Mike locked eyes with his best friend and nodded saying to Mylea, in that simple statement, you did good mom.
“Lamile,” The queen said, “if you will accompany me. I would like to hear firsthand your incredible adventure.” Queen hugged her newly minted noble woman and walked out the back of the throne room with Mylea and the senior cadre following her.
Once out of the public eye the Queen turned towards Lamile, “We’ll catch up to each other. I rather expect that you and your mother have some err things to settle between you. Take a couple of days, and then contact Lady Hawthorne at the school. While your commission is to work with those kids, Lady Hawthorne, will be your immediate supervisor. Lamile, I had a long talk with the Lieutenant and Sergeant who did most of the shadowing of your group. They both have nothing but good words for you. He also related parts of your conversation this afternoon. I think you have a noble ambition. Part of your commissioning includes a small annuity, and a scholarship to any school that you choose to go to. I would hope you would use it to get some book learning on social services.” “Thank you ma’am,” Lamile said.
“Mylea,” The Queen looked to the older woman, “I never did thank you for the loan of your daughter. Thank you. Not only do I thank you; but the people of Trena thank you for fine job you have done raising this lady to womanhood.”
“You are welcomed.” Mylea said. “She’s mostly a good girl. Mostly.”
“With only the occasional bout of first degree teen ageism.” Lisa injected patting the young woman’s back.
“Now get out of here you three,” The Queen said looking at Mylea, General Langtree, and Lamile in the eye. “I don’t want to see you for a couple of days XO. That’s a Crown Order.”
“Yes Ma’am,” Was all that Mylea said as the Queen walked away with her protective detail.
“Mylea,” Lisa said, “let us know if you want to get together later or if you need anything.” Lisa said. Then turning to Lamile, “You did good, my friend. Very good. But you ever worry me like that again we are going to talk.”
“Yes Aunt Lisa,” the young woman responded contritely, “Trust me I know we all are going to talk about this one.”
“Let’s get you home,” the General Langtree said, as he gently took her mother’s hand as they walked from the palace. Lamile noticed how much her mother was enjoying the act of affection. She wondered what had gone on while she had been gone. She was going to have to talk with Jill as soon as possible.
###
“Wasn’t Lady Atomi the last noble woman of Trenan Court?” Lamile Mitchum asked.
“Yes,” General Jones answered, “She was the very last person to be inducted in the
House of Lords on Trena.”
“But wasn’t she named a lady on Home too?” T’harla asked.
“Yes she was one of the very few noble women or men of the old Trena nobility to become a noble here on Home.” Alice Jones replied, “By a vote of the parliament the last noble woman of Trena Became the second one on Home.”
“Grand mom didn’t nominate her though, as she thought it was inappropriate. The cadets, unbeknown to any one, petition the house directly. So impressed were the members of the house; they endorsed the elevation the same day that they endorsed the Queen’s nomination of her regent Lady McAllister to nobility.” Princess Lisa spoke up.
“We’re getting short on time,” General Jones said, “so we’ll wrap this up. Your academy started out as a way to house the children that the Trena evacuation command was finding. What you will read in the next few chapters, will give you more insight as to how we came about.” The bell rang and she dismissed the class.
Chapter 21: A Place for Us!
“Me and Lamile spent a long time talking over the next few days as she settled into the academy,” The princess was reading from the diary again. It was early morning before reveille. “I had wondered if she wanted to be my deputy commander, but as we talked I found out that she really wanted to do was to work with these kids, and when she found out that being my deputy would be the best way to help the kids; she bought into it lock stock and barrel.
“I had some hard decisions to make concerning her and Mitch. It was a hard one to make. Mitch was filling the role of my deputy. I have come to depend on her in the short month she has been at the academy. She is stepping up to the task of working with the cadet sergeants. They seem to respond to her also. When Lamile’s crew came in and her assistants wanted to be cadets I was put in a position that I had to appoint them as cadet officers. I have talked with Lady Hawthorne and Sergeant Green about my dilemma. After reviewing their records and what they did on the long march, and seeing how the kids deferred to them, I had to make them all officers. All ten of them. Some of the cadets who had been working as NCOs, before Lamile’s mob arrived, expecting to be made officers were a little ticked off. But surprisingly not Mitch. I am still not certain as to why. Hopefully over the next couple of days I will get a chance to talk with her. Though truthfully I think her people skills are better than mine, and Lamile’s and the job of being the cadet first sergeant is mostly a people job.
