“Look at that!” Mitch pointed to the port. It looked like it was on fire.
“Dad is going to have his hands full,” Jill remarked.
“Sergeant Green, I want us secured and arm the cadets!” Delores commanded from where she sat in the shadows with sergeant Green, “Until things settle down I want us secured!”
“Yes Ma’am,” the sergeant said watching as Jill principle agent handed Mitch a pistol belt. “Sergeant Mitch you are to stay with Her Majesty.”
“Aye Ma’am,” Mitch said as she buckled the pistol belt on.
They watched as other fires erupted around the capital. Jill became worried as one of the fires appeared to be close to Serenity. She tried to get through to her mother; but secure communications link to Serenity had failed. Even using her emergency set up, the same one she had used when her mother had been kidnapped couldn’t get through to her family at Serenity. She wanted to know how they were. Finally near mid night the School Mistress put through a call to her from her mother.
“We’re okay Jill,” she said, “we’ve been in the shelter with Aggie since the attack. We stayed there when the other stuff started. How are you?”
“We’re okay,” Jill answered, “Everyone’s a little frightened. We’ve been watching the fires, especially the big one near the palace.”
“They are getting them under control,” Lisa reported, “The Trojack Fire Fighters have been deployed to the palace and they have the fire near us almost under control. Your dad and General Qoum have been hunting these people down and have been taking care of business.”
“We heard they might be Theocracy agents.” Jill remarked.
“They are. They are working with some republican agents,” Lisa replied, “Chief Able is getting most of the fires under control. The fires were set for the invasion. Many have set in mostly in abandoned building. Distractions to keep us busy so we couldn’t fight an invasion effectively.”
“That figures,” Jill commented, “we’re safe here for the time being. I am going to stay here. Do you want to join us?”
“No! We’ll be okay,” Lisa replied, “Your father doesn’t want us together until this is over. He wants you and Abby to be separated just in case. We don’t want to lose either of you. So we need to make sure the succession is secured by keeping you and Abby apart!”
Jill didn’t like it much; but she understood. She said her goodbye and decided to take a walk around the facility. It had always felt odd to be shadowed by Jenny, now doubly so with Mitch, who was quietly shadowing her. It surprised her how easily Mitch seemed to take to the duties of being one of her protective agents.
“Mitch,” Jill spoke to the girl, “I don’t want you to get too comfortable being my protective agent.”
“Jill,” the dark haired girl replied, “If this is what my life’s work is to be; there are a lot of worse things I could be doing.”
“And I thought you wanted to be chief of the Home Patrol!” Jenny quipped.
“Eventually,” Mitch answered back as they once again were at the amphitheater. They looked across the bay to the capital and saw that many of the fires were out. A pall of smoke was hanging over the city. Jill shook her head wondering why now.
###
“We’re less than a few weeks before the asteroids hit us,” the Princess was reading the diary again in class. “Trena will be destroyed, if not destroyed, unlivable, and the Republic attacked us! No one has explained to me why the Republic hates us so much. They were going to invade Trena and occupy us. It makes no sense to me. It’s like they didn’t believe we were going to be destroyed. Yet they used the very instrument of our destruction to hide in as they snuck in to invade us.
“Ironically they were defeated by a simple act of heroism. I have read about marines, and others calling fire down on their position, sacrificing their lives to save others. Jonesy’s sacrifice was not only heroic; but totally unexpected. Usually it is impossible for an AI to completely leave her host computer. But Jonesy had shifted to the space dock that she would make the trip to Home aboard, abandoning her old computer at Boeing. Then she went aboard the tug taking the weapons barge to the sun. Someone shut her down on the dock.
