In the new world, a shroud of darkness blanketed the sky, concealing the silhouettes of those who lurked in the night.
“Piece of shit…!” Bennett quietly growled as he fussed with a cylindrical device as he remained crouched on the cluttered rooftop of a relatively tall building.
He struggled to stuff the various connectors into the heavily modified device properly and properly attach an antenna that was the length of his forearm to it. But, before securing it in a discreet location, Elijah crept over while hunched low to avoid skylining himself.
"Missed a screw," The menace whispered, pointing toward the bottom of the device.
Bennett swatted his hand away irritably. "Shut the fuck up, you trog," he hissed, pointing his hand-held electric mini-drill at him. “Go away! Shoo!”
Elijah let out a quiet cackle as he slinked away. Everyone considered how he enjoyed making others annoyed and frustrated, one of the agitating parts of his personality, but the man clearly enjoyed it. What was even worse was that the more visceral your reaction, the more pleasure he derived from whatever torment he subjected you to.
An indignant glare bore into the back of Elijah’s head as he returned his attention to the installation. He couldn’t help but remark how appropriate of an ‘apostle’ or whatever in hell Elijah was for that infernal fairy. Bennett couldn’t even say that sparkly piece of shit little mosquito was slowly changing their medic, but Elijah had ALWAYS been this way.
“Fucking annoying asshole,” Bennett grumbled, manipulating the antenna and fastening it against the wall so it wouldn’t stand out.
Irritation was starting to mount for the poor man as he wrangled with the devices the Activity boys had shoved into their hands. Sure, they were exciting pieces of tech, but holy hell, the modifications looked like they were done by either a 5-year-old or done in 5 minutes.
Based on Northrop Grumman’s LN-200 Interial navigation unit, the small local positioning system served as a reference point across a distributed area. When explained, everyone thought it was genius. In a satellite-free environment, they could set them up everywhere and use these handy little things to measure positions continuously. It’d essentially act like a makeshift GPS and help precision munitions triangulate fixed points in space by pinging off each other over a distributed area.
It was a fantastic piece of innovation, but… It became very evident these modified LN-200s were hastily slapped together because setting them up was an absolute pain in the ass. The housing bulged from the extra wires and circuitry; it was always a gamble whether the holes to insert the antenna were drilled out properly, and its janky nature made Bennett want to rip his hair out.
“I swear to god I’m going to strangle whoever designed these pieces of shit…” Bennett grumbled when he found himself pulling out his knife and saving off parts of the housing so it would properly snap into place.
Coleman pulled away from the Joint Effects Targeting System (JETS) to turn toward his troubled engineer. “Uhhh…. Need any help?” he asked in a half-amused and half-concern tone.
Bennett quickly glared at his team leader before pushing hard on his knife and slicing off a piece of hardened plastic with a snap. “No, almost done.” He grumbled indignantly as he grabbed his electric mini drill and started screwing it into the wall. "The housing on this piece of trash wasn’t aligning properly," he griped. "I’m good now though."
Elijah had taken a position next to Coleman, sitting cross-legged and digging through a small satchel. "Look at you, Ben.” He said, pulling out a fancy new spotting scope with a ranger finder built into it. “Finally doing something useful."
"Fuck off, Eli. Why don't you make yourself useful and suck a dick or something?” Bennett snapped back, throwing the piece of shaved housing at the back of Elijah’s head.
“Quiet now, children of the corn.” Coleman scolded, trying to suppress a chuckle. “We don’t want someone noticing we’re up here, now do we?” he added while peering through the JETS at the rather impressive Imperial base just outside town.
For once in a blue moon, Elijah did as he was told as he threw the spotter scope up and cranked the magnifier to max. “Damn, this is actually a godlike spot, Cole," he muttered appreciatively.
