0044 May 24th, 2020 CE

0322 Sun 24th, 196 AE

Miles from the Galath Mountain Range, Elven Nation

Surrounded by trees, Ara sat down on a flat rock while rubbing her forehead. Beside her was her Knight tank. She was glad that she had filled it up during their stay in the mountains. A few beleaguered elven soldiers milled around. Among them, one soldier came up to her and saluted. She didn’t know his unit nor his name but he had patches that indicated that he was a Lieutenant. He was most likely the highest rank soldier here other than her. “Major General, quite a few of our elves are missing. We have witnesses that say they have deserted.”

“Ok.”

The Lieutenant looked at Ara curiously. “Shouldn’t we give out orders to shoot anyone who deserts and to find those who deserted?”

“We don’t have time to care about deserters and we aren’t going to shoot them. I don’t even know which units these men are all from.”

“I know which unit they are from. I gathered them. Major General, it is your duty to command us.”

Ara sighed. “The deserters are just following orders.”

The Lieutenant blinked. “Um, Major General, I don’t think the orders were to give up.”

“They are dispersing. The orders were to disperse. That’s what they are doing. I’m not even their actual commanding officer. They just joined up with us when we fled the mountains. In fact, some of these deserters could be trying to find their own units or their commanding officers.” Ara sighed again after he left. She really wished that she could also desert. “Ugh, this is a mess.”

A few minutes later

“We are running low on food and we have nowhere to be resupplied.”

Ara shook her head. “High Command is giving no help to us. Every time I ask for supplies and such, they only told me to follow the order to disperse. Seems like we will have to fend for ourselves.”

The Lieutenant nodded. “Major General, should we take a position in one of the nearby towns? They have food and probably fuel.”

“... that’s actually not a bad idea. The Americans haven’t gotten to this side of the mountains yet.” Ara stood up. “Elves! Move out, we are getting resupplied.”

0120 May 24th, 2020 CE

MacDill Air Force Base, Tampa, Florida

General Thompson looked over the sit-rep. “Huh… they abandoned the mountains. That’s incredibly stupid of them but incredibly lucky for us.”

One of his staff nodded. “I guess they got scared of the MOAB we dropped on them.”

“Well, we only have 14 more of them so thank god for that. It would be a repeat of Iwo Jima if they continued staying in those mountains.”

0133 May 24th, 2020 CE

0346 Sun 24th, 196 AE

Somewhere in the Elven Nation

Under the blazing sun, a platoon of M1A2 Abrams sat in the middle of the plains. Captain Rose sat on the commander’s hatch of his Abrams and studied the wide-open plains. A voice came over the comms.

<<<“This is Centurion 1-1. When the hell is the fuel going to come? The frontline is already way ahead of us.”

“This is Praterion. They did say that they did have fuel trucks coming towards us. I won’t be surprised if the shipment is lost somewhere in the Magusian Empire.”

“It’s so fucking hot here. At least let us find a few trees to sit under the shade. We still have fuel.”

“Yes, we can definitely still move, but we are trying to conserve fuel here just in case anything happens.”

“We are in the middle of buttfuck nowhere, miles behind the frontline. I don’t expect some idiotic elf to attack us.”>>>

On the road, a group of Humvees passed them. The soldiers on the Humvees were laughing. One of the tankers who was sitting beside his Abrams gave them a middle finger and shouted “Oh, fuck you!”

Skies over Elven Territory

Leaflets spewed out of an F-15E that was cruising over the skies of the Elven Nation

“All cities west of your mountain range have fallen! Those that have surrendered are being treated humanely. We mean no harm to the elves of the Elven Nation. We only seek those responsible for initiating this war.”

On the back of the leaflet was a map of the Elven Nation. One side of the Elven Nation was colored blue and had the American and Magusian flag on it. On the other side was colored gray with the Elven flag on it. Multiple blue arrows pointed towards the gray area.

Outskirts of Faluna, Elven Nation

The sound of M777A2s firing rumbled across the plains. The firing had been going on for a few days, starting every time a target was marked. US troops have also advanced slowly into the city.

Ovagroth, Elven Nation

Finn walked down the street. There were a few bodies lying on the street. “Fucking hell. These elves did a number on these Magusians.” A burnt-out Sherman sat right in the middle.

A few miles away, an Magusian officer greeted the commander of the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines. “The elves have been stubbornly defending this city. Our Shermans have helped make some progress but we have been stopped by their anti-tank weaponry. “

“If I’m hearing it correctly, the current situation is a stalemate then.”

