Ad Astra - The Alagore War

AA V2 Assiaya, Chapter 4

"President Michael Humphrey, I have just finished reading your memo regarding the alien device called the Bridge and our military operations on the alien moon called Alagore. I must start by expressing my frustration that such a discovery was not brought to Congress. Given the scale of combat operations that had already occurred, my office should have been notified sooner. From now on, I expect to receive operational and policy progression updates.

My staff agrees with your position on keeping the situation secret from the general population until we can stabilize it. After decades of nihilism and partisanship, Americans demand a shared vision and adventure. While I do not support the label of the current label – Second Manifest Destiny – for obvious historical reasons, the Bridge opens the door to maximize that philosophy.

We must be careful if we do not play our cards right; this discovery could blow up in the entire government's face and plunge us into another dark decade in the best case, let alone how the other nations on Earth would view it. It would be wise to set up a task force to find a diplomatic situation to end the war between our nation, the Verliance Aristocracy, and their ally, the Unity. From what I understand, the attack on our facility was an accident, chasing who they seem are criminals.

While I agree that we should not surrender those who activated the Bridge or those at Salva, there might be a path to mend misunderstandings between our people.

Within the coming days, I will set up a secret sub-committee under the Armed Services Committee to provide proper oversight and budgetary needs. For now, we will transfer the usual funds from the black accounts. I will support your military policy around the Bridge, as it must remain in American hands at all costs. Avoid deploying additional forces unless needed, as it will cost additional funds and resources." – Speaker of the House Nathaniel Trenton

March, 9th, 2068 (Military Calendar)

Hiplose Forest, the former Confederacy of Daru'uie

Nevali Region, Aldrida, Alagore

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While war in this region was recent, conflict was as old as time for Iradiun Rostian. When Lord Kallem Verliance annexed this region, his Knighthood of Tornlado - named after the old Honor Guard from the days before the Aristocracy - was deployed to suppress any resistance that opposed his will. The nobles and freemen who remained loyal to the House of Balan had to be removed for the occupation to succeed.

At last, the final stench of the Lats and Noble Elves was removed from these lands. He felt honored that his Knighthood was responsible for returning their lost lands to the Verliance Aristocracy, or so they believed, until recent events.

Rostian hoped their recent raid against the resistance would finally allow him to go home after years of suppressing rebels. Recent events, however, had dashed his hopes of seeing his family. Their new mission was to capture an Altaerrie Pack leader—not any Altaerrie leader, but one in particular—the one that had an elf girl and a female Valkyrie Templar among them.

The order made no sense to Rostian. From what he understood, their target was not a high-ranking military official, political leader, or a specialist sage of national importance. However, the fact that the order came directly from General Verlcon Korva made it clear how important this was to his superiors. There was only one other time he had a mission like this, assisting Lord Verliance in capturing a little dual-eye color girl to which they were sworn to secretly.