A smirk formed on Coleman’s face. He was always great at finding the best hides, and this time around, their line of sight threaded a needle through multiple buildings, giving them a clear image of what looked like the entrance of a massive military base. Most of it was obscured by buildings on either side, but you could clearly see the steady flow of men, material, and war beasts moving in and out of it.
"Did your guy give any other info on it?" Coleman glanced at Elijah, wondering if his new informant had spilled anything relevant they could use.
However, as Elijah dwelled on the question. "Eehh... nothing particularly useful or actionable at the moment… just mostly drama,” he replied, trying to formulate a definitive answer. “I don’t think anyone bothers to dig into what the Imperials are up to. I get the feeling that everyone pretty much hates each other and purposefully keeps to themselves."
Coleman rubbed the rough stubble growing on his chin. "Well, what do we know about the situation, then?"
Elijah huffed a thoughtful tune as he dropped his hands and allowed his rangefinder to rest in his lap. Most of what he was told was personal grievances and beefs. However, personal beefs usually wove into a greater story, and unlocking said story would go a long way in furthering their interests.
"Well… I know the Imperials took control of the town guard, and they really didn’t like that…” He murmured, pulling his head away and looking up in thought. “Evidently they just waltzed in, threw their dick on the table and started messing around with their own operations. No more shakedowns, no more extortions, no more overt tolls enforced by policy."
"So they stamped out corruption," Coleman mused.
A complicated look formed on Elijah’s face as he tried to articulate what was going on in his head. "Not… really…?" He replied, indicating it was a lot more complicated than that. "This is according to our inside guy, but they didn't replace said corruption. They just made it worse in other ways. They just swooped in and stopped the surface-level crap without implementing proper reward structures, incentives, or... really anything.” The medic looked back through the optic of his rifle before continuing. “They basically just marched in, started being overbearing, and began executing anyone who complained."
Coleman slowly turned to Elijah, his face etched with disbelief. "What? Why?"
Elijah just shrugged and threw his eyebrows up. "I dunno, don’t ask me… From what I can gather… they think of the local law enforcement as undesirables that need to be removed or whipped into shape." He explained, scratching his face. “Hell, the Imperials stationed here consider everyone, not them, undesirables.”
The team leader looked off in the distance at the garrison, his expression troubled. "So… they’re just treating everyone like trash while simultaneously relying on them for a portion of security and resupply?" Coleman asked with an incredulous look on his face. "That's... a horrible idea,"
"Oh, on the contrary,” Elijah wagged his finger at Coleman with a smirk. “It's actually an excellent idea. They should definitely keep doing it." He said with a glint in his eye that suggested he genuinely meant what he was saying. “I would love nothing more than for them to continue doing exactly what they’re doing.”
A hum of interest left Coleman’s mouth as he stared at Elijah. Coleman was completely out of his breadth if he was honest with himself. This went far beyond the typical Unconventional Warfare mission a Special Forces soldier would find themselves in and had firmly planted themselves in the realm of spooks.
Once again, he couldn’t help but wonder just how in the hell Elijah had the savvy and familiarity with underworld business to navigate these waters. Half of Coleman wanted just to cut his losses and pull out before they were all gutted in an alleyway because of a bad call… However, Command had made it abundantly clear they were to continue, and wouldn’t tolerate a hint of protest.
The purview of this new operation was no longer within the hands of Coleman’s Commander, Colonel Finley of the 5th Special Forces Group. It had been forcibly and viciously ripped from the United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM) and, instead, placed firmly into the hands of the shadowy Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) and the litany of agencies at their back.
All because of a psychotic pointy-eared thug and a legitimate sociopath who had more balls than he did sense.
"You got an angle to work or something?" The team leader sighed, knowing he would have to rely on whatever strange, mysterious skills his medic possessed.
Elijah leaned back, putting his arms behind him for support as he gazed at the sky. A deep, contemplative look formed on his face as he blew air through his lips, causing them to smack in a rhythmic fashion. "Things are… starting to align, but nothing immediately actionable."
