Chapter 10: The Academy Is Evacuated
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 themir selves 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 .as making sure their records had no problems. 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. sSo 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 It would be their home for several weeks maybe months, 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 formation 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 side 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. iIt 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 too 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 Major Hawthorne.”
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 and boys. The Princess gGeneral nodded and released the two boys.. The general released t The two boys 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.
“Sergeant,” Delores said, “You are dismissed!”
“Lady...Deloris thank you. I wouldn’t have seen the boys for another six months.” Millie said. She hugged Lady Hawthorne.
“Thank Princess Carroll. She made this all happen.” Deloris said.
She nodded and walked to where Jill was standing, “Colonel Wilson, I mean Queen Jill, I will do you proud.”
“Sergeant Millie,” Jill said, “I’ll remember what you told me when I became the commander of the corps. I hope I never let you down. I’ll see you on Home after your leave.”
“Jill you will never disappoint me. You may disappoint yourself; but never me.” the older woman replied, “By your leave?”
Jill nodded.
”Thank you General,” Millie said when she went and stood beside the general.
The future empress of the Terran Empire nodded saying, “Serve them well Millie. They are our future.”
“As you command,” She saluted and stood with the boys as Jill and Lady Hawthorne finished thanking the assembled staff of Company A for all they had done. As they finished the first of the landing craft landed. Jill turned to Lady Hawthorne and said, “Let’s get back to work.”
Deloris nodded as she saw Marshal Wilson step out of a jeep that had pulled up to where they were standing. He had driven across the capital to be here. She had no idea that he would be here.
He came up to her and asked, “Deloris, what can I do to help?”
Delores was dumbfounded. She hadn’t expected that the Marshal would be on the grounds. She knew he had a lot stuff that needed his attention today. “Anything you can. We have to get all these kids and their stuff on to the landing craft. If you would go to dorm three and bring those kids down that would help.”
“Aye-aye,” Mike said. He walked toward the dorm and was followed by Mac and Lamile who would soon become the cadet commander of the school. She would finish high school on board the school ship and later when the academy was completed enough for the kids to be on the ground she would be enrolled in the first cadet class of the Senior Academy of the Queens Own Royal Corps of Cadet Academy.
They found the kids milling around the halls excited about what was to come next. The senior cadet in the dorm, yelled for them to settle down. In seconds the kids were settleding down. He lined them up in the halls waiting for the word to be given. The Marshal turned to Lamile, “It is your show, what do you need done.”
“They need to go to the mess halldining hall where they will be final processed. Mitch here can get them there.” She pointed to Mitch, “What we need to do is go to the top floor and sweep down. Some of these kids are not convinced we are taking them to safety. Other may try to play games with us. So we go into every room, and open every closet. The beds have been rolled back and the frames taken apart. When we get done we seal the room. It will take a laser blast to open the door from the outside.”
Mike was glad for the easy work. It wasn’t difficult. They would climb to the top floor of a dorm and sweep through the rooms. Several adults and cadets helped. There was a name plate on each door, when they closed and sealed the door they would pull the name plate. When they left a floor they would hand the name plates to a cadet or NCO or adult on the landing to the floor. There they were checked against a master list, and when all the rooms had been checked off the list they would close the doors on either end of the hall to the rooms and seal them. They would then as a group go on to the next floor.
In this fashion they swept through the academy grounds ensuring that all of the buildings had been evacuated. It took a few hours; but every child was accounted for. Even a preschooler who thought it would be cool to play hide and seek with the adults. When Jill caught up to her she didn’t scold the child, or anything; just picked her up and carried her to the mess halldining hall where she turned the kid over to the cadet who had been told to watch over her. “Cadet Johnson. You almost cost us a life. You were told to make sure all your kids got to the mess halldining hall. Five demerits and you’ll walk an hour’s punishment tour with riffle in the gym.” She swept a withering look at the cadet NCO who was the girl’s dorm officer and said, “Sarge your squad will do the punishment tours also, as will I!”
