(Flagship, Chariot My Love)
"Hmm... well you do still have all the backup 'catalysts' he gave us, right?" Medb asked her druid Caster.
"Of course - they're all in safekeeping. But I can't do a resummon without traveling back to the mainland for the ritual."
The queen considered this possibility for a brief moment. "It will have to wait until after Chaldea is dealt with, then. Lessening our direct combat strength at this point wouldn't make sense."
"Chaldea ambushed us pretty effectively," the now-lone Lancer in the meeting pointed out. "We can't continue blithely sailing up and down America if they can pop up and start breaking our ships."
"It will have to be Washington, then." Fergus shrugged while bringing up that particular flashpoint. "Chaldea has an inconvenient advantage in strategic mobility."
"It will be a messy siege," Medb agreed unhappily with the Saber's assessment. "They've been spreading out and layering defenses to avoid collapsing even if attacked by Servants."
"And Chaldea will be waiting behind that shield to catch us trying that," Bazette added.
"We won't be able to easily resupply like we are now," Sétanta pointed out. "Or... can we work something out?"
"Well that's doable with some time," their Caster proposed. "And by that I mean less time than getting everything set up for the conventional part of the assault siegework."
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(Chaldean field camp)
"How are you feeling?" Marie asked Artoria who was sitting by their small campfire nursing her wound which of course did not heal as a normal one might.
"Not great. But I'll live," the Saber replied disinterestedly.
A short distance away, Sasaku was finalizing the magic circle they would use, discussing with Scáthach back at the leyline how they would connect the ritual formation to her anchoring point and back to Chaldea.
"Who will you call in from Chaldea?" Elizabeth asked Gudako. The question was a critical one as it flowed from the Masters' idea on how to tackle Medb's force.
"If Medb concentrates her ships, even a Noble Phantasm one like Blackbeard's won't solve the problem. And with so many (Protection from Arrows) users, Nobunaga probably wouldn't work. We should probably go for an indirect strategy... what do you think?" Gudako asked her partner.
"Hmm... thinking over our options, what about Chloe? She should have the long-range firepower to do a lot of damage while we tease Medb's forces apart with hit-and-run."
"By the way," Sasaku added from her workstation, "Are you planning on summoning her right here, or will we try to get back to the leyline to save on the Command Spell it would take?"
"I would like to save on that if possible, but -"
"We shouldn't be outpaced by Medb's group if they are also on foot," d'Eon spoke up. "In fact, knowing the way here, we can probably get back to Washington faster then they could, doubly that if they have to ride with the fleet back up north."
"Then let's send Chaldea a message about those plans now. Marie, could you help Artoria over?" Gudao and Gudako nodded together, having a similar thought to immediate action.
(Chaldea, Rayshift Vault)
"We're getting a message from the ground team for you," started the operator in the Control Room. "First, do =NOT= open Artoria's Rayshift Coffin until Scáthach has returned from deployment. Please acknowledge."
"Got that. We will lock out Artoria's Coffin, one moment... I've got the key right here."
"Alright, confirmed. Prep one of the other Coffins, the Masters asked us to send Chloe down once they've returned to their established leyline point."
"Got that, we'll begin initializing number nine."
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(A couple days later...)
(Bladensburg)
A group of hand-picked Redcoats quickly got into formation as the Chariot My Love completed docking with the newly-expanded facilities that were now able to accommodate vessels of its size. Their haste was not wasted; not long after several Servants unceremoniously jumped from the ship's deck down to the ground without heeding the distance or heights involved.
"Your majesty," the officer of the honor guard saluted their queen once she noticed them at attention.
"Where's the HQ, I need an update on the situation," Medb replied quickly.
"This way."
"There sure are a lot of carts and wagons rolling around now," Sétanta noted. "Guess things are going to get real serious."
"It's been serious here for some time already," Fergus corrected the younger Saber. "I don't know how likely it was for the westerners to fold, but with this it'll definitely come down to a direct fight."
"They would have folded, if not for Chaldea," Cú Alter grunted.
"Now now," Caster said soothingly. "Chaldea was always going to show up at some point, if anything we got more time than we expected."