He paused, collecting his thoughts. "So far, the Imperials are only enforcing these anti-corruption measures superficially.” Elijah waved his hand in a somewhat dismissive manner as if trying to swipe away useless thoughts. “But we do know is the place is that there’s a real son of a bitch of a lord hold up in there, and they're turning this place into a logistics hub."
Turning his head towards his team leader, Elijah scratched at his beard before he continued, "The only time there seems to be any interaction between them and the town is when they need raw goods processed.” He recalled what his informant had told him. “There’s a rather fucked up supply trifecta going on where the lord is basically vacuuming in all the raw resources from every village and every farm before pushing it all into town to process.”
“Mind you, the terms and payment are dictated with no hope of negotiation,” Elijah added, lazily bobbing his finger up and down at Coleman. “So we’re talking people making pennies on the dollar and a lot of them are going into the red because their ‘betters’ refuse to pay them fairly.”
Coleman's brow furrowed as he processed this information. "So, we're looking at a power structure with multiple layers that is aggressively and thoroughly stealing from their people." He stroked his chin thoughtfully.
Elijah responded in an unsure tone, "I would say more along the lines that these Imperial forces are leeches, sucking the lifeblood from this town."
“And you plan on using that to drive a massive wedge between the people and their oppressors,” Coleman said, catching on Elijah’s train of thought.
A click of approval left Elijah’s mouth as Elijah winked and jutted his finger at Coleman. “Correctamundo!" he said with a smug smile on his face. “We’re setting conditions for disruption!”
He paused, letting that sink in. "We’ve been here for a few days now, Coleman." Elijah then asked, sitting up straight but spinning to face his team leader. “What have you noticed, logistics-wise?”
Coleman's face hardened as he took in that question. “Long convoys of food and other, unknown materials coming in and distributed to the local population to work on.” He answered, furrowing his brow. “On the hour, every hour.”
Nodding in satisfaction, Elijah opened his mouth to continue, but Coleman interrupted him.
“You’re looking to use the gangs as proxies to disrupt them…” The Team Leader said after putting two and two together. “You’re not just looking to gather information. You’re planning on turning the town itself against their masters and ally with us instead.”
Elijah placed his hands before him as if trying to conjure the thought. “Kind of… I haven’t really gotten that far yet. I honestly thought they’d pull us out and insert spooks who know how to run these ops, but they want us to go all the way.” He replied in a more hesitant tone as Coleman slapped his face. “Look, here's the thing… We have to be really careful and figure out which pit of snakes is the least venomous to jump into.”
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A few moments of silence reigned as Coleman tilted his head and furrowed his brow, but it was Bennett who voiced their collective thoughts. "Where we are now doesn’t seem too bad, so why don’t we just keep going as is?" He asked, tightening the last screw in the device he was installing. “We got a roof over our head, cover that keeps us more or less safe.”
"Ya, but for how long?" Elijah answered Bennett’s question with his own. “It’s really not the simple dude. We have every type of dickhead to deal with and their mom.“ He said, rubbing his forehead. “Greedy scumbags? I can manipulate. Honorbound justicars? I can predict. But those two mixed with people just trying to get by? Get’s a little dicey, you know?"
With his thoughts already racing, Elijah leaned further in and continued his point. “I mean… Even if we turn these guys against their masters, then what? We've got a bunch of unpredictable, potentially VERY violent elements running around. Some might join us, sure, but others might decide to set themselves up as King Turd of Shit Mountain, and we end up creating more problems than we solve before we have any semblance of support."
Bennett huffed in annoyance. "So what's the play then? We can’t just ignore everyone and squat on the rooves.”
“No shit, Sherlock,” Elijah rolled his eyes as he adjusted himself. "I’m not saying we ignore it. I’m saying we use the resentment the Imperials built up to sniff out who is best to work with."
