1650 June 7th, 2020 CE

1125 Sun 38th, 196 AE

40 miles from the Forest of Origin

The survivors of the Leader Security Company were tied up after they surrendered.

<<<“We need casevacs here. We have 23 severely injured on our side and 11 severely injured elves. No need for additional helicopters for extraction. We only have 9 captured uninjured.”>>>

1745 June 7th, 2020 CE

Nashville, Tennessee

Jack noticed the words ‘Breaking News’ flashed across the TV.

<<<“This just in, we have received reports that the leader of the Elven Nation, Tarron Venharice, has been captured. The White House has just announced that the President will be speaking soon in order to most likely declare an end to this war.”>>>

Jack slightly frowned since that wasn’t that much news. It was a war against a nation more than 70 years technologically behind. It was over before it started. He didn’t expect many people to be overly celebratory about it or take notice at all.

Aginport, Bem Kingdom

A group of men sat around a table. One of the men stood up. “The results were, as predicted, not in our favor. It is of most sense that those stinky peasants won’t vote for us.”

At the head of the table, Duke Philpot looked sternly at the one who stood up. “Earl Fawns, sit down. This is a meeting. Not one of your parties.”

“Now, now, who put you in charge? You aren’t even a duke anymore.”

“None of us have titles anymore. But we will address each other as if we didn’t lose them. Understood? Now sit down.”

Earl Fawns grumbled as he sat. The Duke shook his head. “Now, do any of you have anything else you would like to share before we begin.”

Baron Pettitt spoke out. “Duke Philpot, I have a proposition.” The Duke nodded. “Should we join forces with the monarchist party?”

The Duke frowned as Earl Fawns chuckled. Earl Corbeld responded. “They are just a bunch of wealthy peasants who bribe the KIng. Once they realize they can do the same thing with a ‘democracy’, they will turn on us.”

A few murmurs rose up and the nobles in the room started random discussions. Duke Philpot raised his voice. “Quiet. Quiet. Enough with the acting gentlemen. We all know what we want.”

Baron Bacon shook his head. “It isn’t possible.”

The Duke smiled. “It is. These Americans will leave eventually.”

“And how are you certain they are going to leave?”

“Before I lost my title, I was able to come upon the previous ‘King’ discussing with the Americans about their planned withdrawal after the country became a democracy. I didn’t hear everything but I’m sure they are planning to leave.”

“And how are you planning to do this? Our personal armies have all been disbanded.”

“I have a few of my most loyal personal knights at my beck and call. I’m sure you all still have those who greatly favor you and we can always find dissenters to fill the rest of our ranks.”

All the fallen nobles looked at each other.

“So, it’s agreed. It's time to gather an army then. Once these Americans leave, we will strike. Now, meeting…”

Earl Fawns stood up and interjected. “But what about afterwards?”

The Duke narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean afterwards?”

“The Americans won’t miraculously disappear after we overthrow the current government. They will be back and we have no power to stop them. I’m sure you have seen their weapons of war?”

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The room fell silent.

0244 June 8th, 2020 CE

0422 Sun 39th, 196 AE

Port City of Filanneas, Elven Nation

Anfalen spoke into the magiradio microphone. <<<“I declare the end of all hostilities between elves and humans. The war is over. Tarron Venharice has been arrested and will be judged for his crimes against the sentient and his reckless pursuit of war. Elves, I hate to say this but the triuth has to be said, hard times are upon us. We have lost nearly a half of our population. Our cities have been devastated and our capital city has been sunk underwater. But we will rebuild. As the new leader of the Elven Nation, I shall guide us back to the old glory days of the Elven Kingdom. A prosperous and peaceful nation.”>>>

Anfalen greeted the American delegation. “Before we begin, I want to know. When will your forces start leaving?”

The head of the delegation, Ambassador Henry Cole, frowned. “President Inaneiros, you have to understand, we can not leave immediately.”

“But I promised my elves that…”

“Your promise is your promise. We only promised to leave once the current situation is over.”

Anfalen raised an eyebrow. “But it is over.”

“You still have rogue elements in your country.”

“We can deal with it ourselves.”

“You are sure?”

Anfalen slightly frowned. “...”

“We know you don’t have an army and are in no position to fight even against rogue units.”

Anfalen fell quiet for a few seconds, took a deep breath, and sighed. “I understand that. Sorry. That was unreasonable of me. I’m under a lot of pressure right now.”

“We understand that. Once the last of the rogue units have surrendered and you have created a force capable of keeping the peace, we will leave.”

“That is good to hear.”

“This leads me to the main thing I’m here about.”

“The treaty, correct?”

The Ambassador nodded. “Usually, the terms will be discussed between delegates from both nations. However, you have expressed the wish to directly negotiate it. Is that true?”

“Yes, my current government is being set up and I’m not sure who to trust and who has the ability to do this.”

“Then let’s begin with the talks.”

Thirty minutes later

“We will keep Tarron in our custody and will decide what will happen to him at a later date.”

Anfalen nodded. “I would prefer you have executed him so we don’t have anyone who thinks they can put the Leader back in power.”

“We don’t want to make a martyr either. But we will hold off on what to do with him. With that out of the way, here comes the harder part of our demands.”

Anfalen slowly spoke. “Go ahead.”

“My government is looking at placing a brigade strength military unit here in order to keep an eye on things.”

Anfalen stood up in an instant. “WHAT?” He sat back down quickly and took a second before talking again. “Then what’s the point of you promising me you will leave if you actually aren’t?”

“I only say we are looking into it. We are also looking into leaving completely. But we want to ensure that you elves don’t start another war.”

Anfalen chuckled. “We have literally been devastated. Our economy and population is gone. We can’t start another war.”

“But I’m pretty sure your country has a few that won’t be afraid to.”

Anfalen became quiet. “... I’m afraid so… but as long as I’m in power. I promise you, there won’t be any aggression from us. I will rebuild this country and I will clean up the brainwashing that Tarron and his father did.”

“We can’t just take your word for this. And we aren’t sure how long you can stay in power.”

“I will stay in power for as long as I can.”

“And you are sure you are able to keep a country of fanatics under control? You are very susceptible to an assassination or coup attempt.”

“Not all elves are fanatics.”

Henry didn’t say anything. Anfalen pursed his lips. “Ok look, if the situation gets bad, I will inform your government and ask for help. But I will NOT allow any humans on our land during times of peace. There will be severe consequences for everyone if I do. This isn’t a threat. This is just a fact.”

Henry nodded. “I will pass this along to my government.”

“Good. What else?”

“We would also like to continue providing aid to your nation. You will not have to pay it back. We hope that by doing this, we can improve relations with elves.”

“I can not decide on that right now.”

Anfalen was stuck between a rock and a hard place. He knew that he needed that aid but the problem was that it came from humans. He himself didn’t care but that didn’t matter. The average elf would care. The food aid that the Americans were providing were already being avoided by some of the elves.

Somewhere in the Elven Nation

“Target is direct front. Fire!”

The Stallion that was racing across the fields burst into flames as a shot from the Abrams tank went through it.

“Good. That should be the last of them in this area.”

“They really suck at guerilla tactics.”

“It won’t be long before we are sent back home. Man, I can’t wait. The native population here is just too hostile.”