Colonel Richardson raised a hand to his temples and massaged his head. In the two weeks since the trial by combat and the Wallfolders acceptance of the treaty with the Imperium of Man, he had had his work cut out for him preparing both his forces and those of the Wallfold for the Crusade to reclaim Wall Maria. The supplies were being stockpiled and the Wallfolders had begun a massive recruitment drive, but there was still a lot to be done.
It was a pain, but manageable. A bigger concern for him was the Adeptus Mechanicus. They were a shipload of trouble. They had split on whether or not to accept and to begin the manufacture of the new 3D Maneuver Gear. Beyond that, they were also divided on what to do about the Wallfolder soldier who had trashed the equipment during her impromptu weapons test. A lot of the Enginseers had demanded that she be converted a servitor, but he had overruled them on the grounds it might hurt relations with the locals.
However, the Mechanicus refused to be satisfied with that, so Richardson sentenced the offender, Mikasa was her name, to hard labor until she was needed for the assault on Wall Maria. That had placated the Mechanicus, but only after Richardson agreed to pay for the lost equipment out of his personal funds. It was fine, as he had nothing to really spend his lavish Navy salary on.
Now, however, he sent an order down to the work gangs on the lower deck to return Mikasa. The time for the assault was drawing near, and he didn't want to have one of the best native soldiers out of practice when it came time for the attack. After all, he wanted the locals to play as much of a part in reclaiming the walls as possible.
Richardson crossed his hands in front of his mouth. That was, after all, essential to his plans.
[x]
Mikasa sat silently on as the shuttle returning her to the world below entered the atmosphere. The craft shook somewhat, but she barely noticed.
What had driven her to destroy the Imperial equipment aboard the ship during the weapons test? Sure, she had wanted to see the power of the new weapon, but did she really want to see what was basically a fancy, faster firing, longer ranged, more destructive, highly compact, nearly recoilless, and easily transportable musket in action so badly?
She let out a slight sigh. What had she been thinking? If she had been executed, or worse, for destroying the imperial equipment, as several of the machine-men had made abundantly clear she should have been, who would protect Eren?
She had thought, when she discovered his ability to transform into a titan, that he might finally be able to look after himself. But that dream was struck down by the rapid blows of his inability to control himself, the reaction of the Kingdom to the discovery of Eren's Titan Powers, and the arrival of the Imperials and the revelation of the wider Galaxy.
She clenched a fist, and muscles in her forearms tightened, like bands of iron under her skin. The hard labor she had been sentenced to had been an effective workout routine, if nothing else, and Mikasa doubted she had ever been, in terms of raw muscle ability, stronger in her life. She had seemed to put on muscle more quickly during her time in the pits of the Imperial ship, but she had no idea if she was just imagining it.
Mikasa frowned as her thoughts drifted back to the event that had landed her in the pits in the first place. She had been in possession of an abundance of time to think while working, and the more she went over the event in her head, the more seemed wrong about it. Had she really been fully in control of herself during that incident.
Just give in. A voice whispered from somewhere inside her. Revel in the blood you could shed, and the skulls you could take. You're stronger than any of these worms. What are they to you, a true warrior?
Mikasa ignored the whisper. They had come to her a few times since the arrival of the Imperials, an outward expression of the bloody, emotional side of herself that she had suppressed long ago.
What is going on?
[x]
Eren looked dubiously at the various pieces of Imperial equipment scattered in the field around him, taking particular note of the massive, cannon-sized devices he was told were imaginatively named lascannons.
"So I'm... Just supposed to turn into a titan, right?" Eren said.
"Yes." One of the machine-men, whom Eren had learned were called Cogboys, said. Eren believed this particular Cogboy's name was Valerius, but they all looked more or less the same with their strange mechanical enhancements.
"So, how is this going to help us reclaim Wall Maria?" Eren asked.
"Every little bit of information helps us." Hanji said, looking at the Cogboy. "Isn't that right, Valerius?"
"Affirmative." Valerius said. "Everything we learn about the titans will help us to combat them better, and the more we know about your unique gift, the better we can exploit it."
"Alright, fine." Eren said. "What should my intention be?"
