Eric noticed Jatya getting on the bus with her warriors. He wanted to ask her who was going to run her region while she was gone, but thought of it too late. 'I guess orcs take being war-chief seriously, she is going to war and leading there. I'm sure she has folks she trusts to do the paperwork-heck, she probably thinks this is a vacation.'

  As he walked to the exit of the base, he realized that he had left his bike at the airport. Cursing at himself for being an idiot, he decided to walk there first, then bike home, rather than walk home and have to get to the airport somehow. Well, he could walk to a bus stop... He pulled out his phone to see what his map program recommended and saw a text from Kendra, “Hey, I have another batch of agents to take through a rift, would really appreciate if you could come with.”

  He replied “Sure, but my bike is at the airport so I have to go there first.” As he finished typing a car pulled up next to him.

  A blonde, tanned man wearing aviator sunglasses rolled down his window. He wore a uniform and Eric could just see the pair of silver bars on his collar indicating he was a captain. “Want a lift?”

  “Um, I could use one, I'm heading to the airport but you can just drop me off part of the way there, I don't mind walking.”

  “Sure, hop in.” Eric got in the car, and the other man offered a hand, “Clint Clark, yeah, the name is silly, yeah it is even worse now that I'm a captain, go ahead and get the jokes out of your system.”

  Eric laughed, “Don't worry, no jokes. I went to school with a Mai Poo and a poor girl whose last name was Dix, first name Fonda.” Captain Clark winced in sympathy. “Thank you for the ride, I'm Eric Brown.”

  Captain Clark said “I know, listen, I offered a ride because I wanted to ask a favor,” Eric tensed, “On behalf of my troops.”

  Eric nodded, “Go ahead and ask...”

  “Well, the guys guarding the other rifts can just go through and fight monsters, but we are guarding a peaceful rift, we have classes, and some levels for second skeleton, but no way to get levels since. Training doesn't get us anything. I've gotten some of the other units to let me rotate guys through on their off time, but, well it still isn't really fair to them.”

  Eric thought, “There are still lots of monsters in the orc rift. Heck, right now you might be helping the orcs if you take care of some stuff, since their heavy hitters are going to Korea.” He thought for a moment, “Listen, turn around for a bit, I'll introduce you to a friend.”

  Eric took the Captain through the rift and found Frob. “What do you want this time?” The orc trader teased Eric.

  “What, you think I only talk to you when I want something?” Eric asked, pretending to be hurt, “Anyway, I need a favor.” At that point they both couldn't hold it and enjoyed a laugh. Once they both stopped, Eric continued, “The troops guarding our side of the rift have no way to get experience. Are there any pests or threats they could hunt over here?”

  Frob looked happy, “Yes, the reason we mostly ride wolves in this district is that if we ride Tarses the Grom go after them.”

  Eric said “That makes total sense, but pretend I have no idea what a Tarses is or a Grom.”

  “Tarsis, Tarses is plural. Um, a lizard we ride and use to pull wagons. A Grom is a large mammal that normally walks on four legs but can stand on two legs to fight. Long claws, sharp teeth, up to twelve feet tall. There are other threats too, if your 'troops' could kill some of the dangerous animals around here, me and the other merchants could probably scrounge up some coins for them.”

  Captain Clark suddenly twitched, which Eric recognized as a system message. Someday Eric would figure out why the system sometimes just showed a message and sometimes you had to pull it up-then thought about his cell phone doing the same thing and shrugged. The captain said “Nice, I got a quest to kill four Grom, shareable.”

  Eric clapped him on the back. “Good, well grab your troops and have fun.”

  “Sure, right after I drive you to the airport. I owe you that much at least.” Eric accepted the ride and got a note that Kendra would swing by his house in a few hours to pick him up.

  As Kendra, Eric, Tilly, and four new agents entered the raptor rift. They found a large area around the rift had been burnt and stomped down, creating an area with better visibility out to about 500 feet.

  Their new quest was to kill 8 Orycto, a creature none of them had heard of. Eric used his ability to create a giant ugly green arrow pointing the way. Following it, they found a sort of burrow, with a few small mammals. The creatures had long bodies with rings of red, black, and yellow stripes. They hopped on large back legs and their large ears swiveled around, listening for threats. Eric thought they looked vaguely like rabbits. When the animals saw the humans, they hissed loudly and moved closer together.

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  “You think the monsters are behind those rabbit looking things?” One of the agents asked.

  Kendra warned “Don't those markings remind you of something?”

  Eric agreed, “poisonous snakes.”

  “Well, they are still just rabbits,” the agent said, pulling his gun. As soon as he pointed it at a Orycto, all three of them leapt through the air towards him. Luckily Kendra got up her shield in time, and the first two slammed into it and fell, before quickly hopping to their feet. The third broke through and latched onto the agent's arm with a pair of fangs. “Fuck, it burns, get it off!”

