“I guess so,” Gaylord said, “Let’s go into the dining room.”
For over an hour the woman met with them both. Before she left she had gone over what she could help them with. Mitch was surprised that when the woman found out that Gaylord was closing the restaurant, she offered to buy the restaurant. Mitch was dumbfounded when the woman issued her a pay card for two months wages.
Within a week the Crown had purchased the restaurant for twenty thousand crowns. The Crown provided professional packers to pack up the restaurant, and Gaylord’s and Lottie’s apartment over the restaurant.
“Mitch,” Gaylord was waiting for the taxi that would take him to the space port to get his flight to McKay. The Crown had secured passage to McKay when they found out he has a job waiting for him on Trena’s only moon. “You’ve been a great help. I just wish I could I could take you with me. Here’s where I’ll be. Let me know what’s going on with you.”
She took the paper with his contact information as the taxi arrived. He got into the taxicab leaving her behind. As she watched the taxi carry Gaylord disappear into traffic wondering what would become of her.
###
It was the end of class and Cadet Wilson was reading aloud from her great grandmother’s diary. “I didn’t know what to say to Mom after she told me she had been a closer,” Jill had written, “I have not found much about these closers except that they are really bad people. I was having trouble getting my head around what Mom had said.
“I had asked General Alphine to tell my company to shut down the closers,” Jill had continued. “She said she had; but couldn’t get this group stopped.
“I wish there was something I could do to get these people stopped!” Jill had written. Her frustration spoke to her as princess Jill read from her grandmother’s diary, “But there is nothing I can do! I have never been so frustrated! The company I own wants my parents dead! Neither Dad nor Lisa will tell me why! I am also afraid to ask! Especially after mom told me she had part of a closer team! I want to talk to Mom about her closer days. But I am afraid to ask more about it. Afraid to hear things I may not be able to deal with.
“I wonder when Mom and I will talk about all this.” Jill had concluded the passage. “Did they talk,” Lamile Morgan asked her cousin as they sat in the class room.
“I haven’t read that far yet.” The princess replied, “I have been trying to keep in the same time line in the text. I want to read her reactions to the stuff we’re learning in class.” “What does she say,” T’harla asked.
“She was very curious to say the least of her step mother’s activities. She was also afraid too, to hear what Grandmother Lisa would say.” The princess answered.
“In addition to the closers,” the general felt she had to bring the class back on track, “various other bad actors gave us fits clear to the end. The companions impressed all of; but none more than Queen Agatha. She rewarded their service to the crown and our people. Bestowing a Queen’s Star, on the Companions.”
“Okay I’ll see you next week,” the general called as the bell rang, dismissing her class. As she walked to her seldom used quarters in flag country she wondered how the cadets would react to the next part of the class.
Lamile Mitchum left the class wanting to know more about her namesake. This class had expanded her knowledge of her great, great grandmother Mitchum; both almost nothing about Lamile. When classes were over for the day she dived into her study carol and looked up Lamile Atomi. Most of what she found she had read before. Lamile had been a historical figure herself. There was a lot of material to go through. She was torn between writing her paper on Lamile or Mitch. She was leaning strongly towards Mitch.
She had to make up her mind soon or she would not be able to finish it in time.
Chapter 7: A Castle’s Desecration
Over the weekend the young princess read more of her ancestor’s diary.
“Dad continues to surprise me,” she had read, “Everyday he tries to have lunch or dinner with us. I don’t know how he does it. With his job taking more and more of his time and all the stuff that is happening you would think that he wouldn’t bother. But I was in his office the other day when he was gently chastising one of his officers about how the job isn’t done for the day until he gets home and his family was complaining about something he was not there for. I have also heard Aunt Mylea say the same thing to her staff and others. Even in the midst of this disaster, both of them are trying to stay connected with their families. They were setting an example for their staff.
“I didn’t realize until a few days ago how much we mean to him.” The young woman had written. “I am a little jealous of Abby; as Dad never colored with me or read me stories when I was her age. At least I don’t remember him stretched out on the floor coloring with me as he does with Abby. But then Dad wasn’t home much when I was Abby’s age. The other day he treated me to dinner at the convention center. We went to one of the restaurants in one of the turrets that over looked Princes Bay and Trenaport’s harbor. The center is breath taking in its own right. The center draws a million tourists a year from all over our part of the galaxy. It looks like a glass sculpture. Where a giant sculptor had taken a torch and sculpted a large castle from a gigantic block of glass. How they built it I don’t know.
“Dad had, had a busy day from what I knew. I never know his schedule, but from what I can tell from what he and his secretary were talking about at breakfast this morning, he had meetings scheduled with the Queen, Orbital Industries, I think he and General Langtree were going to spend some time with the Princess at Fletcher. He looked exhausted when he came home and I suggested that we didn’t have to go; but he said let’s go and took me to the center. I am glad he did. He got to relax a bit and the view was fantastic. He really enjoyed describing what I was seeing. He pointed out the docks where antique sailing ships of the fifth century before empire were moored. He described to me of a landing craft landing on the docks next to one of the ships, as the passengers went from the landing craft to one of the ships as it began to make sail. I could visualize what he described.
