"Ah... What do I do now! Base, over?"

Blake grins, as he watches the UAV feed of the kneeling elves around Sgt Collins. "Hahaha, maybe they gonna crown him a king or something?" He jokes, inciting laughter among the bridge crew.

"Alright, tell him to hold tight and secure the rear, backup is coming," Blake laughs, "He will be fine. Direct the UAV to provide overwatch and alert Dog Five if the enemy show signs of approaching."

"Ford, I remember there should be a first contact manual with an alien race somewhere in the system right? Dig it out, and also the universal translator." Blake turns his head towards Ensign Clara, "Ensign, work with the XO over the language translations, you gonna be the official translator."

Collins moaned when he received Base's reply. Urgh, securing the rear is easy but dealing with an alien race? Boot camp didn't teach me anything! He glances around at his team who quickly avoided his eye and he sighs. Walking up to the noble-looking lady, he reaches out a hand to help her up and points towards the pass with a hurry up gesture which he hopes she understands.

Sherene looks up as the man in the strange patterns clothes gestures her to stand up and points towards the pass. She understands that the man is telling her to move to safety from his gestures, she nods, touched by his actions, as most nobles will be bragging how great they are for saving you, and will be trying to falter or ignore the interests of the common people.

She raises up and taking his hand as support and brushes off the dust from her traveling dress. She was able to thank him again when she noticed that he has already turned around and headed off to towards the rear guards with some of his men.

Pvt Drake dumps the collected spent cartridges into his pouch and strolls up towards Collins, the few golden boys watching him earlier, now look at him in awe and respect. He smiles smugly and cradles his rifle over his chest like a baby and calls out to Collins. "Hey Sarge, frag much?"

"Great work with the sniping." They walked to the sea of bodies littering the mountain path. "Check this out." Collins squats down and lifts the visor off the metallic helmet of a dead blue-coated soldier.

"Same ears and features. Some kind of civil war?" Collins looks over the bodies. "No, not civil. Different colors and insignia too."

"Even weapons are slightly different." Drake picks up several swords and lays them side by side. "Oh, here comes their big shot." He warns Collins, seeing the old vet walking over.

Collins straighten up and points towards the pass, trying to convey to the old vet to move his forces towards the pass.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

The old vet nods in understanding, and points at the bodies and mimics picking, seemingly indicating that they want to loot or salvage for weapons and armors.

Collins also nods and steps back allowing the vet to send his men into strip the bodies and retrieve the wounded.

"I think he was asking for permission to loot the bodies or something," Collins said to Drake.

"Yea, since we did the killing, we have the rights to it, I guess?" Drake shrugs, as he watches the soldiers carrying wounded away, stripping and stacking weapons and armors aside, while giving mercy killings to the badly wounded men of both sides. "She's very pretty eh?"

"Yeah, out of this world." Collins sighs, "Let's help them out with the wounded and dead, we got UAV cover so there are no worries of a surprise attack." Damn, we need the medics here fast, looking at the wounded, half of them won't make it if the medics don't come in time!

"Magister Thorn!" Sherene finds the old master magician sitting on a boulder next to a dragon wagon, his right shoulder swaddled in bandages stained with dried blood. "Why are you not resting inside!" She cried, gesturing to the magician's apprentices to carry him into the wagon to rest.

"No, child. It's alright, I wanted to see what magic they weld." He feebly waves her and his apprentices off. "Come closer, I have something to tell you."

Sherene leans forward and Magister Thorn whispers into her ear, "I don't sense any magic power at all from them! They are not using magic!"

"What?" She looks surprised, "But that power, it's almost as powerful as a level 5 spell!"

Thorn coughs and wheezed, "I do not know how they harness the elemental forces, but I did not sense anything from them at all!" Wiping the flecks of blood from his mouth, "I will advise making friends with them, with their power to harness the elements, our people can be saved!"

"I understand, Magister!" She said seriously, "Please rest, you need your strength!" She looks at the apprentices at the side, and asks, "Have you given him the healing potion?"

They looked at each other guilty, not daring to meet her eyes. "What? Why didn't you give him the potion!" She stood up angrily. "What have you done with it!"

"Calm down, child. I told them not to waste it on me." Magister Thorn coughs again, "I know my time is up. Why waste such a valuable potion on me, when there are so many others that need it? I told them to give it to the wounded."

"No... Magister Thorn! You will be alright!" Sherene cried, tears falling, too many of her people and close friends have died. Her heart couldn't take much of the sadness anymore.

Trent Oaktall cautiously touched the sides of the blue-grey magical wagon parked at the pass. It felt cold and hard like iron, not wood, but who is crazy enough to use iron to build a wagon! His plate mail itself would have cost the kingdom's treasury tens of gold coins!

The more he examined the wagon, the more impressed he became, the low hunched shape of the wagon looks like a predator, waiting to jump at its prey. The padded chairs attached inside obviously provides greater comfort to the riders. What kind of people are they if they can build something like these!

Suddenly he noticed a dust cloud approaching from the seaward side of the mountain pass, he lifts his hand to shade his eyes and peers towards the dust cloud. The rapidly approaching objects slowly came into focus as they neared, and he yells excitedly to alert his sergeant as more of the strange magical wagons arrives.