I had a few days to go through the drone footage in lots of detail. The included telemetry was also rather helpful (time, date, latitude/longitude, altitude, etc.) and I was cross-referencing points of footage against the very detailed topographic maps of the area I had obtained. Of particular interest were various landmarks I could use, consisting of a few old homestead sites, an abandoned church, the Factory itself and a few old dirt roads that did not seem to appear on any other maps. To call them roads was perhaps overstating things a bit-- they were little more than footpaths left behind by decades-previous logging activities. However, it gave me new potential ingress and egress points to work with.

The church made for an interesting (albeit somewhat obvious) potential observation point. It stood on a slight rise allowing for a relatively unobstructed view of the Factory and the field between the two facilities-- if I managed to get into the upper areas, anyway. Despite the rather long range (a bit over 1200 yards), a decent telescope should be enough to get eyes on my target. I had also been considering something sneakier involving some covertly placed and somewhat modified trail cams, but I disliked the idea of getting close enough to make that work. Moving the extra equipment into place on foot seemed like a massive amount of work, too. It was still an idea worth further consideration, personal misgivings aside.

After an evening mulling over my options, I was at a complete loss when it came to actually “dealing” with this Orc warren in any meaningful sense of the word. They still appeared too small and ill-equipped to bring in government forces and going at them alone still held a rather high probability of resulting in a strongly negative outcome (like getting myself killed). I've been watching documentaries about the Orcs and their invasion for a couple of months now, and I mostly find myself really wanting to call in an air strike or an artillery bombardment-- except, of course, for the small problem of not actually having a proper military force at my command. Further, I don't have the kind disposable income necessary to bring in professional hunters or mercenaries. It also appears that my crazy friends are still not crazy enough to help me with this (yes, I asked).

This would seem to bring me to asymmetric warfare as an answer, but some immediate problems arise-- most notably that Orcs have no legitimate government to overthrow nor an economy to destabilize, virtually no assets to attack, no communications, intelligence, or supply chains to disrupt and no population that would be receptive to influence or incitement to rebellion. Indeed, the very lack of sophistication in Orc culture effectively insulates them from many of the aspects of modern warfare, as we Humans understand it. In short, I’m back to two far older concepts of warfare: Controlling the largest amount of territory (with lethal consequences for trespass) and/or simply killing them in sufficient numbers that they surrender, retreat or are wiped out. In each case, I find myself completely lacking the resources to conduct warfare in this manner.

Here’s an idea: Maybe I’m not the one who should be doing the fighting? Indeed, this seems like a good time to put my new law enforcement contact to use.

Using that handy burn-mail address, I sent digital photos and coordinates to the Factory, being certain to emphasize my point by including a snapshot of the severed Orc head. My meaning seemed clear enough—I’m requesting a formal response from local government. I have no idea what their answer will be. But while I wait, I decided to put some effort into mapping out potential ingress and egress routes, just in case. It wasn't difficult to get the topographic maps rendered as basic 3D terrain models. Trickier was getting the various water, road and building features properly represented. When completed, I had a reasonably good idea where I might walk in and out and what places should be avoided. I was acutely aware that this didn't tell me everything-- there are always little chunks of terrain that look fine “on paper” but are troublesome as hell once you face them in person. As this is like any other calculated risk, I'll just has to put on my big boy pants and deal with such annoyances as they arise—assuming I ever go back out there.

After an hour or so, I had planned two routes in and two different routes out (primary and secondary plans). None of them are anywhere near roads that might be under observation by Orcs (they're fully aware of why we build them, right?) and these chosen routes mostly stick to areas between low hills and rises that cut through heavily forested areas, giving me the best chance to stay undetected. Cutting through uncontrolled forest will be slow going and will be made even slower by applying some counter-tracking techniques. Not exactly a leisurely walk in the woods, but tactically sound movement plans.

