--- The High Hills, The Old Ruins Fortress of Bregrath ---

January 10th, 2026

Major Sharpe is moving through the forest with the rest of his Ranger team. His Ranger unit is spread out as they move up. In front of him is an Elbe scout and behind him are two Elbe Knights and Dr. John Monra.

Back at Camp Galileo, Colonel Tim Esper and Dr. John Monra explained to him of a developing situation happening at the base. Camp Galileo has many different scientific departments stationed there. They explained to him that during a recent mission they were attacked by a small Imperialist group. During the ambush, two scientists were taken, and a soldier was wounded by arrows, forcing them to retreat.

One male and one female were taken by the Imperialists. It is believed to be the Empire and not a rogue of bandits because the attack was well organized. The military team that led that research mission said that they tried to go after the two scientists, but they did not have the personnel to defend the remaining group and go through the forest to engage an unknown enemy. There was an attempt but one of the soldiers was wounded by an arrow and there were other civilian scientists to protect.

What was surprising was how the Imperialists attacked. Somehow, they were able to set a trap during night cover and then attack at dawn. So far NATO personnel had the night advantage because of thermal and night vision technology. Hearing that, he wonders if the Empire has developed its own version of night-vision goggles or some other method.

John explained that the Imperialists took one of his scientists during the ambush. They don't know how they accomplished that, but they are out of them before the Empire gets a chance to enslave or kill them.

Dr. John Monra is the head of the Department of Ex Terrestrial Biology under the Uros Research Expedition. He is obsessed with Uros different types of biological diversity, wanting to find a way to prevent a second pandemic from happening again after he lost his wife in 2020.

The three Elbe soldiers are helping his Rangers navigate through The High Hills, being a border province of the Elbe Fiefdom. King Duren happily assigned a few to Camp Galileo and other camps to help NATO by providing local security and navigation. The military was happy to accept since they were born on these lands and they would know them best.

"Doc," He said. "We can handle it."

"I said before and I will say it again," John shoots back. "I insist on coming. They are under my department and I want to make sure they are safe. Besides, I've been out here a few times so I can be useful."

"In other words, he doesn't trust the locals," Sofie comments in a demeaning tone.

He glances back and sees Sergeant Major Randy Dodson saying something to her quietly. He has noticed his newest Ranger has an attitude, but Randy keeps assuring him that he is dealing with it. He trusts Randy, being a veteran from the War on Terror.

He glances back up and sees the scout name Tasmro and Tuka talking to each other. Tuka has started to show her tracking skills because of her time fighting the Empire. "Where are we going?"

"Tasmro said there are ruins up ahead," Tuka answers. "The tracks say they went this direction." When he hears ruins, he starts to think about all those video games and television shows which have them. They always mean something bad.

He looks over to Rory. "Rory, is there anything I should know about these ruins?"

Rory looks at him and then looks up the dense forest hills. "Legend said there was once a mighty Elven kingdom here called Amosy. They were once a mighty kingdom thousands of years ago before the Dark Age, so the legend said. The old capital is south of here. But I haven't visited this area in fifty years"

"The ruins were once a fortress of that kingdom, built onto a hill." Rory continues. "It is said that this fortress was the first to fall when the Demon races came to our world through the Gate thousands of years ago, which started the Dark Age."

"Seems strange to build a fortress way up here in the middle of nowhere," Jerry states.

"As I said, this was a long time ago," Rory replied.

"No one is alive to confirm anything." "That part still confuses me," Andrew said. "I thought elves live forever outside of being killed. How can there be no one left alive to talk about it?"

Tuka stops and looks down at Andrew. "That is a common misunderstanding. Elves do die when we get old. We just live a long life. It is rare for an elf to live past a thousand years, but it can happen. Each different type of elves can live a certain amount of time. For example, High Elves like me live the longest. It is why so many other Elves hate us."

"Interesting," Andrew responds. "All you have to say is interesting?" Alicia asked. "If I could live a few hundred years and still look hot, that would be amazing."