Coleman hummed in thought as the two started to bicker quietly. “I think we should position ourselves as the alternative. The saviors, if you will.” He interjected, causing Bennett and Elijah to look at him and raise an eyebrow. "Eli is already positioning us to be the good guys. We can just do what we did back in the village and solve a few problems to win a few favors.”
Elijah thought on that for a moment. It was a good plan, and they definitely were in a position to capitalize on it, but the question became one of time and time wasn’t a luxury they had. "That’ll only work if we find collaborators quickly enough without causing a huge disruption.” He replied. “But my biggest concern is more about how the powers that be deciding whether it’s go time or not and start flinging cruise missiles everywhere..."
"Don’t worry about that. I’ll set something up," Coleman reassured his men. "Command is taking a considerable interest in this place, and they won't say no to coordinating with us. Especially if that means disrupting supply routes just when the offensive starts. We hit everyone simultaneously and take out the Imperials and the town guard in one fell swoop."
Now that the planning had taken a more conventional turn, Coleman felt a lot more comfortable giving his input. Elijah knew Coleman wasn’t very comfortable with the terribly grey lines associated with the cloaks and daggers-like aspects of Advanced Force Operations they found themselves thrust into. He was a lot more comfortable around the more traditional Special Forces mission sets and not tasks that would usually belong to spookier teams within JSOC or the CIA’s Special Activities Center (SAC).
The three men fell silent, and each contemplated the implications of their plan. It was risky and complex and would require a heavy lean on Elijah, but if they could pull it off, they'd not only secure a foothold for the conventional army but also play a decisive hand in winning over the population when the tanks rolled in.
Bennett sat there with a complex expression as he tried to think this through. He was passable in the human aspects of his profession, but most of what was talking about went entirely over his head.
"So... wait..." he began hesitantly. "How do we turn and leverage the people then?" He was confused and didn't understand how the population was supposed to love them. He looked to Coleman as if to see if he wondered the same. "How are we supposed to win over the townsfolk and maintain order once we take out everyone?"
Coleman seemed to know the answer as he wore a hard look, deep in thought. "The gangs." He replied for Elijah who seemed to just sit there unconcerned. The team leader knew that Elijah worked in a very unorganized and decentralized way, but there was always a bigger picture where the pieces fell into place.
Noticing his engineer was having trouble following, Coleman sighed and started explaining. "Well, look at it this way," Coleman began as he adjusted himself. “We all know this town is gang-infested, right?"
"In a lot of cases with crime-riddled areas, gangs usually act as the de facto authority. For better or for worse, they're the ones that people usually go to whenever they need problems solved." Coleman paused, letting that sink in. "You’d think that’d be the town guard, and they would clamp down on the gangs, but usually they run hand in hand with them or just act as an outright containment force.”
Bennett’s confusion caused his face to twist even further. He could understand that this town’s law enforcement was corrupt and worked with criminals for their own self-interest, not as a containment force. “Wait, what? What do you mean by a containment force?”
Interrupting the discussion, Elijah tapped on Coleman’s shoulder and jerked his head for them to leave before looking at Bennett. "Yo, we should get the hell out of here first." He said, scanning the area before glancing at the installed module. "Probably isn’t a good idea to be skylined when we don’t have to. Plus, we can talk more as we move."
The two operators nodded in agreement and began to pack up. "Yeah, let's get the hell out of here," Coleman replied as he started dismantling the JETS device and placed each part carefully into a pack.
It didn’t take long for the three men to go from utterly suspicious to just another body in an already dangerous area before carefully making their way down a shoddy wooden ladder. As they descended into a dark, dank alleyway, the trio found themselves between two buildings with a stone wall connecting them and acting as a dead end.
After confirming the coast was clear and they weren’t followed, Elijah started to make his way through the alley with Coleman and Bennett in tow.
"Let me think of a way to explain what Coleman was talking about." Elijah started in a low voice, keeping an eye out for any curious heads popping out from the numerous windows. "You see, the town guard isn't really there to eliminate or even reduce crime. They're here to contain it, to keep it at a manageable level."
