Somewhere between Ejei and Gim

 

Baker and Nakamoto looked out the window, holding on for dear life as their humvee traversed the underdeveloped road. “Dude, these things are hella uncomfortable. Why are they so damn bulky? Why not just use a GoPro or something,” Nakamoto complained. 

 

“Beats me; it’s probably part of some new contract.” Baker adjusted his bodycam. 

 

“Yo, I heard we’re one of the few teams who are getting these things,” the driver called out.

 

“Oh, for real? What’s up with that, Vargas?” Baker asked. “It’s not like we’re gonna go around committing war crimes or something.”

 

“Uhh, I was in a meeting with that Anders dude, the ambassador. I kinda zoned out for most of it, but I think they wanted us to have these bodycams cause they want some good footage. Freeing slaves and all that.”

 

Nakamoto crossed his arms. “Hmm, everything has to be political nowadays huh…”

 

“Well, if ya think about it, the President probably wants some good stuff to justify the war effort. I mean, shit, we were only in this world for like two months before we went to war. Again.” Baker checked his gear, realizing that they were approaching the village. 

 

The four humvees rolled through the burning village. The few structures that weren’t burning were shredded and torn apart as if monsters were set loose. Blood stained the dirt, and a few bodies lay in the center of the village: all adult males who attempted to defend their families, but failed. Baker wrinkled his nose at the sight, disgusted by the blatant evil that took place here. He formed a cross gesture with his hands and gave a soft prayer before radioing to his men. “I see some tracks up ahead. Looks like carriage wheels.”

 

They followed the tracks for an hour, stopping intermittently to gauge their surroundings. With nothing but open grassland all around, they trudged on with boredom. Eventually, the platoon came to a stop by a smoldering fire — one that was put out recently. 

 

Baker put his hand over the smoking wood. “Still warm. They’ve gotta be nearby… Yo Nakamoto, get that drone up.”

 

“Got it.” He fished around in his backpack until he produced a small helicopter-like drone, piloting it with a tablet. He directed it forward and followed the fresh carriage trails on the dirt. After a couple minutes of traveling, he spotted something in the distance. “I got something! Looks like about 20 wagons, escorted by a group of 50 horsemen. I don’t know about the contents of the wagons though; could be more hostiles, could be looted goods or kidnapped Demis.”

 

“Alright. Their setup is exactly what we learned about last week… Let’s do this by the book folks. There might be civilians in the wagons, so check your fire.”

 

After everyone got back in their vehicles, they dashed to the rescue of the Qua Toynians. Two of the humvees veered off, conducting a flank so that the Lourians’ escape path could be cut off. The other two humvees chased after the convoy, timing their arrival with that of their allies. 

 

Baker leaned out the window from the lead humvee as they approached the convoy’s rear guard, which consisted of ten knights. He brought a microphone up to his mouth and spoke, “Halt!”

 

The knights gave their comrades several hand signals, upon which the convoy slowed down and the ten knights approached the strange horseless carriage ahead of them. One of them disembarked and walked up to the humvee. Baker opened his door to exit, but was stopped by Nakamoto. 

 

“Dude, we really just can’t shoot ‘em? No rules of war ‘round here.”

 

“I’m with you on that one, but what if they’re just a merchant convoy or something? I mean, I’m 99 point 9 percent sure that they’re the bastards who sacked that village, but we gotta get confirmation first.”

 

Nakamoto nodded. “Yeah, that’s understandable. Good luck.”

 

Baker patted Nakamoto’s arm and let go. “Always wanted to do some fantasy shit,” he said with a smirk. 

 

“I thought you wanted to do some Japanese girls??”

 

Baker chuckled, shaking his head. “Bruh, come on,” he said as he left the humvee. 

 

Aiming his rifle at the ground, he approached the lone knight who stood in the middle of the road, his comrades maintaining distance behind him. “I’m Corporal Baker with the United States Marine Corps! Identify yourself!”

 

The burly knight walked up, the sun glinting off his silver armor as he moved. “I am Knight Captain Joll Vanima of the Lourian Eastern Subjugation Army! State your business!”

 

Upon receiving confirmation of the man’s identity, he readied his rifle, subtly raising it. Refraining from letting his emotions cloud his judgement, he continued, “There was a village down the road, where I just came from. Know anything about that?”

 

Joll eyed the mysteriously clothed man and the staff he held. Then he gave a haughty laugh. “Ha! You must be the Qua Toynians’ new allies! ‘United States Marine Corps’... Yes, I remember now. You must realize, we are the elite vanguard of the Lourian Kingdom. Every man under my command is a knight captain candidate, and half of them are wyvern knight candidates. I pity your decision making skills, so I shall allow you the chance to flee. After all, our clients are expecting their delivery of slaves soon, and I cannot waste time toying with barbarians!”

 

Baker sighed and muttered under his breath, “What’s up with villains and monologuing?”

 

“Hmm?” Joll asked, raising his sword and moving forward. “What was that?”

 

“I said, you’re a damn cocksucker!”

 

Joll and the rest of his knights readied their blades, but they were too slow. Before Joll could even charge at Baker, a shot rang out. He felt a sharp pain in his chest and looked down, seeing blood ooze from a hole in his armor. “What in the AS—?” Joll was cut off by a second bullet, piercing his skull and immediately dropping him. 

 

“Waste the motherfuckers!” Baker yelled. 

 

The humvee gunners opened up on the knights who were standing on the sides of the convoy, while the drivers went off road, causing several cavalrymen to chase them. Baker and the rest of the marines engaged the Lourians who were standing in front of the wagons. In an attempt to avoid potentially injuring a civilian, the marines pulled back, putting distance between the firefight and the wagons. 

