27th Insane Speech // Video and Text
[The video starts with a view of everyone’s favorite warmongering lunatic standing in the prison library in his baggy orange jumpsuit, next to a table with a large map and several papers on it. He’s grinning, and gives a theatrical bow before switching to text. The Major’s blathering is also available in a text-to-speech if necessary.]
Hello! And how are we all today, my friends? Feeling a little anxious, I’m sure, a little wound-up with all the energy of an approaching battle filling the air. Even within these thick walls, I can smell it. I can smell the approaching explosion! Fortunately, I have decided which side of this conflict Millennium shall take. When fighting begins in earnest, you of the City shall have the finest of the Third Reich on your side! But for now, please accept my humble contribution to the defence of our beloved home.
[Back to video, now focusing on the table and what the Major has been working on. Prison’s boring, and everybody needs a hobby while they’re inside. Some people lift weights, some people craft shivs, some people find Jesus or take up the harmonica. The Major has spent his time in jail making a civil defense plan for the City. And a multimedia presentation to go with it. Mozart begins to play in the background as text scrolls across the bottom of the screen.]
First, let us accept some simple facts. Previous experience has shown us that the ordinary people of this world- the citizens, the police, even the might of the American military- cannot stand against whatever forces the HIVE commands. They may be useful as auxiliaries, but in the event of full-scale invasion, the burden shall fall upon us to throw them back!
Second, in such a battle we must expect to be badly outnumbered. I am pleased, no, thrilled by the way we are all coming together, but still: the enemy has superior resources to draw upon, the extent of which we do not yet know, and they have the advantage of the initiative besides. There is also the possibility that they will make common cause with forces within the City, and so create a fifth column that can strike anywhere without warning! Therefore, a proper garrison for the entire City is beyond our ability to provide. We must adapt a mobile defence, where we focus our forces wherever they are most needed and where each team deploys to wherever the threat is. The trick is to divide responsibilities between the teams!
Third, the complete defence of the citizenry will be impossible. I know that this is a hard pill for you heroes to swallow, but there it is! We cannot evacuate all the City’s millions when danger threatens, especially since we can expect that the enemy will fall upon us with the greatest of surprise. Provisions for their shelter and defence can and should be made, but in the midst of battle all combatants must focus their efforts upon the efficient destruction of the enemy, and not go running off to rescue the helpless from whatever perils they may face. Neglecting tactical objectives for the sake of soft morality will guarantee defeat.
Now then, with that out of the way:
[There’s a map of the City that the Major has been drawing on, marking out potential kill zones, supply dumps, casualty centers, training grounds, underground shelters communications centers, and command locations, as well as contact information for arms dealers and mercenary companies. There’s an enormous amount of the Major’s handwriting on the edges and margins, and more of his text continues to scroll across the screen as the Major keeps going on and on.]
[In brief, his plan is to divide the defence of the City between different units of ImPorted, treating existing groups as pre-established units and arranging independent combatants into fresh units. Both heroes and villains are included here; the Major has planned for total war using every available resource. Each unit would be immediately responsible for defending a certain area of the City centered on their base, with the size of the area depending on their capabilities. For example, the X-men would have a very wide radius around the Xavier Institute due to their numbers and assets, whereas the Decepticons would have a smaller zone of responsibility centered on StarWave Industries. Each unit’s base would have to be fortified and upgraded to continue functioning in the face of massive attacks- concrete walls, backup communications systems, barbed wire, even minefields where applicable. The Major matter-of-factly recommends using prisoners as slave labor in the construction of these fortifications. The plan leaves large areas of the City undefended, and focuses on protecting its core. There is also overlap between different zones, particularly those of teams whose bases are located in financial buildings downtown.]
[The plan assumes that the Porter building would be the main target of any attack, and so must be made the most heavily-guarded location in the City, massive defences constructed around it and every ImPort combatant who is not part of a unit assigned to a team dedicated to its protection, along with spare police units, conscripted citizen militia, and any established units whose base is nearby. A scribbled note on the side asks about the possibility of building a robotic army to support the City’s forces, or perhaps having the Scourge raise an army of the dead.]
I am aware that most of you are not in any great hurry to trust me or anything of my creation, let alone accept my expertise. But you would be foolish indeed to cast aside what I have placed in front of you! The fact of the matter is that I have had over half a century of command experience, that I have fought in some of the most brutal and vicious urban combats in the history of mankind, that our last engagement with the HIVE was a success which took place under my command, and that right now your options are few indeed. Cooperation is not enough. To defend an urban center of this size, you will need a proper strategy. So please, think my proposals over, and build upon them as you will. They may be what helps you all to weather whatever storm is approaching! Until then, my friends.