"They certainly seem to be out and about, so to speak," Bazette mused. "Though obviously they were clocking time before their initial 'reveal' to the Clock Tower, I have to wonder..."
"They've definitely been putting in the work, but so have we," Medb shrugged it off, not really interested in the Mage's Association. "I just want them out of my hair."
"I doubt they're going to quit going after Singularities any time soon," Cú Chulainn muttered. "But oh well, here we are."
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(Chaldean Leyline Camp, near Washington)
"Even though we had to travel further inland to avoid the risk of Medb's forces, I think we arrived on time," Gudao mentioned to Scáthach who had already prepared a leyline-linked summoning circle for them by the time her fellow Chaldeans had made it back to their camp.
"I wonder if that Dictator friend of yours would think so," Geronimo let out a puff of smoke. Apparently the shaman had returned from his regular business, whatever that was. "Not that Medb's people weren't just following their schedule, I think."
"She wouldn't have made it back much faster than we did," Gudako agreed with him. "That suggests she was always intending to go for the killing blow on Washington, then?"
"What else would all the soldiers be doing in the meantime?" d'Eon asked rhetorically. "Of course they would be getting ready for it since anyone who arrived in the last couple of weeks set out from their homeland specifically for this operation.
"You know, I never thought of it that way, but it makes sense !" Elizabeth seemed taken by this line of thinking. "I guess they wouldn't just hang around as unloaded assets until we got close enough to make them pop in."
"What? Uh, right..."
"I've established a connection with Chaldea. Stand back, I'm going to start the summoning now," Sasaku informed the others, after having taken the time to adjust the magic circle for her use.
...
"Ho, ho, just as you needed, Chloe has arrived !"
"Hey, good to see you." Sasaku deftly dodged to the side as the Archer playfully lunged at her, sending the other Servant into a nearby Elizabeth who was waiting nearby very excitedly for some reason.
"Oh, you're here too, Chloe !"
"Um yes, I'm here. Have we met?"
"This is Elizabeth, from one of the other Chaldeas. As you can see by the huge sword, she's going to get a Saber version at some point," Gudako told Chloe.
"That's right... I suppose that means we're a bit different." Elizabeth seemed rather disappointed by this, though by that point she should have known, as Sasaku was also in both Chaldeas and were not the same.
"Hmm, still I must say it's impressive to get a new Noble Phantasm like that," Scáthach said thoughfully. "Though, I mean they are similar techniques on some level, the (Báthory Erzsébet), (Báthory Halloween Erzsébet) and now (Báthory Brave Erzsébet). But the base parameters also change in each specific summoned vessel."
"As expected of the famed teacher of heroes," d'Eon nodded appreciatively.
"Ahem. Since we're all here now, let's go over the situation since I don't think Medb would be as kind as to let us have real downtime," Gudao reminded everyone present.
"Well, I'm off again," Geronimo got up from where he was sitting, waving Chloe over to the open spot. "Don't burn down the forest."
"We won't."
(White House, Washington)
Helena hardly seemed surprised when Gudao introduced the group's newest member, Chloe, and simply waved them into the Dictator's office.
"Well you have a knack for arriving at the right time," their host sounded oddly enthusiastic. "Medb's forces have started fanning out from their beachhead and are of course, building towards us we we speak."
"Building?" d'Eon queried him.
"Yes, they're digging multiple lines of trenches like they're laying siege to bloody Constantinople," was the explanation.
"Probably worried about powerful Noble Phantasms," Gudako surmised.
"That's very likely," Helena nodded. "Well that and the fact they couldn't just roll in with Servants because of the possibility of getting caught out."
"By the sounds of it, they should have been able to do that not long after the initial beachhead was established. Since they had no real threats back at home, why did they take the roundabout way to trying to seize ports first?" Gudao wondered aloud.
"Hah, well I'd say you showed up relatively late, but they couldn't have known that would happen. If anything your recent clash might only further reinforce any paranoia about being taken by surprise. Their conventional forces can at most buy some time and maybe waste some of your magical energy - if they're dug in. A phalanx of infantry will just be slaughtered out in the open if engaged by a single Servant."
