"Specialist Jennifer Smith, reporting to Captain Moore of Bravo Company."
Captain Moore stared at the female soldier in front of her, returning the salute and assessing her appearance. She was dressed in a simple grey robe with her rifle in her hand, and her perfectly constructed face and dark brown hair gave her the appearance of models he had seen back on Earth. The only nonhuman aspect he could pick out about her were her eyes, which were bright red and gleaming even in the relative darkness.
"Where is the other specialist?"
"He was assigned to Rovensi, the capital of the duchy. He will remain there for the foreseeable future."
"I see," Captain Moore replied. The rest of Bravo Company took their positions around the perimeter while the final shuttle landed to begin the operation. "It's good to have you, Specialist Smith. Have there been any changes in the plan?"
"Negative. I have been attempting to trace the source of the sudden shift within the forest. I have no definitive conclusion for the shift. Unfortunately, there are no records or witnesses to corroborate my observations."
"Then we will proceed with greater caution. There might be some unknown danger that only the wildlife can detect. Join the others and relay any new information you have back to the ship through Corporal Chen. You are due your checkup to ensure your parts are in place."
"Of course, sir."
As the synth walked away, Captain Moore entered the shotgun seat of a MATV, the successor to the old Humvees, and entered his position within the line formation. The MATV took up the right center position behind two rifle squads, one led by Sergeant Wells. Once everyone entered the formation, the company moved forward without a word, their objective, and plan already rehearsed and memorized. Three squads from Bravo Company and three from the Third Marine Recon Force remained behind with the shuttles to protect the landing site.
The captain adjusted his goggles and stared ahead, the company slowly rolling into the endless forest surrounding them. There was hardly any light from the dim night sky, a small moon providing only a modicum of visibility for the soldiers.
Minutes rolled by, and hardly a peep came from the soldiers or the forest. There was a distinct lack of even the smallest animals, at least from what Captain Moore could pick out from his night vision. The tall, unfamiliar trees towered above them, as high as redwoods back on Earth, though their purple and greyish leaves proved their foreign nature. The eerie silence provoked Captain Moore to look around on all sides, his eyes darting for a seemingly missing presence.
"I didn't know monsters took days off," Sergeant Wells commed through his radio. "It's quieter than two rats fucking in a wool sock."
"Cut the chatter," First Sergeant Wilard grumbled over comms. "Don't draw any attention to us. I don't want to hear another peep from you, sergeant."
"Hardass," came the sergeant's muted response.
"Keep your head on a swivel," Captain Moore echoed his previous warnings to cut the tension between the two. "Just because it's clear doesn't mean it can change in an instant. Keep the channel clear unless you see something."
From the other side of the formation, the captain could see Lieutenant Doe's MATV to his left. Behind him were the two MATVs with the mortar section, with the MATV with First Sergeant Wilard and the MATV with attached missiles containing the fire support team to their right. The remaining squads of the company were evenly distributed at the front and the flanks.
Suddenly, the air above them shifted, and Captain Moore glanced into the night sky to see two silent Cherokee tiltrotor gunships providing aerial surveillance. The pair seemingly saw nothing and continued their trek over the vast forest, leaving Bravo Company behind with only a huff of air to prove their wake.
Two hours passed without incident, causing Captain Moore to let out an inadvertent sigh. "Not bad for a first time CO…"
"Keep your head on a swivel," a voice muttered in his ears.
"Not now, Iris."
"Just teasing you. I'm sure everything will be fine."
Captain Moore coughed and knocked on the vehicle's door.
"Everything alright, sir?" Corporal Chen asked from the back seat.
"Yeah, yeah… Too bad we don't have any wood."
"Sir?"
"It's fine, corporal, stress of the op and all."
"I've received word from Captain Blake that he and his unit have also encountered nothing. They should be within visual in the next few minutes."
"We'll continue down south after we regroup with him. After that, we'll prep for the rest of the division to land."
"I'll send word to Captain Blake, sir."
