The adventures of the Environmental Gendarmes in another world (Republished)

Liberation of the town

The two pickup trucks are heading back to the command center. It seems that the gendarmes weren't very successful in gathering much information. That's because they stayed outside the walls with no attempt of infiltrating the city of approaching the walls for any further analysis. On the other hand, if they attempted to get closer they would probably be greeted by a rain of spears and arrows so it's a good thing they did not approach. They'll just have to come back tomorrow and they'll have to bring their drones so they can get a better look and find out what's behind those walls.

After a few minutes, the pickup trucks arrive outside a small town near a mountain. Using his binoculars, Ace checks the walls and the houses. They resemble a lot the walls and houses of San Marino. This brings back memories for the lieutenant. It reminds him of the one and only time he visited the European microstate as a tourist. It was during a time where people could have fun and enjoy sightseeing. It was beautiful until the environmental crisis ruined the microstate and caused tourism to drop to a dramatic level.

The gendarmes drive inside the town to find it completely abandoned. That's strange. There should be at least twenty people working, walking around, doing their everyday jobs etc. There's no one, not a single sign of life. It would seem that the town was abandoned recently as all the houses seem to be in perfect shape. If that's the case, then residents of the town left pretty quickly as some furniture is still visible from outside the houses. Something must have scared them off, there's no other explanation. Whatever it was, it must have been horrifying.

As they continue to drive down the town's street, they see some houses destroyed or burned. The lieutenant now grows suspicious. Something's definitely wrong here. Empty streets, burned houses? This is clearly an indication that something or someone was here before them. Then the lieutenant comes up with a theory. Someone came here, looted the town, killed its residents and burned half the houses before leaving. It's a surreal theory but it makes a lot of sense. During the medieval times, when armies captured towns, they would loot and burn houses before advancing towards the next town. Maybe that's what happened here. It looks like that whoever came here before them also left in a hurry.

The lieutenant decides to investigate the matter even further. He contacts the cadets in the other pickup truck and orders them to follow him. As there's no evidence of what exactly happened, they will start from the town's center. Not the best place to start from as that would be the last area that got attacked, but there's no other place to look for clues.

As they drive towards the town's center, they see a few people in the distance. They can't tell what's happening from here but it appears that they are celebrating. Whatever they are celebrating, they seem to be enjoying themselves. He can ask those people what exactly happened here. He may scare them in the beginning, but he'll find a peaceful way to talk to them.

The two pickup truck stop a few meters away from the people but once the lieutenant gets close enough, what he sees shocks him and the cadets. Some people are seen enjoying themselves getting drunk and others are killing the men of the town while women are being raped and children enslaved. It's the most horrific sight the four officers are witnessing

Watching this, the lieutenant becomes furious. He realizes these are no residents but bandits. His theory has just been proven. It all makes sense now. It was the bandits who attacked the town and decided to enslave its people. Ace can't ignore what he is seeing. His anger has now taken over his body. He is not willing to let it go like that. He has to stop that madness no matter what.

He turns on the emergency lights and sirens, causing the bandits and the town's residents to turn their attention towards the two pickup trucks. He gets out of his pickup truck and draws his ultrasound pistol at one of the bandits. He knows he is outnumbered twenty to four but his pickup truck is tough. If the bandits suddenly attack, he will take cover behind the truck's door and will return the favor.

-'That's enough', he yells. 'You are trespassing in this town and you are breaking the law. Throw down your weapons, let the residents go and surrender. You have one minute'.

The bandits look at each other and then back at the lieutenant. Now the cadets have also gotten out of their pickup truck and are aiming their guns at the bandits but Ace orders them to stay behind the doors of the trucks. He is about to pull the trigger when one of the bandits steps in and speaks.

-'Who are you, and what do you want?

-'I am lieutenant Ace of the National Environmental Gendarmerie', the lieutenant replies. 'You are under arrest. Surrender now and let these people go'. He knows they won't listen to him so he comes up with a plan. The only logical thing is to return fire. He chooses his targets carefully. Target one, the bandit in the middle, target two, the bandit on the left, target three, the bandit on the right. Then suddenly, the bandit in the middle pulls out his blade.

-'You dare to insult me like that?', the bandit says. 'You're going to regret it'. He then points his blade towards the lieutenant and yells to his men. 'Kill them'.

The bandits draw their blades and charge towards the four officers but are immediately knocked out by the ultrasound guns. The bandits then grab their crossbows and shoot at the lieutenant and the cadets but at the last moment they take cover behind the doors of the two pickups. The gendarmes then aim their pistols at the remaining bandits and return fire, knocking two more of them unconscious. For a few minutes the same thing happens with the gendarmes knocking out several bandits and the people staring the mysterious individuals in disbelief and shock.

Eventually the bandits are all knocked unconscious after running short on arrows and those who are not knocked out are forced to surrender. Ace is disappointed. He didn't want to use any violence but once the bandits attacked, he had no other choice. If he just sat and watched, the people would be helpless against those lawbreakers. Once he saw them doing what they did, he knew that his duty had called for him once again.

He lowers his gun and looks at the people who had been staring at him. They all have that terrified look on their eyes that begs for mercy. He needs to convince them that he and his cadets are not a threat and that they have come here to liberate them.

-'It's okay', he says. 'The nightmare is over. You are free'.

