An Unwinnable War
Episode 9 - Dig Trenches
March 22, 1977
Two days after White Fang Forest base elimination
"Where in the world is the M60 Patton?"
- Motto of the 86th Armored Recon Brigade before December 1977
Memoirs of 1st Lt. Jay 'Raptor' Ruben;
"Uh, yeah, we were supposed to gather at a village to commit to reconnaissance. Turns out the White Fang - or, as we call them, Whiskey Foxtrot - were planning to sack the village to use it as a training camp. The village was called Mayflower, part of the, uh, northern Vale forests. We, err, came into contact with the villagers before the White Fang did. Our objective was pretty much to dig in and establish contact with the natives, though, uh, we didn't exactly alert them to our presence. We just marched in like it was a Vietnamese village out in fucknowhere, and surprised everyone. To say we gave people a heart attack is an understatement."
"The entrenching came pretty much after we arrived into the village, the Mechanized proceeded to get out and start digging in trenches in order to ensure our safety while we negotiated a deal with the local villagers to use the base as an occupation zone slash forward operating base in exchange for protection from the Grimm and the White Fang. They were initially concerned that we'd be basically turning the area into a glorified, quote, 'Atlesian air base'. They were right, to an extent."
"The Armored Cavalry basically served as the rear guard. We were tasked with ensuring the Grimm didn't break positions or attack anything too important. Of course, with problems comes reassignments. So we enjoyed that moment of guarding the rear for a short amount of time rather than sleeping it out. Makes me wish I was asleep my entire National Guard trip, but sadly that's not going to happen. Rather, I've got to deal with a sack of shit instead of relaxing while guarding the rear. Makes me sympathize with Generals de Zwart and Westmoreland."
"The mechanized infantry dug in to guard the front. And the Pathfinders - I didn't mention them earlier because they were with us while we waited for the 1/101st - stuck to the east, helping paint maps. It was a thankless job, but we managed to get our thanks when we returned home about two years or so later. Give or take. Carter's popularity skyrocketed after the end of the war, even if the operation was still... compromised. I can't really say much about it in this section, just wait until, like, a few more sections or so."
"The M48 Patton gave them a good jumpscare, seeing as they've never met a good MBT before. Funny how I used to think these weren't going to scare the locals. Oh, going into Remnant further proved me wrong about that."
"Also, thank Christ we didn't hand this operation to the United Nations when they got mad. Who knows what the occupation would look like under them? Maybe hopeless."
Jay Ruben - Away from Point Zulu - March 22, 1977 (Earth Years) - 1:06 PM (Earth Time)
"This is Second Lieutenant Ruben, Armored Cavalry. All... forces, sound off." Ruben opened up on the radio as he scanned the area holding a radio in his hand. The M113s behind him with infantry mounting on them gave him a sense of relief as he knew that they were kept safe by the presence of mechanized cavalry. That being said, his towing of the LEAD howitzer - the M114 - was incredibly annoying as he watched the crew hitch a ride on the tank. They would rather do anything rather than walk, Jay noted. Incredibly annoying, but what could he do about it?
"1st Lt. Chavez, Artillery Section here." The lead of the 1/101st artillery responded. "Currently hitching a ride on the lead main battle tank." He snickered, and so did the rest of the unit. In total, the unit had the following for its exploration composition into the village that we have no idea about:
One Armored Cavalry platoon, split up into four M48A5 Pattons with twelve crewmen, alongside a Mortar Carrier with five people in it. Led by a Second Lieutenant of the First Platoon, A Troop, and that was Ruben.
One Pathfinder Unit made up of at least four M113s, eighteen men were the dedicated team. The whole thing was led by a 2nd Lt. They were split off from the Armored Cavalry and given three APCs from the other unit reassigned as "Pathfinders", and made up the reconnaissance forces. Despite being an M113 squadron.
One Mechanized Infantry unit, made up of at least four M113s, eight crewmen, and four ten-man rifle squads. All of them with M16s, but had at least a single M60 and an M203 for each squadron. They were led by a Second Lieutenant.