“Sometimes I wonder about the pressure we are putting on Mitch.” Grandmother Jill had written, “But she seems to be dealing with it. I think.”
###
It had been a crummy day. Mitch was on the next to last rung of the cadet’s honor system. As first sergeant of the corps it was her duty to look over all of the demerits handed out by the cadet officers and resolve as many of the issues she could before they went to Major Atomi who was the second tier of the honor system before Lamile made her mast recommendation. Once a week she had to go through the demerit log with the School Mistress. Mitch was still trying to get a handle on her position as the First Sergeant, and trying to understand Major Atomi. Now she had to recommend to the Major that one of the kids from what was being called the Long March, who had been one of her Lieutenants, was on top of the mast list. Mitch had been willing to give Rhonda a pass, as the offense was horse play in class.
“Sergeant Mitch,” Major Atomi had asked, “Why are you willing to give Rhonda a pass.”
“She has only been here a couple of weeks,” Mitch began, “And the honor code hasn’t been fully implemented with the kids from your march. I think if we give Lieutenant Morgan demerits, it shouldn’t be as many as horseplay normally gets. No one was hurt, and the instructor thought it was kind of cute. His words Major,” Mitch commented, “I just think coming down on her too hard may cause more problems than it solves.”
“I let Rhonda get away with some stuff on the march that I shouldn’t have Mitch,” Major Atomi replied, “I scolded her a couple of times when I thought her methods were too rough; but she needs to understand as an officer now that she has to set the example for the rest of her company.”
“The other reason I was giving her the benefit of the doubt was that she has quite a few demerits. This one could cause her to go before the mast.” Mitch said.
Major Atomi said, “School Mistress display Cadet Morgan’s honor book, and request that Cadet Morgan report to Sergeant Mitchum’s office.”
The honor book was displayed and Lamile who had not seen the book until that moment gave out a low whistle. “Mitch, I had no idea it was this bad.”
“If this goes before the mast,” Mitch said, “she’ll loses her company. Other than her demerits, her company has the second highest grade point in the Corps.”
“Okay,” Lamile said, remembering a story of her mother’s early years in the MPs. Of how her sergeant had demonstrated to her how her job was not to be just a disciplinarian; but to help make sure that promising officers and enlisted people were given a chance to better themselves. She looked at Mitch realizing that Mitch had already learned the lesson. She also realized that Mitch, who should have been the corps XO or have her own company, instead of holding a grudge, had accepted the role of the corps First Sergeant with
out causing a fit, and had so far in the few weeks Lamile had known her was proving to be good in the job. Lamile wondered if Sergeant Green was having some sort of influence on the girl before her.
“You’re right; but we’re going to make Rhonda sweat a bit.” Lamile said, “We’ll make her think she’s going to lose her company.”
It was at that moment that Jill walked into the office. She wanted to know when she was going to see the mast recommendations. Lamile answered Jill’s question, “Me and
Mitch are working on it now. Jill, give us an hour and we’ll have it for you.” “Okay,” Jill said leaving seeing Cadet Morgan enter the office.
“Lamile you wanted to see me?” Rhonda asked. She still wasn’t getting used to the grade her friend now had, nor her own.
“Lieutenant Morgan,” Mitch said sharply, “The executive officer asked that you report to her. You are not meeting her to go to lunch or to have a chat. Now report into her properly!”
“Lamile is she for real?” Rhonda asked.
“Stand at attention Lieutenant Morgan,” Lamile snapped. The girl came to attention. “Let me see your book,”
Rhonda reached in to her cover and gave her friend her demerit book. Lamile paged through it. It backed up what had been displayed earlier. Lamile put on a show of shaking her head, clucking a couple of times. She finally said, “I should ding you for your failure to report properly.”