“We lost a great person when we lost Jonesy.” The future queen of Home continued reading aloud, “I never thought I would mourn the loss of an AI. We treat them like so much furniture, take them for granted, yet they are there working all the time in the back ground making our lives easier. Jonesy was special. She was the Evacuation Commands logistics officer, she made things happen. Even for us. She was the one who helped me get Mitch’s guitar. When we needed something for the little guys she made it happen. The delivery of all the stuffed animals and toys for the little guys came at the right time. Where she got the rocking chairs I was afraid to ask. Sergeant Hoi, General Langtree’s Sergeant just showed up one day with two truckloads of them and said compliments of Jonesy. But she was part of us. She was as much one of the officers who volunteered at the academy as all the flesh and blood people who were helping us. She’ll be sorely missed. We had a memorial at Boeing SpaceWorks yesterday to honor her passing.
“Trenaport looks like a ghost town. It’s spooky sometimes riding through town.” Princess Lisa read, “Especially as we pass through the burned out buildings that had been destroyed during the Republic’s failed invasion. I like to sit at the amphitheater and watch the capital come to life as the sun set. The lights would come on in quiet majesty. We are far enough away that we can’t hear the city noises. It was soothing to watch; but no longer. There is an angry looking scar where the buildings had been set afire. It is too painful to watch now. Now though as I sit here in the amphitheater writing this, I can see the asteroids. They are a splash or a stain across the night sky. They get bigger every night. It’s getting to the point that I find it too disturbing to watch the night sky. Even though I know my guys and I will be evacuated, it’s just too scary to comprehend, that if something goes wrong again, that we may not get off this soon to be dead world. The Republic’s debacle just points out how fragile everything can be.
“That fragility of life became a terrible reality to me during the Republican’s failed invasion,” Jill’s writing continued, “Duke Horton was on McKay when the bomb went off in McKay’s main settlement. Most of the nobles who were meeting for the first time to form their parliament were killed. The Duke’s heir, a young teenage boy barely thirteen is now the Duke of the protectorate. I wonder how this will affect the treaty that Aggie and I signed.”
She closed the diary, as an officer walked into the room. She was of moderate height, dressed in the uniform of the Home Emergency Response Team. On her collar was a badge consisting of two sabers crossed under a crown with five stars surrounding everything. The young princess knew who the officer was immediately, Marshal Jonesy.
As the room came to attention the officer spoke softly, “as you were.” The cadets took their seats.
“Good morning,” the officer said, “I always like to stop in about this time when my daughter Alice gets to this point in her lecture. As you just read I was killed by calling fire down on the tug I had hopped to. I had no choice in the matter! I had to prevent the barges from being turned over to the Republic. I was trapped on the tug. Junior, the back up to DefConnie, had somehow managed to lock me out of the tugs controls, and I couldn’t return to my new home as someone had turned me off on the space dock.
“I knew what I had to do.
“I didn’t even think twice about becoming the target for the Majestic’s guns. By doing that, I would accomplish two missions. By calling fire down on me I was ensuring the weapons barges destruction, and with its destruction, caused the invasion fleet to be destroyed. By calling down fire onto myself, I ensured the kingdom’s safety. No one thought to bring me back until the HERT was founded. Then I was brought back from my back ups and put in this body. I became the operations coordinator of the Home Emergency Response Team worki
ng directly for Marshal Langtree and her lifemate. I served with them for another thirty years before they retired.”
The cadets were quiet as one of the living legends of Home spoke. Only Princess Lisa and her cousins and aunt had ever met the Marshal.
Chapter 36: The Academy Is Evacuated.
The princess was sitting by herself in the archives, as she read the diary. It was the only place where she could get some privacy as she read. She really didn’t mind sharing her reading with the cadets, but she was also using the diary to write her paper. It was time now to knuckle under and get it written. She couldn‘t read aloud and write the paper she was doing about Jill, Lamile, and Mitch. So she had captured a study carrel in the archives to read the diary, and to work on her paper in peace and quiet.
“Great news!” she read, “My aunt and General Langtree got married! The last couple of times Aunt Mylea was at the house for dinner and not on business General Langtree was her escort. Lamile told me about it last night.
“I heard that Dad made some sort of a wise crack that if either one of them thought they are going to be reassigned so that Aunt Mylea didn’t supervise David directly they could think again.