One Howitzer Section and Firing Battery HQ, with one M114 Howitzer, 155mm. A 5-ton truck to transport the ammunition, and M16s for the enlisted artillerymen to defend a position. Led by a 1st Lt.
And to wrap it up - One Mobile Headquarters. The thing is an M113 with two officers inside of it. They were in charge of the guys who were in charge of Mechanized Infantry. They were quiet though, so Jay had to assume they were just waiting for the mission to begin.
The unit was basically a reconnaissance group that was put together in order to establish contact with the natives. And there they were chugging along to god knows where. At least Ruben was able to get responses out of them.
"2nd Lt. Dan, Pathfinders. I got you." The leader of the Pathfinder unit responded, with the team hitching a ride on top of the lead M113 of their Pathfinder unit. The other M113s were basically empty and served as extra machine gun support. When in doubt, just toss in more M113s to spice up the fighting. Makes the smell of sulfur and .50 Caliber clunking satisfying.
"2nd Lt. Owens, Mechanized Infantry. We hear you, Armored Cav." The presence of the Mechanized Cavalry spelled death for basically anyone involved on the opposite end of things. The mechanized infantry lead was able to snag an M113 with an ACAV configuration. That's right, we've gone back to M113 ACAVs. Clarent's unit had several when they initially entered Vale. Looks like Owens managed to snag one for himself. Lucky bastard.
"That's all of us sounding off, right?" One of the soldiers asked on the radio. "There ain't nothing to ambush us unlike earlier." Which caused all of us to basically sigh in frustration. But then again, that kid was pretty much right to an extent. We were just cautious.
"No, nothing guaranteed to jump at us. That's for sure." Clarent responded. "There isn't enough tree movement or rustling woods to put me on alert. And I'm not hearing a whistle unlike when the Viet Cong used to ambush us. So score one for the army." He noted, resting on his M2HB machine gun. Ruben wished he could do that too, but alas he had a job to do. And it involved trying to wrangle the utter idiocy that is this entire armored platoon. It's the 1970s, goddamnit. Why can't tanks or people be smart and not hand him a platter of bullshit?
"Tell me over and over and over again, my friend," Someone on the radio sang as the Guardsmen rolled along. "How you don't believe - we're on the Eve of Destruction?" Someone sang back. The mood gave a smile on Ruben's face as the M48 Patton crew started singing even as their ears were being blown apart by the engine noise.
"Think of all the hate, there is in Red China-" Jay added, spreading his arms in a wing-like position as if he was saying yipee. "Then take a look around to Selma, Alabama," Chavez interjected, the convoy descending into singing as the convoy continued along the dirt road. The tune of Eve of Destruction dominated the radiowaves of the convoy as these young men sang about a war that ended before they could legally join the armed forces.
"Ah, you may leave here for four days in space," Clarent opened up with his soft voice, "But when you return, it's the same old place," He continues, only for another private to continue the singing. "The poundin' of the drums, the pride and disgrace," The song goes on, bringing a tinge of sadness as Jay frowns at the song. He knows what this meant, given that he's had to be part of it when he was still a kid.
"You can bury your dead, but don't leave a trace," Jay winced as he spoke that. As a kid he once had to attend a funeral for his best friend's older brother, who died in the Vietnam War just before the US had completely evacuated. While it was just a song, and he was singing it out of enjoyment, he still felt himself wince as those words were spoken. It seemed that the rest of the men didn't know he was wincing, which is maybe a good thing. But as far as Jay can tell, they're all untrained and desperate for something to have fun with.
"Hate your next door neighbor but don't forget to say grace," The song continued while the convoy kept rolling along and along. Jay presumed HQ was not amused by the whole thing, but hey, that's the price you pay for being a commanding officer of what's basically an ad-hoc force only held together by metaphorical strings and duct-tape. The song was hummed by the rest of the soldiers of the convoy as they approached the ending of the song. The song was about to end, and thus was the adventures of the sing-song battalion.
"And you tell me," Jay spoke, with the rest of the units following suit and singing. The coldness of the current weather helped the atmosphere of the singing. "Over and over and over and over again, my friend," The Mechanized Infantry followed, soldiers riding on the wave of singing. Though then again, this was just another coping mechanism for the fact that they won't be back home for now anytime soon. After all, the US was here on a Revenge mission. Their current objectives, as per Colonel Zwart, were to commit reconnaissance and eliminate what attacked Johnsbury.
