To Forge a Queen
“No press in the command post, and I have set up a press center in a park in the cold zone. At least it’s ready to go. Any newsmen found in the hot zone are instantly violated and will spend the night on the Prison Ship.”
”Okay it is now 1700 hours. “ The captain gave the time hack turned to the team and asked, “Go no go one last time.”
“Entry go,” the SWAT commander called.
“Survey go,” Lamile called.
“Fire go,” The chief called.
“EMS go!” the IRS office called.
“Perimeter go,” the Mounty called.
“Logistics go!” Sergeant Hoi said.
“TacCom and ComSec go,” Alice said she had not been asked to report, but thought she should speak up. “I have a com black out. Only our stuff will work in here. The major and her cadets will have a camera attached to their uniforms and a secure com back to here.
The area will be swept continuously until we are contained. Again go!”
“Flight Ops!” the force leader called realizing she had forgotten the quiet lieutenant in the corner.
“Flight is go!” the militia forward air controller called.
“Mr. Kellogg” The companion turned to the former closer. “We are go.” “Execute!” Kellogg said softly.
“I’ll be with my cadets!” Lamile called and left the fire station. One of the police officers drove her to where her cadets were waiting for her.
The drill was simple! Four kids would approach a house and knock on the door. They would announce themselves. Rattle the door knob and then enter the house. Two other kids would stand by the door as their team members went in, ready to assist if needed. The team captain stood by the door and marked an X on the wall beside the door. The captain would mark the time they entered and exited, and what they found. If they found nothing they would secure the building and flash weld the door lock shut. They had been given a small hand held laser welder that one kid in each of the teams had been shown how to use. Anyone entering the building would have to use forcible entry tools. They would then leap frog the house next to them as another team was already been in it.
If the teams found a home with people in it they called for an adult and moved on. They didn’t find many, Mostly drunks and derelicts that were running from the authorities. The few kids they found whose parents were not to be found were taken directly to the academy. This neighborhood had been declared evacuated a month or so before.
By nightfall the teams wandered into the fire station. They were tired. Lady Hawthorne watched her cadets enter the fire station and collapse in small groups around the dining tables or just on the floor. As she watched, a couple of them went right into the squad bay and right to sleep. She was proud of them. Each and every one of them had volunteered for this mission. A mission that some adults would find daunting! Not only was it exhaustive, it was potentially dangerous. She was having trouble justifying the use of her young people this way. But all of them knew what the risks were and what could happen.
“Major Hawthorne,” Millie approached her with a cup of hot coffee distracting her quiet observation of her cadets. She took the coffee. “Want me to get some more guys form the school? I think maybe ten or twenty of the NCOs can be broken out of their duties. You want them.”
“Check with Mr. Kellogg and see if he’s okay with it. Then make sure that Jenkins is cool with it I don’t want the school shut down because of this.” Lady Hawthorne said.
“Understand ma’am,” the master sergeant replied. She made her call and came back to the head mistress. “Jenkins said he would see what he could do. They’ll be here in the morning.”
“Good,” the noble woman responded.
“Major can I borrow a minute of your time.” The marine sergeant asked.
“I guess so,” they sat down at a nearby table.
“I can retire at the end of the year.” The sergeant started, “If I were to show up on your door on Home would you hire me.”
“Millie,” Lady Hawthorne said, looking the older woman in the eye, “In a heartbeat
Millie. I owe you! I couldn’t do this without you.”
“Thank you,” the master sergeant replied then looked oddly at the noble woman
“May I say something else Major,”
Deloris nodded, unused to this woman addressing her as major.
“A lot of the guys have been watching you and over you for a while now. Without a doubt everyone is in awe of you. What you have done with those kids, is nothing less than admirable. Whatever it is you have, I have not seen it in any of the officers, or the guys I have been looking after for years. They wouldn’t say it to your face, they would be … I don’t know the word for it, but they would want you to know that even if you hadn’t accepted the commission in the militia they would still call you General. We all think you have it between the ears.”
“Thank you Millie,” Lady Hawthorne wasn’t really hearing the sergeant, as she was distracted as another group of cadets coming in. This time it was Major Atomi. She came over to Lady Hawthorne and said, “That’s the last of us Major. I am going to get some food and then stretch out for a while.”
”Okay get some hot food and some sleep. Have you talked to Colonel Wilson today?” Lady Hawthorne asked.
“Yeah, as we came in. I briefed her on my plan for tomorrow. Told her how I was using the cadets. I made sure that she didn’t need me or the guys back.” Lamile said, “She wants to be here; but knows it will be counterproductive. One of us has to be at the academy so it can still function.”
“Okay Lamile. Call your mother, let her know you are okay and then get some rack time.” the sergeant chimed in. Lamile took two steps back saluted and was soon sound asleep on the floor amongst the cadets having forgotten to call her mother.
That is where Mylea found her the next morning when she stopped by the fire house to see how things were going. She looked so peaceful. Someone quietly called, “XO on deck!”
That broke the spell and her sleeping baby stirred and sat up.
