"In this... new world, we encounter the same problems."
"Aggression."
"Down with the aggressors !"
"Barbarism."
"Down with the barbarians !"
"Those unable to appreciate the greatness of our liege."
"..."
"Degenerates," someone volunteered after a moment.
"Down with the degenerates !"
"Uncultured ! Uncivilized ! Brutes ! The thought of their vanity sickens me ! This land will vomit them up, and be given to others, their betters, more loyal, deserving, more worthy then them ! Are you those betters ?!"
l
(Rayshift Vault)
"Alright, last matters before we drop in... it's likely we will be entering a warzone, possibly even a battlefield. Be ready for anything." Gudao reminded the assembled Servants.
"If we happen to land in between American and British forces, the first priority will be to withdraw; the Singularity should be as large - or larger - than the res publica so there's no reason we can't escape. Actually, it would be very bad to engage either side before we know the ground events, so keep that in mind," Gudako added.
"Everything is prepared, you can head into the Coffins when ready," one of the operator homunculi working the Vault announced to the group after the Masters had finished their last briefing.
"Ok, you heard her, let's get it done."
(Somewhere in America)
"Well, this is a nice surprise," Nobunaga commented with a touch of irony while sweeping her high-perception sight over the surrounding landscape. "Nothing in sight, except a few wild animals."
Nearby, Artoria had brought out her two horses, which Jeanne and Sasaku were loading with the usual supplies. More specifically, the second Ruler was throwing things onto Lamrei and using some sort of magecraft trickery to get them to not only land in the right place, but also secure themselves somehow - because she was far too short to load a horse conventionally, even Artoria's noticeably shorter mare.
"Any leads on a leyline?" Gudao asked Scathach who was performing something like a dowsing ritual, but of course for density or better yet flows of environmental mana.
"No, but the concentration of ambient energy rises in that direction," the Caster pointed off in what might as well have been a random direction. "Perhaps we will find a node there."
"Might as well then," Marie commented as the Masters deftly mounted the now-loaded horses. Of course Gudao was riding Dun Stallion and Gudako Lamrei.
(A nearby city)
"A group coming from Bladensburg, they don't seem like the Queen's Redshirts," a sentinel reported. "Actually they don't even seem armed..."
"Rather bold of them," the acting commander of the defense raised an eyebrow, taking up a telescope to view the approaching party. "If they have come out for peace, take them alive; or if they have come out for war, take them alive."
"One moment," a military attache asked before taking a look himself. "If you wouldn't mind, might I go along with your men?"
"I can't guarantee your safety if they're actually armed and hostile," the commander replied.
"I doubt that will be an issue," the attache responded in turn, focusing the adjustable lens to get a better view of Marie. "They're not on the side of our enemies."
"Be that as it may, if they enter the city I cannot allow them to leave after having seen the defenses."
"I assure you if it comes to that they will comply with your requirements."
"Halt, travelers !" the patrol leader hailed the group of Chaldea without hesitation once in earshot.
"Will you allow me to speak to them first?" the foreigner among them asked the officer. "It would be ideal to not come up to them in arms."
The other looked askance at his decorated, but obviously war-ready saber. "Take your life in your own hands, then."
"I will." Adjusting his large and conspicuously flower-bearing hat, the Saber walked directly towards the Chaldeans at an even, steady, pace. After about a dozen steps, he had covered enough distance from the stopped patrol and the group to be intercepted that the humans behind him would not be able to hear a normal conversational voice thrown forward. But of course, Servants could.
"I greet you, Chaldeans," he said while raising a hand in obvious greeting and keeping his other one in clear view. At least he hoped that followed the correct formula. "Quite the turning point in history, wouldn't you say?"
"Oh, it's him ! Marie recognized the knight immediately. "And isn't that the flower we gave him as a present, Artoria?"
"That wasn't the present," the former-but-still-on-occasion Santa replied. "But if that d'Eon has the flower, it should mean they're... well at least one of those that encountered one of you."
"Well yes, but it is likely that he is the 'same' one as then, as links work that way," Scathach added. "But he doesn't seem to be part of that armed group even if he came up with them."
