NOTE: This chapter contains major spoilers if you have not completed the Anime yet and up to date with Manga DO IT before reading this chapter
Chapter 15: Hearts and Minds Pt 1
Royal Military Police Headquarters, Capital Mitras, Wall Sina
Nile Dawk commander of the Military Police Regiment grinds his teeth in anger as kept on reading the news report on the successful burst of the multiple human trafficking rings all over Wall Rose by the hands of non-other than the foreigners from beyond the walls.
He was not at all furious because the Outsiders took care of those leeches from the underground Or the fact this was a joint operation conducted by the UNEF and the Garrison. But what ire him the most was the Military Police the most prestigious sector in the Military within the walls was kept in complete darkness about it.
But as he turned the page over and read the top headlines he completely lost control of his temper. In bold letters, it read "Military Police A Protector or A Hungry Devourer?"
This article sheds light on the complete mismanagement of the refugee camps under the MPs, the misuse of their power, and their blatant disregard for the suffering of the populace. A complete insight is provided from an anonymous refugee about the constant fear among the families about the high level of abductions happening in the camps and the inaction of the MPs to counter it. There was also a segment present about the concerning theories of MPs involved in the said abductions.
In a fit of frustration and rage, Dawk tore the paper into shreds, slammed his fists on his office's desk, and threw it contents to the floor.
He never believed in the Government sanctioned media outlets, those were all propaganda machines funded by the monarchy. But this was from the Merchant Association's Gazette one of few existing media publications not certified by the monarchy and the one media house he still has some faith in. News tabloids were already being distributed all over the lands. From the wealthy sectors within wall Sina to the middle-class establishments in Wall Rose, from the lowly criminals from the underground to the countryside peasants, workers in the districts, and the Nobility in the Capital Mitras everyone now knew about the Military Police abuse of power.
"The honor and prestige of the Military Police have been tainted forever in the eyes of the people." He muttered.
As he calmed himself down a bit a knock on the door to his office is heard.
"Come in."
One of his aides enters the room.
"Sorry to disturb you commander but the Royal Council has summoned for you."
'As I had expected' he thought.
Dawk quickly recomposed himself
"Very well get my horse ready." He ordered, "And get someone to clean my room."
Capital Mitras, Wall Sina
Royal Palace
"..and do you have any idea for all the mess you and your men have got us in to?" Minister Aurile in anger threw the curled up daily gazette at Dawk which hit him on his face.
"The council is very much displeased by your conduct as the Commander of the Military Police." Gerald the Military Representative in the Council spoke with a scowl. "We have already received a number of complaints from our Outsider allies of your men getting into fights with their troops for no good reason, have you lost control of your men Commander?"
Dawk kept his head lowered in shame. He is accused of tainting the prestige of the Monarchy by his inaction in maintaining control and discipline of the men and women under his command who represent the will of the His highness. From the moment he entered the Royal Audience chambers various kinds of insults have been thrown at him. The council has deemed him responsible for all this. Basically, he will be the scapegoat to please the people and show the outsiders the resolve of the Monarchy to stamp out the corruption from their system.
"You should be stripped of your rank and position and send t.."
"That would be enough Minister Aurile." But a sudden commanding voice interrupted the chubby minister.
Dawk raised his head to see the idle Monarch has now risen up from his throne and was approaching him. He quickly bent a knee in reverence to the monarch as the King stood a few meters before him.
"You are a loyal subject of mine commander and I will not question it." The King spoke. "Your sincerity to take responsibility for the actions of your men has pleased me. So I have decided to forgive you."
Shocked by this sudden development Deltoff tried to intervene
"But your majesty the council..."
the King raised his hand effectively silencing him.
"I am your King aren't I, the authority to pass the final verdict on Commander Dawk's crime is solely mine. Do you object to my decision minister Deltoff?" The council member went completely mute though anger of being overruled was evident in his eyes.
It is decided then." The monarch said as he gave a glance at fuming Deltoff and the stunned council members and turned his gaze back to Dawk.
"Commander Dawk you will go back to your Headquarters and you will personally see to it the accusations and the taint on the Military Police to be cleared up and quell any kind of rising discontent among the people against the Government."
"As you wish your Majesty and this humble servant thank you for considering me worthy of your forgiveness."
"Just remember the hand of the king is as soft as a feather and as hard as a rock. You may take your leave, We have more important matters to discuss."
Dawk stood up, presented a salute, and left the audience chamber, Relived to be able to return back to his family and job alive and well.
Meanwhile, the monarch casually returned back to his throne and settled down in his usual laid back posture. Disregarding the glares he was receiving from the Nobles.
"Guards leave us" Aurile ordered to the Royal Guards present in the Audience chambers.
"Yes, Milord." The guards replied in unison and dutifully marched out of the room closing the elegant behind, leaving the monarch and the council alone.