"How about stand still?" Hanji said. "We don't really need you to do anything for this test, we're just measuring the spectrum of radiation produced when you transform." Hanji looked away, then continued in a lower voice. "Of course, it would have helped if I had known there were more types of light than the kind you see with before these Imperials showed up."
"You cannot be held accountable for your ignorance." Valerius said. "You learned as well as your planet allowed you to. That is admirable."
"Can we get started with this thing?" Eren asked. "I have an appointment staring at my cell wall tonight, so I have places to be."
Valerius reached over and adjusted something on one of the machines. "We're waiting for you."
Eren looked down at his thumb and bit it. STAND STILL! He thought, putting his entire being into the words.
Energy began to rush through him. In an instant, he felt the incredible sensation of his body expanding and contracting at once. Lighting shot down from a clear sky, and his vision blacked out as he shot upwards.
[x]
Colonel Richardson poured himself a cup of high-quality recaf as he considered the most difficult problem facing him.
The Titan Shifters.
The locals had neglected to mention that some small fraction of the population were capable of transforming into titans. The titans they transformed into were prime physical specimens, vastly superior to the normal titans that infested Wallfolder's world.
Of course, this knee-jerk reaction to the Titan Shifters was that they were dangerous mutants, and should be purged in fire, by orbital bombardment if necessary. However, once he stopped to think, that reaction seemed... Extreme, if nothing else.
For one thing, from what examinations the Enginseers had been able to perform without a member of the Magos Biologis, the Titan Shifters hardly seemed like degenerate mutants at all. Secondly, they had been able to fit in with the population completely in their human forms, and the regiment's Primaris Psyker had been unable to find any trace of Chaos corruption in either titan shifter that had been discovered.
Colonel Richardson took a long sip of his recaf as he consider the most salient reason to sanction the existence of the Titan Shifters. Their Military Potential.
They could be transported as easily as a normal soldier, and required no additional resources, but were capable of unleashing considerable destructive power on command. Add in some armor and maybe a giant rifle, and you had a portable Battle Titan for a fraction of the cost.
As a result of that, Richardson gave leave for the Enginseers to begin testing on the Titan Shifters. If sufficient proof could be gathered that they were both useful and stable, perhaps they could be sanctioned and used by the Imperium.
Unfortunately, Richardson lacked the authority to sanction a strain of Mutant. He could, however, make use of one at his discretion, subject to higher review. But realistically, who was going to question him? Well, plenty of people might, but not many of them had a full regiment of the Imperial Guard at their command. And of those with the authority to be a real threat, like the Inquisition, well, the Titan Shifters might be of even more interest.
However, he would have to tread carefully. Captain Augustus, the only person in the system who realistically matched his power, had remained silent on the matter of the Titan Shifters, leaving Richardson in the position to act more or less as he pleased, for now, but that situation wouldn't last forever.
Richardson took another sip of recaf and turned his mind to more pleasant matters. Production of the C.O.R.E. SMG had begun using the manufacturing facilities abroad the ship and local materials, traded for Imperial medical supplies at a very generous ratio, and the process of arming at least the Scouting Legion with the new weapons, and to a less extent, the new maneuver gear, was well underway.
The Military Police had kicked up a storm about not getting the new weapons first, but Richardson had pointed out that it made sense for the best soldiers to get the best weapons, and that the Recon Corps, with the most experience fighting the titans, were the best soldiers in this situation.
Richardson took another long sip of recaf. It was almost time to begin the assault, and things were proceeding nicely.
[x]
Hanji looked over the data feeds coming in from the equipment scanning the transformed Eren. She didn't know what all of it meant, but in the two weeks since she had resumed her work on Eren, this time with Imperial assistance, and she had learned much of the Imperial science. Still, there were whole libraries she had yet to learn. It was like she had come across a puddle, thinking it to be the sea, and lived there all her life, only for the ocean to suddenly come bursting in.
She looked at one of the screens through her Imperial-made eyeglasses. They had been a gift from the Commander of the Imperial force, and he said they were nearly indestructible, and improved her vision much more than her old pair.
"Valerius." She said, pointing at a line of the data feed. "Does this mean what I think it means?"
"By the Omnissiah." Valerius said. "This confirms it. Whatever this Eren is doing, the Warp is somehow involved."
"That's bad, right?" Hanji asked.