I still had some “real” work going over security policy recommendations for a new client. A nice dinner seemed like a good idea before diving into a particularly deep sea of policy and compliance paperwork. I was forced to admit that I had been neglecting my “real” job more that was wise and getting caught up was necessary before I could start sending out invoices for my time and services. I can kick off vulnerability scans of another client’s web site tonight and work on more detailed penetration testing tomorrow. Before the end of the week, I also had a to deliver an upgrade plan for yet another client suffering with a significant inventory of badly out-of-date software installations. Cybersecurity isn’t glamorous, but there is always work, and it pays reasonably well.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

I must admit to being surprised when I got an email response from my mysterious LEO contact a few weeks later. Apparently, surveillance operations on the Factory had been conducted and proved lucrative for the police. A plan had been formulated. A nighttime raid on the Factory was to be conducted by the tactical team of State Police (with cooperation with the local Sherriff’s Department) to intercept the Orcs in the open forest, catching them out in the open before they returned to a fortified position. This seemed like a wise choice. Apparently, the Orcs had been conducting raids of their own every few days and this unwanted activity (and some prompting from me) ultimately provided sufficient “Official Justification” to put this particular warren out of business permanently.

Their plan is a straightforward air assault; the primary battle plan was thorough and clearly the product of professionals. Troopers will be inserted by helicopter directly into the Factory complex, presumed to be either empty or inadequately manned to repel this insertion. Choppers which will stay on-station to provide additional thermal imaging and spotlight support, plus communications and combat control. Of special interest were the identified (and presumed) routes used by the Orcs, including various potential escape routes. Their analysts were assuming that the warren’s leadership would quickly abandon their underlings, sacrificing them to buy time for their own escape, presumably with female hostages in tow (if present). Considering my own research, this is a reasonable assumption, as Orc leadership all appear to be graduates of the “run-away-very-fast” school of strategic defense.

However, due to limited manpower, there is no way to effectively both engage the Orcs in the forest and cover all the potential escape routes from the Factory at the same time using ground forces alone, given the short timeframe given for the initial assault. The expectation is that helicopters on-station, with their enhanced view of the battlefield, should be able to provide extra visibility of enemy movements and supervising officers on-site will make dynamic changes, as needed. Armed with radio communications, thermal and night vision hardware, body armor and automatic rifles, deployed personnel were ordered to emphasize the destruction of this warren via maximum body count using rapid, high-mobility action. Sweeping and clearing of the Factory complex itself will follow once tactical control of the entire site has been established. Various movement and deployment plans were included along with detailed (albeit dated) floorplans of various building plus topographic maps of the immediately area. Capture or termination of any leadership present is a secondary objective, but orders are to leave no other survivors. Flight plans for both helicopters and various radio frequencies were thoughtfully included.

Again, the implication seems clear: I’m being asked to get there first and covertly help in whatever way I can. Luckily, being moderately clever, a few ways to help come to mind. The raid takes place in two days and it’s not a party I plan on missing.

Returning to my topo maps, I overlayed the police raid planning and supporting intelligence data, opting to make my best guess regarding the most probable escape routes for a wayward Orc leader on the run. The main gate was too obvious and exposed. One small and discrete fence line breach was determined to be actively in-use and is already targeted by the Trooper’s raid. A more intelligent choice would be to breach the fence directly into deeper forest without crossing any open areas. I suspect that ripping through a section of chain link fence wouldn’t be a significant challenge for one of those big mega-Orcs. Plus, any self-respecting Orc leaders would likely want a personal security detail present to help cover his retreat.

I selected an area near the Factory’s fence line but far enough away from the raid’s primary area of operations. From there, I should be able to cover my target area and remain undetected by all other parties by pushing back at least a hundred yards deeper into the forest. I have a few tricks for hiding from thermal/infrared imaging systems (if needed), and my own use of thermal imaging and suppressed fire should help me continue to go unnoticed once the initial engagement begins. My portable radio scanner will be used to monitor the progress of the battle (the police can’t really afford fancy digitally encrypted comms). I expect the Orc’s leadership won’t wait long to cut-and-run—they’ve learned that getting into a stand-up fight almost always results in a quick defeat. Their best chance for survival is rapid evasion and escape. Not the bravest souls, these Orcs, but their tactics are at least logical.

Obviously, my original movement and mission plans will have to be scrapped and replaced, as these new battlefield variables have come to light. I’ll need to move into position and get setup well before nightfall—a few hours to get on-site, a few more to setup my observation/firing position and get my camouflage right. Being right on top of an Orc lair at night is risky, but the area I have in mind appears to be outside their normal ingress and egress routes. If I maintain appropriate light, sound, and scent discipline, I am confident I can remain unnoticed. The weather shouldn’t add many new variables—it’s not going to be especially cold (just below freezing), with mixed overcast and clear skies, very light winds and maybe some rain/snow.

We’ll see how my luck holds.