Near the Galath Mountain Ranges, Elven Nation

A few US soldiers, from the 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment of the 10th Mountain Division, stood around relaxingly at a checkpoint. A car appeared from the horizon. One of the soldiers noticed it and his eyes widened in disbelief. <<<“We have a car coming towards us at high speed. We will be trying to stop it.”

“Be careful, the elves haven’t done this yet but it could be a suicide bomber.”>>>

“What the hell. Why the hell is there a car here?”

“Get into positions!”

The soldiers raised their M4s towards the car. The car soon came to a halt and two elves stepped out with their hands up.

>>

10 minutes later

Washington D.C.

The phone next to Ronell’s bed started to ring. “Ugh… what time is it?”

Ronell picked up the phone. <<<“Mr. President, urgent report, we just had two elves surrender to us on one of the roads leading to the mountains. One of them is claiming to be the head of their intelligence agency. He seems to want to negotiate with us.”

“Huh. A defector? That’s unexpected.”>>>

A few miles from the Galath Mountain Range

An American soldier stood by the entrance and kept an eye on Anfalen as he sat down. “I’m Anfalen Inaneiros. Head… I guess now former Head of the Elven Intelligence Agency.”

A soldier sitting on the opposite side of the table greeted him. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Inaneiros. I’m Colonel Brian Trujillo, commander of the 1st Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the 10th Mountain Division of the United States Army. I will be acting as a temporary representative of the government of the United States. Although we are unable to confirm your identity, we are interested in what you want to say. Do understand that the soldier by the door is there as a precaution.”

“I know that you Americans have capabilities beyond my wildest dreams. My agency has gathered a lot about your country. From your planes that are faster than the speed of sound, your helicopters, and your weapons that can attack out of sight. You also come from another world don’t you?”

Brian smiled. “Well, you do seem to know more than the average elven soldier. Go ahead.”

“You know who our Leader is correct?”

“I presume you are talking about Tarron Venharice.”

Anfalen nodded. “I am.. was a very close aide to him. In recent times, he has become more and more delusional. He started threatening me whenever I gave suggestions. I couldn’t take it anymore. I knew that we weren’t going to win and Tarron will be forsaking the entire elven race if he continued.”

“And how does this lead to you defecting to us?”

“I believe that there are elves just like me, tired of the war and tired of this fanaticism.”

“There are elves like you. Especially, from your country’s rural areas. But how do you expect to drum up support? I don’t suspect that you are well known. Are you?”

“I’m not, but I know I will have support. Like you said, in the rural areas, elves are less supportive of Tarron. It’s because our propaganda has targeted the urban elves more than the rural ones. Now, elves in places that you have occupied are more willing to show their distaste for the current Elven government. They won’t be in hiding anymore. I’m hoping to gather elves like these to form a new Elven government. It is better than you humans taking over. Not many elves will accept that. I won’t be surprised if a resistance movement forms because of that.”

Brian set his eyes on Anfalen. “But what if the elves see you as a puppet government?”

“Well… they won’t because only elves are in the government. If humans were in the government, then the elves will see it as a puppet government.”

“Having an elf-only government doesn’t guarantee that a resistance movement doesn’t form against you.”

Anfalen grew quiet. “Um....”

Brian chuckled. “I may have questioned you too much there. Well, the end decision isn’t up to me. We will let you meet an actual diplomat soon to sort this out.” Brian paused. “Here is a serious question. Do you know where your Leader currently is?”

“... I know Tarron’s hideout. I will be willing to give you this information if your government agrees to what I’m proposing.”

082, May 24th, 2020 CE

Washington D.C.

President Hayes swept his eyes across the members of the committee.“The issue with the underwater sea monsters is becoming quite a nuisance.”

Secretary of Homeland Security Lenny Clark, started speaking. “We have had a recent uptick in ships being mysteriously sunk with holes on the bottom. The Coast Guard is currently investigating but hasn’t come up with much. However, a team of scientists we have gathered has come up with some information. Dr. Levi Munoz is here to talk about what his team has learned so far.”

Levi stood. “Ahem. Mr. President. We believe that it is a creature. Most likely native to only this part of the world. Just like how the phoenixes were. However, they are fewer in numbers and should not be able to cause much damage. As long as we avoid the areas where it is mostly found, we can minimize the damage. My team has been creating a map to show where they are commonly found. Here’s a map of the result.”

Lenny nodded. “We will need to find a way to track them and then find a way to exterminate them. The Coast Guard is cooperating with the Navy in order to use their MH-60Rs to try to detect the sea monsters.”

“We are not sure about the environmental impact of exterminating such creatures. We should tread carefully.”