A few hours later as the last landing craft loaded with cadets lifted from the pad Jill marched up to Lady Hawthorne came to attention, and said, “Major Hawthorne, the grounds of the academy has been evacuated! With your permission I would like to stand down and turn things over to Major Atomi.”
“You are relieved Colonel Wilson,” Lady Hawthorne turned to the few adults that were left waiting to go up to the ship then back to Jill. “Jill I want to thank you for the effort you have been giving us. We couldn’t have done it without you.”
“Delores,” Jill said, “I will cherish and try to follow the example that you and Sergeant Millie have shown me. I will be around.”
The noble woman nodded and turned to Marshal Wilson, “Sir, I would like to report that all the children you have entrusted me with have been evacuated.”
“Thank you Deloris, You may close this facility,” Wilson accepted the noble woman’s report, “I’ll see you at the parliament in a little while.”
“Ladies, and Gentlemen, I will see you on the ship. We are closed!” Deloris turned to her staff, and dismissed them. When they were gone Deloris walked quietly to the main gates where Millie was waiting for her. She had never felt as lonely as she did as she walked the drive to the entrance. The grounds were empty of children and cadets, as well the adults that looked after them. It was hard to believe that less than twenty four hours before the grounds had been chocked full of people. She took one last look at the academy. She marveled at the changes that she had witnessed in the last few months. The academy had gone from a near trash pit to a clean and nearly serene campus. She had gone to school here when it was a boarding school. It now looked like the school she had attended. She turned and finally walked through the gates.
With Millie’s help she closed and locked the gates for the final time. As they closed the gates the news media quietly recorded the event. It was nearly the last crown facility to be closed and the news media was recording it for posterity. The two women piled into lady Hawthorne’s sedan that was almost too crowded for them. as iIt was filled with Lady Hawthorne’s five kids and Millie’s two boys. Deloris’ oldest climbed into the lap of Millie’s oldest and Millie drove them to the parliament. Where Lady Hawthorne had one more official act to perform, as did all the remaining nobles of Trena. Though her nobility was tied to her missing husband, she had been asked to take his seat in the parliament.
Chapter 11: The Last Session of the Trena Parliament
It was the last session of parliament. The immense chamber was nearly empty. Jill now dressed in a simple business suit with Lamile, who was now in her full dress uniform sat together on the floor of the House of Lords. Jill was the invited quest of Lamile. It would be the first and the last session that Lamile would attend as Lady Atomi. Lamile was there for the one final act that the parliament had to do.
This act had to be done in the presence of interstellar witnesses.
It had been researched and there was no precedence for dissolving parliament, and abandoning a planet’s government peacefully. Usually when a government left a planet it was after they had been removed during a rebellion. No one had given up power willingly in the way that the Parliament of Trena was going to dissolve itself.
As Jill waited for events to begin she looked around the ornate room with its lofty arches, and statuary. The old stone work with stained glass windows piercing the walls made the building feel almost like some of the ancient cathedrals she had toured on Earth instead of a house of the people. As she thought that, she felt it appropriate that the house of the people had near
church like appearance as the protection of the citizens of Trena or any people should be a near religious endeavor.
The gallery was nearly empty. The family members of the members of parliament were aboard the liner that would take them to Home. The gallery was populated by only a few of the remaining news media people. The members of parliament were in a somber mood. No one was in the raucous mood that the assembly could be. No one was in their robes, or in their usual finery. The Queen waited outside the hall with Jill’s father. They would wait there until the speaker lead the members of parliament to where they stood.
“Is there any business before Parliament,” The speaker of the House of Lords spoke breaking into Jill’s quiet observation of the chamber.
“Your lord ship,” Larry Mercer the oldest serving noble of the House of Lords, who rarely took his seat, drew himself up to his five foot eight height, “I have business before our august body.”
“Lord Mercer is recognized.” The speaker called.
“With our people now fully evacuated, save those of us in this chamber, our purpose to support, defend and govern the people of Trena no longer exists. Therefore I move that the government be dissolved along with parliament. With parliament dissolved that we leave the world of Trena.”
“Is there a second?” the speaker asked.
