you think you can start?" Hanji leaned towards her,
"Er…Immediately, as soon as my stuff can be retrieved. I had a camera and my notepad." Caterina explained,
"Great! Floch!" Hanji snapped her fingers,
"Huh? Why me?" He pointed at himself,
"Help a girl out, would you?" Hanji pleaded with her usual enthusiasm.
Floch scratched his head, "Fine I guess." He grumbled before departing from the room.
Once Caterina and Floch had set everything up, Caterina had her first interview participant in front of her. None other than Connie Springer.
"So…you just ask me questions then you'll write my answers and send them to your bosses?" Connie asked,
"A…bit oversimplified, but…yeah you could say that." Caterina said, "Anyway, we're here to talk about you. Connie, you're a Scout right? A member of the Eldian Special Operations Squad…can you tell me about Marley's first invasion?"
"Marley's…first invasion? You mean they've done this before?!" Connie said incredulously,
"Er…don't you remember? When Marley first attacked your island?" Caterina clarified,
"Oh, you mean the Breach at Shiganshina. Sure, I'll tell you about it. But you know - Armin would be way better for things like this. The guy is really smart and he was there when Shiganshina fell. You know there was this one time-"
"Yes!" Caterina cut him off, "I'm sure that's all very interesting…Mr. Springer, but can you keep to the task at hand?"
"Oh, right - sorry, sorry." He scratched his head.
'This is going to be a long series of interviews…'
As the minutes turned into hours, even Floch was beginning to show signs of exhaustion with the various antics of Levi Squad with him having become Caterina's de-facto assistant throughout the process.
"Well…if you don't mind me saying - this would at the very least make a good newspaper comic." Caterina said mirthlessly,
If she was being honest, she found it very difficult to believe that these people were the same people responsible for beating the sole greatest military power on Earth.
To start, when they interviewed Hanji, the woman immediately somehow spun every question into a lecture on known Titan Biology or the latest advancements made by her Corps of Engineers. Caterina found her almost rabid in that sense. Not to mention, she lost all concept of personal space about five minutes into the interview.
Armin simply got stage fright and maybe had some form of PTSD exposed by the interview, constantly stuttering and repeating previous answers.
Eren Jaeger…was simply distant. His answers were vague and difficult to interpret, which was amazing considering how it was literally just recounting past events. Who knows, maybe a side effect of the Founding Titan. On top of that, he seemed…not quite there, not from a mental standpoint, but he seemed to be constantly daydreaming as the interview went on.
Erwin and Levi were - of course - either uninterested in or unable to attend the interview. Same with Alto and Historia, which - given their status as valuable members of Eldia's leadership - made a lot of sense.
"Then there's Connie, Sasha, and Jean…well, let's just say those three are Sui generis." Caterina finished.
"Sue…what?" Floch scratched his head,
"Forget about it. The point is - none of these interviews give me what I need. Hell, I threw the notes I took from Hanji away because I'm quite sure about half of the stuff she told me was classified. Why would I ever need to know how to build a Thunder Spear from scratch?"
"She told you how to build a Thunder Spear from scratch?" Floch asked,
"Not like I understood any of it anyway." Caterina sighed, "I mean…at this rate, I think interviewing you would be more productive."
"Huh." Floch said thoughtfully, "I mean…I was at both Trost and Shiganshina. I didn't know the Warriors as well…but I'd say I was friends with Jean and the others."
"Wait wait hang on- you're saying you're actually a veteran?" Caterina announced,
"Now that you say that…yeah I guess so."
"Why didn't you tell me?!" Caterina ran up to him,
"You didn't ask." Floch said offhandedly, "It's not like I feel incentivized to publicize every single experience I had."
"Ugh, I would've at least liked a hint that you we're someone important!" Caterina groaned, but Floch winced at that.
"Yeah…important." Floch scratched his head, but before he could respond further, Caterina dragged him into the seat.
"What are you doing…?!" Floch asked suddenly,
Caterina immediately whipped out her notepad and pen, before giving Floch an almost maniacal gleam,
"I'm interviewing you, of course."
January 5th
Brocar Statfield yawned as he made his way into the G.N.C building, dully greeting the secretaries and various suck-ups with sleepy waves and exhausted replies.
