Back in Kat’s POV
As always, the phone is ringing far too early in the morning. At least, what passes for morning, the base schedule set by the timing of the Garden lights, given the absence of any natural light down here. This had better be important, Karl said we had until 10am base time before we were meeting to discuss todays portals.
"Hello?"
"Morning Sunshine" Alpha Petros’s voice calls through the receiver. "Get up, we’re going for breakfast, there’s been a slight change in plans." Sighing deeply I hang up without another word and start pulling myself into my combat gear.
"Why didn’t you wear anything like that around the Pack girl? You’d have been REALLY popular with the pups your age." Petros greets me at the door to the dining hall.
"You think they’re into femdom, or just leather pants?" I joke back and he ruffles my braided hair, reminding me that I haven’t left my Lycan form in days. "You’re not going to say anything about my appearance?" I whisper at him, seeing others already in the room.
"Not a word" he mutters back. "It’s cute though, might as well stay shifted. Everyone will get used to it soon, if they haven’t already." His reassurance actually settles my mind a little bit and I realize I don’t get many judgmental stares here, like they think I’m in cosplay or something and just take it in stride. There’s plenty of odd fashion choices about the lower floors anyhow.
Karl stands up and motions us to our seats around a table, where the two werewolves and their human partners already sit, flanked by Narishma and Agent Smith on the far side and Mary on the side next to where we’re seated. Mary has switched up her fashion today, no frilly dress, but a Sakura patterned Kimono with pink and white Mary Janes visible on her feet and a flower in her hair. It seems she’s going all out to highlight her heritage today. Maybe she’s into one of the wolves? Or Alpha Petros? If that’s the case, I should warn her that he’s a couple centuries too old to be her father. Looking over her outfit I notice every seam and edge is covered in tight runic writing, someone has obviously put many hours of work into enchanting this outfit, maybe it’s her practice piece?
At this moment Karl interrupted my train of thought "We’ve got a freshly opened portal today. Green Orcs inside near the entrance, apparently staging for an assault."
"Green Orcs?" I wondered out loud "Like the last ones we faced, but green?"
"Funny story, but no. Not at all. They look mostly like ugly humans, with Tusks replacing a couple of their teeth. These ones are mostly in leather pants, bare chested with war paint, according to the drone intel. Weapons include spears, bows, throwing axes and a wide variety of melee weapons."
"You know you can’t just call everything you meet an Orc, right?" Mary interjects, narrowly beating me to the punch.
"Not my call. The tech department is naming everything we find after the video game or mythological creature it most resembles, unless it can speak for itself and objects to its name. It seems that they know of two types of Orcs, so they named two different species the same thing."
"Getting back on track, this portal is confirmed to be a whole world portal, not a pocket dimension like the last couple days have brought, so bringing it under control is imperative. Hence, we have reinforcements."
Narishma stands up, replacing Karl near the whiteboard and grabbing a marker. "Me and Agent Smith are here on behalf of base command. Our teams spent all night coming up with an attack plan and here it is. Teams 1 and 2, made up of Base staff and a Witch Human duo from the Task Force who have taken shelter here will head west from the portal. Teams 3 and 4, Made up of two Vampire Human Task Force Duos along with more base staff will head East. You lovely bunch are team 5. Since you have a habit of causing large scale damages, we’re not going to risk teaming you up with anyone else. Just head straight North and clear out the main Orc encampment so we can establish a foothold around the portal."
Everyone looks a bit too excited at this prospect. Expected from the werewolves and Alpha Petros, but it seems their human counterparts are just as into it.
"I’ll be on rear guard, casting protection spells for the non Mages in the group" Mary announces. "This outfit should make me easy to find. If your speed boost is wearing off, return to me and I’ll refresh it. At my ability, expect that to be every 5 to 7 minutes." The shifters all nod. "Karl will take the far left, to keep them from flanking us. I’ll be towards the right, nearest to Kat who will prevent flanking from the right. The Shifters and special forces can take the anvil position in the center."
"Green Orcs respect nothing but pure brute strength." Karl adds "You five are the biggest of us, so they’ll see you as the best targets to gain honor for defeating. So expect their command structure to head for the two Alphas as soon as they sense their dominant power."
"Any questions? No? Good." Narishma draws our attention back to herself "Load up and head out, BunBun, I mean Lala, has already packed your kit into the Jeeps."
Karl laughs at the mention of the Bunny girl, making me wonder what exactly happened last night. "Has she forgiven you yet?" He asks the vampire.
"Not even close, she’s refusing to speak to me other than to call me a meanie head this morning." Narishma laughs. "But she’ll come around soon."
Without another word, we all head for the elevators, lost in our thoughts and mentally reviewing the plan while looking at the drone created map sent to our otherwise mostly useless cell phones. No signals go in our out of the base, but the local intranet is up and running, to pool information and file documents. Finally.
Lala has gone all out on our gear. Gone are the nondescript black duffel bags. Now they’re colour coded, with an index card on the dash in case we forget, and our names are written on them in a tidy script. I double check my bags, making sure it’s all there and in perfect condition before packing everything back into its proper spot.
"Don’t trust the support staff?" Jurgen calls over.
"Trust but verify, werewolf. Trust but verify." I laugh back. "We all know the bunny is an absolute neat freak and obsessed with detail. But it’s my life relying on the gear, so I still do my final check."
The two burly human special forces operators assigned to the wolves nod their agreement to this sentiment, having already done the same.
The trip to the new portal was a short one, accessible by road, as the portal was in the middle of a flat, dry wheat field. Very convenient on our side for staging. Fresh drone footage showed the Orcs forming up into battle lines to the East and West, and the base guards making a tight formation in front of the collected tents. Cook fires and camp followers, much smaller than the warriors, could be clearly seen in the footage, these Orcs were much more organized than the others, they’ve got proper logistics and a well organized living area. Though it looks like they have no intention of leaving reserves in it, so the rumors that they’re battle maniacs might just be true. Not sure if that’ll be a good thing or a bad thing for us.
Two buses full of people roll slowly into the field, dislodging the other 4 teams. Hey, those teams are suspiciously large. Ours is made up of 8 people, theirs are over 20 per team, making 40 per side to take the East and West. Perhaps command knows something that I don’t? That must be it.
"Flip coin for entry order" someone calls out and Karl meets two other humans in the middle of the field next to the gate, returning a few seconds later.
"I win, so we’re up first" Karl informs the group, making me and Mary laugh. Of course Karl would choose to be the first to attack instead of choosing last, going after the enemy was distracted.
Our bags are slung, weapons at the ready. The moment of truth has arrived.