"Give it a few years Alicia," Jerry said. "The medical industry has a campus in Alnus. That is one of the things they are researching, how do elves live so long and see if we can turn that into a serum for Humans."

Rory looks over to him. "Really?" He looks over to Rory and smiles.

"Yup. I was in a meeting about it two months ago. Imagine people able to be in their sixties with a twenty-year-old body and healthy? No disease or anything like that. Now let us focus everyone."

Dr. John Monra walks up to him. "I see you stay informed on what's going on here. Are you sure it is wise to tell the locals what we intend to do?"

He looks at him. "It is not classified. Many locals are helping us, we should be truthful without intentions. We're not communists."

John adjusts his glasses. "And you trust them?" He stops and looks directly at him. "Of course. Do we have a problem?"

John looks at him. "No, at all. I am just seeing if you were the real deal or just all hyped."

He watches as John walks away.

---

Osoil is sitting by the fire pit, trying to stay warm. He is the commander of this small group of guerrilla fighters. He is not a fully grown man like most Imperialist or Elbe Resistance soldiers, but he was granted his command to take care of the other conscripted children for the Imperial Army.

As part of a rebuilding process, General Calasta and General Woody came up with a plan to kidnap children from the Other Worlder territory and allies. The boys were taken and given a sword while the girls were sold into slavery to help fund the war effort.

The plan is to take the kids from Italica, Alnus, and Elbe, draining them of their next generation of warriors and forcing them to fight each other. While the rebellion regions and the Other Worlds might say that it is wrong to kidnap their kids and use them as soldiers, it was their fault for rebelling and defying the Empire in the first place.

His father died during the first assault on Alnus and when the Elbe Resistance scouts came to his farming home by Filisville he was eager to get vengeance for his father's death. His mother tried to stop them, but they killed her.

The Elbe Resistance scouts explained that all traitors need to be sent to the Underworld where they belong. The only way to avenge his father and remove the traitor King Duran was to fight. That honor should win and glory to the Empire.

Astile is the oldest son of Duren and is loyal to the Empire. Self-declared King Astile wants to remove his father and take his place on the throne, bring the Elbe back into the fold so we can slaughter the Other Worlders.

He looks over and sees his unit. While he is the oldest at age seventeen, most of the others are around ten to twelve. His two lieutenants are fifteen and sixteen. Most of his troops are Humans except for a young catboy, and a batboy, whom all were taken from their homes.

He has been operating alone, his mission is to help spy and raid on the enemy as much as he can. The Empire is confused about why the Other Worlders establish a military base here. They have been using carrier pigeons to communicate with Sadera and providing the information.

A few days ago, the Oprichnina arrived. They said that they were pleased with his action and updates and they have a special mission for him. He was so pleased to hear that. It made all these months behind enemy lines scouting for the Empire worth it.

That is when he noticed this pig looking creature with the Oprichnina. He knows about most of the races Falmart has to offer but he has never seen or heard before.

The mission was simple, attack one of the Other Worlders research groups while they are on a mission and take as many of them as they can as a prisoner.

He did not understand why they wanted the enemy alive, but he had no interest in questioning them. He remembers hearing stories of the Imperial Army fighting the monsters during the Thirty-year war, the glorious last stand during the Artic War.

This is a dark time for the Empire, but this is not the first dark time for the Empire. Each time the Empire has come out stronger and victorious. The soldiers who fought came out with many glorious stories that stood the test of time. And he hopes that after this war when the Empire wins that he will have a tale about him and what he has done for his country.

He gets up and walks around the camp. Almost everyone is celebrating after their latest victory. Last night they attacked one of their research missions and were able to take one of their people prisoners, a man.

After their raid, the pigman looked at they. It was interesting watching him analyzing both of the Other Worlders. After a few tests, the Oprichnina took the man as he screamed for his life and left, leaving the woman here.

One of the other Oprichnina said they will be taking the female Other Worlder to a Haryo experiment facility in the Ligas Mountain.

While he never has heard of the Haryo before, he dares not question the Oprichnina. If they are allies of the Empire that were good enough for him. He was just honored that they thought he did a good job capturing two Other Worlders. Based on what he overheard, the Oprichnina and the Haryo are trying to capture as many Other Worlders as they can, why he does not know.