“Hi mom,” a groggy Lamile called seeing her mother as she got to her feet, “I meant to call.”
“Sergeant Jones called and told me where you were.” She looked over to a recliner where the humbot was apparently sound asleep. She was surprised to see the silver bar on her collars. She would have to talk to the security officer about the promotion to lieutenant,
“Let’s go the galley let these guys sleep.”
“Commander, Major,” a marine came up to them as they sat down in the galley holding a plate of food and a cup of orange juice for both of them.
“Thank you private,” Mylea said, as they found a place to eat and talk.
“How many did you check yesterday,” Mylea asked.
“Maybe twenty,” the young woman replied, “It’s much too slow. There’s got to be a better way.”
“There is,” Kellogg sat down with them. “We’ve been back checking the surveillance data. We think we know where she is. I have been pouring over the aerials and I think I have found fifteen homes that seem to have people in them. Homes with a heat signature that were not there a couple of weeks ago. This one in particular was empty for months, and now it is lit up like a Christmas tree! These houses here and here are empty. Everywhere we have found people in here, there’s been a concentration. Like here and here.” He pointed out a couple of concentrations on several of the hard copy prints.
“Chief,” Kellogg looked at Mylea, “I need Lamile for a special job that none of these cops can do. I don’t trust my guesses 100%. So I need to send Lamile in with a couple of her cadets to check out this house.”
Kellogg waited for Mylea to say something, anything. He knew the order she and Marshal Wilson had issued about the cadets. They were not to be put in danger. He agreed with them. Some of Lamile’s cadets were barely sixteen. He didn’t want them harmed. If someone was asking to use
his son on this he would be anything, but calm.
“Go on,” Mylea said knowing Kellogg was waiting for her.
“All I need is for her and a hand full of her older cadets to do a survey on the houses across the street from we think Hozenbur hiding in. She’ll be able see the cadets from them her front windows. Then do the houses on her side of the street. We need to know that Hozies in here. She won’t blow her cover if she thinks we‘re just doing the survey. As much as most of us hate her, we know she is a professional. She will not kill or endanger
Lamile unless she feels threatened. Lamile’s cadets can get in and get out.” “Mom,” Lamile said Mylea held up her finger to quiet her daughter.
“Okay Kell,” Mylea said, “I won’t disagree with you. And I have been observing how you been watching over the kids. Lamile you did know that your drivers have all been SWAT or Black Guardsmen, and except for when you go into the houses, they never lose sight of you. That time you were in that house for fifteen minutes and they lost connectivity with your camera a couple of the guys were on the verge of rushing in.”
“I know,” Lamile said. “You’re okay with this?”
“Hell no,” Mylea replied, “But there’s a lot of things I don’t like when it comes to you growing up. But I sure as hell can’t stop it. No one ever said motherhood wasn’t worrisome. Even when their children grow up! Kell, the major and her cadets are yours to use. But if you think Mike would ream you out if you got Lisa hurt what do you think I’ll do if Lamile gets hurt?”
“Uh Chief,” Kellogg looked the evacuation command’s second ranking officer in the eye, “You can send my remains to Shannon’s on West Third if Lamile comes to any grief.”
They understood each other.
“Now you go and rescue my friend.” Mylea said, “I’ll stay in the CP. Alice!”
“Yes Chief?” Alice stirred from her slumber. While in recovery mode regenerating she often looked as if she was asleep.
“I want a complete com black out. I don’t want Lord Wilson in here and I don’t want the Queen in here until we have Lisa out. I want to know that she is safe before Michael gets any info. If there is any grief, I want to be the one tell him. I owe him that much!”
“Done,” Alice replied absently stroking the cat that was nuzzling her. A few seconds later the cat jumped off her lap and went in search of Lamile. Alice had told the robot to stay with the XO’s daughter.
###
“Was it dangerous General,” Lamile Mitchum asked.
“To a certain extent,” The General replied, “We had an idea that Hozenbur was in the house. But we didn’t have an idea who else was with her. When she abducted Lady Wilson she killed everyone on her team. We had no idea if she had recruited more or if she was running solo. We weren’t certain if her ladyship was there or not. We weren’t really certain how Hozenbur would react to the cadets. There were a lot of unanswerable questions. But we were almost certain that she wouldn’t harm the cadets needlessly.
“Why did grandmother Mylea relent and let the cadets do this,” T’harla asked.
“She had been receiving reports from Lord James and Kellogg on what they were doing with the cadets, as was Lady Hawthorne.” Alice said, “Those kids were almost as well protected as the Queen. Maybe better, as the SpecWars were well armed and ready.”
“In her biography,” Georgia Hawthorne injected, “The XO doesn’t say much about that time. Only that she couldn’t believe how well her daughter handled it.”
“Yes,” the General said, “They all did a wonderful job, Lamile, Mitch, her majesty
Queen Jill, though she wasn’t at the forward op.”
The bell rang and the General dismissed the class.
Chapter 32: The Entry
“The entry,” The General began, “was the most intense time we had during the entire episode. If there is any time that is most dangerous to the hostage, it is during this time. When the Hostage Rescue Team knows they have to go in and do a physical rescue. The team knows that they could lose the hostage and take casualties.