“Now as I think about it I have noticed over the last few months that the haunted look that Aunt Mylea’s face often had when I first got here has disappeared. Lamile had mentioned something about the aqaut slowly dissipating. Lamile tried to explain to me about the aqaut. Something about that when thonians make love for the first time the woman passes a virus that makes it impossible for them to make love to anyone else. I don’t quite understand it. I think it has something to do with the couple being empathic and telepathic between only each other.
“But it is great news,” Jill had written, “I guess they will wait until we get to Home before having an official ceremony. I have to say though that Aunt Mylea couldn’t have chosen a better lifemate. General Langtree is not only a great guy; he has a special place in my heart for how he has helped me and my kids.
“Speaking of which,” Jill had written “it is time to wrap this up as tomorrow we evacuate the kids from the academy. It is going to be a long day.”
The princess concluded the passage and looked at the time and realized she had better hustle on to class. She arrived just as the General began speaking.
###
Lady Hawthorne was tired. She had been up for forty eight hours straight making sure things were ready for the school’s evacuation. She was bone weary, and exhausted. But she wasn’t alone, her staff had worked themselves to exhaustion as they made sure each kid, cadet or not was ready to be evacuated. They had made sure each and every kid was packed as well. Lady Hawthorne had spent extra time with the little ones, ensuring they were ready. Somewhere in the process she had made one more trip back to her estate making sure that her place had been packed by her girls. There had been only so much they could pack. So many of the fine furnishing that her mother in law and she had furnished the home with were going to have to be left behind. She had heard from her brother. He was safely on Home as were her mother and father. Her life on Trena was drawing to a close. Only the evacuation of the academy and few loose ends remained.
Now as she waited for the landing craft that would take everyone up to the school ship to land; she wondered if they were really ready for this? She was concerned that they had gotten everything that the kids owned packed. Normally she trusted her staff to make things happen. She had learned that from her missing husband, find good people and let them perform. But this time she was having trouble doing that; as the stakes were so high.
Sergeant Millie had gotten her aside and tried to cool her out when she was obsessing. It worked a bit.
Now as she stood with Jill and Lamile sipping coffee waiting for the first landing craft to land; she worried if there was anything they had forgotten. It would take fifteen lifts to get all the kids, their adult supervisors and their stuff to the special transport that had been built for them. Lady Hawthorne and Jill had been to orbit to check it out and meet the crew. They were all from the IRS, on loan to them by the IRS to get the ship to Home. They had been handpicked by Captain Stevens of the Majestic. The school ship would be their home for several weeks maybe moths, before their digs on Home were built. They had been impressed. The late Jonesy had done a good job. It was large enough to hold the entire school with room for athletic fields and other facilities to support the academy.
“You look tired Lady Hawthorne,” Jill observed, though she was tired too. She had a full plate on her schedule today also. She with Lamile had to be at the Parliament to witness the parliament’s abdication.
“We get this mob transported to the school ship and I’ll be able to collapse in my stateroom and make friends with my long suffering kids.” Lady Hawthorne stated. Although she had moved into the academy and brought her kids with her, and though she made time for them every day, sometimes it was only to tuck them into bed at night. She was planning to turn the running of the academy over to the School Mistress for a while as she took a few days. She had thought of turning it over to Millie for a couple of days; but that plan had been changed at the last minute because of Princess Carroll. As she thought about that, she smiled, Millie would indeed make a good School Mistress. She was just stern enough to get the kids to do what she wanted them to do, but soft enough to let them get away with kid type mischief.
The marine chief gunnery sergeant had explained to her one night over late coffee. “I usually get officers after they have been messed up by their parents, their colleges and the academy. Now I might get a chance to fix some problems before they get out into the fleet.”
“Lady Hawthorne,” the first marine to ever set foot on the academy came up to her, breaking her out of her reverie, “I’ve put this off as long as I can. If I don’t get to the port and to the Majestic, I’ll be AWOL.” “Okay Sarge,” she said.