After going around to his soldiers, congratulating on their recent raid he walks over to this boy bat who is sitting against the wall with a lease around his neck, tied to the wall.

"Your eyes have been very helpful in our raids," He said. "That makes five successful raids so far. This is our biggest catch too."

"Only because you had help," The batboy said.

The batboy whose name is Jasif Alis. When the Imperial Army learns that the Other Worlders can see in the dark, the army forces bat’s into the army to help balance out night battles. So far, he has been useful in helping them attack the nearby towns and passing traders.

"Yeah, five," Jasif said. "When can I go home?"

He crosses his arms and smirks. "When the war is over."

---

Major Sharpe moves up to Tuka's side. "You hear something?" He said softly.

"Yes," Tuka said, listening carefully with her ears. "I hear fire crackling and I thought I heard laughter."

The Elbe scout Tasmro kneels to his side. "Up ahead is one of the old guard points of the fortress."

"Roger," He replied.

As he and his Rangers moved up, they started seeing old stone pillars. They looked old and had a strange design. He asked Tuka about that and she seemed just as baffled by the designs. It seems she knows nothing about her people's history.

It feels like the old City-State of Troy over two thousand years ago. The legend was there but no one knew anything of the city because it was wiped off the face of the earth. People who do not remember their history are doomed to fail. He always wondered why Elves did not have their own Kingdom or were as respected as in the fantasy tales like J. R. R. Tolkien.

Rory and Lelei have said that their civilization has fallen thousands of years ago before this Dark Age. Seeing those stone pillars made that point clear.

He turns around and signals everyone what to do with their hands. He wants to flank their position from two sides.

Right before he gave the order, he noticed Rory out of nowhere. She moves right up to his side and holds out her hand right up to his helmet. He then sees an arrow go right into her hand, stopping the arrow from hitting his helmet. While the Kevlar would have deflected the arrow, it still was not expecting to get shot at.

"Ranger, engage!" He yells out of pure reaction.

All around him his Rangers begin to spread out more and open fire up the hill.

All moving around and concentrating their fire up the hill. He moves around and grabs Rory and pulls her down into the ditch he was in. He then grabs her hand and looks at her. "Are you ok?"

Rory breaks the arrow in half and pulls it out. "Of course, I am Mr. I am worried about everything. I wasn't going to let them take a shot at yeah." As she spoke her hand started to heal.

To this day he still has not gotten used to her healing ability. He remembers when she shot Taylin the head when they first encountered each other(1). It was the freakiest thing he has ever saw at the time. He thought by now he would have gotten used to things like this but no, it is still very alien.

He nods and grabs his M4A1 Rifle and gets ups. "Dr., stay behind Jerry. Randy take your team and cover fire. Knights and everyone else with me, move up." He then raises his rifle the hill and fires a few shots. "Follow me!"

He stands up and gets over the ditch and starts running up. He can hear the gunfire from Randy's team covering them as they move up.

He stops and aims, firing at what looks like the head of an archer. Once he believes he took out the archer waves his hand forward. "Knights takes point. Alicia and Andrew following behind. Rory-." He stops and fires his rifle again. "Rory, once we are over preventing the enemy from escaping. I don't want the hostages to be taking out the back door."

He sees on his HUD(2) everyone acknowledging his orders.

Seeing the four-run pass him as he covers them, he follows up right behind. As he rushes up, he orders Randy, team, to start advancing on his left, wanting to form a crossfire once they get to the large guard post.

Once he got there up there, he saw Alicia and Andrew taking cover by the guard pillars and firing into the fortification. The two Knights seem to be waiting to move in. It seems like they had some basic training on our tactics.

Seeing that they have secured the guard pillar, he jumps over it.

"Tuka stay on my left. Rory now moves around," He orders. "Everyone else moves up."

He sees three of the Imperialists running away and heading to this wall. It looks like it wraps around and is the entrance of their camp. He aims his rifle and fires, bringing down one of them as the other two go around the wall.