"You don't believe we're on the eve of destruction," An unknown voice interjected, much to the surprise of the convoy. The only vehicle that wasn't speaking was-!
Another voice interjected, this time much older and deeper. " No no, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction." The song ended there, but not the confusion. Everyone stared at the Mobile HQ APC with a surprised expression, Jay included. The radio remained silent for several minutes before the voice continued in a sheepish tone. "Heha... sorry for not being there for a while, guys." The deeper of the voices opened up. "Right, need I introduce ourselves, Guardsmen?"
"What, are you the Mobile HQ right over there?" Chavez asked over the radio. An 'ahm' meant that it was indeed a yes. "Yeah, pleased to meet you." He responded, before the Mobile HQ's hatch popped up, revealing a young, fresh-faced Guardsman... with the tabs of a First Lieutenant. "First Lieutenant Wallace. Mobile HQ." He greeted, the deep New England accent reverberating through the radio. "Sorry for not introducing myself, I was busy making sure our systems didn't detonate on themselves." He noted, turning to face frontwards of the M113.
"Good to see you, Mobile HQ."
"Right then, so I presume that we're near the village right?" Jay asked, smiling as he nodded. "Yeah. Give or take a few hundred feet and we're almost there. Just continue hurrying up there, hopefully, we won't run into anything special." Wallace noted, before slinking back down. "I'll be commanding the Mechanized now, so excuse my absence. Have a great day, all of you." He went radio silent after that, with the Mobile HQ doing its job.
"Our briefing is as follows," He notes, "Establish contact with the village, then dig in. The organization is as follows;" He continues, shuffling papers from the cartographers. "86th Armored, tell your mortar carrier to break off and stay with the Pathfinder units," Which caused Ruben to nod. "First Platoon, Mechanized, hang by the Northeast. I'll see if I can get the Pathfinders to hang with y'all," He continued the sound of chewing on gum reverberating through the radio. "Second and Third Platoon, hang by the Northwest. I've got Artillery covering that area, so if anything comes to attack you're good." Wallace notes. "We'll be hanging back to direct the operations from the village proper. Mobile HQ, out."
"Alright, you heard the man," Ruben spoke into the radio. "Mortar Squad, stick with the Pathfinders and Dan. You'll be needing to provide artillery support for the Northeast units." As he said that, the M113 Mortar began to turn and stick with the Pathfinder unit. "Got it, El-Tee. We'll be hanging with the Pathfinders. Mortar Squadron out." The mortar carrier opened up and then stayed silent for the rest of the operation.
"Alright, how many feet until we get there again?" Jay heard someone ask. 'About give or take three hundred or so?" He responded. "I'm not too good in the topic of distance... or anything else related to maths, really. I just leave it to the Artillerymen to do the complicated homework. Corrections and such." He sighed, taking a moment to vent. "Hopefully we'll get Computers before the decade ends. I'm tired of our artillerymen having a pain in the ass trying to elevate everything." Jay comments. Much to his amazement, Chavez responded with an "amen". And so did the Mortar Squadron.
"Right. Hey, convoy, could you give me a status on ammunition?" Ruben noted. "This isn't standard procedure, but still... might want to check if you guys have sufficient ammunition to make it through the night. If you need, we might be able to get the 26th Infantry. Mobile HQ, can you call them?" He briefly sidetracked his reasoning to ask MHQ. "Yeah, we've got 'em on standby," MHQ noted. "Right, back to checking our mags." Ruben noted. If they were going to dig in, they better have enough ammunition to make it out of the night.
"First Platoon of Mechanized here, we've got everything in order!" An answer came to the radio after two minutes or so of silence. Jay expected a lot more, but surprisingly it took everyone a while. In the meantime, he descended and slinked back into the tank to tell the Gunner to count how many shells they currently have on standby. He entered back up to communicate clearly with the rest of the troops.
He was greeted with responses from the Second and Third Platoons of the Mechanized Infantry. "Second and Third Platoon of Mechanized here, we've got... uhh... thousands of rounds with us. Give or take we've got enough for both platoons."