"Excuse me, Mr. Statfield - another telegram came in, from Ms. Stardust."
"Another batch of excuses?" He asked, picking up one of the freely available jugs of coffee and poured it in his cup.
"No, an article." The secretary handed the paper over, and Statfield snatched it into his hands as he drank his coffee.
"No doubt something unusable-" Statfield said as he began reading.
The following second, Brocar Statfield proceeded to spew exactly three and a half ounces worth of coffee across the hall.
"How in the world…did she get something like this!" He raised the paper up as if it was a piece of the Gospel.
'Caterina Stardust…you might have some use after all!'
January 8th - Mitras
The next few days saw a complete 180° turn-around in Caterina's life. For one, her newest article about the First Paradis Island Operation saw massive commercial success across the world. Even seeing copies make their way back to Paradis.
From there, it seemed like a straight ride upward from there. G.N.C officially purchased a building for her to stay - and even gave her a small news team of her own that came in via an airship yesterday. And she had essentially become the de-facto Head Correspondent for Paradis, nothing happened without her knowing about it.
'Speaking of things happening…'
"Ms. Caterina…!" A red-haired girl named Winter Hepburn came up to her, "A whole lot of cars are passing through right now!"
"Winter." Caterina said laxedly, "There are always cars."
"Yes, but these are different! It looks like a motorcade and its heading to the Joint Headquarters!"
"A motorcade…?" Caterina finally sat up, "That is unusual." She noted, most officers weren't so quick to use such long trains of cars. Especially with their scarce availability on the island, meaning that this had to be something important.
"Winter, get Sam and all our equipment." Caterina ordered, "I don't think this is something we want to miss."
By the time Alto had reached the Headquarters, anxious officers were already waiting for them.
"Thank god you arrived sir. HQ is in chaos." One stated as he moved to match Alto's brisk walk.
"There wasn't much time to talk. All I heard was something about Marley. Have they sent another ship?"
"No but…" The officer trailed off, "I think its better if you see for yourself."
Behind the motorcade, the G.N.C car pulled up and immediately, Caterina got out, but was almost instantly stopped by two MPs.
"Hey! This is officers only!" One said harshly,
"Beat it foreigner!" The other matched his partners tone.
"I'm a reporter, I should be allowed inside." Caterina said cooly.
"I didn't hear anything. And weren't you arrested some days prior?" The MP began approaching Caterina closer,
'Right…I forgot that was only a few days ago.' Caterina scrunched her nose.
"Let her through." An authoratative voice popped up from behind them, and the MPs stepped aside to reveal Floch.
"Floch…but…!"
"She isn't a threat to anyone. And she's a reporter." Floch took Caterina's hand and led her through the gathering of soldiers, her crew following close behind.
"I didn't know you had company." Floch said finally.
"They came yesterday. Sam is our cameraman, Winter is my assistant." Caterina briefly introduced the two, "What's going on?"
"I don't know. All I heard is something about Marley."
"Marley? Have they invaded?" Caterina asked anxiously,
"I doubt they'd be that stupid, but there's still alot we don't know." Floch said, "We better head inside - come on."
"It's a trap." One Garrison officer said at last. "It has to be."
"I can't possibly fathom a motive for this." Alexander added, "Inviting you to this event is essentially granting Paradis official recognition as a nation. And that's the last thing Marley could want."
"Can we get the Hizurians on the line?" Kassandra asked,
"No. That is a clear sign of weakness, and the Kaiserreich can obviously not appear as weak, not even to our allies." Another officer stated,
After a few minutes, Floch, Caterina, and her news crew quietly slipped in.
"Ah, Lady Caterina." Hanji greeted them, "Glad to see that you made it."
"Not even sure if I'm supposed to be here but Floch helped me in…" She gestured to Floch, who nodded.
"Regardless, we could use your help as an unbiased foreign reporter." Hanji pushed her forward, "This is Caterina Stardust, a foreign reporter staying in Paradis. If this is really such the event Alexander claims it is - then Caterina must know about it."
Caterina began to sweat, "Hanji…I just got here, I barely know whats going on…"
"Alright, so - earlier today, we officially recieved our first communication from the nation of Marley."
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