"This is good, we can just ask him for the details," Nobunaga got the team back on track. "Seems like we lucked out on the initial drop. And that city they came from has the high mana concentration, right? So we'd want in as well."
After pausing for a while and seeing no response, which he seemed to take as a positive response, d'Eon approached the Chaldeans before removing his hat, bowing to Marie and then the mounted Masters before replacing it.
"The soldiers back there have orders to take you to the commander," the chevalier informed them. "While I don't doubt you could take them, or just leave in any case, I was told to expect you and invite you into into the city."
"By who?" Marie asked.
"You, of course." The Saber brought out a letter, which he had been summoned with, and handed it to the Rider. "I believe this is will suffice as an introduction."
"Read it quickly," Nobunaga suggested. "Those men are looking a bit angsty now but they won't be so hesitant forever."
Nodding, Marie quickly broke the seal on the letter and scanned its contents, taking a moment to scrutinize the signature at the end which was, of course, her own. "Masters, I think we should follow d'Eon in this."
l
(Command Room, Washington Defense HQ)
"So you're the reinforcements his Queen promised?" the commander looked askance at the Chaldeans in front of him, then at d'Eon who nodded. "Well, if like I'm told you can match the enemy's Braves then I suppose asking questions about numbers is beside the point. Still, I hope you have been informed that I cannot allow you to leave until we have either repulsed the Celts or they have withdrawn back to their ships, unless you are given leave by the Senate."
"So the Celts are invading," Scathach sounded upset by this, for some reason.
"Ever since the truce between the Great Queendom and the Austria-France Union, they've both decided to double down on this front. So to speak," d'Eon explained the general situation quickly.
"There's word that the enemy didn't try to assault us here because the Queendom's commanders were expecting Redcoats to reinforce them. Despite our losses up north, the Senate refused to consider evacuating the capital, so they couldn't just walk up and take over."
"Ah, it's like the Punic Wars all over again," Jeanne recalled the situation at one of their earlier Singularity efforts. "Has someone gotten support to attrit the enemy into leaving?"
"The Senate voted to vest emergency powers, so I guess that's half of what you had in mind," the commander answered her after a moment. "Word is there's some sort of secret wonder weapon being worked on in the city, which is why we need as much time as possible. I certainly hope so, as we're not likely to see any reinforcements from outside."
"They can get to work faster if we went ahead and got introduced," d'Eon stepped in at this point. "I'll remember your orders, so if you'll allow me to take custody of the Chaldeans?"
"I appreciate the consideration," the general replied. "Hopefully in the coming days the war will have turned around for us and all this won't be necessary any more."
(White House, Washington)
d'Eon stepped up to the guards keeping watch. "These are the reinforcements my Queen promised the Senate, can you please send word ahead?"
"We've already received news about your allies," the guard replied with surprising cheer for one in a city awaiting potential assault. "Go on in, the Dictator will be eager to meet you."
"Huh, a dictator?" Gudako commented as the large doors were opened wide for them. "It is like the Punic War."
"Yes, it was passed a while ago. Honestly, it would be ideal for the man himself to explain it to us both, as I wasn't there." d'Eon shrugged while leading the party down the main hallway, which seemed to be rather quiet for what should have been an important building of state. They walked straight down, passing corridors to either side, until encountering a door dead ahead with a woman sitting in a chair next to it.
"Hmm," she said, recognizing d'Eon immediately. "So they're here at last - late, but earlier than the fight."
"I was told we were expected."
"You are. The Dictator rei gerundae causa (for the purpose of repelling the Great Queendom invasion) will see you now. By the way, I'm H-"
"Blavatsky, yes?" Jeanne noticed that the other Servant did not seem surprised at being identified.
"Well it's good we won't have to play the whole True Name mystery sidestory since there's a Ruler there. Well, we're acquainted with the Incineration situation, so you needn't explain it all over to us. Oh, and do call me Helena, at least between us Servants."