Valerius gestured with one of his mechanical tendrils. "Not necessarily. It makes sense, and certainly explains where the extra mass of Eren's titan from comes from. However, it could mean that he is a psyker, and thus prone to daemonic influence and Warp corruption. Has Eren or the other Titan Shifter shown any signs of that?"
"Insanity, mutation, diabolical evil?" Hanji said, raising her glasses and rubbing her eye. "No, nothing like that."
"Fascinating." Valerius said. "This merits further study. How have these Titan Shifters managed to avoid becoming corrupted by the Warp, if they touch its power?"
"I don't know." Hanji said. "Maybe they just regenerate the corrupt bits?"
"Most unlikely." Valerius said. "Warp corruption is not merely physical."
"Well, I have no idea." Hanji replied. "However, it seems clear that neither Eren nor Annie is corrupted by Chaos."
"The regiment Psykers were unable to find any trace of corruption when examining the Shifter for Mutation." Valerius said. "This is truly an interesting situation."
"But what about the upcoming attack on Wall Maria?" Hanji asked. "Will you approve Eren for participation in the mission?"
"I see no reason not to." Valerius said. "But we must watch Eren and the other carefully. If they show any sign of corruption..."
[x]
Eren sat in his cell, exhausted from the long day of testing. He had stayed in Titan form for hours, while Hanji and Valerius collected tissue samples, blood samples, scanned his body, and did other things they hadn't bother to explain.
He looked at the other prisoner in the cell across from him. Annie.
"Did you know?" He asked.
She remained silent.
"How long have you known about your titan shifting ability?" Eren asked.
Annie said nothing.
"Fine. Don't talk." Eren said, turning away.
"Eren!"
Eren bolted upright. It was Mikasa. She was running down the corridor toward him, scarf flapping behind her. She was being escorted by a Scouting Legion soldier, who was struggling to keep up with her. Eren stood up and sprang to the front of his cell, placing his hands on the bars as Mikasa approached.
"Mikasa!" He said. "Where were you."
"I was being punished." Mikasa said. "I took action that offended the Imperials. It is fine now."
"Have you heard about the new 3D Maneuver Gear the Imperials are making for the legion?" Eren said. "And the new weapons?"
Mikasa nodded.
"We're going to reclaim Wall Maria, too, with Imperial help!" Eren said, almost shouting. "We're going to butcher the titans!"
"Don't put yourself in danger while I'm away." Mikasa said.
"I'm going to be at the spearhead of the attack." Eren said. "Along with that Typhoon Prince. We're going to slice through the densest concentrations of Titans so the rest of the formation can advance."
Mikasa took a step backwards, eyes widening. "Eren..."
"What are you worried about, Mikasa?" Eren said.
"Eren... what if we lose?" She said, looking away from Eren.
"We have to try. We can't just let the titans keep Wall Maria. We have to show that we aren't cattle."
"When is the assault?" Mikasa asked.
"Two days from now."
[x]
"Alright gentlemen, this is the plan." Mephisto said, looking over his squad. "We're going to help these people take their wall back, and this is how we're going to do it."
He pointed at the screen behind him, which showed multiple arrows of different colors and sizes organized into a 'V' shape.
"Our attack will be led by the Typhoon Prince and the Titan Shifter. Behind that will follow the Scouting Legion troops with the new Maneuver Gear in Chimeras, along with half of the tanks. We, as an armored fist platoon, will be behind that section of the advance, mixed in with a bunch of the locals on horses. We will smash the resistance, and they follow behind us to mop up."
He looked around at the assembled men. It felt good to be a soldier again. "Any questions?"
[x]
Flight Lieutenant Stevenson Selverious looked over the controls of his Avenger Strike Fighter as he crossed Wall Rose and out over the Trost District.
"Prepare to engage the enemy." The flight leader sent over their tactical network.
"Roger that." Stevenson responded, pressing down on his throttle.
The formation of five Avengers, each armed with an Avenger Bolt Cannon, two lascannons, and two missile launchers, flew over Trost and across the outer wall.
"Titan sighted." One pilot said. "Fifteen meter, bearing forty degrees left."
"Engaging." Stevenson said, and rolled his plane out of formation toward the titan.
He drew a bead on the upper chest of the titan, armed each of his weapons, and pressed the firing studds.
