The Tea Garden's meeting room was gently abuzz with chatter and conversation. Calm and formal, it was the main meeting-place of the Tea Garden, strictly used only for important purposes, and not for lounging or a normal dinner. There was a large round table with seven chairs arranged around it. The largest and fanciest was reserved for the Commander herself, and behind that chair sat a large painting of the previous Commander, Earl Grey. And here, there was a very important occasion that called them all this particular room.
Darjeeling had assembled the Tea Garden for a special meeting to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the institution of Glorianification, July 2. The highest-ranked were obviously present, those being, in addition to Darjeeling herself, her faithful lieutenant Orange Pekoe, her subtle intelligence master Assam, and her zealous, and rather short-tempered, easily excitable group commander Rosehip. There were also the three administrators of the "foreign lands", Rukuriri, administrator of Ireland, Nilgiri, administrator of Wales, and Vanilla, administrator of Scotland.
"Well, I believe that's all gathered, Darjeeling-sama."
"Wonderful, we shall now commence.
Welcome, everyone. As you all know, we are here to celebrate ten years of Glorianification. Instituted ten years ago by myself, and the planning overseen by our very own Earl Grey, I am most prepared to discuss the progress that has been completed so far. We will start with Miss Nilgiri, please."
"Thank you, Commander. I am pleased to announce that our efforts have been largely successful. There has been little resistance so far, but we have experienced some setbacks. But, I can assure you things are going very smoothly so far."
"Excellent to hear. Vanilla, how are things going for you?"
"We've been facing more resistance, unfortunately, but it has been largely contained. There hasn't been much resistance outside of a small uprising, but there are some shootouts that still happen, albeit very limited. Our police forces are holding them quite well."
"As for you, Rukuriri?"
As faces turned to Rukuriri, she bore a look of concern, much more so than the others. Opening her mouth to speak, she gave her report.
"Resistance is everywhere. As you know, things got a bit too wild for the police to handle, meaning Assam had to step in to fix it all. Even so, dissent is still felt throughout all of Ireland, and it's only a matter of time before a spark lights the powder keg on fire."
Silence came over the Tea Garden for several seconds. Rukuriri's report, by far, was the most concerning out of everyone. Sure, dissent was still present throughout all of the "foreign lands" of St. Gloriana, but Ireland seemed to be the hottest. Even after ten years, they still had a spirit of liberty within them. The silence was broken when Assam spoke up.
"You aren't going hard enough, Rukuriri. You have to make sure they'll no longer have a voice to speak out their dissent, make sure they stay quiet, and make sure they stay loyal and won't have the thought of independence cross their minds again."
Pekoe, however, wanted a different approach.
"Rukuriri-sama, I think you're being too hard on them. We should show ourselves as kind and understanding, to take things slow and steady so we won't rile up too much resistance."
"Aw, Pekoe, you're too boring! Come on, Assam's suggestion is more fun!"
"Rosehip, you must understand that we can't just force everyone to live according to how we live. It's better we take things slow and steady, as evident in the-"
"Nilgiri, not you too! Come on, I don't wanna die before this is supposed to be over with!"
"Force must be taken to silence resistance. And you must understand, Pekoe, I think we're too far gone to use that solution now."
"But... Assam-sama, we-"
"You heard what she said! Friendliness is out of the question."
"Should've suggested this earlier, Pekoe."
"I did, but you all laughed at me for it! Look at where we are now!"
"Are you calling us idiots?!"
"Yeah, because my approach was much better than your suggestion!"
"You're just a little orange-braided brainlet with a twin little cousin that only makes you popular because she's cute!"
"SAY THAT AGAIN!"
"Enough."
Darjeeling's calm, yet very firm voice reined them both into submission.
"This is MOST unladylike of you, Rukuriri. I must warn you, next time I shall not hesitate to evict you from the Tea Garden."
"Forgive me, Darjeeling-san."
"As for you, Pekoe, pray, do try to control yourself next time."
"Apologies, Darjeeling-sama. I shall try my best to restrain myself."
A knock on the door alerted everyone's attention. Being summoned inside, Cranberry entered the room, bearing a parchment in her hand and a solemn, worried expression on her face. Some began to grow worried, fearful of what the paper's contents must have. Indeed, as Darjeeling read it, her equanimity seemed to be chipped away by each passing sentence. When she had finished, the calmness and collectedness usually found on Darjeeling's face had been completely swapped with a face full of worry, dread, concern, and surprise. Leaning over to hear what their Commander was to say, the next few words that came out of her mouth completely dumbfounded them all.
"Ireland... has revolted..."
