0638 April 8th, 2020 CE

0704 Sun 8th, 196 AE

Industropolis, US headquarters in the Magus Imperium

A human stared hostilely at him with narrowed eyes.

“What clothes do you usually wear?”

The question and the way he was asking it felt extremely unfitting.

Another human entered.

“Tom, I don’t think this is gonna work.”

“But I was about…”

“Just let me do it. Grab yourself some lunch. It's already an hour past noon.”

The human got up and left the room. The new human took his place.

“Sorry about that, he’s trained in a different way. Now is there anything we can get you? Drink? Food?”

He had just gotten some food from the humans earlier so there was no need. He found the human food strange. Some kind of meat placed between two extremely soft bread. It tasted good… even better than what he ate at home.

“Just some water please.”

The human turned towards the human guard that was standing by the door.

“Can you get him a bottled water?”

The human guard quickly left. The human smiled.

“I guess it's time for introductions. Nice to meet you, I’m Warrant Officer Tucker Stevens of the US Army”

“...Private Ailmar Zylberos of the National Army”

Tucker started flipping through a bunch of paper.

“I have a few questions for you. I’m not sure if you know or not but my country comes from a different world.”

Ailmar looked confused.

“We are interested in your culture. As a nation from a different world, we are seeking to understand the cultures of other nations in the world. I hope you are willing to cooperate and answer our questions.”

Ailmar was confused by these humans. They were strangely hospitable. When he was captured, he had expected them to torture him. Not only did they not torture him, but they also treated the burn wounds that he had gotten in the battle in the jungle. Now he was in a strange square room with a weird dark shaded glass on one side. He thought that this was where they would torture him but it was just questions. Now, they weren’t even asking for any military-related information.

“Ummm… sure.”

“How good of an artist are you?”

“Average.”

Tucker handed him a piece of paper and a pencil.

“Can you draw what you usually wear as a civilian?”

The human guard then entered and placed a strange clear container in front of Ailamr. He looked at it with apprehension.

“Oh, that's just a bottle of water. You unscrew the top and you can drink from it. Anyways, once you finish drawing, I will have some more questions for you.”

The questioning went on for much more than an hour. It ranged from customs to food and even to daily life.

“Well that's all Mr.Zylberos. I would like to thank you for your cooperation. Have a nice day.”

A few minutes later, Ailmar was led out by the human guard.

Behind the window

“This one seems the most cooperative.”

“I guess not all elves are anti-human extremists.”

“They are a couple that are not that brainwashed. However, they are still fiercely loyal to their country. Should we try to ask him for any military information?”

“The information he’s given to us is already extremely useful. As the saying goes, a bird in hand is worth two in the bush. If we push him further, he might not be willing to give us any more information.”

He looked over the drawing of the elf’s civilian clothes. It definitely seemed like something from the early 20th century.

“This is quite a good drawing. His drawing skills are definitely beyond average. We better send this to SOCOM.”

“We also gotta send some of these elves to the CIA. They are getting a bit noisy about it”

“Just send some of the uncooperative ones.”

Industropolis, Emperor’s Palace

Emperor Arstant had just had a meeting with the American ambassador. Now he was conversing with Military Advisor Caius about the current situation. Military Advisor Caius had been looking very dejected recently.

“The advance of the Americans have far eclipsed our forces. Their mechanized units are much faster than ours. The elves have been so far easily defeated by the Americans. From our reports, elven tanks can’t do damage to the American ones. In addition, their airpower has the ability to lay waste to huge elven armored formations…from our department’s conclusion… I guess they are this world’s superpower now.”

Emperor Arstant sighed.

“At least they are human and are willing to work with us. The Americans seem to also be willing to give us some of their older technology. However, they want us to supply them with some random fruit, vegetable, and plant products”

“I suppose. I hope they don’t make any unreasonable demands.”

“So far they haven’t.”

Cat Kingdom, United Beastmen Kingdom

“Ok, so aim down the sights. Stable. Deep breath. Stay firm. Then pull the trigger.”

The AK in Ron’s hand jerked back from the recoil.

“I still can’t get used to this backward movement.”

“You will get it soon enough.”

With their size, the bigger cats had no problem with the recoil of the AKs. On the contrary, Ron’s small frame was an issue. He couldn’t handle the big swords that Division Commander Flametail used. His usual choice of weapons was a pair of knives. Strangely, he also sometimes used scissors. He seemed to love scissors. In addition, he had a weird interest in using the sharpened pencils that the Diamond Wolves had brought over.