His craft shook as the Avenger Bolt cannon opened up, then jolted as the missile launchers and Lascannons fired.
The titan's upper body was reduced to a mess of steaming meat as the bolt rounds struck and exploded. Then the lascannon beams arrived. The blew massive chunks out of the titan and sent a shower of blood across the plain in front of it. The missiles arrived, smashing into the titan and blasting off chunks of its body.
Stevenson fired a second burst from all his weapons, and the upper half of the titan vanished. It fell to its knees, then fell forward, smoking.
As Stevenson flew over the titan he had just destroyed, he spotted a smaller one and engaged it.
The titan vanished in a haze of explosions.
"Conserve your ammo, Stevenson." The flight leader sent. "We have a lot of titans to kill."
Stevenson smiled.
[x]
Eren looked up at the boulder blocking the Trost Gate. It was a shadow of its former self, as Imperial mining engineers had dug out a large portion of it. It was now only a foot or so thick, and dotted with shaped charges.
Eren stood alone. Some distance to his left, the massive machine of the Typhoon Prince stood still, looking at the gate.
The charges detonated, sending a shower of rock outwards into the gateway. A few shards flew backwards toward the waiting soldiers, one of which cut Eren across the face. He smiled. GO TO BATTLE.
Energy rushed through him, and lighting shot down from the heavens. Incredible energy shot through Eren, and he shot upwards. This time, however, he remained conscious, and felt a brief, bizarre instant as his body became his titan.
He looked around as the smoke from his transformation cleared. The gate was open before him. He looked at the waited from of the Typhoon Price, who nodded. Eren raised his fist in an unmistakable signal.
CHARGE!
[x]
As Valkyrie Assault Carriers soared overhead, the combined forces of the Garrison, Recon Corps, and the 33rd Alkanian Grenadiers poured through the opened gate. The forces, mounted on Chimeras and horses, flowed through the gate like sand in an hourglass, spreading out to assume formation in the wake of the Titian Shifter and Imperial Knight.
Eren looked around at the forces spreading out behind him as he charged alongside the Typhoon Prince. Never, in the more than a month of Titan Shifting tests, had he felt so lucid in his titan from.
Three small titans, ranging from three to five meters tall, walked out of the ruins of a village that hugged the walls. Their cover and small stature had protected them from the air strike, but that wouldn't save them now.
"Leave them to me!" The Typhoon Prince said, his voice booming over his vox casters.
The Prince raised his rapid-fire battle cannon and fired a shot at the approaching titans. The shell shot through the air and struck a three-meter titan dead-on, blowing it apart. Even as remnants of his first target were hitting the ground, the Prince was shifting targets, drawing a bead on the next titan.
He fired, and the shell detonated at the feet of the titan, blowing its legs backwards and sending it faceplanting into the ground. As clouds of steam rose from the slain titans, the third creature, a four-meter beast, roared and charged the advancing human line.
The Typhoon Prince charged forward to meet it. His ripper chainsword flashed, and the titan's head went flying, separate from its body. The titan crumpled, its weak spot destroyed by the blow.
Eren advanced as well, moving toward the fallen titan. He stood over the monster and raised his foot, and with a flash of deju vu, brought his heel down on the nape of the beast's neck and ground it into the dirt.
As he finished off the fallen titan, the human ranks slowed their advance as the chimera transports flowing out of the gates gave way to a tide of men on horseback. Finding enough fit horses to mount eight thousand Garrison soldiers, nearly four fifths the organization's fighting strength, had been difficult, as had training so many men to use their 3DMG from horseback.
However, some farsighted commander had foreseen the possibility of Imperial assistance reclaiming the lost wall, and had begun training his troops in mobile 3D maneuver warfare as soon as it became clear that the Imperials were not hostile. They weren't as skilled as the hardened men and women of the Recon Corps, nor did they have any Imperial-made equipment, but they were bodies that the assault force desperately needed. Imperial trade goods oblivated the cost of acquiring the needed horses, and Chimeras carried the balance of the Garrison troopers.
As the mounted men exited the walls, Eren, from his high vantage point, could see the human forces assuming a vast, if rough, formation, a massive arrow, the tip crimson red with the uniforms and vehicle pain of the Grenadiers.