Specialist Alicia Moore walks around. "Looks like we got two of them before they ran."

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"I can hear the others around the corner," Tuka states. "It looks like they are getting ready for us to come. But it sounds like they are panicking and trying to get their things back."

"They are getting ready to escape," He responds. He sees Randy's team move up. "Didn't anyone notice how small they look?" Alicia said.

Frost walks over. "Yeah. They don't look like normal Imperialists."

"Probably Hobbits or Dwarves," Andrew states.

"Hobbits are not fighters," Tuka said. "That wouldn't make sense if they are. And Dwarves rarely retreat. They are too stubborn. And if they had a Kingdom here, they would have attacked your base in force by now, so I doubt it is. They rarely go far away from their Kingdom hills."

"We will figure it out in a second," He said. "Randy. When we go around your team go left, we will take the right. Everyone move."

When they get to the wall, he would prefer to toss grenades over to clear their position, but they are here to get both scientists. He pulls out his M84 stun grenade or known as flashbang and tosses it to Andrew.

Andrew takes the grenade and throws it over the ruin walls. As it goes over and explodes, blinding a one who was looking at it or scaring them, he moves behind Alicia and the two Elbe Knights who are in front of him.

As they move around, and this small cat person or Neko(3) as Andrew calls them comes out of nowhere. It jumps right at the first Knight, claws out. But the Knight armor prevented any real damage and was tossed aside.

Alicia with all her energy rushes over and stables the Neko with her combat knife. She then turns around and aims her M4A1 into the enemy camp. She then rushes forward. "Follow me!"

He rushes around and makes sure his team gets in formation. He sees in front of him what looks like eleven soldiers standing there, swords out and arrows out. He sees one of them having the scientist on her knees with a dagger.

As everyone forms up in a line, rifles pointing at them all, he notices something strange with them all. They are not soldiers, they are kids.

He stands there and analyzes the situation. All the kids, some in Imperialist armor while others are indifferent kinds of cloaks.

"Standfast Ranger," He orders.

This boy walks forward, pointing his sword at them. "Hold there you Other Worlder scum. Any move and we will cut her throat open and spill her blood."

He lowers his rifle and looks directly at that boy. He looks to be the oldest of them all, either seventeen or eighteen years of age. He must be the leader of this group of misfits. He corrects his thoughts, seeing them as misfits are dangerous. They were able to conduct a sneak attack and two of their own for some reason. "Hold on kid, don't do anything you will regret."

The enemy leader seems to anger at being called a kid. "Look. I know what I am doing. You people killed my father. You believe you have the power to beat the Empire. The Empire has never lost, we only come back stronger!"

He attempts to take a step, but the boy orders the boy who looks to be about twelve cut the blade into the scientist's neck, making her bleed. What is bothering him is that he said they killed his father. That means he won't be rational. "

What do you mean we killed your father?" He asked, trying to find a diplomatic solution.

"When you people came my father answered the call," The boy said. "They went to Alnus to ride you off our home, but he died gloriously for the Empire! Just like my father, I, Osoil Jagin will serve the Empire gloriously and be remembered as a hero once we topple the traitor, Duren."

After hearing 'topple Duren' he knows he is talking about King Duren of the Elbe Fiefdom. While he has not seemed them himself, he has read reports of a resistance force against his rule. While most of the army and population in Elbe are loyal and want to be allied with the US, some don't want to change and want to stay loyal to the Empire for their selfish reasons.

"You realize Osoil that the Empire tricked your people into a suicide attack against us?" He said, trying to deescalate things.

"The Empire tricked no one," Osoil said with much energy. "We were removing the filth that is occupying on our lands. We have to fight the enemy barbarians before they remove everything that makes us stronger!"

Before he answers he hears Randy over the radio. "Major I dealt with this before. Islamic Terrorist indoctrinating kids and using them against Coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. There's little chance you can reason with him. Be careful."

This time Rory spoke over the radio. "Major. I only see one scientist, not the other. I don't think the other is there anymore."

