Now as she wandered the camp, as the kids settled down for the day, she wondered what she would do after this. She wasn’t old enough to be on her own. Yet she felt that she was not a child anymore. Although this journey had been harrowing, and nerve wracking, she had also enjoyed the sense of accomplishment she was getting by ensuring these kids got to safety. It had been a lot of work, more work than she thought it would be. And yes she knew that part of her success was because of the extraordinary men and women who had been shadowing her out of the sight of her kids. What amazed her the most was that many of the kids had not tried to challenge her leadership. A couple of the boys had tried to challenge her in the beginning, and had come close blows. But something her Uncle Mike had taught her. If you had to lead by being a bully you weren’t leading. So when the boys had tried to take over, she had just simply said okay and let them have their way. Within a day, they boys were referring to her for leadership. Now on the eve of their arrival in Trenaport she surveyed the camp wondering what was next.
“Hi Lamile,” Timmy one of the first kids to join her troop came up to her, “Rhonda said to give this you.” This was a mug of soup.
“I wonder where mom and dad are,” Timmy asked as they sat down on a fallen tree by the road. Timmy was greatly disturbed over his parents leaving him behind. “I don’t understand why they left me behind.”
“We may never know,” Lamile took the cup. She tousled the kid’s hair, “maybe it’s something we need to move on about.”
“Yeah,” The kid said leaning out of Lamile’s reach, “But I sure want to know why.
Was it something I said, or did?”
“Timmy,” Lamile looked into the kid’s eyes. “You don’t worry about that. You’ve helped me as much as any of these other kids. You just keep up the good work. Don’t worry about the past. Let’s work to the future.”
“Okay,” Timmy said taking the empty cup from her. As he walked away Lamile had a glimmer of an idea what she wanted to do after this. Someone would have to work with these kids. Get them ready for adulthood. Too many of them had cried themselves to sleep many a night. She had heard kids crying every night. She couldn’t mother all of them; but she could sure be their big sister, and help them make it after they got to civilization.
Lamile walked into the woods where one of the older kids had said they set up latrines. As she got there her ear bug came up.
“Wanderer, Big Brother.” The ear bug said.
“Go ahead Big Brother.” She recognized the voice as one of the Black Guardsmen who was watching over them.
“I am coming out of the woods. Stay where you are.” The man said. “I need a face to face. We got some trouble.”
“Okay,” Lamile said wondering what sort of trouble. Usually they talked only over the ear bug, seldom face to face, so the kids would not be spooked. When they did talk face to face it was in places where they had privacy.
“Hi kid,” the marine NCO said. He was old enough to be her father. “Look, you have a forest fire behind you.”
“How bad,” Lamile asked.
“Bad enough.” the NCO said, “The brass want you moving. I told them that your little guys are worn out.”
“Damn.” Lamile said. “Did Chief Able drop her FireBots on the fire?” “I don’t know,” The NCO said.
“Lamile!” Rhonda yelled, “Where are you?”
“Here!” Lamile yelled. The girl came up stopping cold in her tracks when she saw the Marine. She had known that Lamile had been talking to people and she was more than she let on to be; but this was really the first time she had seen anyone talking with her.
“What’s up?” Lamile asked.
“We have smoke on the horizon behind us.” Rhonda said, “We need to break camp and get moving.”
“Make it happen, Rhonda! Sarge, I know this is going to spook my kids; but bring your troops in. I need some help. I don’t know if you can get us lift fast enough; but can you try to get us some Elsies or trucks?”
“Call General Langtree direct while I get my troops and talk to the LT.” The Black Guardsman said.
“General Langtree this is Lamile.” Lamile called.
“This is David, Lamile,” the General’s baritone was not degraded by the small ear bug.
“General I have a situation. We have a forest fire coming up behind us. I need some transport fast.” Lamile asked.
“It’ll be an hour before I can get anything to you on the ground.” The General said, “Let me get air ops on the horn and see what I can do. In the meantime get your kids moving.”
“Aye sir,” Lamile said.
“Lamile, take care and you’re doing great! I’ll tell your mother what’s going on.” General Langtree said.
Lamile relieved herself and ran to where the kids were breaking camp. “I want a nose count! Alan, Rhonda. Get some kids left and right of our group. Walk everyone to the road. Keep them on the road.” Alan nodded pointed to a couple of older kids and worked to the left of the group Rhonda waved and grabbed a couple of kids and pointed them to the right of the group.
As she worked to back of the large group of kids she found the marines. They were respectfully waiting for her. This surprised her. The lieutenant approached her. “Major, what are your orders?”
“Major?” Lamile asked.
“Major,” Big Brother replied, “You have been carried on the Queen’s Own Royal Corps of Cadets as major, and the second in command of them since it was founded a month ago.”
“Our orders are to support you and your kids and to take our orders from you. This comes directly from Evac One, and the Queen.” The lieutenant relayed his orders.
