0955 May 23rd, 2020 CE

Washington D.C.

President Hayes read the report as the Cralson explained it to him. “Most of the resistant towns and smaller cities have surrendered. From these recent battles, we have only suffered 47 casualties. The total so far for the entire war is only 263 casualties.”

“Isn’t that a bit grim compared to the figures from the Iraq War?”

“Well compared to the Iraq War, we didn’t face an army that was nearly 5 million strong and a fanatical populace. Casualties will still mount though as we start battling our way through their larger cities.”

Pentagon, United States of America

General Griffith poured whiskey into his lowball glass. The ice inside plinked around. He looked outside the window of his office. “I want those reports to be erased or changed. Understood? The President doesn’t need to know about them. It’s fine if one or two reports slip through. As long as the actual figures don’t get to him. It will be fine. With this, I will get to keep my job. Heck, maybe I will even get recognized for what I did. And you will keep your job too.”

A man stood near the closed door. “I’m not too sure about this, General.”

Quincy took a sip out of his whiskey. “Who do you think got you this job, Charles. I can get you fired from it with just a single phone call. Just follow this and you will keep your job.”

Charles swallowed and stayed where he was. Quincy gave a sigh and put his glass down on his desk. “We have no obligation to protect people from other countries. In fact, fuck them. That shit of a President thinks it’s our duty to save foreigners who don’t even give a damn about our country. Continuing the war in the Middle East and for what? To help rebuild countries? We should of just bombed them back to the stone age and left. I have seen good men die out there fighting for people who aren’t American.” Quincy’s voice started to develop a tone of hatred. “And in the end, the world still blames us. If they aren’t American, there’s no need to help them. Our job. Our duty. Is to protect our fellow Americans. And only that. Well sadly, in our previous world we couldn’t do that because of a stupid convention. Do you know how many of my buddies, my men died because of that? This world is a dream. No international community to watch us. No rules to follow. The foreigners are nothing more than idiots, animals, or barbarians. Think about it. A US-centric world with nobody to question what we do. We can destroy any foreign country that dares not listen to us. Hiding what we do from the domestic media isn’t that hard in this world. And now that idiotic President is thinking about transparency and a rulebook to restrict us like the Geneva Convention. Maybe I should run for President. We will be so much better off.”

Charles felt a bit shocked by the General’s rant. “But…”

Quincy cut him off. “ I know you have been struggling recently. You have your wife and your kids. Once you finish this, maybe there’s even something in line for you. Maybe a promotion of sorts. With a good raise in salary. And also isn’t your daughter suffering from cancer? I can get her the best doctor there is. Paid by me.”

“...understood, General.”

“Most of the civilian casualties are from elven executions. Our artillery and airstrikes have caused minimal civilian casualties.”

Ronell nodded at Quincy’s words. “Maybe you were right, Quincy. I’m not a military man. The current situation seems better than the past.”

“Mr. President, war is not a clean thing. You have to take risks. Your idea to restrict our airstrikes and artillery strikes until the target was confirmed and the chance of collateral damage was completely gone made us lose many men. I sympathize with the fact that you want to help the innocent, but sometimes you just can’t do that.”

1030 May 23rd, 2020 CE

0815 Sun 23rd, 196 AE

Galath Mountain Range

A C-130 Hercules flew toward the mountain range. The navigator spoke on comms. “This should be the biggest entrance to the cave and tunnel system that the elves have in the mountain.”

The back door of the C-130 opened and a MOAB slid out and dropped onto the side of the mountain. A small mushroom cloud rose into the sky.

The open-air entrance to the base was very large so that it could allow magipanzers and aircraft to fit in. Usually, the front entrance would have a few elves milling around and a couple of aircraft being serviced. But because of the recent bombings, everything was moved further into the cave and closer to the part that was dug out. The elf engineers doing maintenance to the aircraft felt the ground rumble. They looked out of the cave just as they were thrown in a blast.

The overpressure from the MOAB created shockwaves that reverberated into the cave and through the tunnels carved out by the elves. Because it was not reinforced, many parts of the cave collapsed. The initial blast killed those at the entrance and destroyed the vehicles stored there. Thousands of elves died from the shockwaves. Hundreds more were trapped in the mountain.

The MOP, which was meant to destroy bunkers by going through the roofs and floors of a reinforced structure, was not suited for destroying a massive tunnel system that was carved into the side of a mountain.

Ara looked up into the sky and saw a mass of white rising into the sky. She had seen a single plane that had four propellors drop a large bomb onto the mountain. When the bombings began, she was sheltered at a smaller cave system along with others so she was able to survive.

???, Elven Nation

“We have lost all communications with the soldiers in the mountain’s main base. We have received reports from nearby soldiers that a large explosion occurred. It is highly possible that the main base has been wiped out.”

In the hallway, loud yelling came from Tarron’s room. It went on for a few minutes before stopping and an eerie silence fell.

Anfalen rushed into the room. “Saehalin. We need to leave. We aren’t safe here.”

Saehalin looked bewildered. “Where are we going? What’s happening?”

“You know where my parents live right? Their village? Go there. I already have a driver arranged to do that. Pack.”

They walked out of the enormous base. Two cars were waiting outside. Saehalin stopped. “Anfalen… why are there two cars?”

Anfalen sighed. “I’m not going with you.”

“Why?”

“I’m going to find a way to stop this madness.” Anfalen stopped her from saying more. “I will be fine.”

Anfalen nodded at the elf standing next to the driver’s door of the first car. “Vesstan, you are one of my most trusted officers and our close friend. Keep her safe.”

Vesstan gave a small smile. “Will do, sir. “Come on Sae.”

Saehalin hesitated. “Vess… but…”

Anfalen urged her. “Leave! Go! I will return to your side as soon as possible. If the Americans come to your village, do not resist.”

Anfalen watched as Saehalin got into the car. He had thought long and hard about this. Killing Tarron would accomplish nothing. Someone else would take over and the entire mess would continue. If he tried to take over, he will just be killed for treason. He needed another way and he now was taking a gamble. It was the most reasonable out of the three he had thought of. He hoped Saehalin will be safe. Tarron was handicapped at this point. He neither has the time nor the resources to waste to try to kill his parents or his wife. Anfalen turned towards his second in command, Athtar Uladan. “Let’s go.”

Tarron gave out orders in the General Staff room. “Order all units to withdraw from the mountains. Disperse into the forest. Where’s Anfalen? Get Anfalen. I need to talk to him.”

Tarron brow’s creased. He loathed to admit it but Anfalen was right.

A few minutes later

A soldier saluted him. “Hail Venharice! We were unable to find him and his wife was not at the living quarters.”

“Ok, then search around the compound.”

A few hours later

It was clear that Anfalen was gone. Two cars had disappeared from the vehicle storage and Tarron along with his wife and two Intelligence officers were gone. After hearing this in his office, Tarron gritted his teeth before shouting and slamming his fist onto his desk.

“Anfalen! Anfalen! Anfalen!”

On the road to the Galath Mountains

Athtar, in the driver seat, spoke up to Anfalen who was beside him. “I see things coming down the mountain. Seem to be our soldiers.”

“Find a different route. We need to get to the other side of the mountain without being caught.”

“You know, Anfalen… this entire thing feels like a stupid idea.”

“Well, it’s only one I can think of at this point.”