2 weeks earlier
"We're gathered here today, to, ah, you all know already, let's just get into it."
"Good old Col, always getting straight to it."
"Heh, that's our Col."
"Alright, whadd'ya wanna discuss first, Pat?"
"The announcement."
"What announcement?"
"We're sending copies of the Proclamation all around the world, except St. Gloriana, of course."
"Pat, y-ye can't be serious!"
"Hear me out, Kath. We've listed every wrongdoing St. Gloriana has done to us, we've given details, we've given it everything. We also have a stirring message that's sure to give us more allies than opponents."
"Well, I get your goal, but what I'm asking is... just how are we doing this?"
"Well, we have some sympathizers and tankers that know their way through Ireland, they know a few secret passageways to bypass GI6 and go ferry these strips of wood all over through the air."
"I... will not ask any further."
"Trust Pat on this, Kath. Since when has she ever failed a plan?"
"Well... that one time we tried to bait Saunders-"
"Shh. We don't talk about that."
"Fine... this better work or we're toast before this rebellion even kicks off."
"As I was saying, hopefully these copies will get us the support we need worldwide. St. Gloriana's been really hard on us and everyone doesn't seem to know about it. It's about time we exposed their injustices to the world.
Now, Col, mind going over how exactly we're going to defend Dublin?"
Suddenly, a rugged, brown-haired girl burst through the door, her clothes ragged, and her looking visibly exhausted. There were several others waiting outside with boxes, and they were quickly ushered in before anybody could raise an alarm.
"Caitlín! The bloody dumps have ya been, eh?"
"Getting us a bigger chance at winning this rebellion."
"You mean..."
"Lemme tell ya."
3 days earlier
"Your uniform will be that of the man of the street, the peasant in the field. We'll come out of the crowd, strike the enemy and vanish back into the crowd again."
"What do you propose we strike with?"
"What've you got?"
The assembled crowd lifted their rifles and other firearms, including anti-tank rifles and other man-portable anti-tank weapons, prompting Caitlín to giggle.
"Oh.. geez, look at this, Josie, same old story. You need something better.
Kit, where's that local armory?"
"About two klicks down the road, ma'am."
"Two miles! Down that road, there's an arsenal."
"How in daisies are we supposed to get it, we don't even have that many bullets!"
"Well, they don't know that."
Grabbing a hook and striking a towel through it, Caitlín showed it to her detractor, asking her what it was.
"A type of towel, ma'am-"
"Wrong! That's a weapon."
The others began to giggle themselves at how ridiculous it looked.
"You don't believe me?"
Dipping the towel in some oil, Caitlín then held it over a fire, causing it to ignite. Presenting it to those gathered, making them stand back to avoid being burned, Caitlín challenged them again.
"Well... what is it now? Hmm?"
After standing corrected, they got the idea.
"Alright, Caitlín, we'll do it."
Under the cover of darkness, the band of saboteurs rushed through the streets and ran with all haste to the arsenal that held many weapons, ammunition, and most importantly, more advanced tanks rather than the current Interwar-period ones they had. Tossing the flaming towels onto the wooden roof, the windows, and other wooden areas of the arsenal, they took positions at the gates and other walls, as well as next to windows, presenting their guns as they waited for the garrison to come out coughing. And indeed, it all went according to plan.
Dozens of St. Gloriana girls ran out coughing from the smoke, some partially dressed, others still wearing nightwear, weary from being woken up so early yet struggling to breathe amidst the smoke, only to find dozens of guns being pointed in their general direction. At the head was Caitlín, ordering them to stand down before they could eat a lot of bullets as an early breakfast.
"Evening, ladies, hands in the air."
"Drop your weapons!"
"NOW!"
The frightened garrison complied, allowing the saboteurs to pass through without firing a shot.
"Ladies, we will be relieving you of your responsibilities!"
Bursting into the building, Caitlín organized her group in gathering as much supplies as possible before heading for the tanks. The fires hadn't touched the garages yet, but they were getting close. In those garages were a Cromwell, three Matildas, two Crusaders, and a Churchill, much to Caitlín and everyone else's utter delight.
"Come on, laddies, it's Christmas!"
Hoisting shells, ammo carts, boxes of weapons, and whatnot onto and into the tanks, those who knew how to drive quickly took the wheels, and activated the tanks. With the coffers full, the raiders quickly boarded the tanks, mostly on the tanks rather than inside due to the amount of cargo they were hauling, and the drivers drove the tanks out of the burning arsenal, moving them at great speed to the secret storage they had made not far from Coleen's home. All the while firefighters began to arrive to extinguish the flames gradually engulfing the arsenal, their sirens being heard in the distance.
