0844 June 7th, 2020 CE

0722 Sun 38th, 196 AE

Forest of Origin

Ara sat down across from Vuduin. She looked around. “I hope the messenger gets there in time.”

“He probably won’t. We will have to leave before this place is completely burned and bombed to the ground.”

“We can trust the messenger right?”

“Navarre’s actually a very close friend. I trust him with my life.”

Ara nodded. “Now, how are we going to leave without Tarron catching wind of us doing so?”

“We don’t. Even he will know when we need to relocate from a position.”

“We will be leaving with him? How are we supposed to surrender to the humans then? He will most definitely stop us.”

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that. I have been keeping an eye on who’s the most loyal to him and who’s having doubts. I will give you the plan soon.”

“Are you sure the humans will treat us well?”

“I’m gambling on it. We are really short on time. I wanted to ask for pardons first before we gave them the information but that will take too long. Anfalen seemed to have defected to the humans so we may have a chance.”

0929 June 7th, 2020 CE

0744 Sun 38th, 196 AE

White House

Ronell checked his appearance as he sat in front of a screen. He looked back down at a dossier given to him by the National Security Council. It was packed with information about Milton Wareham. Beside him, a translator fluent in Latin stood. The screen then flickered on. On the screen, Ronell could see the American ambassador to the Bem Republic. The ambassador turned his back and nodded to someone behind him. The ambassador’s face left the screen to show another person sitting at a desk. He had a bushy white mustache and was a bit rotund. He had a friendly look. He was wearing black knee length coat and a powdered wig. There was a translator beside him.

Ronell smiled. “Congratulations, President Wareham. I hope to see your administration create the first democracy of this world.”

“Thank you, President Hayes. My administration shall do the best it can.”

“That’s good to hear. I want to know if there’s anything on your agenda or any help we can offer.”

“The Bem Republic is interested in continued cooperation with the United States of America. I hope your country reciprocates this interest.”

“Of course. Of course. We will do whatever we can in developing a stable democracy in the Bem Republic.”

“The thing that worries me the most right now is the discontent from formal nobles. I fear they may be plotting a way to take back power. I abhor the Noble’s Party and I’m currently debating on banning them.”

“Outlawing a political party would set a dangerous precedent. Unless they directly act or there is proof of collaboration with violent entities, I would not recommend banning them. A stable democracy should accept other political ideologies and movements. However, there will be American soldiers on the ground in your country to keep the peace. We are hoping to establish an indefinite military base on your territory.”

“My country will gladly welcome that. Although that may depend on the parliament once its established.”

“Well, we will continue operating the current airfields in your country in order to support the war against the elves. Once the war is over and the situation in your country is stable, there will be a scaling down of troops. However, we will base soldiers in the military base we establish. Most likely ten thousand or so. Maybe even more.”

After a few more minutes, the video call ended. It was more of a simple courtesy call but Ronell felt that it got much accomplished. “Seems like a good man. We can work with this.”

Katrina nodded. “Well, we can only truly know from his actions. But I think things will go smoothly.”

1025 June 7th, 2020 CE

0812 Sun 38th, 196 AE

Forest of Origin

Human aircraft zipped through the sky, dropping more and more bombs. Even with the size of the forest, the elves were taking heavy casualties. The humans were slowly demolishing every square inch of the forest. The only thing the elves could do was sit in their bunkers and hope they won’t blow up. What they feared most was when two gigantic aircraft flew over. Those dropped gigantic loads of bombs capable of reducing a couple square miles to charred wasteland.

Vuduin entered into the room where Tarron was in. “My Leader, we need to disperse. This forest is no longer safe. We have lost too much elves trying to hold this position without even doing damage to the humans. The few anti-air thauguns we had are all gone.”

Startled, Tarron looked towards Vuduin. A bit of dirt fell from the roof of the ceiling. “And how do you recommend doing this dispersion? We have nowhere to go. We spent so much energy building all of this.”

“It’s no use. It’s slowly getting destroyed. We shouldn’t have regrouped here. We will split into multiple companies spread out across this countryside. Less effective, true, but we won’t be sitting ducks.”

Vuduin pulls out a small map from a case and sets it on the table. “This is how I have our units spread out. My Leader, you will be with your security company and will be in a safe location away from the fighting.”

White House

Ronell looked at the people in his office. A military aide seems to be the one giving information.

“What is this urgent report about?”

“An elven soldier approached our forces about ten minutes ago claiming to be a messenger for an elven field marshal. He gave us a letter from said field marshal.”

“What did it say?”

“Here’s a digital copy.” He hands Ronell a tablet. “Basically, the writer introduces himself as ‘Field Marshal Roqen’ and is currently with Tarron in the forest that we are currently bombing.”

“So that bastard is still alive. Military intelligence told me he was dead. Goddamit.”

“This field marshal is claiming that he and many other elven military officials are contemplating surrendering. He claims that Tarron would never agree to it so he created a plan to end this war. He will disperse the elven military outside the forest. Some of them will be surrendering while the others we can wipe out. He’s also asking for him, the other surrendering officials, and their men to be pardoned.”

“How are we going to know where they are then?”

“We haven’t received it yet but he gave us a map of where all the units he planned will be. It has units marked that are going to surrender and those that aren't. We even know where Tarron will be in about two days. Tarron will have a security company with him and most likely a couple of tanks.”

Ronell read through the message. “This could be a trap.”

“True, but we can have drones recon the area to see if it is. If it isn’t, we can end this war.”

“Has someone sent this to Anfalen? For confirmation about this Roqen fellow?”

“We are being cautious at who we give this information to. The only people who know about this on our side are the commanding officer who read this and everyone in this room. Although i can get someone to talk to him about whether or not he has heard of ‘Field Marshal Roqen’”

“Ok, so Anfalen has heard of him. But he was a Colonel General. I guess he was recently promoted.”

“Glad we can confirm that. Now just to see if the information that was given to us was correct. I want special forces on standby to capture Tarron if we find him.”

“Mr.President. The elven messenger is requesting a response to send back to the field marshal.”

“Let me write a response to thank them. I will guarantee to pardon them if the information is true.”

Pentagon

Daniel looked through the reports. He scrolled through past ones. He started muttering. “Something’s not right… someone’s trying to hide something.”

All he wanted to do was to ignore this because he knew this would involve a lot of shit that he wasn’t going to be happy to go through. But his damn conscience was screaming at him to do something. He needed to talk to someone.

About five hours later

In a café, Daniel sipped on a coffee as he waited for his friend. It didn’t take long for his buddy from the same agency of the DoD. “Charles, how has your day been? Heard you got a promotion. Congratulations!”

Charles sat down and smiled. “Thank you, I have been doing well. How are you Daniel? This is unusual. We usually don’t meet right after work.”

“Well, there’s a reason I called you here today. Do you want to get something to drink or eat before we talk about it?”

Charles shook his head. Daniel gave a quick look around and lowered his voice. “I think someone is messing with the civilian casualty reports. Some of the data I was looking through seemed suspicious.”

Something flashed over Charles' face before going back to normal. Daniel guessed it was probably shock from what he was telling him. “What is it? What do you mean by suspicious?”

“Some of the data seems to be repeating. It's as if someone is trying to hide something.”

Charles kept silent.

Daniel continued. “For all I know, the President could be trying to hide things from Congress. And that is way above my pay grade. I don’t want to play the hero but this is some serious stuff. I’m not sure what to do and who to report this to.”

“Then maybe you shouldn’t. We don’t know who is trying to change the data. It could ruin your life. Someone up there could try to get rid of you.”

Daniel sighed. “I just don’t know.”