"Artillery Battery reports at least a few crates of shells, via 5-ton truck. Don't think we'll have an ammo problem unless we get Ia Drang'd."
"Mortar Squadron reports at least eighty-or-so rounds. Let's rain hell upon 'em, boys."
"Uhh... Pathfinders report everything in order! Magazines are all checked and we've got safety off but no ammo in the chamber."
"Mobile HQ reports radio functional. If you can count batteries as Ammo."
"Armored Cavalry, what about you?"
"Hold on," Jay spoke into the radio, and slinked back down. "How many shells did you find?" He asked his Loader, who responded by turning his head to face Jay. "About 60 rounds, sir." He responded. "Multiply that by three to account for the whole platoon," Jay noted. "We'll make sure that we're not going to run out of ammunition in the middle of a firefight."
"Yes sir."
Jay popped back up from the Patton to inform the rest. "We've got about... uhhh..." He slinked back down to see that his Loader wrote '180' with a marker, then rose back up. "We've got about 180 shells in our total platoon. Not counting machine gun rounds..." He bit back the urge to say 'the M219 wouldn't care' because that fucker would jam every time it was used. "Regardless, I think we've got it set up."
"Copy that. Armored Cavalry, you got any other notes?" Mobile HQ opened up, expecting something else. Though Jay didn't have much to say, so by this time he just decided to answer with a flat no.
"No, nada. We're all set up."
"Then we've got not much to think about now."
The radio went silent after that as they pulled into the village, the sign reading 'Mayflower'. The cheery design on the sign made the soldiers feel like it was a kitschy little corner of the world. As soon as the M48 Pattons stepped into the village, the Mechanized Infantry came to a halt, and the soldiers on the M113 rapidly descended to secure the area. The Pathfinders continued past the Pattons stopped at the entrance. Jay watched as Mobile HQ came to a halt next to the sign, and First Lieutenant Wallace stepped out with a backpack radio.
"First Platoon, I recommend guarding the Northeast section. Second and Third Platoon, I recommend you spread out to the Northwest. If any of you have Entrenching tools, I recommend digging a trench and setting up defensive positions." Wallace spoke into the radio, turning to watch the guys spread out. "Pathfinders, could I ask you to accompany First Platoon to the Northeast?"
"Can do," The Pathfinder leader replied from the radio. "Give us a few minutes. We'll be setting up."
"Artillery Section, are you capable of positioning to aim at the Northwest? We're expecting an enemy attacks from the North."
"I am, First Lieutenant. On our way to get over there."
Jay took the opportunity to break off the Mortar Squadron. "Mortar Squadron, could you link up with the Northeast defense sector?" He asked, hoping to bolster the defense sector of the Northeast from either Grimm or the local terrorists. He was briefed on them after all, and he wasn't happy to know that he'd been fighting people akin to the Nation of Islam for God's sake. As if coming from the aftermath of the Civil Rights Movement was bad enough.
"Yes sir. Though we might not be as effective at fire support as a howitzer. Nevertheless, we'll go if needed, sir."
"Good. I was thinking that we might not be able to give our Pathfinders support." And that was a bad thing. A really, really bad thing.
"No need to, sir."
Jay nodded.
"Armored Cavalry, can you stay where you are right now as a rear guard? We don't have enough forces to split between a front and rear guard. So we're counting on you all to keep our rear safe." Wallace's voice appeared back on the radio,
"Uhh... this is Armored Cavalry. We'll be able to, yes. Though I don't see it as a recommended course of action," Jay scratched his helmet, a little confused on what to see after that. "But we'll try. Just don't expect us to do a swell job at it." He decided that he was sadly going to be honest here, even if everyone else had garbage morale and were trying to ensure that they had something to be positive about. A great sigh escaped Wallace's mouth.
"Alright, Armored Cav. Just call us if you need reinforcements."
"Likewise. We'll be on guard if any of the Platoons need tank support. Out."
"Alright. We'll ensure that we won't need to. Out."
The suddenness of the movements caused the lights to turn on in the village, and that was Jay's time to shine as a supreme negotiator. Well, at least in theory.