 

Carefully leading their shots, the marines aimed slightly below center mass, so that stray bullets would be more likely to impact the ground rather than objects behind the targets. With precise marksmanship, the charging Lourians were eliminated one after the other. Those still mounted on their horses were killed first, their bodies falling off and getting trampled. 

 

Realizing that the Americans possessed ranged weapons that could easily pick them off in the open, the surviving Lourians retreated to the wagons. “Fall back!” One of them yelled. 

 

Baker immediately held up a fist. “Shit, we gotta be careful now.”

 

Nakamoto walked up beside him. “How many more are there?” 

 

“They had 25, initial plus reinforcements. Ten cavalry went after the humvees, and we killed eight, so that leaves seven plus any reinforcements they may have in the back…” Baker reached for his radio. “Yo Michaels, sitrep?”

 

A voice replied, “Fuckers ran away, they went back toward the convoy. These dudes were idiots; most of ‘em just charged at us and we got twenty of them.”

 

“Alright. Good work. Vargas?”

 

Another voice replied, “We cleared out the guys chasing us. We got all of them, but we do have a couple horses who managed to survive.”

 

“Hmm… could be useful in helping the civvies… Hoffman, make your way back here. I left my mic in the car. I’m hoping these assholes will surrender.”

 

“Will do, sir. On my way.”

 

Baker then gave new orders to the group that engaged the front of the convoy. “Michaels, remain on standby. I’m gonna try to get these guys to surrender. Don’t wanna have a close quarters fight near the wagons.”

 

“Copy that.”

 

Baker looked to his left, hearing the humvees pull up. He opened the door to his seat, reaching in and grabbing a microphone and a large speaker. Approaching the closest wagon, he activated his equipment and demanded the surrender of the Lourians. “You saw how easily we killed your buddies! Y’all might be cocksuckers, but I’m hoping y’all ain’t idiot retards as well! Come on out, and we will promise you safety as prisoners of war! I’ll give ya two minutes, and anyone who survives will be fed to the hounds!”

 

“Bruh, we don’t have any hounds though,” Nakamoto said. 

 

“No shit, dumbass. Just tryna wet their pants. Say, did I sound menacing enough?”

 

Nakamoto shrugged. “Beats me.”

 

——

 

Bonnakane Mortia listened to the loud voice demanding his and the other survivors’ surrender. Since he was Vanima’s second in command, he took control of the surviving units. He looked at his comrades while the voice spoke.

 

“— will be fed to the hounds!”

 

One of his men panicked, a newer recruit in their elite team. “Sir Mortia, what do we do?”

 

He held up a hand. “We have two minutes to decide…” He closed his eyes, considering his options. He thought back to the engagement prior. The Americans had some sort of rapid-firing magical weapon, similar to the Parpaldian muskets he heard of. With no archers under his command, they had no way of trading fire and therefore absolutely must engage in melee combat. However, with how effective their rapid fire muskets were, he had no chance at closing the distance. However, the Americans also did not seem inclined to push forth, and he noticed that they fired their weapons carefully. He developed a sinister smile as he thought of an idea. 

 

“Langson, pull the slaves out. We will use them as shields.”

 

“My lord?”

 

“Do as I say,” Mortia hissed. “These items are subhuman filth anyway; don’t tell me you’re feeling sorry for them?”

 

“I… no, not at all, sir!” Langson stuttered. 

 

“Good. Everyone: grab a demihuman and arrange yourselves in a circular formation. We will push forth with all sides covered.”

 

——

 

“Someone’s walking out!”

 

Everyone raised their rifles, but were then surprised to see that it was a hostage. Slowly, the Lourians walked out, hostages whimpering as blades pressed up against them. 

 

“Those fucking rats!” Baker growled. “Hold your fire…”

 

A laugh emanated from within the shield wall of hostages as they trudged toward the marines, who were cautiously backing up. “Oh, how the mighty have fallen! Your morality is your downfall, Americans. This is why the Kingdom of Louria is destined for greatness! Through our willpower, we will cleanse this land of these… FILTH!”

 

“Damnit… we don’t have any flashbangs or anything?” Baker tried to think of a way around this situation. 

 

Nakamoto shook his head. “No. If only we did,” he sighed. “How are we gonna deal with this?”

 

Baker gripped his rifle, sweat rolling down his reddening face. “Fuck… fuck… I don’t know!”

 

Suddenly, a shout came from the Lourian group. “This has gone far enough! First the village, and now this? Have you no honor?!” One of the Lourian knights let go of his hostage and rammed his sword into another one of the knights. The other knights were then faced with the option of maintaining their hostage shields, or releasing them to engage the threat within. With their leader dead, they opted for the former, knowing the releasing the hostages would open them up from attack. 

 

Seizing the opportunity, Baker reached for his microphone. “You are outnumbered and your leader is dead! Surrender now!”

 

“Do it!” The knight from earlier yelled, pointing his sword at his comrades. 

 

Stuck between a rock and a hard place, they surrendered, releasing the hostages and dropping their weapons. 

 

“Good choice,” Baker said. “Alright folks, let’s round ‘em up.” He checked up on the status of the other members in his platoon via radio, “Michaels, sitrep?”

 

“The Lourians walked out by themselves and surrendered. Got lucky over here. How ‘bout yall?”

 

“Hostage situation. We dealt with it though, no casualties on our side or on the civvies. We’re gonna go call in for some transports for these folks, and probably some medics too. These fellas look hella banged up.”

 

“Alright sir. We did a good thing today.”

 

Baker paused, looking at the relieved and cheering demihumans thanking his men. Baker smiled and replied, “Yes, yes we did.”

 

“Too bad these guys don’t have any oil for us,” Nakamoto said. 

 

“Damn, dude, why you always gotta ruin a moment,” Baker smirked, shaking his head.