“I second the motion,” Lamile spoke. It had been determined that Lamile as the newest and youngest noble woman of the Kingdom of Trena be the one to second the motion.
“Is there any debate?” The speaker asked.
He waited a few minutes and said, “Hearing none, I call the question. All in favor of dissolving the government of the Kingdom of Trena say aye!”
The one hundred remaining souls who made up the last session of parliament voted to dissolve the government. There was not even the solitary traditional, no vote to be heard in the chamber.
“In accordance with your vote I now declare that the government is dissolved and parliament disbanded.” He banged the gavel one time and stepped down from the Speakers desk and inserted the printed copy of the motion into the old fashioned notebook book that was the ceremonial record of the parliament. He signed his name and closed the book and walked to the great ceremonial doors of the chambers. He stood at the doors and watched as the members filed past him. He shook each and every one of their hands. Lamile, being the youngest, most junior noble present was the last to leave. Together with her help, the speaker and Lord Mercer closed the great ornate ceremonial doors of parliament. Awhere a little over four centuries after they had been opened for the first time, the doors were sealed for the last time. Once the doors were sealed they assembled near a curtained alcove. There the Speaker revealed a marble obelisk. Carved were with a metal plaque imbedded in its surface. The plaque made out of non-corrosive metal held the names of the last sitting members of the parliament and their home regions. Below the names read the inscription,
“On this day, four hundred and eighteen years after the founding of the Kingdom of Trena, The Parliament dissolved and abdicated its responsibilities for the governance of the Kingdom of Trena. This was a peaceful act, there was no rebellion, no discourse with our citizens or with our monarch, Queen Agatha the First. A cosmic disaster befell our kingdom, one that destroyed our world. We wish that the discoverer of this obelisk; peace! If you wish to know of our people we are here.”
Engraved on the obelisk wasThe plaque held a star chart showing the location of Home in relation to Trena and the distance to their world of refuge.
“We will not be forgotten as long as one of our descendants areis alive to carry on our traditions!”
The assembled members of parliament passed the obelisk, each touching the massive stone, leaving their DNA to be discovered maybe in centuries to come.
They left the main part of Parliament and found the Qqueen and her party waiting for them. The Speaker handed the book to ther Queen, an identical to one that was buried in the obelisk. He went to one knee and said softly, “My Queen, It is my sad and sacred duty to humbly inform you that we, the government of the Kingdom of Trena, have abdicated and return the ruling of this planet to you.”
“Arise,” Agatha said softly. “The crown thanks you for your service, and that of all of the members of parliament. There is a landing craft waiting to take you to your families. Thank you.”
“Your majesty,” the Sspeaker spoke softly, “The people of Trena owe you a great debt of gratitude. For without your efforts and that of your marshal many of us would not now be safe. By your leave, my Queen?”
“Granted,” the young queen nodded standing by herself as the remaining members of parliament filed past her saying their farewells. Until now she had no idea how many of these people felt about her. Some she knew would have fought against anything she did. Others wouldn’t, and still others would do what their party told them to do. But all of them were near tears as they bid her farewell and left the parliament building. As per her station, the last Lady to be so named, Lamile was the last one to present herself before Queen Agatha. With tears flowing down the young woman’s cheeks as she bowed before her monarch and then hugged her fiercely. The qQueen turned to Jill who was with Lamile and handed Jill the book that had just been given her.
“Queen Jill.” The qQueen said turning to Jill, “This is the book of the last session of parliament. I give it to you as a sacred trust so that the universe knows that the parliament abdicated gracefully their responsibilities.”
“It is a great honor to receive this book from your hands.” Jill said solemnly holding back some tears herself, “When the Home parliament assembles for the first time I will ask that this book be forever displayed in the lobby of parliament to show that the people of Home have their roots as Trenan citizens. That Trena is the foundation for the future of our home!”
“It is all I can ask,” The Agatha queen said trying not to cry as the few remaining news people and the Galactic Counsel recorded the event. She was determined not to breakdown and cry until all her duties were over. The palace surgeon had given her a pill to help her get through the day; but she didn’t think it was working.
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