He turned down to his crew. "I'll be speaking to the locals. Give me a minute." He got back up and grabbed onto the tank hatch, and hopped off of the tank, boots landing on the dry dirt below him. He turned his direction towards the confused people in the village. Who all panicked realizing what they were in the middle of. Though Jay, for his best efforts, tried to wave at people. He took off his helmet and carried it with one arm
"Hello!" Jay greeted, waving with one hand and carrying his helmet on the other arm. The fearful expression of the locals from the village told him a lot though, and his expression stopped smiling for a moment as people stared at the tanks in the gate. And the Mobile HQ. And the soldiers digging trenches on their soil. And everything else that was going on this village.
Jay sighed and took a deep breath as he approached what looked like to be the Mayor of the village, based on his attire befitting of an old-timey mayor. Suit and tiny bowler hat and all. Looked like a funny guy. Makes him wish he watched those old films as a kid again. But now as a tank crewman... he has to speak to one. Christ alive. Hopefully he won't walk out with an aneurysm.
"What is the meaning of this?!" He asked, pointing at the Mechanized Infantry digging trenches to his behind. "What the hell is this?!-" He starts looking at the Pathfinder team setting up their defensive positions. "Who the hell are you?!" He looked at Jay. Jay could hear the murmurs of everyone else from the village, and it didn't surprise him to hear a few negative comments.
"Atlas? What the hell are they doing here? They aren't allowed to be on Valean soil!"
"Who the hell allowed these assholes to march unimpeded?!"
"Go home, Atlas!"
"I don't think they're Atlas, kid... Might be Valean..."
"Motherfuckers, soon they're going to replace this entire village with an airfield..."
Jay sighed and shook his head, speaking up.
"Good morning, villagers... I assume you're not exactly too keen on our presence, are you?" He sarcastically quipped. Jay didn't need this, but dealing with locals was going to be a pain in the ass anyways. The villager group in question was a mix of Human with some Faunus in-between. Overall a rather equal village on the surface. How equal it was had yet to be determined, but hopefully it was not like the whole 'Separate but Equal' propaganda the assholes in the South espoused.
"That is an understatement, Atlesian." The mayor responded with venom in his voice.
"Now ain't that unkind?" Jay's expression turned into a sort of 'ironic sadness' as he stared down at the mayor before his expression reverted to typical army man. "Listen here, we're not here to harm y'all, we're just here on a mission." He tried to offer to them, but they instead snarled back at him. Not that Jay could blame them. They were probably unaware of the fact that they were marked for death by the White Fang. "We're here to-"
"What kind of mission? To exterminate Grimm?" The mayor interrupted, staring back at Jay. When that question came up, Jay nodded, though found it rude that this asshole casually interrupted him like that.
"Yes, actually." He noted. "There's been an increase of Grimm activity in this area, and we're looking to protect unconnected settlements from attacks."
"So you can get an airfield?"
"Maybe?" Jay shrugged. "But there's also another problem-" Jay tried to say, only to get silenced as the Mayor put his hand first.
"If it's just about the Grimm, we can handle it by ourselves," He puffed his cigar. "We don't need you folk-" He poked Jay in an attempt to point at him. "To occupy and destroy our sacred village."
"Fuck off Atlas!" One villager shouted at Jay. He rolled his eyes at that. He wasn't fucking Atlesian, for God's sake. But he guessed that some people couldn't understand that.
"Fuck off, Atlas!" The villagers repeated, yelling at the soldiers currently digging trenches and parking their APCs. Several soldiers heard their chanting and were about to break from digging trenches to challenge them, but Jay shook his head.
I'll deal with this. His body language stated, and the soldiers went back to digging, with him stuck doing the thankless job of talking to the locals. To the credit of the other soldiers though, they didn't give a shit. Sadly, that left Jay alone to deal with the villagers.
God he wished Mobile HQ would come out already.
"Look, this area isn't safe. There's been a spike of Grimm-" He tried to speak, only for the villagers to repeat their chanting and the Mayor to attempt silencing him with a stare.
