1152 April 13th, 2020 CE

0856 Sun 13th, 196 AE

Airfield miles behind the frontline

First Lieutenant Scott Miller rested on his bed in the barracks. Simple bunk beds lined the interior of the barracks. He was more used to the apartment dorm style that they had at their base. Back home on his base, he even had his own room. But right now he didn’t really care. His squadron had been doing endless sorties a day. There never seemed to be an end to the number of elves that they had to blow to craters. It was a cycle of landing his aircraft, taking a few minutes of break, getting loaded up with missiles and bombs, and lifting off to take care of more of them. His squadron was even called to bomb the already destroyed sectors because the Army just couldn’t get through the sheer amount of destruction.

1304 April 13th, 2020 CE

0932 Sun 13th, 196 AE

Frontline

There was a distinct rumbling coming from the red sky.

“American aircraft! American aircraft!”

The elves that had crowded the road scrambled to disperse.

An elf had an injured elf’s arm slung over him. The injured elf was missing a leg so he couldn’t walk fast. Heavily injured and maimed elves were everywhere.

“Come on, quickly!”

Magitrucks and magipanzers drove off the road.

“We are getting out of the magipanzer!

“But sir!”

“I’m not dying in this metal box”

Corporal Daejor quickly climbed out of his commander hatch and jumped down to run. He and his crew had been lost for multiple days. He was pretty sure that they had been behind enemy lines multiple times without knowing it. Being a lone Guard magipanzer retreating from the frontline, they weren’t targeted by American aircraft until they had rejoined their forces. It was complete hell afterward and his magipanzer had been nearly obliterated. At this point, he has had enough.

1335 April 13th, 2020 CE

0947 Sun 13th, 196 AE

Caenalin, Elven Nation

Pablo looked out of his inn room’s window. The sun had finally gone down and lamps lit the streets of the town. There were a few cars in the streets and some elves walking around. He held his radio to his mouth.

<<<“There is no security at all. Not a soldier in sight. We were able to secure maps but I don’t believe that we will get much else from the residents of this town. Meet up at the north entrance at 1500 and bring everything. We will observe the town further until then. Out”

“Copy. Over.”>>>

They had gotten the room for a few hours under the excuse of taking a rest. The rooms weren’t expensive and they had brought along a lot of counterfeit bills so it was fine. Pablo turned to Operation Sergeant Dennis Richard.

“Round up everyone we will be visiting the local bar.”

Noise was everywhere. Elves were laughing. Beer jugs were hitting each other. The door swung open and six elves walked in. The bustle of the bar continued. It wasn’t irregular for groups of elves to come into the bar so no one cared.

They sat down at an empty round table. A waitress came up. She smiled at them.

“Hello there boys, what can I get for you.”

“We are travelers. What drink would you recommend?”

“Our most popular item would be our classic beer.”

“Then all of us will be getting one. We are just here for a drink.”

She nodded.

“Well, coming right up.”

A few minutes later, an elf waiter came to their table. They looked in surprise at the elf. It wasn’t an elf. His ears weren’t pointy. It was a human who had a collar around his neck.

“Here are your beers esteemed sirs.”

After placing the beers on the table, he bowed his head. The team looked at the human walking away. They looked at each other.

Drinking for a bit, they listened to the conversations around them. One quickly caught their attention. A group of elves were sitting at a table not that far away.

“Have you guys heard? There are rumors that the war isn’t going quite in our favor.”

“Really?”

“Why do you think we are building all these defenses all around the coasts and the fields for? The papers keep saying that we are winning but it’s not as detailed as before. Something is most definitely wrong.”

“Are you sure? Wasn’t it predicted that the humans shouldn’t have technology capable of defeating us? And look, we are even able to buy human slaves now.”

“But what if we aren’t fighting humans anymore?”

“What do you mean?

“We have been underwater for hundreds of years. What if another species became superior to the humans?”

The elf snorted before replying.

“What species could that be!”

“Maybe the dwarves?”

“They were technologically inferior to the humans.”

“It’s been hundreds of years, that could have changed. I have heard stories about the craftsmanship of the dwarves from the Insula Continent.”

“But still, to have advanced to the points of beating us… I don’t believe it.”

“Hm, you believe what you believe, but I’m getting ready for an invasion.”

Paying for their drinks the team stood up and walked out of the bar. They had gathered what they needed.

Pablo had heard about the dwarves on the Insula Continent. The dwarves could be considered an endangered species. The five three-way Colonization Wars fought between the Mach, Magus, and Insulan natives basically left the Insula Continent barren.

1500 April 13th, 2020 CE

1030 Sun 13th, 196 AE

North entrance of Caenalin

Their backpacks were handed to them by the other six.

“We got some extra information when we went to the bar. Seems like the elves are preparing defenses around the area. We will be looking for them. Our satellites did indicate some troop movements here and there but it wasn’t significant.”

Pablo got out the map that they had bought.

“I want your team to go north to scout that area out. We will move east.”