“If you do she’ll lose her company,” Mitch said, “Is there some way you can see your way not to issue the demerit?”
“I am looking at her book,” Lamile had said, “I don’t know maybe she should lose her company.”
“Major,” Mitch said, “She’s only been here a couple of weeks, she hasn’t had time to acclimate yet to the academy.”
“School Mistress,” Lamile said, “Is there any other cadet who has this many demerits?”
“No Major Atomi,” The school mistress’ image hovered next to Mitch. She presented herself as a prim and proper older woman, “There is no one even close.”
“I see,” Lamile said, “Rhonda, I am very tempted to bust you. Bring you before the Mast and let Colonel Wilson deal out a suitable punishment. But part of Sergeant
Mitchum’s job and mine is to take only serious offenses before the honor board.”
Rhonda had heard of the mast. The mast was held once a week after midday rations on Saturday. The company officers would deal with the minor infractions leaving the serious ones for the Mast. She had heard the Mast could render any discipline that seemed to fit the incident including extra duty and punishment tours on the anvil.
“I don’t think she has done anything serious enough to go before the mast,” Mitch said, “I think that she is still getting used to the academy and that these are just settling in stuff.”
“What do you suggest Sarge,” Lamile asked.
“An apology to Mr. Berkin,” Mitch said, “In front of the class she interrupted. That will remove the demerits gotten in his class.”
“That will take her from the near probation status.” Lamile said.
“Then I would suggest Duty Officer for the rest of the week.” Mitch said. Rhonda had heard also of the duty officer. They were the cadet officer of the day for the entire corps. They were in effect the cadet commander for the period they were on. It was an attempt to let Jill, Lamile, and the cadet officers attend school and to give them a chance not to be on duty all the time. She would still have to manage her company, in addition to attend class. Some classes she got out of but not all of them.
“Rhonda,” Lamile said, “will you accept our suggestions or do you want to go before the mast.”
“I’ll accept you offer,” Rhonda said she could feel that Lamile and Mitch really didn’t want to cause her grief.
“Mitch if she gets any more demerits she goes before the mast.” Lamile said.
“Aye Ma’am,” Mitch said marking the cadet’s book.
“Dismissed” Lamile said. Rhonda had to learn that as good a friend as they were that some things went beyond friendship.
When Rhonda had left, Jill who had been in the adjoining office now came into Mitch’s office with Sergeant Green and Lady Hawthorne. Jill went to office door and made sure it was shut. “What do you think?”
“We heard the whole conversation,” Lady Hawthorne said, “There were two ways to handle it. One to throw her at the mast or two, prevent her from going to the mast. I really don’t like those things.”
“It is a failure of leadership when you have to do something like a mast.” Sergeant Green said. “It means that someone has failed. The lower level supervisor leader hasn’t communicated with the person, and the lower level supervisor hasn’t been supervised properly by his supervisor. But you know that from Gene and your trip to the mast. The question is Lamile, will she come around?”
“I think she will” Lamile said, “She wasn’t the first kid to sign up but she was one of the ones to convince the others. She wants to be here.”
“Something is going on with her,” Millie said, “She sometimes seems to know things she shouldn’t.”
“I know what you mean,” Lamile said, “on the Long March she seemed to know what I was thinking.”
“Well let’s see how she does,” Lady Hawthorne said.
Rhonda would become one of the top cadets in the academy.
###
Her day hadn’t gotten any better latter when she went to her barracks she found that one of the girls had slit her wrists. She found the girl in the girl’s shower. It was the first suicide she had ever dealt with. Thankfully this girl had not been successful and they were able to keep her from finishing the job.
After she dealt with that, she was informed that one of the cadets had missed dinner, which wasn’t unusual, but he had also missed lunch and no one had seen him since morning formation. They found him coming in the gates. He had been gone all day and no one had signed him off the facility. As the CQ Sergeant it was her job to deal with it and write him up. There was no way she was going to be able to dodge this one. The cadets on the gates, the cadet’s barracks NCO, the cadet’s company commander, (thankfully, it wasn’t Rhonda,) all had to be written up. Finally about 21 near sunset, the School Mistress poked her head into the CQ office.