Moore looked outside to check up on his squads. The soldiers looked wary, though all of them seemed loose and light. Several were muttering quietly, while others were taking in the sights more deeply than before. Even First Sergeant Wilard was quiet despite his usual disciplined self, ignoring the soldiers in his MATV that were relaxing instead of paying heed to the path ahead.
Suddenly, Sergeant Wells stopped and clumped his fist into the air, tapping his ears onto his shoulders. Captain Moore scanned the surroundings yet saw the same alien foliage he had viewed for several hours. Even so, the captain trusted the veteran NCO to have spotted something he hadn't.
The convoy slid to a halt, prompting the formation to tighten. A few soldiers came about slowly, though the transfers from the Tenth Mountain Division amongst the ranks snapped to attention with their weapons drawn. The looming shadows seemed to flicker around the group, earning a nervous shuffle of feet from a few of the newer recruits.
Both the heavy weapons squad and the mortar section sprang out of their respective vehicles, the metallic clinks from their equipment echoing deeper than expected through the silent forest.
The sergeant quickly pointed to himself and then toward his squad. He then placed his right hand next to his ear and waved his hand backward.
The nine men in his squad followed him and trekked forward toward a section of the forest that was particularly dense in vegetation. Even with his night vision, Captain Moore could barely see a foot beyond the initial bushes near the company's formation. Before the sergeant could peel away the leaves, numerous beings sprung out of the bushes, and the earth swallowed up several soldiers in a single breath.
Without waiting for the commanding officer's command, several shots rang out toward the enemy just as the ambushers knocked down a few soldiers. Muffled shouts and cries filled the air, reverberating between the MATVs.
One of the bullets landed home and struck an enemy, who rolled onto the ground and landed near Captain Moore, his long ears and dirty, childlike face evident through his lenses. Another body landed nearby with a thud, the silhouette of an adult man sprawled onto the ground.
"HOLD FIRE!" Captain Moore's voice boomed. "Hold fire! They're humans!."
The cracks from the rifles tapered off in an instant, and the 'humans' in front of them scampered away into the forest. The attack ended as fast as it started, within ten seconds.
Only one remained behind, standing defiantly and pointing a rusty bronze knife at Sergeant Wells and two soldiers, who kept their rifles trained on her.
The young, scruffy woman had dirty green hair and fierce bronze eyes that shone like glowing metal. She wore a muddied brown tunic and pants made of some animal skin, and her pale skin was marred by mud and dirt. Yet, she growled in the face of several heavily armed soldiers despite understanding the power of the weapons in their hands. "Иɘ ᗡonϱƨɒɘ Иɘnɒ!"
"Medic, attend to the injured pronto!" Captain Moore commanded, stepping out of the vehicle. The squads on the flanks maintained their position and aimed their weapons at the dense forest with increased alertness. A few soldiers helped those that the ground had swallowed up and pulled them out like carrots. "Specialist Smith, didn't you report that there was no human presence in the forest?"
Specialist Smith hopped out of the MATV she was riding with the mortar section and stood at attention before him. "I apologize, captain. It seems I was not as thorough with my search as I was led to believe. Perhaps it would be prudent to request ground radar equipment next time…"
"You didn't answer the question, specialist."
"They are elves, sir. More specifically, Den Elves. They live underground and are nomadic. However, my previous patrols in this forest failed to reveal their presence."
"..." Captain Moore rubbed his eyes. "And I'm guessing we stumbled upon their current camp or something?"
"It appears so." Specialist Smith motioned towards the soldiers that were sucked into the ground. Their fellow company members pulled them out, though all six looked rattled and dirty. "They're relatively unknown even by the people of this world, avoiding contact with civilization as much as possible. It is perhaps due to the status of elves in this world and the constant oppression they face from certain segments within the Lisorian Empire."