[The Major makes another bow, waves, and then the video shuts off.]
Hello! And how are we all today, my friends? Feeling a little anxious, I’m sure, a little wound-up with all the energy of an approaching battle filling the air. Even within these thick walls, I can smell it. I can smell the approaching explosion! Fortunately, I have decided which side of this conflict Millennium shall take. When fighting begins in earnest, you of the City shall have the finest of the Third Reich on your side! But for now, please accept my humble contribution to the defence of our beloved home.
[Back to video, now focusing on the table and what the Major has been working on. Prison’s boring, and everybody needs a hobby while they’re inside. Some people lift weights, some people craft shivs, some people find Jesus or take up the harmonica. The Major has spent his time in jail making a civil defense plan for the City. And a multimedia presentation to go with it. Mozart begins to play in the background as text scrolls across the bottom of the screen.]
First, let us accept some simple facts. Previous experience has shown us that the ordinary people of this world- the citizens, the police, even the might of the American military- cannot stand against whatever forces the HIVE commands. They may be useful as auxiliaries, but in the event of full-scale invasion, the burden shall fall upon us to throw them back!
Second, in such a battle we must expect to be badly outnumbered. I am pleased, no, thrilled by the way we are all coming together, but still: the enemy has superior resources to draw upon, the extent of which we do not yet know, and they have the advantage of the initiative besides. There is also the possibility that they will make common cause with forces within the City, and so create a fifth column that can strike anywhere without warning! Therefore, a proper garrison for the entire City is beyond our ability to provide. We must adapt a mobile defence, where we focus our forces wherever they are most needed and where each team deploys to wherever the threat is. The trick is to divide responsibilities between the teams!
Third, the complete defence of the citizenry will be impossible. I know that this is a hard pill for you heroes to swallow, but there it is! We cannot evacuate all the City’s millions when danger threatens, especially since we can expect that the enemy will fall upon us with the greatest of surprise. Provisions for their shelter and defence can and should be made, but in the midst of battle all combatants must focus their efforts upon the efficient destruction of the enemy, and not go running off to rescue the helpless from whatever perils they may face. Neglecting tactical objectives for the sake of soft morality will guarantee defeat.
Now then, with that out of the way:
[There’s a map of the City that the Major has been drawing on, marking out potential kill zones, supply dumps, casualty centers, training grounds, underground shelters communications centers, and command locations, as well as contact information for arms dealers and mercenary companies. There’s an enormous amount of the Major’s handwriting on the edges and margins, and more of his text continues to scroll across the screen as the Major keeps going on and on.]
[In brief, his plan is to divide the defence of the City between different units of ImPorted, treating existing groups as pre-established units and arranging independent combatants into fresh units. Both heroes and villains are included here; the Major has planned for total war using every available resource. Each unit would be immediately responsible for defending a certain area of the City centered on their base, with the size of the area depending on their capabilities. For example, the X-men would have a very wide radius around the Xavier Institute due to their numbers and assets, whereas the Decepticons would have a smaller zone of responsibility centered on StarWave Industries. Each unit’s base would have to be fortified and upgraded to continue functioning in the face of massive attacks- concrete walls, backup communications systems, barbed wire, even minefields where applicable. The Major matter-of-factly recommends using prisoners as slave labor in the construction of these fortifications. The plan leaves large areas of the City undefended, and focuses on protecting its core. There is also overlap between different zones, particularly those of teams whose bases are located in financial buildings downtown.]
[The plan assumes that the Porter building would be the main target of any attack, and so must be made the most heavily-guarded location in the City, massive defences constructed around it and every ImPort combatant who is not part of a unit assigned to a team dedicated to its protection, along with spare police units, conscripted citizen militia, and any established units whose base is nearby. A scribbled note on the side asks about the possibility of building a robotic army to support the City’s forces, or perhaps having the Scourge raise an army of the dead.]
I am aware that most of you are not in any great hurry to trust me or anything of my creation, let alone accept my expertise. But you would be foolish indeed to cast aside what I have placed in front of you! The fact of the matter is that I have had over half a century of command experience, that I have fought in some of the most brutal and vicious urban combats in the history of mankind, that our last engagement with the HIVE was a success which took place under my command, and that right now your options are few indeed. Cooperation is not enough. To defend an urban center of this size, you will need a proper strategy. So please, think my proposals over, and build upon them as you will. They may be what helps you all to weather whatever storm is approaching! Until then, my friends.
[The Major makes another bow, waves, and then the video shuts off.]