"Well, Cait, that was easy."
"Now, to show up at the meeting and give the good news-"
"Hey! What are you doing here! Why are your tanks moving out at this time of night?!"
It was a Gloriana sentry, accompanied by a few others.
Josie, Caitlín's right-hand woman, attempted her best English accent to fool the sentries.
"Weyl, uhm, you sea, theare's been a fayre at the ahrsenal, and we got ordurs to goehw evahkewait theez taynks so they don't get dahmajed."
The others tried to restrain their laughter at how absurd Josie sounded, but fortunately for them, it worked.
"Alright, move along, and make sure they're back by the time the fire's out!"
"Wee will!"
The tanks were allowed to pass by, and when everyone was sure that the sentries couldn't hear them any more, they let all the laughter out of their system. Josie laughed too, utterly flattened by that poor English accent, that somehow worked.
"Jos, please... at the same time... do that again... and don't do that again..."
Present
"So, it looks like we're looking at a Cromwell... ugh, cursed be your name forever... three Matildas, a couple Crusaders, and we even got our hands on a Churchill Mk. VIII, I hate that name, too... in addition to our current five Landsverks and four Vickers Mk Ds. In total, we have sixteen tanks available to give those Anglos any form of whipping, seven of which can actually last more than two minutes of combat."
"Excellent work, Cait!"
"And that's not all, Commander!"
Cait's subordinates dragged in several heavy boxes, setting them in front of the table where the meeting was taking place. Opening the boxes, they found anti-tank guns and ammunition. A lot of anti-tank guns and ammunition.
"Well, we're definitely going to last more than a week! Perhaps we might even last more than a month!"
"Or maybe we'll actually survive and get the revolution going throughout all of Ireland without us having to get strapped to a pole!"
"Cait, you've done it again!"
"Eh, it's nothing. Yukari won't have anything on us, mark my words!"
"Big words, but I'll trust you. So, Coleen, let's go over the plan?"
"Right.
Our main headquarters will be the General Post Office. We'll have the Churchill and Cromwell, as well as a Crusader and Matilda stationed at that location. Being the most important place of the rebellion, it's obvious why we'll be putting the best tanks we have here. As for the rest of the Matildas and Crusaders, as well as a Landsverk, we'll position those at the City Hall with orders to capture the surrounding area like the Daily Express newspaper and, if possible, take the Castle itself. The last four Landsverks will be positioned at the Four Courts. As for the Vickers', they'll be positioned at the South Dublin Union factory.
Our strategy, obviously, will be to go on the defense. We don't have much materiel to work with, so hopefully we can manage to hold out and drain St. Gloriana's forces as much as possible. Be sure to tell the volunteers that if you see an officer or commander on the Gloriana side, don't hesitate to put a bullet through her head. The more commanders drop, the more disorganized and the easier it will be to defend this city. Make sure we suffer as little casualties as possible, we want to hold out long enough to either exhaust the enemy and negotiate, or make enough of an impression on the world to see that we truly care what we're fighting for."
"Well, that's the plan we have, but do you have other suggestions? Coleen, you have one?"
"Personally, I'm not in favor of direct engagement. We're facing an extremely powerful army with a... rather measly cluster of tanks."
"But look at what Ooarai was able to accomplish! Don'tcha think we can be able to beat them Brits?"
"Will this be a flag match or an annihilation match?"
"Well... more an annihilation..."
"There's also the fact they might as well use rifles, stuff like this is outside of Sensha-do, meaning they can do whatever with us."
"I suppose... but think of the political game, Col! The sacrifices we'll make will definitely get the populace on our side, and soon popular revolt will overthrow Gloriana!"
"If we want to last more than a month and inspire more people by our courage and zeal to fight, we might as well use a guerrilla approach. We'll last a much better chance fighting hit-and-run rather than the conventional confrontation we're proposing right now."
"We'd better just discuss this next week, we know the plan so far. Besides, we can't afford to switch the strategy at such short notice."
"I guess... Pat?"
"We'll stick with our old plan. I have faith Cait will be able to get some more assets to help us stand a better chance against the Brits."
"Alright, you're the boss, Pat. I'll support."
"That's it, then.
Ladies, I believe we are all aware that by committing to this, we have placed our names as the first members of a new government for Ireland, or a death sentence that should this fail, we shall be strapped to the pole and shot. I hope we are all prepared for this. Maud, are your Flying Devils ready?"
"They're all waiting for the command, they're at the ports and ready to stow away with documents."