“I looked around and felt self-conscience.” Grandmother Jill had written, “We were the only ones in that part of the restaurant. The detail was making sure we were not disturbed.
“I am glad we went. Dad was very mellow when we went back to the palace.” The princess finished reading the diary entry and went on to read the assigned chapter. There were pictures of the convention center. When she read the chapter she became outraged again over what happened. This wasn’t the first time she had read this history.
###
“Not everyone was trying to help us get our people off world,” the general began her class. “The Theocracy worked against us from the start. They felt we were getting our just deserts. The Theocracy had been one of our traditional enemies ever since King Ralph threw them off world for torturing biopeople fifty years before the evacuation. They felt that god was punishing us for our evil ways and our secular society. We were and still are secular society. They sent one of their penitence teams to Trena help god punish us. They almost stopped the evacuation cold in its tracks.”
###
It had started with so much promise. The weather was good. Jill was no longer being restricted to the residence on the palace grounds. She was attending a high school nearby. She was actually enjoying it. She was getting tired of the tutors, and wanted to be at a regular school. She wanted to be with people her own age; there were too many adults at the palace. She was enjoying being around people her own age. She was making a few friends.
She was just finishing her second week, getting back into the routine of going to school instead of being tutored. It was shortly after her gym class, a gym class that she felt fairly good about, when things got crazy.
The gym teacher was an expert in unarmed combat. At least once every school year he taught judo. It just happened it was time to teach
the kids judo. The gym teacher had observed her during the class as he worked with his other students. Unlike many of his students, the girl clearly knew what she was doing. She was evidently a ranked judo fighter. It was her turn for him to work with her.
“I’ve been observing you this morning,” he said when he began working with her. “What is your rank?”
“My sensei on Mars said I should be ranked as level one black belt,” Jill answered. “I see,” the gym teacher replied, “shall we?”
Before they started the teacher spoke to the class, “Miss Jill and I are going to spar for a bit. As we spar you’ll see how all the moves we’ve be going through are put together.
Miss Jill?”
They squared off in the middle of the mat. They bowed to each other and went to it! After a few seconds of sparing he realized how good she actually was. How they managed to not hurt each other was proof of how good they both were. They finished as the class period came to an end. As the class went to take their showers, the gym teacher spoke to her.
“Miss Wilson,” The man said as she started for the showers, he had a proposition for her, “I am very impressed with you. I’ve never have had a student who was as good as you!”
“Thank you,” the girl replied wanting to get her shower so she could get on to her next class.
“If you’re willing,” the teacher asked, “would you help me with the class for the next few days? I could really use the help.”
“I don’t know? I don’t think I am that good!” Jill had answered. “You are that good.” The man had returned. ”I could really use the help.” “Let me think about it.” The teenager said.
“That’s fair,” The man said “do you have a sparring partner yet. Some one here on
Trena you can work out with?”
“No,” Jill replied. She really missed the daily session with her grandmother’s driver. He had been working with her for over six years. Long before her father had disappeared. “I’ve been doing the basic moves, but I’ve not asked around about a sparring partner. It can’t be just anyone. I could hurt someone!”
The teacher nodded in full understanding. Then he saw Jenny, who was standing by the entrance to the gym, keeping an eye on Jill. He smiled asked the woman “Mrs.
Alkire, did you know Miss Jill was so skilled in Judo?”
“No, Mr. Toby,” Jenny replied, she was with Jill anytime she left the palace and had never seen the girl practicing judo.
“You know each other?” Jill asked.
“Mr. Toby is one of the unarmed combat instructors at the academy,” Jenny answered. “We sort of bounced each other around a bit.”
“Miss Jill,” the man said, “it is your choice, but if you want I’ll make time after school for you and give you a private lesson every day. Or I can set something up with
Mrs. Alkire. It is time she became a sensei!”
“I don’t know Mr. Toby…” Jenny said. Her job was to protect the young woman, not her to be her sensei. Then she remembered the tennis game between the agents, her majesty and Jill, “I’ll talk with Mac.”
“While you get your shower,” he pointed to the locker room, “me and Jenny will
talk.”
She had just stepped out of the shower, with a towel wrapped around her when she looked up and saw Jenny and her partner standing on either side of the shower opening, with their guns out.
“What going on?” Jill asked, wishing that the Tom, one of Jenny’s male partners, would leave. She drew the towel tighter around her wishing it covered her better. A couple of the girls she was showering with wanted to leave the shower and get dressed but seeing Tom they hesitated, the thonian girls were quite embarrassed. No male outside their family was ever to seem them nude. Even with a towel on, they wouldn’t walk past Tom. They would cower in the shower until there were no males in the locker room.
“We have a Mountain Event,” Jenny said the magic words that she had been taught was the code phrase for an emergency that affected the nation or the monarchy. “We need to get you to safety!”
Seeing how uncomfortable Jill was, and thonians trying to stay out of Tom’s eyesight she turned to her partner, “Tom, stand outside! She’ll be safe with me here and you outside!”