“Oh,” a stunned Lamile said softly, “We’ll be the back of the back Lieutenant. Send a couple of your guys up to help the kids get on the road. We want to herd the entire group on to the road and towards town. General Langtree is promising trucks in an hour. That’s about a mile and half maybe two down the road for my guys.”
“Aye-aye,” The LT nodded to the marines who started to take up their positions. As they walked at the back of the group as it moved down the road the Lieutenant turned to his young companion. “Major, a couple of us have been watching you for nearly a month. I’ve been with you the entire time and before we both get separated by fate, I want you to know I have written an endorsement for the Guard to recruit you.”
Lamile looked at the lieutenant not knowing what say to say as he put a piece of paper with his name grade and duty station in her hand. She knew that the Black Guard was the Special Forces, Special Force. They didn’t have to be a SpecWar before they were ever invited to become one of the Empire’s legendary Black Guardsmen; but most of them were. There were officers from law enforcement units, the Interstellar Rescue Service, the Imperial Navy and others who were the best in their units. She was flattered; but she had made up her mind. She was not going to be a SpecWar. She didn’t have the mind set to be one. What she wanted to do was work with these kids and see that they got settled. Maybe working with social services on Home helping to resolve some of the problems that were sure to crop up. “Thank you Lieutenant. But I don’t think the Military is in my future. I think I want to work with families and kids in trouble.”
“Major,” The LT said turning around to watch behind them for a second, “There is a lot of work that needs to be done in the military. It is more than just guns and blood. We need people who understand people and can help our families. Even when we are not forward deployed, things happen. We are just like other families anywhere with our problems. We need people who have been on the sharp end of the stick and who know what it is we do. If we know that our families are taken care of then we can do our jobs.”
“Thank you I will keep that in mind.” Lamile said. “Now let’s catch up with these guys I don’t want to be left behind.”
The two began walking a little faster behind the gang of kids now spread out along
the road.
###
“Mylea,” The Queen walked into Mylea’s office, “Have you heard?”
“About Lamile,” Mylea asked, she was in the process of closing up her desk to go meet Lamile. David had called her to let her know what was going on.
“Yes,” The Queen replied. “Want company?”
Mylea hesitated. While she wouldn’t have minded the young woman’s company, she wanted to have some private time with her wayward daughter. She hadn’t seen her in over a month and she knew that with what else was going on that she may not get a chance to spend much time with her over the next few weeks.
“Your highness,” Mylea said, “if it’s all right with you, I think I would like to see her by myself.”
The Queen nodded, and said, “If she is done with her charges, and you wouldn’t mind, I would like to meet with her and you at 20 today. I know I know, but after I complete that unpleasant business; I would like to spend a few pleasant minutes with two people who
I think a lot of.”
“Okay, your majesty we’ll be there!” Mylea said as her driver and protective agent came in. “Ready to go in a second Tony.”
The mounted patrolman nodded and tried to become part of the wall as the Queen left the office.
Mylea was tempted to have her driver take here to where the kids were; but thought better of it. She was where the kids would be shortly and if she waited for them where she was she would be out of the way of the people who were helping them. She didn’t want to be a problem. She watched as the news media began to arrive at the staging point. As they got out of the cruiser where they had parked in a restaurant’s lot, Tony pointed to a column of smoke. “That may be getting worse XO.”
“I know,” Mylea said then spoke to the cars expert system, “Computer, tune to the fire network and the group that is fighting the fire just outside of Trenaport on the north side by the sea.”
“Wild Land Fire Control to Trenaport dispatch,” A voice called over the communicator as the expert system found what Mylea wanted, “I need additional units at the Wanderer Fire.”
”We’ll dispatch another full alarm.” The Trenaport dispatcher called back.
“Wild Land fire control this is Chief 1.” Janet Able’s voice came over the communicator, “You are ordered to go defensive only. We’re sending you more bull dozers, and other brush clearing equipment. Do not try to save homes. Just keep the fire from cutting the main road.”
“Chief 1 we copy! Defensive only. Save the road and nothing else.” A voice called.
That did it for Mylea.
“Tony! Get me there!” Mylea said, “I want to be where those kids are. Number 12,”
She addressed the cruisers expert system, “give me flight ops.” “This is Flight Ops, XO.” The AI controlling air ops called, “Stand by Flight Ops, XO to Chief 1" Mylea ordered.
“Go Mylea,” Janet returned, her head floating in the holo of the com set.
“I’m going to order the alert birds in to pick up those kids. Do you want to load it with fire fighters or something?”
“Yes,” Janet exclaimed, “Tell them to hold for a FireBots battalion. They’re on the base we just need to get them to the birds.”
“Janet can they be air deployed.” Mylea asked having never seen a FireBot before. “They can be orbital deployed.” Janet responded.
“Good I’ll be forward with the kids. I will go no further than the rear end of the kid’s column. I got to make sure they are safe.”