Eren roared once, for encouragement, and resumed his advance alongside the Typhoon Prince. As they moved forward, the tide of mounted men changed back to Chimeras, carrying the remainder of the Imperial soldiers who had not been included in the elite spearhead.
Red flares fired from the center and edges of the formation, and the human army began its advance. As it did so, Eren spotted a group of titans in the distance, moving with purpose toward the human ranks. There were several large titans in the group, many over ten meters tall.
Eren roared again, and the Typhoon Prince revved his chainsword. They charged to meet the titan's advance.
[x]
Mikasa sat silently on the roof of the Chimera, alongside the rest of her squad, the short untied ends of her scarf flapping in the breeze cast by the speed of the vehicle's travel. It was keeping time with the horses for now, but the animals couldn't maintain their speed forever, while this mechanical steed, so long as it was supplied with fuel, could.
The plan, naturally, took that into account. Erwin was a masterful strategist, and from what she had heard while in the work pits, the Imperial leader was no slouch. Given a recent discovery that the titans became less active at night, the reclamation force had set out in the early afternoon. They planned to make camp in the night, digging in under the cover of the Imperial gunships. They would then leave before sunrise the next day. If everything went according to plan, they would arrive at the gates of Shiganshina at dawn.
She ran a hand over the new, Imperial-made, maneuver gear on her belt. It was, if nothing else, a substantial improvement over the original. She had only had a few days to acclimate to it, but she already saw the advantages. The Grav-chute technology it included greatly increased a user's maximum safe impact speed, and the thrusters it possessed made taking off on level ground easy, as well as making possible insane midair maneuvers.
The coginator controlled targeting made it easier to focus on maneuvering rather than on aiming with the device, and the improved control suite was a wonder to work with. There were a million other little things that made the device simply better than the old 3DMG, such as the improved reach of electrogravitic grappling system, improved power supply, and the ability to attach to a wider array of surfaces.
Still, however, Mikasa missed the feel of her old 3DMG for some reason. She knew the new one was better, but she couldn't shake the nostalgia.
Mikasa reached down to her belt with her other hand and touched the other new addition to her kit. The C.O.R.E. submachine gun. The weapon was fresh from the foundries aboard the Imperial ship, and Mikasa had a sneaking suspicion that she had helped manufacture some of the weapons during her stay as a penal laborer.
It felt odd to be fighting titans carrying a firearm, even one that was technically nothing of the sort. The Scouting Legion soldiers normally carried only their swords and signaling pistols, not long guns. Those were the forte of the Garrison and Military Police, those likely to come into conflict with other humans.
It was comforting to have the firepower to fall back on, and Mikasa had already thought of a dozen strategies to use the rapid-firing, powerful weapon against the titans. However, she was uncomfortable with what it represented. Word among the troops was that soon, they would be boarding the Imperial starship and traveling to the stars to fight in the Imperium's wars.
Mikasa wasn't sure how she felt about that. On one hand, they would definitely owe the Imperium a debt of gratitude of this operation to reclaim Wall Maria succeeded, one that would be difficult to repay. On the hand, Mikasa had no interest in fighting someone else's wars, and she was sure that many of the other troops of the Recon Corps and Garrison felt likewise.
She looked up at Eren, in titan from, in the near distance. She was worried about him. If they went to war among the stars, the Imperium would undoubtedly be keen to employ Eren's unique abilities.
That was the problem. Eren was powerful in titan from, but she had heard of the awesome destructive power of Imperial weaponry, and seen some Imperial artillery crews drilling for the attack. Eren, she estimated, would be strong in their world, but far from the invincible behemoth he had been in the days before the Imperial arrival.
In fact-
"Titans sighted!" Someone on another of the Chimeras shouted. "South by southwest, range two kilometers!"
Mikasa sprang to her feet, stable despite the rocking of the Chimera beneath her. Titans, particularly large ones, could close the two kilometer distance faster than one would expect, and a large group could disrupt the formation.
The vox caster that had been hastily mounted on the roof of the Chimera crackled. "Alright, ladies and gentlemen, we'll be taking a slight detour to destroy these titans. We'll be providing fire support, but you gents will have to do the actual killing, unless they detach a few tanks from the column to support us."