"Excellent. Ensure that no copies, not even a single tittle on these copies, ever finds its way into the hands of St. Gloriana. We don't want to blow our cover too early."
"Understood, Pat."
"Well, this concludes our meeting, ladies. I hope we've all understood our broad strategy. Coleen will give the details next meeting, and after that... the show begins. Thanks a bunch to you, Caitlín, we badly needed these tanks."
"And I'm planning to get more."
"Ah, well, if you manage to get some more, be sure you all come back in one piece, we can't afford to lose anybody before the rising starts."
"Trust me, I know my stuff."
"That's all for tonight, then, good evening, all of you, and let's hope this all works out in the end."
"A toast?"
"Ah, yes! I propose a toast, to the success of our rebellion!"
"To the welfare of the people of Ireland!"
"To the independence of Ireland!"
"Erin go Bragh!"
After drinking a toast from the smuggled Guinness, the group went their separate ways.
2 days later
"Hey! What are you doing?! That's against public decency regulations, you need to ask us first!"
The hooded figure, glancing at Sodoko, slammed the paper into the mailbox of the Presidential building before making a run for it.
"HEY! MORALS COMMITTEE! GET HER!"
Blowing a whistle, Sodoko summoned her dozens of like-haired Public Morals Committee officials, chasing after the delinquent. After running for several minutes, the delinquent found her accomplice on a bicycle holding another one for her. Getting on the bicycle, she joined her comrade and pedaled away, leaving the others, and a frustrated Sodoko, in the dust.
"Moyoko! Find that specific paper! I noticed some green and orange in it! Start digging, I'm reporting this to the President!"
It didn't take long for Moyoko to dig out the letter, and quickly caught up to Sodoko, pressing it to her hand and returning to her Committee duties, though perplexed as to what on earth just happened. Sodoko thanked her comrade before entering the building, staring at the contents of the letter. At the top there was some words in a strange language, but below that was a language Sodoko could understand, that being English.
"PROCLAMATION OF IRISH RIGHTS AND SOVEREIGNTY"
Sodoko was just as confused as anyone in her shoes could be, and spent much of her time reading the document as she made her way to Anzu's office. Inside was Anzu, Momo, and Yuzu, the "Ooarai Council" who ran Ooarai, as well as Miho Nishizumi, Ooarai's military commander, who was there for a special meeting regarding possible additions to the nation's arsenal.
Ooarai was a state that extended from the Bodensee in the north to the Alps that they were so closely associated with, along with Anzio (or in other words, what we would call Switzerland). Despite its small state, it was in reality a powerhouse. It's military commander, Miho, was feared, respected, and beloved by everybody at the same time. A menace on the field but a true friend no matter the circumstances, she had taken Ooarai, a nation that could muster but ten tanks, and transformed it into the nation that had won two tournaments in a row, as well as beat the All-Stars Organization, comprised of the best of the best tankers the world had ever seen, albeit with some help from other nations. It was also prosperous, a land of nature and excellent development under the energetic Anzu.
And they would be the first to receive this new Irish proclamation sent by secret leaders of a brewing rebellion.
"Come in."
"President, a delinquent was seen shoving this into the office's mailbox. We tried to apprehend her to no avail, she got away with an accomplice."
"You sure this isn't a bomb?"
"Ma'am president, I should inform you it has been 20 minutes since the delinquent was seen shoving this into the mailbox. I spent a while reading the contents while walking here. I can say two things: one, this isn't a bomb, the envelope only carried this document and nothing else-"
"Phew, been getting some threats lately, probably some butthurt opponents."
"Two, it has something to do with St. Gloriana."
"What do you mean?"
"You can read it for yourself."
"Show me."
Momo, Yuzu, and Miho gathered around Anzu to read the contents. At the top was the Gaelic title, below that the English. For several minutes there was silence as the four read each word on the document. Their faces visibly morphed to amusement, then confusion, then horror, then skepticism, then profundity. Looking at Sodoko, who stood watching, Momo dismissed her back to her duties, thanking her for bringing this to their attention. With nobody else in the room but the four of them, they began to go over what this could mean.
"Yuzu... Ireland's part of St. Gloriana, right?"
"Yes, Ma'am. It has been part of St. Gloriana for 70 years now."
"Well... this is concerning, but I'm a bit skeptical about the parts where they mention torture and tyranny, from our encounters with St. Gloriana they were very friendly."
"We shouldn't judge a book by their cover, Momo, I'm afraid there's more to St. Gloriana than we think, there's always more to someone than originally believed."
"Miho has a point, Momo. There's some things we don't usually see at first glance."
"Eh, I suppose you got a point. But, there's also the chance some of this might be exaggerated for the cause of pathos."