Bennett caught up with Elijah and raised his eyebrow as if that didn’t make any sense. “Isn’t the point of Law Enforcement to you know…” The engineer paused as he leaned forward to look at Coleman. “Enforce the law?”
"Yaaaaa… you’d imagine, but… Think of it this way: you've got a leaky pipe, right?" Elijah continued, turning to Bennett who nodded his head. "The smart thing would be to just fix the pipe, right?” Elijah waited for Bennett to nod his head again. “But here’s the thing, that's expensive and time-consuming. And people with rhe money and power really don’t like using it. So instead, they put a bucket under the pipe and call it a day."
If Bennett could rate on a scale of 1 to 10 how stupid he thought that was when put into context of enforcing the law and protecting the town, then he was afraid the scale would break. “What the fuck? So this place is just the fucking thunderdome?” He asked, completely bewildered "They’re just keeping these assholes in here so they don’t have to look at them?"
An amused chuckle left Elijah’s mouth after seeing such a reaction. “Ahahaha, ya more or less." He nodded before peering around an intersection to make sure it was clear. "The Imperials, and probably whoever was in charge before them, couldn’t give a rats ass about maintaining law and order or protecting the people. They just want it to look clean from the outside."
Coleman chimed in, "It's about maintaining the illusion of order without actually addressing the root problems. It's cheaper and easier than real reform."
Bennett thought for a moment as the gears churned in his head. “So basically Detroit?”
The team leader opened his mouth to dismiss that but couldn’t help but find how apt of a comparison that was as his eyebrows danced up and down. “Ye… Yeah… Yeah, pretty much Detroit.” He hesitantly agreed.
“Or Chicago.” Elijah ribbed the two in the side as the three laughed.
It wasn’t much longer until they reached the intersection that led them to the main road. But leaning against the walls of either side were two individuals, one a lot shorter than the other, giving the three operators a bored look.
The shorter of the two that were waiting at the end of the alleyway pushed off the wall and oriented himself towards the approaching humans. "You guys finally done?" he asked while running a tired hand through the tuft of feathers. “Can we go now?”
A deep and rumbling yawn resounded as the taller one joined his shorter companion "Ahhh, quit complaining, Ryff. They're paying us handsomely to sit around and wait."
The Stymph frowned and glared at his partner with a frown and his on his hips. “Look! I’m grateful for any kind of work, but…!”
“But you’re bored,” Elijah finished for him rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. I get it. Let's get out of here," he said, nodding to Ryffka and Talarion.
As the group merged together, Coleman took point, leading them down the main road while trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. Elijah fell in step beside Ryffka and Talarion, keeping his voice low.
"Any trouble while you were waiting?" Coleman asked as his eyes constantly scanned their surroundings.
Ryffka shook his head. "Nah, quiet as a tomb.” He responded in a disinterested tone. “Few drunks stumbled by, but they didn't give us a second glance." He replied before shooting a curious look at Elijah. "What were you doing in there anyway?"
“Nunya.” Elijah replied with a smirk that caused both Coleman and Bennett to sigh.
A strange look formed on Ryffka's face as he titled his head. “Nunya?”
“NUN YA GOD DAMN BUSINESS! SHUT UP!” Elijah barked, causing Ryffka to cover his ears with his hands with a startled look.
Talarion let out a howl of a laugh as he slapped his leg as Ryffka shot an indignant look his way. "Ahaha! That’s a new one!"
Elijah gave them a playful smile. "You, like that one?" He said, resting his hands on the back of his head in a relaxed manner as they maid their way down the road.
Ryffka continued to grumble as he smoothed out his ruffled feathers. “You’re so annoying…” He murmured before heaving a sigh.
Talarion nodded as he continued to chuckle. "Hey, it could be worse Ryff!" He added as he regained his composure. “Could be still unemployed or still running from the Imperials.”