Aurile shifted in his chair and then turned towards the seated king glaring daggers at him.
"Do you know what you did?"
"What ?" The man seated on the throne asked leisurely.
"You just overruled our collective decision you senile old fool, who do you think you are ?" He snapped.
"I am just following orders" the old monarch replied casually.
"Whose?" Now Deltoff fuming in anger joined in.
"You all know whose."
Aurile turned white and Deltoff eyes went wide when they quickly realized about whom the man was talking about and calmed themselves down. They were just inches away from getting their heads lobbed off.
"Why weren't we informed about this?" Aurile asked recomposing himself.
"He wanted to make this act look real for the commander. Now we have a loyal officer who will follow any order we give just to repay the debt to his majesty's kindness. He also saw this a very good opportunity to clean up some of the criminal scum operating in the King's land, His own words I say. I am going to take a nap now, wake me up in the time for my supper will you please."
"Of course." Deltoff said.
As the council members were about to get back into the daily state of affairs on the matters of the King's land, the old man spoke again
"Oh yes, I forgot to mention our lord has already dispatched the First Interior squad to take care of that traitorous reporter from that uncertified newspaper..." The man pondered a bit. "I cannot remember its name.."
" The Merchant Association's Gazette" Deltoff pointed out.
"Yes that one, he will be suitably punished for his crimes against the crown, so you all don't have to worry about that man anymore."
"Well, thank you for the information, Mr. Fritz." Roderich the representative from the Order of the Walls said.
"Do not thank me, thank His Majesty for this." And he slumped back into his Throne and fell asleep, leaving the councilors as always take of the things those are above his pay grade.
Wall Rose, Naval Force Protection, German Navy
A small convoy consisting of a truck and its two escorting Humvee were rolling on the dirt road at a moderate speed. The Truck's cargo consisted mostly of food and medical supplies for a rural settlement called Sylt where the UN had set up a medical camp for the locals.
Sylt's camp is one of the several temporary medical facilities opened under the UNEF's Hearts and Minds initiative to earn the trust of the rural population in the Wall Rose area.
In the lead Humvee driver Stabsgefreiter (Corporal) Konard took a quick glance at his CO who silently sat staring the dirt road more like a glorified goat path holding a small brown blood-stained diary near his heart. He heard a lot about it from the men but as the seemingly endless greenery and no traffic was getting to him, he decided to hear it from the man from where all those stories originated from.
"Can I speak freely sir ?" He casually asked his CO.
"Yes, of course, you can Konard." Lt. Rudolf replied.
"You didn't really need to be personally present in this mission, sir."
"Can I know why ?" Rudolf said as he turned towards his driver.
"Well for starters sir, this is a fairly easy routine convoy escort job with no danger of us getting ambushed by a deranged insurgent with an RPG and his mates with Kalashnikovs. Nor we are in any danger of getting attacked by a 15-meter tall T3 Crawler Giant lurking in the dense forest waiting to devour us."
"You are wondering about this diary right Obergefreiter?" He inquired with an emotionless tone.
Konard kept his silence.
Rudolf then lets a sigh out.
"Don't worry Konard I am not mad," he said. "As we are still far away from our destination and as I also need some this off my heart so listen."
The two soldiers in the back seat also perked up their ears to hear the tale.
"During the battle, I and Hans saved a local soldier from the clutches of this T 2 Giant. But the soldier no, the boy and he couldn't make it his wounds were too severe"
Rudolf lowered his head a bit.
"The kid knew he was about to die so he handed me his diary to give it back to his family."
"What was his name, Lt?"
"His name was Carmine... Carmine Maier. a brave lad, even when he drew his last breath, he asked me was his life was useful to the survival of Humanity."
Rudolf curls up his fists.
"The faster we take care of those large naked freaks, the sooner the locals will stop sending kids to the front to fight those abominations."
Konard nods."I do agree on that sir. By the way, sir does Col. Alistair knows about our little side mission ?" He inquires.
"Yes, he does," He replied, "He was the one who put us on the roster for the mission."
Rudolf did leave the part out where he had to convince the Colonel that his unit be sent on the mission and he would deliver the diary personally as to fulfill a dying man's wish. This mission will also be beneficial for the progress for the UNEC's hearts and Minds initiative and receive more support from the local population he received verbal authorization from him and a remark that would tenfold the respect Rudolf had for the American Colonel before.
"Even if you have not presented me with all these explanations, Rudolf, I would have gladly let you go to. Just don't make a spectacle out of it would you, I already dealing a lot of mess from the shuffles my men have got into with those gun-totting unicorn wearing fools for the last few days."
A small smile formed on his face as he places the diary back in one of the pouches in his vest.