The agent left them Jenny made a note to herself to get additional females on Jill’s detail. With Tom gone the thonian girl’s left the shower and Jill went to her locker so could dress. As they did a couple of the girls vented their displeasure.
“Mom’s going to hear about them allowing a man in our locker room!” one girl said.
“Mine too!” another one joined the first.
“Since we were naked,” one girl remarked, “the least he could do was return the favor!”
“Helen!” another girl said sharply, “what makes you think her nibs would share with us! I wouldn’t! Not a stud muffin like Mr. Tom!”
An embarrassed Jill quickly dressed. She wondered what the Mountain Event was? She had been told when she heard the phrase, “Mountain Event” she was to stop what she was doing and go with her agents without protesting. It was the code phrase that her agents and others used to describe a national security incident.
As Jill dressed Jenny filled her in, “There’s been an assignation attempt against the Queen and her party. We don’t know how many assassins there are. We need to get you to safety!”
“Was Dad with her?” Jill asked pulling her hair back so she could fix it. Jenny just nodded. “Is he okay?” she asked waiting for Jenny’s answer before she tied her hair back with a couple of elastic bands she had worn during gym class.
“Your father is okay.” Jenny said. A relieved Jill took the elastic bands and tied her hair back, as Jenny continued, “The Queen is okay. I haven’t heard anything about Chief Atomi.”
“Okay Jenny,” Jill said, picking up her book bag, “I’m ready.”
“All stations,” a relieve Jenny touched a stud behind her ear, before speaking out loud. “Stand by for departure, Runaway is moving to the transport.”
Mac was going to have her head, Jenny thought as they moved to the limo. Jill should have been man handled to the limo! Even if she wasn’t dressed! There was no way Jenny was going to drag a half-naked Jill through the halls of the high school!
As they left the locker room with Jenny on one side of her, and Tom on the other side of her both agents had their weapons out. It was a short walk to the main entrance of the school. As they made their exit; a couple of her friends started to approach her to ask what was going on but; backed away when they saw Jenny and Tom with their weapons out. Jill was surprised to see the limo parked as close to the doors as M’phan, her thonian driver, could get to the doors of the school. Jill was surprised; M’phan was parked on the side walk blocking it and the doors so no one could get in. His lifemate was standing outside the limo with an assault rifle plainly visible sweeping the parking lot.
“Halt!” L’enkle, her driver’s lifemate, yelled at a teacher approaching the limo. “If you come any closer I will kill you!”
With the assault rifle squarely pointed at her, the teacher stopped in her tracks as did several of the students who stopped where they were.
Seconds later Jill and her party were in the limo. They were barely aboard when M’phan had the limo in motion. Leaving the school in a hurry, they caused a wreck as they pulled onto the street in front of the school. It was only when two Trenaport Mounted Patrol hover cycles began to escort the limo did the gravity of the situation sink in. She was going to have to find a way to make it up to the teacher.
As she settled into her seat she asked, “What happened?”
“We don’t know much,” Jenny replied, “only that a bomb went off at the Castle where the Queen, the Marshal and the Chief were opening the employment fair. That’s all we know.”
The Castle was what everyone called the convention center.
Jill nodded and turned to the li
mo’s communications console. It wasn’t the typical civilian entertainment and communications panel. It was a military console, with an expert system to manage its communications suite. She spoke to the console.
“Tune the channel that is being used by the fire department and others at the convention center.” Soon they were listening to the responders.
A voice came over the audio “Convention Center this is Life Guard Flight with a flight of five Galaxy Lifters responding to your incident. Where do you want us?” “FAC to Life Guard,” A voice cut in.
“Go ahead FAC,” the Life Guard flight called.
“This is the forward air controller for the convention center command. “ The FAC voice said, “Please state load out!”
“I have five say again five LC sixes, heavy with ambulances, and medical personnel. I have 250 marines that can be air deployed. The on board ready group includes battle field medics, and surgeons.”
“Please enter holding north of the center over the harbor. We are still searching for UXB. We’ll call you in as needed. If you have any EOD people on board you may air deployment them.”
“Roger that,” His voice came up on another channel. “Life Guard Five you are go to make a run on the convention center. Deploy your bomb squad. Then join us in holding.”
“Life Guard Five commencing run now!” the pilot called. A holograph lit up in the open space of the limo’s back seat showing the flight of landing craft with one of them breaking formation and diving for the deck. The landing craft came in barely missing the crystal turrets on the north side of the structure. As it came over one of parking lots, the immense ground to orbit vessel stopped as if on a dime, people began jumping out of the back as it hovered.
Suddenly the scene then changed to the image of the Queen being hustled out of the convention center to safety. She stopped and approached the camera.
“Take this live!” The Queen snapped, “Citizens, and visitors of Trena, a bomb exploded in the Convention Center a few minutes ago. It harmed and possibly killed a great many of our people, and injured scores more. I don’t know if it was an attempt to take me out, or to cause problems. Maybe both! When the justice department finds the person who is behind this, the full weight of my government will fall on that person or persons. It is one thing to attempt to kill me it is another to go after innocent people. Now if you don’t mind I need to get out of here so these folks can help the survivors, they can’t do that if I am in their way. Get us out of here Mac.”