He takes a breath as he thinks. He noticed that too and that is worrying him. "The Elbe Fiefdom was tricked into a failed attack. Emperor Molt wanted your father to die so your army would not be used against him. We treated your people with honor while the Empire treated yours as cannon fodder."

He blinks and he sees Osoil confused by the reference. Cannon fodder is when commanders send soldiers into battle knowing they will be slaughtered.

"Lies! They died for trying to save the Empire!" Osoil yells.

Then the Knight name Garken Dorth lowers his sword. "My boy Osoil. Everything this man said is true. Molt used your father and our king's loyalty against us. They were afraid that we would pose a challenge to the royal family. They intended to make us weak."

There is a moment of silence as everyone tries to figure out what is going to happen next, each side waiting for orders.

Then, Osoil burst out yelling. "No! None of that is true. Lies of the traitor King Duren. I and everyone else here has been blessed by our recent achievement by the Oprichnina! They wanted your kind and we got them and rewarded us. I have seen no disloyal from them but only from you Knight. All of you will burn after begging for mercy."

He sees that Randy was right. During all his time doing Delta work, he rarely had to fight children. He usually fought State Special Forces or Insurgents. But he did give out one piece of important information, this was a target job. He does not know why but it seems like the Oprichnina wants his people alive.

"Alright. This is the situation Osoil and each one of you," He yells. "This ends in one way. Either lay down your weapons and let the hostage go or we kill you all. None of us will fall today and you have no escape. You have five seconds."

He can see the sudden fear in many of their eyes. Some start to look at each other and they have a mental debate on surrendering.

"Three," He yells, making sure their time is limited.

Once he yells one and raises his hand and prepares to order his Rangers to fire, then this boy suddenly drops his spear and rushes forward.

"Stop!" The boy yells and he start moving forward. "I remember you. You were the one who saved me from the Flame Dragon and let me come to Alnus when my family was killed."

He stands their shock on what he just heard. While he does not remember that boy, it seems like they have crossed paths before. The village mayor wanted to abandon hundreds of orphans, sick, broken families and others so they can move faster(4).

The questions are how the hell did he end up here? "Come here, kid." He said, hoping this breaks the standoff.

The boy starts to run over to them. But then his eyes widen as Osoil cuts the boy's arm off as he passes by. Suddenly, the only thing anyone can hear is the screaming of that boy.

"Anyone who surrenders is a traitor of the Empire and shall suffer the ultimate price!" Osoil yells. "We will fight and die if we must. We will be remembered by the Empire for our glorious stance here." He swings his sword forward. "Kill the prisoner and attack! Charge!"

He sees all of them obeying his command, seeing what he just did to their comrade. He sees no way around it now, Osoil is loyal to the Empire and forces his hand.

"Rory!" He yells over his radio.

Rory jumps down from her hidden position and lands right in front of the hostage, freaking the kids out. The kid who was holding the hostage lets go and backs away. Rory grabs the hostage and jumps away, clearing the area of friendlies.

Seeing that he raises his rifle. "Open fire!"

Everyone's weapons light up, spraying bullets at all the incoming Imperialist kids who were charging. It did not take long before they all fell to the ground.

After a few seconds, Randy starts ordering everyone to stop firing.

He lowers his rifle after the battle seems to be over. The Imperialists that attacked are all dead, including Osoil. He took him out, seeing him as the biggest threat. He sees that armless boy from Alnus laying there freaking out. Another one who was holding them hostage on the ground scared at what just happened but seems to be it.

"Fan out and secure the area," He orders.

He sees his Rangers moving around and begins policing the bodies. The team medic Specialist Jerry WIlliam rushes over to the armless boy who claimed to be one of the original refugees to Alnus.

He then sees Rory land close and let go of the scientist. He sees Sofie walk over to the scientist and offers her assistance. He sees Private First-Class Marvin Scott and Private First-Class Harvey Frost go deeper into the camp and Alicia takes the other surviving Imperialists as prisoners.

Then Dr. John Monra walks over and looks over the situation. "My, we have a situation here."

He looks over to him. "They left me with no choice. I tried my best, but it was them or ours. He didn't give me a choice."