The Chimera turned beneath them, and Mikasa's vehicle, along with five others, drove to engage the incoming titans. A month ago, the odds would have been considered suicide, but with Imperial fire support and the newly improved maneuver gear, the commanders of the advance felt confident that five squads of the scouting legion could take down the gaggle of titans.
[x]
The Chimeras covered the ground to engage the titans quickly, faster than Mikasa would have expected. She had felt them accelerate, and supposed that they were able to drive faster once free of the main column.
Mikasa could see the titans closing on the small unit, six chimeras, their associated soldiers, and one Leman Russ tank. There were eight titans, a fifteen meter, two twelve meters, a ten meter, three seven meters, and a five meter class.
Mikasa took a deep breath, stepped up on top of the turret of the Chimera, and activated her Maneuver gear, C.O.R.E. SMG in hand. She flared her back thrusters and jumped, activating her grapples in midair.
She targeted the face of the lead titan. Instead of wires, due to some freak of atmospheric chemistry, two tendrils of lighting reached out from her hips and struck the titan in the face. Mikasa was jerked upwards, aiming her SMG.
Mikasa let fly with a burst of lasfire, ruby-red bolts streaking out toward the face of the tallest titan. They struck, destroying first one eye, then the other is explosions of flesh and steam. As the titan reached toward its face, Mikasa switched targets, grappling towards the seven-meter titan on the edge of the formation.
She twisted in midair, firing her thrusters to make almost a right-angle turn. Mikasa now flew parallel to the group of titans, gyros working to turn her body to face them. She, and her squadmates behind her, raked the titans with fire as Mikasa removed along the formation, blasting chunks of flesh out of the monsters.
As Mikasa reached the end of the line of titans, she fired her magnetic grapples toward the seven-meter at the edge of the group. With a jerk, she began flying along a circular path toward the titans, legs flying outward as the centrifugal force pushed her body parallel to the ground.
Mikasa reached a position behind the titans, then activated her grapples and began pulling herself toward the titans. She flew inward towards the monsters, dropping her C.O.R.E. SMG as she did so. It dropped to her combat harness across her chest, where small motors pulled it tight to her body.
She drew her swords as the titan came within metres. At the last second, she fired her thrusters to push herself to one side, the grappled in the other direction, pulling herself past the titan's weak point.
Her blades flashed, freeing a yard-long chunk of flesh from the monster. It went limp and dropped, steam pouring from its wound.
As the next titan in line, a twelve meter monster, turned to face her, Mikasa was already activating her thrusters, pushing herself toward the strike force. The titan's hand missed her by a hair, just as she had calculated, and slashed the wrist of the titan as she passed. The creature screamed as Mikasa's blade bit its flesh.
The monster extended its other hand toward Mikasa. She grappled its head, pulling herself above the titan's arm, flying toward its eyes. She landed on the bridge of its nose and slashed its eyes out then, still grappling herself toward the titan's head, began running upward, avoiding the titan's first as it smashed into its face.
Mikasa crested the head of the titan and jumped off, firing her thrusters to spin around in midair. She cut the titan's weak point out with a horizontal slash, jetting to the side as the titan began to drop.
The main gun of the Leman Russ roared, sending a shell hurling our toward the titans. At the same time, the multilasers of the Chimeras opened up, cutting into the titans with a hail of lasbolts.
The shell from the Leman Russ tank took the five-meter titan in the upper chest and exploded, ripping the creature apart.
Mikasa closed on the ten-meter titan, which roared as a fusillade of lasbolts struck it in the knees. It hesitated, uncertain, weather to turn toward the approaching soldier or the vehicles tormenting it. Mikasa made the decision for it.
She grappled the titan's head while pushing herself downward with her thrusters. She swung under titan's body and between its legs, slashing one of them as she did so.
Mikasa fired her forward thrusters to kill her forward momentum, then grappled upwards. She spun as she ascending, blue flame trailing from her thrusters. The girl sliced into the titan's neck like a lathe, spraying blood as its weak point was annihilated.
The rest of the squad advanced on the Titans from the other side, blades flashing as they cut into them. These were not the soldiers of only a few months ago, defying gravity with human ingenuity and pushing their bodies to the limits in the hopes of meeting the titans on equal ground.