“I will be back to check up on you two.” He nodded to Jill, “Your highness. I don’t know what to say to you. You are ...” The sergeant was at a loss for words. He had seen this young woman in action and had been impressed with her from the beginning. He didn’t want to sound mushy; but he wanted the girl to know he was impressed with her.
“Sarge,” Jill spoke to the sergeant as she walked to him and hugged him. “Thank you for everything you have done for my kids. I couldn’t have done this without you and your buddies help. Pass the word sergeant, that I know each and every one of your guy’s
names. If you get in trouble just yell for help, I will get help to you.” “Thank you.” The sergeant replied nodding to Sergeant Millie Green.
“Company Atten-hut!” Millie Green yelled.
Jill heard a commotion behind her and turned to see every adult, civilian and military person who had helped her kids and who were still on Trena standing at attention. Standing in the formation were Black Guardsmen, Imperial Marines, Imperial Naval Officers, retired Thonian Space Forcemen. Militia, police, and fire fighters from across the kingdom, and civilians who had made it possible for Delores to provide services to her kids. There were thonians, humans and biopeople. Some who were citizens of Trena and some who were from Trojack; all standing at attention waiting for what would come next.
“Ma’am,” Sergeant Lucas turned first to Delores, then to Jill, “Your majesty. May we ask a favor?”
“You may,” the Queen of Home replied.
“We request the honor and privilege to be known as Company A of the Queen’s Own Royal Cadet Academy’s Permanent Staff.” The sergeant asked.
“Permission granted,” Jill responded.
In unison the men and women of Company A called. “Thank You your majesty!”
Then as tired as she was she walked the line of a hundred of so officers, enlisted people, and civilians who had donated their off duty time to her kids. Lady Hawthorne followed discreetly behind her young monarch also thanking a couple of people. Millie was standing to one sid
e of the assembled group. Deloris knew that they were going to do this but had kept quiet about it. She wanted Jill to take the honors. Jill had worked her butt off to help these kids. It was fitting that she accepted the honors being offered. The adults had seen her work and respected her to a man. Especially Millie who owed the Marines at least three weeks leave for all the time she had spent working at the academy. But Lady Hawthorne had two surprises for the Master Gunnery Sergeant.
“So sergeant you think you are going to go home and leave me all alone to handle this mob?” Lady Hawthorne asked the middle aged sergeant when she had gotten to the front of the formation again. “I think you should think again.”
“Ma’am,” the sergeant said bewildered, not knowing what was going on. Lady Hawthorne smiled. It was perfect! She wasn’t sure she could keep this from the Sergeant, as her connections were good. Much too good!
“Attention to orders,” She snapped, as Sergeant Lucas had drilled her and drilled her to do. It would always feel uncomfortable to sound like an officer, but in time she knew it would be second natured. The entire assembly of enlisted men and officers came to attention.
“Master Gunnery Sergeant Millicent Green, is here by detached from the Imperial Marines Corps and assigned at the request of their most royal highnesses, Queen Agatha of Trena, and Queen Jillian of Home, and General Alphine, Commandant of the Imperial Marines, to the Queens Own Royal Corps of Cadets, as Command Sergeant Major of Company A.
“Furthermore, as this is not a hardship or hazardous duty station, you will be allowed to have your dependents on post.” Lady Hawthorne spoke, “Your tour of duty is to be limited to not less than one year, nor more than five years, and at the pleasure of her royal highness, Queen Jillian and the school’s commander.”
She handed the parchment to Millie and said, “Sarge you are out of uniform!” and handed her a silver diamond for her collar tab. The insignia of the units top soldier. Millie looked over to where General Alphine was now standing. Standing with her, were two young boys. They were her boys. The Princess General nodded and released the two boys. The two boys who ran over to their mother and hugged her fiercely. It had been almost a year since she had last seen both boys. They both had grown like weeds. They had been being taken care of by her mother in law. Their father had been missing in action for nearly ten years. He had never seen Jimmy.