"You just killed them all," John said as he looks around.

"I know Doctor," He replied.

Before he continues Rory walks over.

"That is not true," Rory said. "There's two of them who are alive. Plus, your scientist lady and no one on our side are hurt. I call that a victory."

"A victory?" John said but in a calm voice. "We don't kill kids."

"Kids with swords," Rory countered.

"I know in your country you value kids' purity. Trust me I love that about your people, I really do but they were going to kill us and your scientist because they were backed into a corner." Garken Dorth walks over after overhearing the conversation. "Rory the Reaper is correct. If a boy is old enough to hold a sword then he is a man. While we might not like it, that was their choice. This is war after all."

Rory looks over to the Knight and looks back to Sharpe. "I know what you are going to say but this isn't your world Jackson."

"Rory… sadly sometimes it is." He spoke. "No one said war is clean."

He then looks at John. "Let's go figure out where to figure out where the other hostage is."

John walks over to the scientist, but he decides to go over to that boy. The boy seems to recognize him and tries to switch sides because of that. Sadly, it was not enough to change the course, only because that boy named Osoil who became an indoctrinated zealot prevented the others from breaking ranks. If he was older and understood the difference between blind loyalty and duty.

What bothers him a bit is that Osoil of himself that age. Wanting to be a hero seen by his people, serving your country. What the boy said reminded him of what Krysist said many times. Warriors trying to gain glory for their reputation. While he values duty, he is glad his people have moved away from this notion if senseless glory hunting.

When he gets to Jerry and the boy he kneels and looks at Jerry. "How is he?"

Jerry finishes wrapping the boy arm up in a bandage. The boy also has this belt around his arm to stop the bleeding. "He will live but we should get him to the base infirmary as soon as we can." He looks over his shoulder to look at Alicia, the team radio operator.

“Permission to-.” Jerry was saying before being interrupted.

“Do it,” He said already knowing what Jerry was going to say.

He watches Jerry pull out the Bio-Gel(5). What it does is stabilizes the wound and prevents blood loss from the victim. He personally had to use it early in his career during its prototype days. While it is on the field now, it is still expensive and rare, used for Special Forces units only.

When Jerry injects the boy wounded arm, the boy screams in pain as the gel enters his body. While it will keep him alive longer, it is a painful process.

"Alicia, contact base and tell them we have wounded." He sees Alicia nod and gets on the radio. He looks down at the kid. "Everything will be ok kid. You are going home. What is your name? Mine is-."

"Major Sharpe," The boy said as he struggles to speak. "I am sorry for taking arms. I didn't… mean… to…" Then the boy passes out.

Jerry checks the boy pulse. "Alive but barely."

He takes a frustrating breath and looks over to Rory. "Rory. Can you use your speed to quickly get him back to base?"

Rory walks over and agrees. Being an Apostle, she has superhuman abilities like being much faster and stronger and faster. She and the other Apostles can do things that are impossible for any mortal Human. While he normally does not like detaching one of his troops to go all alone, he needs Rory speed and agility because it will take too long if they all go together.

Once the boy is secured, Rory picks him up. "You don't have worry kid. I got yeah. Emroy is here to protect you. Emroy is not ready for your soul."

He stands up and looks down at Rory. "Stay in contact and tell me when your back at base."

"You don't have to worry big daddy," Rory said in her cheeky tone. "Don't worry about it. I got this." She then runs off.

He stands there and watches Rory leaves. He knows he can trust her, but he still worries. He doesn't care that she is an Apostle, she is still a member of the team and doesn't want to see her differently.

Before he walks over to John and the other scientist, he hears Private First-Class Sofia Everett burst out.

"What are you doing prioritizing an Imperialist?" Sofia said in anger. "If anyone should be helped it should be our kind!"

"If we wait, the boy will be dead," Jerry said as he stood up.

"And your point is?" Sofia asked. "I don't care what his age is, he is an Imperialist, or did you all forget that we are at war with their kind?"

"You have such nerves," Alicia said. "Weren't you listening? They were brainwashed and forced to fight us. The Major almost got through to them."