After a few more minutes on the road, the convoy finally arrived at the UN Medical camp set up in the outskirts of the settlement. There they are welcomed by the sight of an overcrowded camp with a long line of locals waiting for their turn to be diagnosed by the volunteer doctors from the USNS Mercy. Elements from USMC MP were presently deployed here in support of the Local Garrison units to maintain law and order in the camp and the town teeming with people of the town and from nearby villages.
The vehicles were directed to a makeshift parking area away from the camp.
"Welcome to Sylt, Lieutenant." A Marine welcomes and comes forward extending his hand for a handshake as Rudolf got off from his Humvee.
"Second Lt. Staton United States Marines Military Police, I hope you had a comfortable journey."
Rudolf accepts his hand.
"Lt. Rudolf German Naval Force Protection." He then lets it go."As comfortable this dirt road can be."
Staton chuckles "Regardless, I would appreciate if your men would help us in getting some these supply crates into the camp." He then gestures at the crowd. "With this many civilians attending the camp, we are pretty stretched thin."
"Of course..." Rudolf was interrupted when Staton's radio came to life.
"Sir we are having another fight at the distribution center here."
"Roger, I will be there." Placing his radio back he turns to the German officer.
"Sorry I have to take my leave Lieutenant duty calls you."
"Don't worry, we will take care of those crates," Rudolf assures him as the Marine leaves pacing to the site of the ongoing fight.
"Konard" Rudolf began. "get our men helping our American friends in hauling up the supplies into the camp."
"Jawohl" Konard responded and ran to rally up the platoon.
As the Lieutenant began to walk towards the camp he felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking back he came face to face with dark brown hair woman, her light brown eyes were covered by a pair of glasses that have bands strapped around her head. She had a big wide grin on her face and before he could react snatched up his hand for a handshake.
"wie dumm von mir" He mentally slapped himself. In the deep train of thoughts and emotions, he was having during their drive from FOB Olympus and here, he had completely forgotten about the local Military Scout regiment's eccentric liaison officer for the Battalion he brought along with him.
Behind her stood Gefreiter (Private)Hans who acted as her personal escort for the mission and has been given explicit orders to be friendly and courteous to her. He also had the authorization to answer any questions the commander had in mind which are not considered as sensitive information by the Central Command. After a number of incidents with the local Military Police units, the UN command had developed serious reservations of arming the local forces with any form of modern firearms or giving them blueprints to develop more effective artillery technology against the Titans in fear of having them turned against UN troops.
But it appears she did squeezed everything he knew about rest of unclassified data on Earth, by god Hans looked like his life force has been completely sucked out of him during the 45 minutes journey.
"Thanks for letting me ride in one of your armored wagons Lieutenant." She said with a gleaming smile." I never expected it will be this much comfortable in that tin can. no offense."
She had been a great help in determining the location of the dead boy's family and home. In return, she only wanted to take a ride one of the Humvees for * not fun but research purposes for the future of mankind*. Her words.
"None taken Commander Hange." He replied with a chuckle.
"More so I should be thankful for your help."
"Don't mention it, Lieutenant, I did what any rational person would do," Hange stated as her smile vanished. "We cannot give our soldiers a proper burial. At least we can make their families know their sacrifice did mean something."
He slowly nods in agreement with Hange's statement.
Rudolf then switches his radio on.
"Konard come in, over."
"Hearing you loud and clear Leutnant"
"I am leaving the camp's perimeter to deliver the special package with our Liason officer and Gefreiter Hans, take command of the men until I am back, over."
"Affirmative, Leutnant, and be advised of pickpocketers some of our American friends have already lost their wallets while taking a walk in the town."
"Will keep an eye for them, over and out."
Rudolf takes a deep sigh and turns to Hange.
Hange shakes her head in response. "Nope, but we still can just ask us around."
"You boys follow me and don't get lost in the crowd." She says as she leads Rudolf and Hans through a long line of waiting civilians who part to give them a way and towards the town's entrance gateway.
(15 minutes later)
"Is this the one Miss Hange?" Rudolf asks looking at the small wooden house.
"Yes, Leutnant." Hange confidently replied. "According to the neighbors, this house belongs to the Maier family.
"Good."
After walking a few paces Rudolf followed by Hange and Hans stood before the house's door.
"Let me take the lead," Hange whispered to him. "You don't want them to be spooked when they see a towering outsider soldier at their door."
Rudolf nods in agreement and lets Hange take over.
She takes a deep breath and after taking a last glance at the two Germans standing at a comfortable distance away from her softly knocks at the door.
To be Continued
Marine325 here, I sincerely apologize for taking this long for the update. I have no excuses except for heavy writer's block, innumerable rewrites, and real-life situations.
Thank you all for reading and don't forget to leave a review, (Got excited I am posting the chapter even before getting it to proofread and only used Grammarly, will rectify my errors later on)