These were the elite of the Recon Corps, now equipped with technology beyond easy human comprehension; dampeners to shield them from their own inertia, thrusters to free them from the dependance on their grapples, and computer assisted targeting to augment the capabilities of their formidable minds.
The main gun of the Leman Russ fired once again, obliterating the last titan. The members of the squad drifted to the ground, using their grappels to slow their falls, something that would have been impossible with the old gear.
"We've secured this area." Mikasa said. "We need to re embark on our transports an move out."
"Agreed." Her second said. "We have a hundred kilometers to cover, and there are going to be a lot of titans draw to the noise of this column."
"Bring em on!" One soldier said, holding his steaming blade in the air. "The titans don't stand a chance against us with this new gear!"
Mikasa smiled. Maybe he was right.
[x]
The interior of the Valkyrie was unusually still as it glided down towards the wall of the Shiganshina district.
"Thirty seconds, gentlemen." The pilot said over the intercom.
Trajan swallowed and looked over everything in his mortar kit one last time. Everything was present. The operation would go well. The commanders weren't crazy, trying to make green troops fight monsters like these titans.
The plan was simple. As many troops of the Imperial Guard as possible would load up in Valkyrie Assault carriers and be flown directly to the Shiganshina district. They would deploy on top of the walls, where recon claimed there would be no titans, and deploy heavy weapons teams. From there, they would engage the large concentration of titans in the city, clearing it out for the main assault force.
On paper, there was no way the titans could reach them. However, they were deploying unsupported into enemy territory, hoping that the titans wouldn't find a way to reach them. It was probably crazy, but given the small number of soldiers being put at risk, it was probably a good maneuver.
With a jolt, the Valkyrie came in for a landing on top of the ten-meter-wide wall. WIth a clang, the assault ramp dropped. Wordlessly, the squad stood up from their seats and began to charge down the assault. Trajan was the last man out.
He stormed onto the top of the wall and looked around in amazement, hands going slack on his lasgun. Logically, he knew he had been far, far higher than this before, but he had never been in such an open space. There was air all around him.
Looking around, he could see double tracks of slightly rusted rails running across the top of the walls. Plants grew here and there, and the stone appered to have crumbled in some places.
Trajan looked down at the city below him. It was a sad place.
It was clear that fires had ravaged some portion of it some time in the past. Those portions of it that weren't burnt had fallen into disrepair.
And through the streets were the titans. Titans of all heights and descriptions filled the city, standing silently.
"Alright men." The sergeant said. "Get that mortar and autocannon set up. High command says that we dial in our weapons on the titans in the city, but there is one district that we're not supposed to touch. At all. Any man who puts a round there gets KP for a year, and a transfer to a penal legion if he damages whatever they're looking for down there. Understood?"
"Yes sir!"
Trajan took off his pack and began supplying parts to the man assembling the mortar. The weapon came together in no time, and was quickly lobbing shells at the titans in the city below.
A few minutes later, the Valkyries took off with a roar. The squad held their fire, the resumed as soon as the transports were clear. The autocannon soon came to life, adding its notes to the song of destruction being wrecked on the city below.
Soon, the Valkyries returned, this time carrying crates of ammunition. Trajan was put to work carrying the ammo to the mortar teams, policing spent autocannon shells, and occasionally taking potshots with his lasgun at a titan that got too close to the base of the wall.
It went on for hours. The only major problem they ran into was the weapons overheating. Slowly, what was left of the city below began to crumble under the rain of shells. More titans began to advance from the breach in the walls, and autocannon teams were assigned to stem the tide of monstrosities.
"Hey!" Someone shouted, pointing towards the inner walls. "What's that?"
"I think its a dust cloud. You know, like when you get a lot of tanks together?"
"It's the attack column!" Trajan shouted. "They're here!"
[x]
Eren looked at the breach in Wall Maria. Five titans of various sizes lay disintegrating at his feet, steam rising from their corpses. The Imperial Knight stood on the other side of the breach, smoke rising from the barrel of his rapid-fire battle cannon.
The Chimeras carrying the Scouting Legion and elite Imperial Guard forces formed a line as they began driving through the breach. Smoke was rising above the walls, and Eren could make out human silhouettes atop the walls.
It seemed to take forever, but eventually Eren's turn came two walk through the breach. He walked under the walls and was home.