"Which was why we couldn't understand what the girl was saying, sir." Lieutenant Doe interjected, joining the pair as they stared at the elven girl with increasing nervousness. "We were given the database for the main language used in Resforna, this continent. The other languages were considered a bit too niche for general distribution."
Captain Moore tightened his grip on his rifle and turned to his radio operator. "Corporal, report the updated information to HQ immediately. Inform them that we will await further instructions after returning to the landing site."
"Understood, sir."
"We need an urgent heli-evac, captain," the medic, Corporal Cronenworth, stated. "None of us were injured, thankfully, but the elf boy was shot in the stomach and is losing blood rapidly. One of his intestines was ripped from the gunshot. The other one has a ruptured lung; the bullet punched through his chest."
"You heard him corporal."
A few seconds later, Corporal Chen looked up from her radio set. "Already done, sir. Heli is two minutes out."
"Shit, did we miss the party? I thought me shooting one pig-looking thing was all the action that happened tonight."
Withholding a groan, Captain Moore greeted Captain Blake and a few of his men with a curt nod. "We got ambushed by some… elves."
"Elves?" Captain Blake took off his aviators in a flash. "Fucking elves? Are they hot?'
"Now is not the time, captain."
Instead of acknowledging his comment, the Marine officer saw the elvish girl and inspected her with a leer. "Do you think we can hire…"
"... I would highly urge you not to finish that sentence."
"So… what do we do about this one?" Sergeant Wells asked, maintaining his aim at the elvish woman, who was still gripping her knife defiantly.
The captain trotted over to the stranger and waved for Sergeant Wells and his squad to move aside. He held out his rifle in an exaggerated motion, and under the stranger's intense scrutiny, he placed down his weapon and held up his hands with his palms facing out. The woman stood still while he took a step back, emphasizing the emptiness of his hands. "We come in peace. I'm sorry about your friends."
"Moɿɘɒϱo?"
"Specialist… any chance that you know a language they might be familiar with?"
"ɿɒ⑁uoƨuM ɟuϱ .ɒbɘnmɘƨdu ɘϱqoɿɒϱnoγᑫ ɒbɘnmɘƨɟɒw," Specialist Smith stated in a strange dialect in a completely foreign accent.
That statement prompted a puzzled look from the elf, though she looked somewhat more approachable. She kept her grip on the knife, but slowly brought it back toward her belt.
"What did you say?" Captain Moore asked.
"That we're not a threat, and we come in peace in Imperial Elvish. It should be the closest branch to Den Elvish, if at all."
"Think she understood it?"
"Judging from her expressions and lowered heart rate, she seems at least familiar with the language. "
"Иɘ bonϱƨɒnϱ doγoᒑo," the elf said, her tone suggesting it to be a demand.
Captain Moore glanced at the synth specialist, who shook her head. "Tell her to follow us then, in Imperial Elvish."
"ɒwɘɿɒɟT," Specialist Smith translated.
The elf glared and glanced between the two, finally noting the clothing the soldiers were wearing and the devices on their persons. She looked beyond them and saw her two compatriots lying on stretchers, her face twisting into an expression of horror at the sight of the young boy's stomach wound. "Ƨunɘ!"
Her attempts to bolt towards the younger elf were stopped by Sergeant Wells and one of his men, and before it could further escalate, a gunship arrived overhead and landed in one swift motion. The appearance of the metal machine made the elf stumble backward, allowing Corporal Cronenworth and another medic to put the two patients onto the heli quickly. The heli took off rapidly, soaring through the sky towards the Nimitz.
"Иɘ bonϱƨɒnϱ ɘɿ bɘɿɘγowɒ!" the elf shouted, placing her hand back on her knife.
Instead of answering her, he waved her hand for her to follow and started walking away. "Convoy, we're moving out immediately. Specialist Smith, please inform our new 'friend.' Sergeant Wells, keep an eye on her."
"Yes, sir," the soldiers responded.
"Lieutenant Doe."
"Sir."
"Keep an eye on Captain Blake for me, and do not let him anywhere near the elf."