This caused Elijah to lift and eyebrow in their direction. “Damn, nobody here likes ‘em do they?” He asked
The green hair elf scoffed, "Pfft, hah! We both burned our bridges with the empire long ago!" Talarion laughed as he gestured to Ryffka and himself, "we're as good as dead if those bastards caught us."
“Tal!” The Stymph scolded his friend for letting out too much information.
However, Talarion just rolled his eyes. “Oh come on Ryff, not like they’re gonna be sharin’ or tellin’. As the man said, nobody here likes ‘em.” He said, adjusting the belt that held his two-handed Falchion. “As I said, we're not particularly keen on crossing paths with them again.”
Ryffka grumbled once more as his glare relented. “I can’t say we’re in the best graces with the Empire…” He admitted with a sigh. “Right now, we’re just trying to get some funds together to make our way to Aldenshore."
This key piece of information seemed to stand out to Elijah as continued the conversation in a more casual manner. “What’s for you in Aldenshore?” He asked assuming that was a particularly important place. “Got a big gig lined up?”
“I mean….” Talarion scratched his face in a somewhat bashful manner. “We don’t have anything lined up per se, but… we still want to make a name for ourselves and make it big.”
Elijah narrowed his eyes for a split second, absorbing the key piece of info. “Anything new happening there other than the usual?”
“What, you didn’t hear?” This time Ryffka spoke up as he looked at Elijah as if he was a country bumpkin. “A really big and really important lord kicked everyone out of the castle and moved in for herself.” He said, causing Elijah and Coleman to hone in on the Stymph. “Supposed to be in charge of defending all of the savage lands or whatever.”
That key piece of intel caused Elijah and Coleman to react physically, as they both seemed to recoil. They needed to press further and see what else they could get from this guy, but before they could continue, the sight of the Tavern finally came into view.
However, everyone seemed to tense up when they noticed something was off. A lot more people than usual were lingering at the entrance, including a few faces they recognized, and that sign didn’t bode well.
This was compounded when Piña trotted over with a troubled look. “G-Guys! You got company inside!” she said, fidgeting nervously. “Somethin’ about giving you your answer!”
Elijah glanced over his shoulder to Coleman and Bennett and gave them a nod before pulling his neck gaitor over his nose. The silent communication seemed to shift the humans into another gear as they approached the door with a purpose, eyeing the unknown men flanking the doors.
Even Ryffka and Talarion sensed the heightened awareness was out of place as their postures stiffened and their hands went to their weapons. They were still on the job and would do their best to defend their client as they moved closer to the tavern door.
The thugs idling outside seemed to square up with the two freelancers but immediately relented once they finally noticed the familiar masked figure approaching.
“Ya kept our boss waitin’” A large, gruff man said, thumping his large makeshift mace into the ground.
It was a decent attempt at intimidation, but no one bought it as Talarion huffed in amusement as he positioned himself at the perfect distance to slash at the man's neck on the first sign of trouble. Ryffka stood a bit further back, reciting a wind spell that would cleave his unarmored opponent in two in his own head over and over again.
When Elijah grabbed the door handle and cracked it open, his hand went to his waistline, and he saw that the place had been cleaned out, save for the horde of thugs strategically positioned throughout the dining hall. Coming in behind him were Coleman and Bennett with their pistols already subtly drawn, but the tension seemed to be kicked down a notch when they noticed Azelin in the corner.
The woman stood with an air of nonchalant confidence as she leaned against the ballistic shield Elijah had given her and bounced her sword on her shoulder. Even though she seemed relaxed, her eyes remained sharp and alert as she constantly moved between the room's occupants.
Seated at the central tables sat Brak and Ferei. The two gang leaders sat across from Kwon, sipping on some ale while the rest of the ODA team was spread throughout the tavern.
"We’d like to negotiate," Ferei spoke first with barely contained irritation and impatience.