“But they have to do it,” the General continued remembering her own part of the rescue. “So they began to get the job done. Everyone was tense. Real tense!”
###
They had been working slowly all morning. No one except Lamile, Mitch, and her adult chaperons knew what was going to happen. She didn’t want any of the kids to know that they were close to rescuing her Aunt. She didn’t want her kids to know that Hozenbur was so close. She had set things up so she would do the house that they thought Hozenbur was in. She had rearranged her team so that she had only older kids with her. She had wanted Rhonda to be her back up so she didn’t have to bring Mitch in. She couldn’t as Rhonda was needed as one of the team captains as did the other cadet officer that were with them. Then as she thought about it; she wanted Mitch. She had learned to trust the sometimes shy and soft spoken Mitch. Mitch was like a rock at times. Rhonda on the other hand sometimes seemed to let her emotions get the better of her. She had requested that Mitch be released from her duties to be her back up. When Mitch got in Lamile had taken her aside and told her what the deal was, and had sworn her to silence. She was finding that Mitch knew how to keep her mouth shut and she was very loyal to her and Jill. The last thing she asked Mitch, “Can you do this?”
Mitch had thought for a moment flexed her back, it was almost pain free. The fatigue the injury had caused was almost nonexistent. But even if there was pain, even if her injury tried to prevent her from accomplishing her duties, there was nothing in the world that would stop her from helping to find her friend’s mother. She looked in Lamile’s eye and said, “Try to stop me! I owe that much to Jill!”
“Let’s get this done,” Lamile had said. With that the two young women went and joined their team.
The entire morning had been tense. She had just wanted to go directly to the house and knock on the door. But she knew better. So she watched her kids work the other side of the street between doing her own assessments and walking between the houses. Finally they were ready. Mitch had a hand on her belt as she approached the door. As she was about to knock on the door she looked down and saw Lieutenant Jones cat at their feet. He had been with them all morning as if he was keeping an eye on them. He was almost underfoot at times. As she observed the cat, she thought she saw the cat blend in with its surroundings.
The Black Guardsmen who was her driver and chaperon had pulled the hover jeep up to just easy eyesight of the door. He even had his sidearm out laying it beside him on the seat, ready to go. Just out of Lamile’s eyesight was an APC containing the Trojack HRT. Should she get in trouble they would make an entry to get her to safety. As she approached the door she tapped her ear twice and heard Alice say, “Connectivity is good
Major. We’re ready!”
Hozenbur had been watching the kids check the houses across the street. She had heard that cadets from the Queen’s Own Royal Corps of Cadets were checking abandoned buildings to be sure that they were abandoned. She hadn’t been out of the house in a day or so and hadn’t seen what they were doing until this morning. The Evacuation Command always posted what streets they were going to work each day on the Evac net. But not just the Evac net; but on the law enforcement network; and also on the news nets schedule so people would know what was going on. For some reason she hadn’t heard they were going to work her neighborhood. She had thought about offering the kids some drinks; but changed her mind; she didn’t want to have eyes seeing too much of her. She knew her face had been posted not only the law enforcement nets; but also the general news nets. She thought of not opening the door; but saw they were opening doors and going into the abandoned home when no one came to open the door. She had no choice but to answer the door when they knocked. She opened the door and saw kids.
“Oh hello,” The young Thonian said, “We didn’t think this house was occupied.”
“For a little while y
et.” the sixty year old slender woman replied, “I go at the end.
I am on one of the last lift. So I just stayed in my home.”
“Okay then,” Lamile took out a data pad and began to write on it. “Who are you? I need to enter this into my notes so that you won’t be bothered again.”
“Martha Livermore. I am a widow.” Martha said. “I live alone.”
“I see,” Lamile said as he ear bug came alive. “Lamile I am in the back of the house. I am behind a force field that I can’t disable. There appears to be no self-destruct. It is a prison style containment field. What is Sergeant Jones cat doing in here?”
“Okay, Mrs. Livermore,” Lamile heard her aunt trying not to let on she said, “I think we got everything. I am required to tell you that should you not be here for transportation to your departure point, or miss your evacuation date the Crown will not try to find you. That you are on your own after that date!”
She handed the paper she had been told to give anyone they found in the houses.
“I understand,” Martha said taking the paper from Lamile’s hand. The kids left going to the next house.
The kids did the whole street. It was maddening, Lamile wanted to clear off to get her people out of danger. Especially as her aunt was keeping a steady narrative while they were in range. She asked when she was out of ear shot of Hozenbur, “Aunt Lisa, are you okay?”
“Yes,” Lisa answered, “It’s good to hear you.”
“It is good to hear you too!” Lamile responded, “I may be out of range in a bit so I’ll make this short we’ll be getting you out. Hang on it won’t be long!”
Lisa couldn’t believe her luck that she had been found. But hearing Lamile also frightened her, as she didn’t know what was going on. As she lost connectively with the Thonian teenager she hoped that they wouldn’t be long in getting her out.