Pablo pointed to another spot on the map

“The rendezvous point is here near this city. Our main mission is still to gather intelligence on their capital but we can’t ignore the possible buildup of defenses that our satellite couldn’t spot.”

The men around him nodded.

One of their two Weapons Sergeants, Fredrick Schultz, peered out of his night vision binoculars. The Green Berets had a system of redundancy. In the 12 men team, there were two weapon sergeants, two communications sergeants, two medical sergeants, and two engineering sergeants. This made it easier for them to split into two teams.

“Yep, those are definitely heavy artillery pieces. 15 cm. Well camouflaged too for that size. I highly doubt our satellites would be able to spot them.”

There were multiple camouflaged artillery pieces lying across the field. Well visible on the ground level, viewing it from the air was another question. Frederick scanned to the right.

“Panzerwerfers too. I also see a couple of anti-tank guns. Not exactly sure which caliber though. I think it's a Pak 43.”

Pablo nodded.

“Let’s go. We will relay this information back once we get into a less vulnerable position.”

1504 April 13th, 2020 CE

1032 Sun 13th, 196 AE

Frontline

They drove up near a town. To be exact, what remained of a town. It had been completely burned to ashes during the elven invasion. Captain John Rose looked around at the destruction and shook his head. Almost every settlement that the elves had conquered had been destroyed. It was a total war.

John looked at his map. They were only a couple of miles away from the coast. The remnants of the elves had nowhere to escape too. It was confirmed that all elven ships have left without them.

Coast of the Magus Imperium

The retreating elf army came up to the sea. Their temporary ports were barren. There wasn’t a single ship in sight. Group of elves from the same unit started forming clumps on the beaches. They were discussing among themselves.

“Where are our ships?”

“I think they left without us.”

“What do we do now.”

An elf, a magiradio operator, listened to his magiradio. The other elves looked at him.

“Someone giving orders?”

The magiradioelf was silent for a bit as he listened intently.

“We are getting orders. Seems like a colonel is taking charge.”

“What are we going to do?”

“It seems like we are fighting”

“Fighting? Is he crazy? We all are going to die!”

“We are still a couple hundred thousand strong.”

“There were nearly four million of us on this continent at the start! What do you think a couple hundred thousand are going to do against them?”

The magiradio operator shook his head.

“Colonel’s orders.”

1524 April 13th, 2020 CE

Washington D.C.

“Mr. President, we have the remnants of the elven invasion force completely surrounded and backed up to the beaches. They have nowhere to escape.”

President Hayes nodded.

“How well are we dealing with the ones that had escaped?”

“Our attack submarines are hunting them. However, a large number of their ships will survive.” There are just too many of them.”

“Our satellites have gathered details of suspicious activities from a large number of enemy ships. We tried to keep an eye on them but cloudy conditions over the eastern portion of their island are preventing us from doing so. We are expecting that they are preparing for defense. The Navy is gathering a large force to deal with it.”

1113 Sun 13th, 196 AE

Primopolis, Magus Imperium

An attendant barged in.

“Emperor Arstant! Great news!”

“What is it? And knock, please. I am just about to retire for the night. ”

“Sorry, sir. The Americans have the remaining elven forces surrounded on the beaches. The elves have been almost all pushed out of the country!”

“I guess it’s nearly over… so many have perished. How are our men doing?”

“They are doing their best at supporting the Americans at the front, sir.”

“Good.”

Emperor Arstant was conflicted. He was happy that the elves were finally out of his country. But he knew it was the end of an era. And the beginning of a new one. And this new one won’t be dominated by one of the Imperiums.

1524 April 13th, 2020 CE

1042 Sun 13th, 196 AE

Frontline

“We have them completely surrounded but they don’t seem to be surrendering. Damn those elves are stubborn.”

Lieutenant Colonel Manfred Rogers, the commander of the 3rd Battalion, 37th Armor Regiment, part of the 1st Armored Division, wondered about the current situation. He had expected them to surrender seeing that this had no meaning left at all. The elves had nothing to gain if they kept on fighting. It seemed like logic and common sense weren’t in their dictionary.

A human aircraft flew high overhead. Anti-aircraft crewmen scrambled to their guns. A message was blared out.

"You have one hour to surrender. Please send a negotiator with a white flag so we can discuss terms. I repeat. You have one hour to surrender. Please send a negotiator with a white flag so we can discuss terms. If we do not receive anyone within an hour, may God have mercy on you all.”>>>

There were surprised murmurs among the elves.

"The damned humans learned our language."

0925 April 14th, 2020 CE

Guantánamo Bay, New Frontier

“So are you ready to talk?”

The CIA agent who originally talked to the elves through a speaker in another room was finally in the interrogation room himself. It was clear that the elves, being tied up, couldn’t use their magic. The elf didn’t respond. The elf was emaciated. Literal bones could be seen through his skin. Food in the form of meat was right in front of him but he looked away. The agent sighed.

“Guess we are doing the hard way.”