"Like I said, we can handle it. No need for you Atlesians with your fancy-pancy army to ruin our beloved Mayflower. We're all good by ourselves-"
"Would it kill you to be informed that there's been a massive uptick in Grimm reporting and sightings?" Jay noted, interrupting the Mayor with an annoyed expression. "Oh, and I guess it'd be not so kind to inform you that the White Fang has been sighted in this area too?"
"...Wait, what?!" The mayor responded. Jay nodded to confirm his words.
"There's no way the White Fang would be here! This place is too disconnected to be a valid target, what the fuck?!"
"You're lying, damn Atlesians!"
"Are you sure he's lying?"
"Of course! He's just trying to get us to accept the soldiers in our village!"
Jay felt irritated and wanted to crush something under his boot, but he steadied himself and put the helmet back on to use the radio. "Mobile HQ, requesting 1st Lt. Wallace's presence." He said, turning back to face the sign where the Mobile HQ and M48 Patton tanks parked.
"What for, Armored Cavalry?"
"Get the maps that we stole from the nearby White Fang."
"Got it. I'll be there in a minute."
"Thanks, Wallace." He turned to face the villagers. "I hate to break it to you, but the White Fang's had their eyes set on you for a while, buddy." He sardonically noted, smirking as their expressions turned from arrogance to terror. All because of a single overqualified Tank Commander. "Let me put it this way before you say anything," He stated, wagging his finger to stop the Mayor.
"They've had their sights on you as a military target, to be kept as a supply post between the Northern White Fang cells," He outlined, pointing one finger up. "They have outlined plans to... let's see..." Jay combed through his mental notes. "Oh, right. Demolish the area and turn it into a glorified attack outpost..." He flipped through some more mental notes. "Aaaaand not to mention dealing 'harshly' with the inhabitants of this village," He stopped for a moment to rub one in. "I wonder what they meant by that?" He asked, dishonestly.
He was interrupted when he got tapped on the shoulder and turned to see Lieutenant Wallace hand him the White Fang documents retrieved from the destroyed White Fang camp. The documents were basically the maps outlining the Village and memos on what to do with it. It was stamped with the White Fang symbol of a cat-esque creature with three slash marks on it.
"Thank you, Wallace." Jay told him, Wallace could only bow and nod.
"Anytime." He said, before heading back.
Jay turned around and brought the documents in front of him, and pointed to a circle with writing under it reading 'Mayflower - Capture'. With arrows pointing into the circle too.
"This was a White Fang document we seized while operating in the area," He stated. "And here's the memos," He brought a second set of documents, containing orders on what to do with the Villagers. They stared at the memos in complete shock and horror, and Jay was about to list them all.
"Rule of Engagement," He emphasized. "Villagers expendable. Deal with Harshly." He directly quoted from the memo. "Area Status;" He continued, taking a deep breath as he continued to break it down to the Villagers. "Demolish and Replace with Liberation Camp." The words listed out. The villagers' eyes widened as they realized what was in them if they continued to antagonize the only armed presence willing to present this to them.
"A-Alright," The mayor replied, some arrogance remaining in his defeated voice. "But why show us this? You could be patrolling and eliminating them! Right now, in fact! Why bother speak with our wee little village?"
"Because we need an insight into the world and an access point."
"...Access point?"
"Basically," Jay shrugged. "We need your permission to move troops and supplies using Mayflower as a forward settlement to ensure control over the area."
"But... that places us under occupation! Who's going to protect the village?!"
"We are going to station a garrison division and supply training of local village militia," He read out the deal proposal terms, "Our organization will ensure a military protection guarantee is issued to the village of..." He stopped for a minute to remember the name. "Mayflower." He finished. "The terms of what we propose are as follows;" He stopped, and breathed in.
"The Village of Mayflower is recognized as an autonomous communal entity within the unorganized territories of the Kingdom of Vale, and our government acknowledges its basic interests, such as the integrity and security of their village. As such, in desiring to cooperate with the village to ensure its sovereignty, we have outlined the following articles of the treaty." He was mostly repeating what the Colonel drafted for him before they went out to meet at Point Zulu. He was appointed by the Colonel to negotiate the deal, after all. Though the name of the village was left blank so he filled in and the only reason he knew of Vale was because of the CIDG para militants who helped with the drafting.