"There's that too~ phone's ringing... gimme a sec. Hello? Ooarai President speaking."
"Hey, Anzu! How's things over there?"
"Well, if it isn't the burger eater herself! Great to hear you again!"
"HA! Still got that old charm! Anyways, we got this... uhh..."
"Does it have the words 'proclamation' and 'Ireland' on it by any chance?"
"Bingo! This is really weird stuff, Naomi just brought it to me earlier. Mind telling me what it could all mean?"
"I dunno, I just got this, too."
"Well, I doubt Darjeeling would do stuff like this. Very nice gal, if I'd say so myself."
"Well, ya can't always judge a book by its cover..."
"Eh, true. We'll stay updated on this... do you want me to tell Darjeeling?"
"Nah, she probably received a copy, too."
"You sure? I mean... she should've already called by now if that were the case."
"Still, even if worse comes to worse, I'm sure she can solve her own problems. She has the power to handle anything, anyways."
"Amen to that! Well, I'll talk to you later, I'll be keeping myself informed as this stuff unravels. Keep safe, Anzu, can't wait for our next match!"
"As do I!"
"How is Miho, by the way? I hope she's well, would be a shame if she had to miss out."
"She's doing excellent! Nothing's taking her down any time soon!"
"Awesome! Well, I gotta look at this document first, talk to you later!"
"Bye!"
The phone hung up, only for it to ring as Anzu set it back on its pedestal.
"Hello, greatest president of all time speaking, how may I help you?"
"HEY! Who are you to call yourself the 'greatest'? There is only one 'great', and that is the Great Katyusha!"
"Yeah, yeah, whadd'ya need?"
"Treat me with respect next time! But to answer your question, there happens to be this document-"
"Aha! You too?"
"Of course! Nobody leaves the Great Katyusha out!"
"What's your thoughts?"
"Ridiculous. Those pimps will be crushed in a week. Darjeeling's armies are too strong for them, just you watch."
The phone hung up, only to ring again. Sighing, Anzu picked up. But the voice on the other end was enough to make anyone, especially Miho, shiver.
"Hi, Ooarai prez, how may I help."
"Kadotani."
"Oh! Uh... erm... hello... miss Headmistress Shiho! H-h-how's your... uhh, day?"
"Good. Now, please tell me, what is the meaning of this document?"
"W-w-well, I just got it! Not just me, basically everybody! Katyusha-"
"Do not mention her name."
"Sorry... I also spoke to Kay earlier, she got the document, too."
"So it is everyone? That received this at the same time?"
"I guess, there's probably going to be fifty other phone calls after this."
"Hmph. This better not be some plot, otherwise I'll have your head when we come after you."
"Don't worry! I don't have involvement in any of this, I just knew today!"
"Both of us should hope so. How is Miho, doing, by the way?"
"Doing good, ma'am..."
"Pleasing to hear. Good day, Miss Kadotani."
"G...Good day to you... Ma'am."
The phone hung up, and began to ring again, as Anzu expected.
"This is the last phone call, Momo you take over after this."
"Me?! Uh... alright..."
"Hello, Ooarai prez."
"Anzu! It has been ages, how are you, my friend!"
"Anchovy! Doing excellent!"
"Good to hear! How is Miho doing, I hope she is well."
"She's still doing great, thankfully!"
"Glorious to hear! Say, what's with this 'Proclamation of Irish Rights and Sovereignty' thing? I presume you've heard of it?"
"I have. Wondering the same thing, too, this was all out of the blue."
"Strange what's coming out of St. Gloriana. I wonder if Darjeeling has heard of it..."
"Oh, she'll hear eventually, no need to tell her, I guess."
"You sure? This is a bit concerning on her end..."
"Come on, it's literally in her backyard! She'll find out first suspicion!"
"Alright... well, talk to you later, Anzu. I'll go look this over."
"Alright, cya later!"
Anzu set down the phone and handed it to Momo, before stepping aside to have a private conversation with Miho.
"Miho, you think you can get Yukari in there to find out what exactly is going on?"
"I... think she is willing."
"Tell her to prepare within 48 hours, we need to be the first to get to the bottom of this."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: For those specializing in the Irish Revolutionary era period of history, yes, I am altering the events a bit, and the tank heist sequence was indeed based off of the police station raid in the movie Michael Collins from 1996. If you know the names, you know who they're supposed to represent. If not... just try to figure out who's who. Some names may be obvious, others probably not so much.
Next time, Yukari infiltrates St. Gloriana, but not against them necessarily, but to gain an insight on what these Irishwomen are fighting for.