“Understand XO,” Janet said knowing if her daughter was in harm’s way, she wouldn’t be as calm or as collected as Mylea was appearing to be. It was one thing to watch other’s children be in harm’s way it was different when it was your own.
“XO, flight ops. General Langtree already has the bots moving. ETA to you is less than fifteen minutes. I am launching the alert bird off the Mercy. They’ll be ready for a combat evacuation.” A human voice said.
“XO copy all. Tony. Move your ass!” She yelled at her driver as she slammed the door on the cruiser. The police cruiser roared out of the parking lot and down the road. Tony brought the siren and lights on and soon found himself having to slow down as two hover cycle cops fell in with them. If he hadn’t he would have ran over them. They made it to the kid’s column in less than fifteen minutes. Just in time to see the landing craft come screaming in at tree top level and vomit twenty firefighting robots onto the fire. They were tracked vehicles with old fashioned bulldozer blades, and digging equipment. They also were equipped with presser and tractor beams to pull and push other stuff out of their way. There was a small tank of fire retardant and high expansion foam, as well as some small lasers to start back fires. They were designed to either put down a fire or make a fire break. They had been very effective in fighting wild land fires. They were supervised by two human operators who were on the last two vehicles out of the landing craft.
Their first order of business once on the ground was to form up on either side of the road and then engage their blades and move into the fire. Although the fire hadn’t reached the road yet, the fire team leader commanded the FireBots to drop their blades and tear the ground up between the fire and the road. They knocked down small trees, and left an ugly scar on the ground. When they were finished they had grubbed out everything to a depth of six inches for two hundred feet on either side of the road for several hundred yards along it. They coated the ground with fire retardant. As they finished their first pass the team leader came up to where Mylea was standing.
“Good afternoon Chief!” The young woman said, “FireBot Bat 3 at your service!”
“That was impressive.” Mylea said as another landing craft came in, landing in the middle of the road. She was watching the kids troop by and had yet to lay eyes on her daughter. She wondered where she was.
“Just a day’s work for us,” The woman said, “I think we can keep this thing from spreading at least long enough to get those kids out of here.”
“Thank you Bat 3.” Mylea said as the woman climbed back up on a FireBot and started to ride back into the fire.
“Mom,” Mylea heard Lamile’s voice. She turned as saw Lamile carrying a small child in her arms. “What are you doing here?”
“Just keeping an eye on my troops,” Mylea said. It wasn’t too far from the truth.
“Yeah right,” Lamile was nearly drowned out by another landing craft landing. A couple of militia men jumped out even before the front ramp was fully on the ground. They got the ramp ready for the kids to board. A third landing craft landed and began getting ready to load the children.
“Alan,” Lamile yelled. “Lieutenant, get them aboard. I need a head count no one lifts until I get a full count.” She looked up and saw an IRS landing craft, “Wanderer to IRS”
“Go ahead Wanderer” A voice called in her ear bug.
“I need a slow low pass on our line of march! I want you to verify that there isn’t anyone on the road after us.” Lamile called.
“Aye Wanderer sweep being made.” The pilot called.
“Wanderer this is Mercy 2 we have an empty bay. Can we be of assistance.” a second voice called.
“Lieutenant we got enough lift on the ground?” Lamile asked as her mother watched in awe as her daughter handled the situation. Her baby was certainly no longer a baby.
“Affirmative major,” The Black Guardsman returned, “almost too much.”
”Mercy 2 we have enough lift on the ground. See if the FireBots can use your help.” Lamile said releasing the landing craft to the fire department. “Major,” The Lieutenant called. “We are short two souls.” “Who?” Lamile replied panicky.
“Well if you got aboard the LC we would be full up.” the man answered taking the child from her arms.
“Okay,” Lamile said walking with her mother to the landing craft. “Mom I got to go with the kids.”
“I know.” Mylea repli
ed she was torn between, going with them and going back to the palace in the end run she knew that Lamile had to finish her self appointed task by herself. “I know. Take care of your people. I’ll see you at Serenity in couple of hours. Climb into something suitable for court. We got an appointment with the Queen at 20. I will meet you at the palace.”
“You’re not mad” Lamile had to ask.
“Uh we’ll talk about that.” Mylea replied. She had gotten over her anger weeks ago. “Just get your people to safety.”
“Okay Mom,” Lamile said hugged her mother and ran up the ramp to the landing craft’s cargo bay looking around one last time before disappearing inside.
When the landing craft had taken off Mylea called over the com system, “XO to all forces at the fire. Good job! XO is clear and in route back to EVAC. XO out”
“Okay XO! I have you departing the Wanderer Burn.” A voice called.
Mylea walked over to her staff car and told Tony to get her back. As they left the area she saw five trucks pull up loaded to the gills with people all carrying shovels, picks, saws, and other wild land firefighting equipment. They were followed by a couple of fire trucks. The FireBots had done their job of fire suppression but the human crew would over haul and make sure the fire was contained. By going defensive they knew they would lose some homes but they had to keep the road open for a while longer.