“Alright men.” Brigadier General U.S. Arnold shouted out to the eighteen men before him. “Previously our preliminary scouting teams found what appeared to be two portals similar, but different, to the one that we all came through. One of them produced very hostile creatures that we are calling Goblins.”
None of the men snickered at the thought of fantasy creatures being real since they all arrived through a massive vortex and were now being briefed by a General. They all took the news seriously.
“After capturing one of them, we’ve determined that these creatures are openly aggressive at the sight of us and are emerging far too close to Alpha Base to be acceptable for the safety of everyone here. We then sent a team to investigate the portal they were emerging from. In doing so, we have discovered that the portal can be entered. The team did some initial scouting on the other side. There is what appears to be woodlands on the other side. However, instead of anything local, there appears to be different trees and vegetation on the other side, meaning that it is connected to another location entirely. The scouts reported finding three encampments of Goblins on the other side, all within a five mile radius. Each camp contains 16 to 25 Goblins, for a sum of 63 Goblins. These creatures have crude weapons, such as wooden spears and iron machetes. We are sending the eighteen of you as a raid team to strategically eliminate any threat in a pre-emptive strike. You will all be armed M18 sidearms, along with 68 rounds of 9mm. One soldier from each team will be given an M4 with 160 rounds of 5.56mm. The exception will be Team 3 who will be fully kitted with rifles and sidearms. As it is now well known, we are limited on these supplies. You are to use them sparingly unless your life depends on it. Every bullet fired is one less that we have. Stealth tactics and non-firearm based tactics are the preferred methods here. That being said, a single gunshot could bring the attention of all three camps to you. The plan is to strike two of them simultaneously and gauge the response of the third before neutralizing it. If you are all successful in neutralizing both camps incognito, each of your team leads have been given a flare. You are to use the flare once your targeted camp has been eliminated. We anticipate Team 3’s camp to move quickly once the first signs of engagement are broadcast which is why they will be better equipped. Their targets will be nearly impossible to quietly neutralize.”
“Sir.” Captain Ryan spoke up.
“Yes Captain?”
“Couldn’t the flairs draw the attention of other creatures or even other unfound camps?”
“That is correct Captain. A big issue that we have right now is a lack of information. We are not just trying to eliminate a threat here, but also gauge how dangerous that threat is and if there are additional ones that we haven’t come across yet. I am not going to lie, there are more unknowns than we like to operate under, but this is how we begin to find out more. This means that this operation has an unknown risk to it. Although these Goblins appear to be a minor threat based on first contact, we don’t yet know what they are truly capable of or if there are others out there.”
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
“Thank you sir.”
“In addition, we also discovered that each of these Goblins contain a black stone inside them. When another dies in close proximity to one of these stones, something is absorbed from it into the stone, altering the stone itself. Each of your team leads have been given one or two of these stones from our first contact with them. You will report back if they reproduce this effect during the operation and to gather more of them from the fallen if things go smoothly. This however is a secondary objective to eliminating the threat and gauging the threat. Once again, Teams 1 and 2, you are to eliminate your camps. Team 3, you are to observe your camp’s response before eliminating your camp. If you are overrun, fallback or send word back through the portal. We will have 60 armed personnel stationed on our side of the portal if things go sideways. If there are any other questions, direct them to your team leads, they have already been briefed with what details we do have. You have one hour to gather your gear before heading out. Dismissed!”
The crowd dispersed in groups as they began discussing with one another and asking their leads questions.
“Sir, Captain Ryan.”
“Yes, Airman Roberts [rob-erts]?”
“Sir, we are the Air Force, we aren’t trained for ground combat like this. Why send us?”
“Because we are trained for this Private. Everyone here has gone through bootcamp and has combat training. Further, do you see the Army around?”
“No sir.”
“How about any marines?”
“No sir.”
“That is because they are either back at home drinking beer on their porches or have been deployed to another location entirely. In their stead we are the most equipped for something like this, unless you expect civilians to protect you, a soldier?”
“Sir, no sir!”
“Captain, you saw these creatures, right? What should we expect in capabilities?”
“Good question, Staff Sergeant Ramirez [rah-meer-ez]. I don’t entirely know. I saw the corpses brought back and the prisoner we had taken. From what I saw, their fighting capability should be that of a young teenager. However, the prisoner seemed feral. So us being Team 3, we will have the most difficult job since we won’t get a chance to silently sweep our camp, so stay on your toes.”
“Sir, what was that about the stone that the General was talking about?” Asked Ramirez.
“Yeah, I only got one. The other leads got two. I think it was because we have a higher risk for our team.”
“Can we see it sir?” Asked Roberts
Captain Ryan pulled the stone out of his pocket and held it up. Everyone on Team 3 stopped to look at it.
It looked like a piece of obsidian. Matte black, with a bit of a gloss to it on some sides. It had jagged edges and smooth sides.
“I wonder what it is.” Roberts mussed.
“My guess is a bloody kidney stone, now let’s get ready to head out.”
“Sir, yes sir.” Team 3 got out while choking back some laughter.
It was good that Ryan’s men were in high spirits enough to laugh. Ryan didn’t have a good feeling about this mission and didn’t like taking on unnecessary risk like he was being ordered to. As the General stated, there were a lot of unknowns in their situation and Ryan didn’t like playing the canary in the coal mine.