"They can't actually encircle the city," Helena added more directly. "Because we were already extending defense points north and south of here, any attempt to outflank would mean stretching their forces out more."
"But they have to dig their way around too?" d'Eon caught on.
"Yes. Well I would assume that Medb is largely wanting to set the conditions for a Servant battle, since unless there's mutual annihilation, the side that survives will probably be able to recover and then sweep away the humans opposing them," the Dictator laid out his thoughts on the matter. "The special-task troops (magecraft golems) should mean unless Medb really goes all-in on an assault, the Celts can't get through without those Braves."
"If they're not standard humans, will these units basically not ever run away?" Marie asked.
"Well to be honest, they're more like animated scarecrows that are just about able to move and shoot a gun. Though only because they're equipped with an, uh, experimental gun which is easier to reload but... occasionally blows up," Helena clarified.
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(Bladensburg, Expeditionary Force HQ)
"Unfortunately, the heavy guns have... heavily underperformed because the separatists have been digging into the ground even before we started doing it," the commander briefed Medb on the situation with a frown. "We seized a number of the outlying forts outlined in the attack plan ahead of schedule, but only because they were not as powerful as expected. And of course they're not useful to us in their current state of disrepair."
"They seem to have had the same worries you did," Fergus said after a moment.
"Predictable. If they were led by a Servant, at least." Medb wasn't pleased by this, though.
"They can't have that many soldiers on hand, not after their losses up north," Cú Chulainn thought aloud. "If they've dispersed, then wouldn't a concentrated attack at one point break through rather quickly? A couple of us with (Protection from Arrows) could go ahead."
"With the weapons of this age, they might as well just drop the muskets and use the bayonets like knives," Bazette added. "A Servant can straight-up block a blast of canister, after all."
"We have enough to fight Chaldea directly, there's no need to fear their intervention as long as we keep a watch for their arrival," Cú Alter grumbled approvingly.
"Don't forget that there were other things going on in Washington," the Caster Cú reminded him. "They might have been reticent to show their hand, but it was doubtless because it wouldn't work without an addition like the Chaldeans. A Caster might have already built up something serious in the time they had available to them."
"So what'll it be?" Sétanta asked Medb directly. "Squeeze them, or go over the top?"
"For now, we should-" the Rider started, but was interrupted by the loud sound of something exploding outside.
"We're under attack !" a panicked soldier practically dove into the headquarters. "The Americans are already inside the town ?!"
"Shut up, moron." Cú Alter stepped up to the open door, shoving the Celt aside as the Servants all fearlessly made their way outside to view the situation.
"It seems an infiltrator must have hit one of the gunpowder houses," the commander who had followed them cast his gaze about.
"No, this isn't the smell of that," the group's druid corrected the human. "The Chaldeans must have called out an Archer to attack us from long-range."
Chloe lowered her beloved black bow "Did that work?"
"Well, it is safe to say a number of life signs abruptly ceased," the report from Chaldea came back as relayed through Scáthach's line to their firing position which was of course behind the American defense lines.
"Trust an Archer to make an accurate indirect first shot," Gudako remarked approvingly. "So, did you get all that down, Sasaku?"
"Yes, I can follow Chloe's firing solution," the Ruler took out her sword and activated her prepared magic circle.
"Well then, go ahead and make it rain iron for them," Gudao nodded.
"Heh heh heh," Chloe sat down nearby with an impish glee to watch the proceedings. "Dear grid coordinates..."
Sasaku mumbled something to herself as a few spears appeared and flung themselves out into the horizon. Several long seconds later, a piercing iron forest sprouted around her and launched themselves like a flock of deadly birds taking wing, headed gracefully out on their mission to spray Bladensburg in a black shower of descending metal.
"Ok, let's relocate," d'Eon reminded everyone. "It shouldn't take us too long to move to the next spot."
"Well we can travel at Servant speeds, so duh." Elizabeth had been swinging her sword around idly much to the varying amusement and concern of the soldiers nearby who were observing the antics of their allies.
"No reason to be complacent," Marie replied. "At least we can be sure they don't have an easy answer... unless it is already on its way here."
"I think it will take longer to resupply magical energy than travel," Chloe shrugged. "Not that there's no other ways that are faster though."