"An Imperialist kidnapping and enslaving Imperialist," Sofia responds. "Yes, I am going to shed a tear for them. They-."

"That is enough," Sharpe commands. "Let me be clear. We are not murders, we are soldiers. This was not an ideal scenario but that is war." He stops to make sure everyone is listening.

"Our job is to kill the Imperialist until the war ends. But that does not mean we go gung-ho and kill everyone in sight. If the only option is a bullet and death, then we will run into this situation again and again because we give them no choice. But what makes us different is that we don't put a sword or a rifle into kid hands." And then he looks over to Sofia. "And we don't fuck over our friends, on Earth or here. We are not going to create more enemies to satisfy personal vengeance." Then he looks around. "Now Alicia, Andrew, Frost, do a final sweep of the camp. Scott police that prisoner. Tuka, Sofia, Knights, else secure the area. Randy, Jerry with me."

He sees the newest team member Sofia about to protest. She shoots her a dark commanding glare, telling her not to question his order. She got the hint and walked away.

Tuka walks up to him with this baffled look on her face. "Yes, Tuka?"

Tuka glances down then at him. "Is that what I was like? Was I acting like that this whole time?"

He nods his head and she figure it out. While she was not this open about her hatred, she made it clear of her hatred towards Selina. But he can see that she sees what pure hatred can lead to. Hate is a dangerous and dark path, which when you go down it is hard to come back.

He stands there and makes sure everyone money his orders. He knows what happens won't Settle well but he knows he has to keep them busy otherwise their morale will drop like a rock.

He sees Randy walk over. "Her attitude needs to be watched."

"I understand sir," Randy said. "I have seen it before. I will keep an eye on her."

He nods and thinks back on his past. He holds some feeling of vengeance against the insurgents in Southeast-Asia and especially against Armando Carvallo for murdering his team and that farming family(6).

He went into a dark depression and struggled to get past that. If it were not for the girls, his team and Sarah for giving him the love he needed to come back, he knows he would have gone down a dark path.

"Let's go talk to the scientists," He said and they walk over to the scientists.

---

Frost is walking through the camp with Alicia and Andrew. They see the usual equipment, floor beds, chests, a few bags of food and weapons.

"These are some SOBs(7)," Alicia said. "Living like this out here."

Andrew walks around past some pots. "Yup. Kids back home at this age would be bitching if they did not have strong wifi. Don't kick anything over."

"You think they have traps?" He spoke.

"Yup," Andrew replied. "You never know."

"You have seen too many war movies Andrew," Alicia said jokily but walks past a bag, avoiding it. "Hey, Frost. Are you still chasing that tail?"

He stops and looks at Alicia. He knows who she is talking about, the Batwoman named Mentiv Dor Alis. During a mission to Italica(8), he and the rest of Randy's team helped save her from these bandits. While he has been with his fair share of women, he had to admit she looked hot for an alien.

Mentiv was looking for her younger brother after being taken from her clan. When he found her, her wing was broken by them. While she wanted to back out and look for her brother, she would not last a week out there in the wild. So, he agreed to look out for clues while she was healing in Alnus.

But that does not mean his team would not give him crap for his kindness. While he does think Mentiv is attractive, he does not want to take advantage of her situation.

"For god sakes Alicia," He said in frustration. "Were just friends and I just said I wanted to help."

"Boys. That is how it starts," Alicia said with a chuckle.

He takes a deep breath. Alicia loves to get into everyone's business and gossip about everyone. "Hey. The Major does that all the time. What is wrong with helping? One less enemy."

Andrew walks past him, smirking. "Nope. You are just deflecting by using the Major. The difference is he is crazy enough to pull that stuff off. You have to be insane, crazy and a badass all at the same time."

"You just don't want to be picked on for you banging an Imperialist," He shoots back annoyed.

"Yup," Andrew said laughing. "I did my time getting picked on. It is your turn buddy. We can make it an order."

"He has a point," Alicia said with an evil smirk. "I outrank you now."

"That's not how it works…" He said with a mumble.

Then they hear this sound and all three of them aim their rifles and aim to the left.