"Article I of the Treaty of Mayflower ensures that its right to undertake the defense of its territorial sovereignty is safeguarded by our organization, without a requested tax or tribute for our continued presence. As such, we declare that our armed forces will serve as a complementary guard force alongside the Mayflower militia. It accordingly declares prohibited any activity likely to promote, directly or indirectly, either union with any other State or partition of the Village." He stated, before moving on to the second article.
"Article II of the Treaty of Mayflower ensures that our organization understands the importance of the independence, territorial integrity and security of Mayflower and guarantees it. Thus, we shall ensure that it prohibits actions likely to promote, directly or indirectly, union with any other State or a partition of the Village. Likewise, our organization will prohibit any activity that is directly or indirectly promoting violations of its territorial and political sovereignty."
"Article III requests that the Village of Mayflower likewise recognize our organization's territorial claims and prohibit interference or actions directly or indirectly harming our organization's operational capability. As such, it is the responsibility of the Mayflower mayor to ensure that the citizens do not interfere in the tactical or strategic capabilities of our organization."
"Article IV posits that in case of a breach of the treaty, our organization will seek a compromise solution and consult in order to amend the treaty or find a way to continue the observance of those provisions. In so far as common or concerted action may not prove possible, each of the two signatory organizations reserves the right to take action with the sole aim of re-establishing the status quo antebellum created by the present Treaty."
"Article V posits that the present Treaty shall enter into force on the date of agreement. The original texts of the present Treaty shall be deposited at the Mayor's Governmental Capital. This is the final provision of the treaty."
Jay finished listing off the terms of the treaty from his memory alone. It was painful having to comb through it and replace the blanks that Colonel de Zwart left in order to adapt to the village name in case it came up. But it paid off, as it looked like the Mayor was getting ready to sell his soul in order to ensure that he doesn't get wiped out by either Grimm or the White Fang.
"Do you accept the treaty terms and wish to sign a provisional document?" Jay asked, staring dead-center at the mayor. He was hoping that he'd accede and get on with this shit already. He wanted to go back to the tank and sleep.
"I-I... yes. We shall sign it at the Village Hall..." He noted, shuffling sheepishly as he realized that Jay wasn't fucking around. When you have the barrel of guns aiming down at you, you can't really squeeze a room for counterarguments there.
"In that case, we shall sign it. And thus, ensure that our forces are able to properly use the treaty terms."
The Mayor frantically nodded, with the villagers dispersing to give way to him as he moved. Jay followed him, turning his head once to stare back at them before continuing to the Village Hall.
"B-by the way..." The mayor turned his head to Jay. "I... never got your organization's name. Just 'our organization'... do you have a name?"
Jay, in response rubbed his chin. He was amused at the question, given that he omitted the U.S. Army's name on purpose in order to ensure a more quiet name, thus enabling it to stick out in a sea of rumors. Now, he specifically wouldn't have said this normally, but due to the area of treaty being so small and insignificant, he could afford a minor leak.
"MACNE. Call us MACNE."
"I see... Welcome to Mayflower, MACNE."
The Mayor opened the door to the Village Hall, allowing Jay to step in and watch the modest decor inside of the area. He took a moment to breathe in the fresh air before sitting down on one of the tables, and imploring the Mayor to sit on the other. As he took his chair and sat down to face him, Jay rubbed his hands together and looked at him.
"Now, where were we on the documentary signing?"
It paid off to read Treaty copies in the School Library as a child, after all.
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
god i am so tired i can't afford to put much commentary but tldr the US is now in a treaty with a tiny ass village to guarantee its safety to use it as a glorified FOB. it'll turn into a full-fledged military base sometime soon don't worry. but yeah the US is now dipping its toes in and it starts by intimidating an arrogant and not so politically savvy mayor into a mutual defense guarantee treaty
very fun
next chapter is going to be ia drang if it was incredibly squeezed in and also had to deal with demonic wildlife
very awesome
see y'alls next chapter and i severely apologize for being late, having more fics does that to you but rest assured i will try to update them at least once or twice