“Okay Mitch,” The School Mistress said, “Time for you to get away from this!” The School Mistress had befriended Mitch shortly after she came to the academy. She had heard Mitch singing one night and had joined in singing the harmony of the song she was singing. Later School Mistress had asked it if was okay to accompany her when she sang. Over the last few weeks School Mistress had talked with Mitch sometimes late into the night. Often they sang together. It had helped Mitch acclimate to her new surroundings. The School Mistress had become like a girlfriend rather than one of the people who ran the academy.
“It is time for me to make my rounds,” Mitch commented. As sergeant of the Charge Quarters watch for the week she was required to check in on all the barracks, the front gate, and the other places around the academy where the cadets were standing CQ watches. She had just finished writing up the incident report on Cadet Dickenson, and wanted to get out of the CQ office for a while.
“Have you been to the Look Out yet?” School Mistress asked.
“Yes a couple of times. Why?” she answered the nearly ghostly image of the AI as she walked with Mitch on her rounds.
“Come on.” School Mistress continued, “It has got the best acoustics.”
The School Mistress walked with Mitch to the Look Out. The pair made an odd couple as they walked to the Look Out. The human girl walking with the ghostly image of the School Mistress fading in and out as she switched from emitter to emitter along the path to the Look Out. They found it deserted. School Mistress had picked her time carefully as she knew that Jill Wilson would often sit and meditate at the Look Out at the end of the day. It was a favorite place of many people in
the academy including Sergeant Green, when she got a break from her duties. The Look Out was on a cliff that that overlooked the city of Trenaport. It was a natural shaped amphitheater that the old boarding school used to put on plays. It was a beautiful place to meditate, more so at sunset, when on those nights when the convention center control system, allowed the area to be bathed in rainbows cascaded from the convention center’s turrets as the sun caught and directed the setting sun’s light to the Look Out. School Mistress had talked to the center’s AI manager to get what she was wanted at the amphitheater this evening. She was going have to buy the AI some books for the favor he did for her. The amphitheater was bathed in a rainbow of light as the sun set into the ocean. Even after the bombing the Glass Castle, as the center was called, the AI was still able to manage the prisms to bath the area around it with various lighting schemes.
“It’s beautiful,” Mitch said softly. This was the first time she had seen the Out Look this way.
“I know what type of day you’ve had and thought this might cheer you up. Make it better,” School Mistress said appearing to sit down on one of the benches, “Try a scale. It’s okay, it’s only us.”
Mitch looked around to see if they were alone. She really wasn’t comfortable performing with people around. Seeing that they were alone she went through some scales, softly at first then a little louder. Her voice filled the amphitheater. School Mistress’ appearance had changed she now was on the small stage of the amphitheater appearing to be seated at a piano, as she went through a couple bars of an old, old song. A song, she and Mitch had been playing around with for the last few nights. Mitch looked to where School Mistress sat and nodded and began to sing.
Mitch’s voice filled the amphitheaters spilling out into the late summer evening.
Jill had gone in search of Mitch to discuss the Dickenson mess. She had checked the barracks, the library, and the dining hall and still couldn’t find her. She knew she had duty this evening, but she wasn’t at the duty office. She knew the girl wasn’t off post, and that she was just walking the post as part of her duties. When she could not find the young woman anywhere, she decided it could wait until morning. She then decided to wander over to one of her favorite spots on the grounds. It was the spot that the captain she had dinner with that night on the space station had told her about. It was a small horseshoe shaped cliff that over looked Trenaport and the bay that Trenaport sat on. If she got the chance she would sit on one of the benches and watch the sun sink into the ocean. She was beginning to understand why her grandmother had carved out that private time in the spa at her estate on Mars. Now as she approached the Look Out with its amphitheater she heard singing. As she got closer to her special place she saw Alan and Rhonda standing near the railing with Lamile. The three cadets were watching and listening to Mitch, whose back was to them while she sang, Jill couldn’t place the song.