(Oval Office)
"Forgive my rendition of the Wizard of Oz for the moment," the Dictator said unapologetically after his attendant had introduced the Chaldeans to his unconcealed, but simply misty form. "My attentions are focused on the production lines."
"Guns, I assume?" Nobunaga put the question to him.
"Those too."
"We started producing the combat-type golems when the Queendom's ships began attacking nearby coastal fortifications, but currently even with the lines going around the clock it's hard to guess the odds if there really are Redcoats about to join the battle."
"Redcoats won't change the balance, even if they are the Queendom's elite - they are still reliant on supplies. No, the real game-changer is that there are rumors a Brave has been sighted."
"Even if there's a truce for now, it seems highly unlikely that Queen Medb would board a ship to come all the way here, and her Braves never leave her side," Helena retorted.
"What say you, Chaldeans? Might a force, about your size and strength, be able to tip a battle between major 'conventional' forces?"
"I take it these 'Braves' are Servants, or Servant-level, then?" asked Scathach after a moment of thought.
"If you say Medb, there's a few spearmen I can imagine her bringing along who would be quite devastating, yes." Gudako added her own thoughts on the question.
"As you can see, neither of us are really cut out for direct combat," Helena said after giving a moment of space for any other speakers. "Since this... potential Brave has the people on edge, it would be useful if you could sweep the area and see what you turn up."
"You'll be wanting the situational familiarity anyway I expect," the Dictator added. "After all, I know you're here to prevent the Queendom from taking over, since that 'didn't happen' after all."
"By the way, what happened to the President - Commander in Chief?" Artoria asked. "Or are you him?"
"He was involved in... uh if I say 'a summoning elsewhere' would that make sense? It's partially because of that, that we're in this situation. Ironic I know," Helena answered in his stead. "At least you won't have to worry about someone trying to kill him and derail history that way."
"There you have it," d'Eon summed up the decision at hand. "Of course I would be glad to assist you however I can."
"I'm not going to get into the question of how Queen Marie is apparently here instead of on the other side of the sea - where Medb is supposed to be as well - though I can guess," the Dictator chuckled. "Well you seem to be quite different, though I doubt anyone not at our level would be able to tell that if you switched dresses with her."
"Give me a moment to write up an official pass so you can pass though the defense lines..." Helena got to work immediately.
"By the way, since you already seem to know about Chaldea, you probably can guess we would appreciate access to a nearby leyline," Scathach asked, since it seemed there would be some waiting time.
"You'll be unsurprised to learn that Washington has one, but it's tapped out currently. And since it is a critical strategic resource currently, you'll have to look for some other energy springs while on your walkabout."
"I suppose we'll do just that."
l
(Back in Chaldea)
"You're hardly the first, by far, to ask how the likes of input-output optimization, small unit tactics, population growth and capital stocks are all alike to phalanxes. Sure, the surface purpose is to draw a parallel, but simply noting that a parallel exists doesn't actually teach you anything. Well not in the transitive sense that if A and B are parallel, and B and C are parallel, and so on, that somehow everything is parallel to everything. That would obviously be nonsense, right?"
"But why bring it up in the first place?" one of the homunculi asked Agesipolis.
"I'm honestly not sure," the Shielder replied after a moment. "One might guess that there was some ideal in her mind that represents a 'perfect' distribution, but that's probably reading too much into what is essentially literary parallelism. I mean, very few people ever parallel things to military topics - even less to very old ones - in the nation, so it's more of a callback to 'all previous items paralleled to a phalanx'. Actually, using the word phalanx is practically a shibboleth among her students."
"Uh, so it's what humans call an inside reference, then?"
"No, it only works if you can actually explain why the parallel exists. I think it's more of a device that indicates an explanation is about to be given."
l
Notes:
The flower was in Ch 46: "Santa Quest". As mentioned there, d'Eon would need some "help" besides just the present they were delivering.
Redshirts are the regulars (obviously actual red shirts are the formal/parade uniform), Redcoats are the veterans/elites (with fancier uniform).
Yes, the President was presumably involved in the "regular" FGO American Singularity events, via Edison.