He approaches two chained women, kneels and shoots the chains with his pistol, which break. A few people then clap their hands and yell out words of praise. The lieutenant feels relieved. Now that they are convinced that he is not a threat, he and the cadets can now get some rest.

A middle aged man approaches the lieutenant and shakes his hand. He must be the governor of this town, his clothes look like those of a wealthy man and that makes it more likely.

-'Thank you', he says. 'You saved us'.

-'Just doing our job', Ace responds. 'We're glad to be of service'.

-'Where exactly do you come from?', the man asks.

-'We are the National Environmental Gendarmerie', Ace responds.

-'The National Environmental Gendarmerie?', the man wonders, not understanding what the lieutenant just told him. 'I've never heard of it before'.

-'We are a military that fights for mother nature'. Ace explains.

-'Mother nature?', the man wonders again. All these seem alien to him. Gendarmerie? Mother nature? It's definitely going to take some time for him to understand.

-'I'll explain later', Ace says. 'First we need to lock these bandits up before they wake up again'.

-'Again?', the man asks.

-'They are not dead, just unconscious', Ace explains. 'If they wake up again we'll have to knock them out again. Do you have any prison cells here?'

-'We only have these cages', the man responds pointing at two big wooden cages.

-'I guess that'll do', the lieutenant says. 'Help us carry them, we can't do this by ourselves'.

-'Yes of course', the man responds excitedly and turns to his people. 'Everyone, let's help these soldiers carry these criminals to the cages'.

The other people obey and in a few seconds, everyone, including the lieutenant and the cadets, are seen carrying the unconscious bandits and putting them in the cages.

After locking up all of the bandits. The town's governor invites the gendarmes to celebrate the town's liberation. Apparently this is a way to thank them for freeing them from their captors. It's no surprise for the young lieutenant as he had studied medieval history. It's like those times where someone saves a town or a wealthy person and is named a hero. That's the situation in which the four gendarmes are right now. Ace tried to refuse three times before he gave up. He realizes that he and the cadets have no other choice. The locals view him as their savior, the locals view him as a hero, and now they want to thank him.

After contacting the command post, informing them that they will be late, Ace joins the cadets, all of whom seem to be having fun. He can't blame them. They just liberated an entire town, they too deserve some fun.

At night, the celebration starts. Everyone seems to be having the time of their lives, including the cadets, who are sitting at a table and interacting with the town locals. There are not only humans among the people who are celebrating. Among them are also humans with animal parts on their bodies, like cat ears and tails, elves and many other creatures. Watching all these people being happy, the lieutenant can't help but feel a little proud. Not for being called a hero but for being able to give these people their freedom. It reminds him of the previous year's celebration of independence day where he took part in most of the festival's activities. That was the last time he had so much fun but refused to admit it. He just couldn't allow himself to be happy.

Around midnight, Earth time, the governor arrives at the festival. He is wearing the same clothes as before but now they are all cleaned up from the dust. He also seems to have recovered from his wounds as they weren't very serious. He's probably here to congratulate the lieutenant and the cadets like he said he would. Ace can hardly imagine what the governor is thinking. He wishes he knew what was inside his head so that he could remove and pretend it never happened. Well, the time to find out has come. Let's see what words the governor has chosen to say.

The governor walks towards a rectangular table and sits in the middle. He then calls out to the lieutenant and the cadets to sit on the left of him and they obey. At the table, although there's a peaceful atmosphere, everybody is staring at the four officers. They have never seen people like them before. Everything about them distincts them very easily. The uniforms, the weapons, even the pickup trucks give the locals a reason to stare in disbelief and amazement, especially the pickup trucks which are the main attraction of the gendarmerie. They can't believe that carriages that can move without horses exist as this is something that exceeds everything beyond their imagination.

The governor then hits his golden cup with his hand a few times and then there's silence. Looks like it's time for the big speech. He raises his cup in the air and speaks.

-'Today was a day of pain and suffering', he says with the locals watching him and listening to him as carefully as possible. 'A day where we lost our beloved ones to the chains of evil. But today was also a day where we took back our freedom'. He then points his cup towards the gendarmes. 'Today is the day where our heroes and saviors gave us back that freedom. It is thanks to them that we are free right now. They are the ones who deserve a praise for what they did.

The governor sits down as the crowd cheers him for his words. Suddenly, the lieutenant grabs his wooden cup and gets up.

-'There's something I'd like to say too', he says and the crowd looks at him. 'Today was going to be the celebration day of the creation of our country. It would mark the ten years our nation's independence. Ten years of freedom, peace and equality. We missed the chance of celebrating our country's independence. But it's okay because this celebration itself is a way to remember those who sacrificed their lives for the creation of the perfect utopia. This celebration for is not just a celebration for our country but also a celebration for the people. It's a celebration dedicated to those we have lost and to those that we have to protect. It shows us that no matter how different we are, we all stand together as one. May peace and justice prevail'. He then raises his cup and says 'To peace' and the crowd repeats the same phrase. He then sits down and drinks the wine in his cup as the crowd applauses and cheers him for his speech. Even the cadets were caught by surprise. They never thought that someone like lieutenant Ace was capable of making speeches like that.

As the festival nears its end, the lieutenant gets up and walks toward his pickup truck. He's so tired that he needs a good eight hour sleep. He wishes goodnight to the governor and the cadets and gets into his truck, lying down in the back seat. Tomorrow the day is going to be even tougher. Now that they made their presence known, they are no longer safe. Whatever danger is out there, they must be ready for everything.