  The creature detached and moved to hop away, but the other agents had also pulled their weapons and all three of the new folks shot the rabbit that hurt their friend. It ended up a mangled mess. Eric used Lesser Heal, but while it closed the wound, the agent's veins started to turn black. Eric swore, “I should have tried to suck out the poison first. We need a sample of the venom to make the antivenom.” He looked at the one Orycto they had killed, shaking his head. Then he looked at the other two. “Kendra?”

  “Got it, Vengeance Blast.” A beam of green-black energy sprayed from her hand into the remaining Oryctos, killing them easily. Eric grabbed the corpses and had one of the agents put them in his inventory. Then they rushed back through the rift to the medical hut.

  Eric found a combat medic, “He was bitten by, er, pull out one of the corpses, an Orycto.” The agent helpfully pulled out one of the dead monsters to show the medic.

  “Oof, those are poisonous, and painful too.” He looked at the healed wound, “You should have sucked out the poison. But he survived long enough.” Then the medic used his Cure Poison ability. “There you go, good as new.”

  “Do you have any sort of antivenom?” Kendra asked the soldier.

  “No, um, it really isn't that easy, it takes a long time and a lot of work to make antivenom.” The medic replied.

  The group went back through the rift to finish the quest, and Eric summoned his arrow again, which led them in a different direction. This time there were six of the colorful mammals eyeing them warily. “Anyone have a holy hand grenade?” Eric asked.

  One of the agents looked at him, confused, while another snorted with laughter. Kendra snapped, “Quiet, we need a plan, unless you guys want three of us getting bitten.”

  The agent who had started the last fight and was now in the back of the group said “Yeah, I do not recommend getting bitten.”

  Kendra said “Eric, last time my shield stopped two of them, can you take out three?”

  Eric frowned, he didn't want to use Sun Bolt in the tall grass, remembering the last fire. “No, just two.”

  “OK, then we need to be fast, my barrier can block two, and once it is hit a few times I can use my Vengeance Blast. Eric, hit the two furthest back, everyone else, target the closest one. On my mark, now.”

  Eric used Wind Slash and took out his targets while the agents drew their weapons, but the Oryctos were too fast. The first two slammed into Kendra's shield, but the third was heading straight for her, only to impale itself on a spear. Tilly shrugged as she gestured, and Kendra killed the last two rabbits with her Vengeance ability.

  When they exited the rift, Eric saw three missed calls from Monika. Along with several texts. The last one read “never mind, I just found out you are in a rift, there will be a helicopter waiting for you.”

  Sure enough, one was just landing next to the base. Eric gave the agents a quick explanation and let them head back, while he went to the chopper. “Eric Brown?” The pilot asked.

  “Yeah, that's me,” he answered.

  “Go ahead and get in, I'm taking you to the airport.” Eric sighed, at least his bike was at home this time.

  Once at the airport, he was put on a plane to Washington again. Then to a conference room in the Capital Building. He could tell he was a bit late, but was able to stand in the back just a few minutes before the President walked to the podium.

  After the usual platitudes, he announced “So I am pleased to announce Dr Mason Cohen as the new Secretary of Rift Security. This position will be my representative to all the fine Americans protecting us from all threats of the rifts, and responsible for those who have gone through them. Already his interim team has done some fine work, I would also like to announce that with my initiative, we have sent a force of high level heroes from an ally on the other side of a rift to help in the defense of South Korea. These allies are called orcs, but don't think of them as the ones from Lord of the Rings, they are honest and honorable friends to our nation. With that, I'll let Dr Cohen tell us his vision for the new department.”

  Dr Cohen stepped to the podium as the President moved back. “Thank you Mr. President. The rift presents dangers and opportunities. We cannot let the dangers blind us to the opportunities. Otherwise, well, we saw what the North Koreans could do. I have been authorized to announce what is currently happening on the Korean Peninsula. North Korea has fallen to an invasion from a rift, which is why we are sending our orc allies to help defend our planet. We have had attempts at similar invasions here in the US, all stopped from success by the troops stationed around the rifts.”

  There were a lot of rumors about why the government was guarding the rifts, and the hope was that announcing the skeleton incursion and a few other attempts at invasion would quell those rumors for all but the wackiest of conspiracy theorists. Eric wasn't sure why he had been summoned, but after the announcement was over and the press left, Eric was one of a group of federal employees left in the room.

  Dr Cohen asked the room, “Do you all know why you are here?” After a chorus of negative answers, he continued. “you are my choices as District Heads of the ten regions I am establishing. In charge of the first region...” Eric zoned out, shocked that someone like him might be picked for such an important position. “Eric Brown, region nine, and for region ten, Carolyn Spritzer.” There was polite applause, and Eric found Monika, region three director.

  “Did you know about this? Er, about me being picked?”

  She smiled, “Yes, but you earned it. A lot of eyes are on you these days, and I'm sure your career will only go up from here.”