It was a hellscape. Burt and shattered buildings lay everywhere, and dead titans in various states of decomposition littered the streets.
As the Imperial forces poured into the city, Eren took off at a run. The Typhoon Prince hesitated for a moment, then took off after him.
It had been five years since he had been to this place, but Eren knew every twist an turn of the route by heart. He had travel this way too many times as a child to have forgotten it so easily. After a few minutes of running, he came to an area of the city that seemed less destroyed than the rest of the district. At his pace, it only took him a few seconds more to reach his destination.
The Typhoon Prince arrived a few moments later to see Eren frantically shifting aside piles of debris from a ruined building. It only took Eren a few seconds to finish moving the detritus, then he sat down.
The Typhoon Prince zoomed in on the back of Eren's neck, which was gushing steam like a cut core conduit. He watched in amazement as the back of the titan's neck split and the boy, dressed in his Scouting Legion uniform, emerged. The Prince shifted his knight into a kneeling position and began to disembark as Eren emerged
"This isn't a secured area!: The Prince shouted as Eren began climbing down from the neck of his titan. "What are you doing!"
"I've waited five years for this!" Eren said. "The key to defeating the titans is in my father's basement! We can't afford to waste another second!"
The prince drew his laspistol and followed Eren. From the month of interactions they'd had, the Prince knew that Eren was not easily dissuaded once he set a course. The Prince dashed across the open space between his knight and Eren's decaying titan form over to where Eren was approaching a door in the one remaining wall with a look of reverence on his face.
As the Prince approached, Eren drew something on a chain out from under his shirt. A key. He reached out toward the lock on the door an opened it. The door creaked open, revealing a dark staircase.
Eren began to climb down. The Prince, laspistol out, followed. There was a heavy oak door at the bottom of the stairs with a strange symbol carved into it. Eren reached out to push the door open. The Prince reached out to stop him, but Eren pushed the door open before he could.
The door opened with a creak, revealing a shadowy space beyond. Eren walked in, the Prince following him.
The second they entered, the lights blinked on. The Typhoon Price was nonplussed by this, but Eren was taken aback.
"What the-" Eren said, looking around.
"Automatic lighting." The Typhoon Prince said, looking around the now illuminated space.
It appered to be a laboratory of some kind, like those maintained by a few members of the Adeptus Mechanicus, though lower tech in many respects. There were long wooden tables holding equipment of all descriptions, though much of it was rusty and covered in dust.
As soon as the room lit up, Eren made a beeline for an open book on a podium at the back of the room. The Typhoon Prince ran after him and looked over his shoulder as he began to read.
To my dearest son, the book read, if you are reading this, the my contingency plan was activated, and I am almost certainly no longer with you. Do not blame yourself for what happened; the events of the past years have no doubt been tragic, but I have strived to make the best of them, and no doubt you have as well.
The Prince rested his gloved hand on Eren shoulder as he continued to read. Your Titan Shifting ability is my doing, as is your possession of the Coordinate. I had to sacrifice myself to grant you this ability, but it was for the best; I was never a stable vessel for either gift. You will be much more suitable.
There are no words that can convey how sorry I am, but though you have reclaimed wall Maria, your quest if far from at an end. Beings you can barely comprehend walk among the stars, and sooner or later one of them will turn a baleful eye to our world. We must expand beyond these walls and advance, or we will be devoured. Do not trust the King, he is but a puppet. I have left you a less stable form of the gift I granted you; look in the chest in the back left corner of the Lab. Grant this power only to those you trust but can afford to lose, as I have not had time to perfect the formula. Instructions are enclosed. You can trust Hanji to administer the formula, if she still lives. Do not trust those who are neither human nor Shifter.
This is short. War is coming, and it will never end. The night is endless, but seek the dawn. Act with honor, and honor will aid you. Life Before Death, Strength Before Weakness, Journey Before Destination.
Live well, my son.
It took the Prince several seconds to notice, but Eren was quietly sobbing.
"Let's check out that chest." The Typhoon Prince said, leading Eren to the corner of the room. There was a square iron-bound chest resting on the floor, with a handle on the top. With tears streaming down his face, Eren gripped the handle and lifted.
Inside were sixteen large bottles of blue green solution. Eren gasped.