The other beastmen had been training dutifully with their supplied AKs. They will be shipping out about 4 days from now. Although it has only been 3 days since the Diamond Wolves arrived, they have been training every day. It was a good thing that the beastmen were already extremely well-disciplined and strong. They just needed to learn the basics of using the AKs and how to use them effectively.

The elven advance into the Kingdom of Albea had started again so break time was over. However, the elves seemed to have diverted their forces. Their advances were much slower and they haven’t gained much ground.

Out of all the divisions being sent, they, the Fifth Division, were the only ones trained to shoot guns. Through the course of their training, there had been some minor disagreements between the Diamond Wolves and the Fifth Division. Despite recommendations, the beastmen weren’t willing to give up their armor.

0720 April 8th, 2020 CE

Washington D.C.

“They are selling what?!”

“Ak-47s.”

“Who authorized that?”

“You did sir.”

President Hayes went silent for a few seconds.

“... oh yeah I did… I didn’t authorize anything else did I?’

“No.”

“Good. Just warn them that they can’t sell or give any heavier weapons to the UBK. No anti-tank, no anti-air, stuff like that. They themselves can use it in their battles but they have to bring their heavy weaponry back. I would have much preferred if they had given them M-1 Garands but I guess the AKs will give them a better chance.”

0723 April 8th, 2020 CE

0841 Sun 8th, 196 AE

Elven Defense Line

“Tank!”

“Take cover!”

The fighting in the town had been fierce. The elves weren’t willing to give away a single street without fighting.

“Fuck! Ken’s down!”

An Abrams rolled down the street. It quickly dispatched the elven tank. It’s machine guns then lit up the elven position further down the street.

Private Issac kept his back on a wall.

“I fucking hate urban combat! Couldn’t we have bombed this place to kingdom come.”

Issac peeked around the corner with his gun and started shooting. For all the technological advantages they had, urban combat was still hell. Sergeant Bennett yelled out.

“Move! Move! Move! Come on boys, we are positioning further up. The houses in the vicinity have been cleared.”

On the road beside Issac, the Abrams rumbled down.

<<<“This is Centurion 1-1. We are moving up the road. Centurion 1-2, 1-3, and 1-4, where the hell are you guys? Report your position. We don’t see you behind us. Over.”

“We got infantry pinned down by tanks on the street behind. They are trying to flank us.”

“We don’t need all three Abrams down there. Centurion 1-2 move up. Out.”

“Wilco.”>>>

<<<“Praetorian. This is Centurion 1-1. Over.”

“This Praetorian. Go ahead Centurion 1-1.”

“What is Centurion 2 doing!? The enemy is flanking us! Half of my forces are being held up.”

“Centurion 2 is currently engaging multiple enemy armor.”

“Tell them to hurry their fucking asses up. Out.”>>>

Captain John Rose sighed at Centurion 1-1’s request.

Issac crouched behind a sandbag next to Fred.

“We got another elven position up there. Where the fuck is our tank? Reckon you can take them out with your grenade launcher?”

“I got no grenades left. Used them all up to clear out the machine guns in the houses. Where’s the rest of the squad?”

“They are coming up… well fuck it.”

Issac popped up from his crouched position and started shooting his M4A1 Carbine. Bullets whizzed by from the elven rifles. Fred followed along. Crouching back down, Issac saw someone run up to them. It was Specialist Noah Wallace, their squad’s automatic rifleman. He was carrying a M249 Light Machine Gun.

The rest of the squad seemed to be peeking out towards them from behind a building.

“About time you got here.”

“Rest of the squad is pinned behind that building. Damn elves know how to use their bolt action rifles well.”

“Less talking. More shooting.”

Noah set up his M249 and started firing downrange. Fred and Issac popped up to provide further fire. Slowly, the elven position down the road crumbled.

Their squad’s Bradley rolled up. Staff Sergeant Jacob James, squad leader of Issac’s squad, ran up to it. He yelled at it

“Where the fuck is our tank support?”

The Bradley commander popped open his hatch and yelled back.

“Sorry, boys this is all you got. Centurion 1 is dealing with elven tanks that are trying to flank us. However BFV-1 should be coming up with the 2nd Squad.”

Deeper in the town

“Lieutenant General, the situation doesn’t look too good. We are losing too many of our magipanzers.”

“How long until the second wave gets here?”

“Less than an hour.”

“Prepare for a retreat.”

Less than an hour later

<<<“This is the 30th Magipanzer Division. We will be coming up to your position soon.”

“This is the commander of the 11th Blitzpanzer Division. We will have to retreat. We are unable to keep a hold of this town.”>>>

Ara switched the radio to her own forces.

<<<“Pull out of the city. I repeat. All forces. Pull out.”>>>