From the tree shadow, this small beast appears out nowhere and jumps onto Andrew.

Andrew walks backward and screams for help as this black thing grabs him and starts beating down.

"Andrew!" He yells and rushes over.

From what he can tell, it is a small humanoid with something on its back. Since everyone else has been a kid at this camp, it is probably another child attacking.

"Get it off of me!" Andrew yells, struggling. He tips over this pot and falls on his back. "It's trying to bite me!"

"Stop struggling!" He said as he tries to get a grip. "Alicia!"

"I am ready," Alicia said, getting ready to fire. "Toss it over that corner."

While everything is happening fast, he notices something strange. It looks like a black rope or a leash going to where he was hiding. He then hears Andrew scream as he is bitten in the arm.

He grabs the boy's arm and then pulls on the leash. Using all his strength he ripped the boy off of Andrew and tossed him to where Alicia told him to toss him.

The boy flies in the air and drops hard and rolls on the ground. When the boy lands, he can get a good view of the Imperialist and it is a small batboy.

Alicia walks over and aims her M4A1 rifle right at him. "I killed enough kids today but if you make me, I will end you." She spoke.

He sees the batboy submit and hold himself with this fear in his eyes. When he looks over to Alicia, she looks like she is crying a bit but keeping her composer. He recalls she killed a male Neko who attacked an Elbe Knight.

He looks down at Andrew and he holds onto his arm. Andrew's arm is bleeding, it looks like a bit from the bat. "Shit." He grabs his radio. "Randy, Andrew was bitten. We need Doc ASAP. I don't think it is fatal but there's a lot of blood."

"Roger that," Randy said. "We are on our way. What happened?"

He gets on his knees to start bandaging Andrew's arm.

"An Imperialist bat ambushed us and bit Andrew in the arm." "Roger," Randy said. "I am not an Imperialist!" The batboy said.

"Bullshit," Alicia yelled. "You attacked us and wore their uniform."

"If we defeat you then I get to go home," The batboy said.

He turns around and looks at the bat. Then he sees Randy and Jerry rush into the camp. Jerry rushes over and starts treating Andrew's arm. He then injects a painkiller to help with the pain.

He stands up to let Jerry do his job, he looks over to the batboy. The Imperialist boy just said he wants to go with him if they defeat the US. That implies he is here against his will otherwise why would he say that. But the truth is he wants to go home, but he would not say that if the roles are reversed.

He walks over to Alicia and looks down. "Hey boy."

"You have to be kidding me Frost," Alicia. "The odds are extremely low. I know we were picking on your but come on."

"I know but something tells me to ask," He said and then kneels. "Hey, kid."

The boy looks at him, clearly scared of Alicia. "Just end it. I know what you people do to our prisoners."

"And that is what?" Alicia demands.

"The thousands of corpses on the fields," The boy said. "Being worked to death and-,"

"Hold on," He said. "Is your name Jasif Alis?"

He then sees the boy's eyes get wide, shocked by what he said. "Is your sister name Mentiv Dor Alis?"

The boy nods his head slowly, shocked by what was said. Then get aggressive. "You have my sister!"

Before Jasif could bite him, Alicia stomped on him, so he did not attack another Ranger. "I said if you move, I will put a bullet in your head!"

He moves back for a moment scared. But then moves back to Jasif seeing that Alicia got him under control. "Yes, we have your sister. She is not a prisoner but asked us to find you. If you promise not to bite anyone else, we will take you to her."

Randy walks over. "What is going on here?"

He stands up and lets Jasif think about the proposal. "We found Mentiv brother."

"Well," Randy said. "Gladsome good came out of this. We are moving out."

"What about the other scientist?" Alicia said.

"Andrew is wounded, and we lost Rory now," Randy said. "It sounds like the Oprichnina and this strange looking pig creature came and took the other. It sounds like they were going to leave tomorrow to this other camp down south. We have a prisoner and two freed hostages. Were in no position to go off on a search and rescue when we do not know the direction. This will be passed up the chain and assigned to a proper unit. Let's move out."