Every hand shot up. Nathan pursed his lips and stared around the room long enough to rein in his anger.
“Very well.” His voice rapidly chilled like a northern front. “The floor is open.”
Five of the seven delegates stood.
“We’ll do it in reverse alphabetical order,” Nathan said with a frosty smile. “Mr. Ustinov?”
“The people have fought a very costly war, still not finished from what I have heard. We claim to be the Dená Republik, but are not republik in fact, perhaps a military state?”
“Maybe a military dictatorship?” Eleanor Wright said with a growl.
Nathan rapped his gavel twice. “One at a time, please. Everyone will get his or her chance to speak. Did you have more to say, Representative Ustinov?”
“If we do not create a representative government, the people will turn on us. I will turn on us!”
“So noted, Mr. Ustinov.” Nathan pointed to another delegate. “Representative Wright?”
“You don’t know your alphabet, Nathan,” she said with a quick smile. “When we leave this meeting today, we have to tell our constituents when there will be a constitutional convention and how they will pick people to serve on it. Without a constitution we have nothing; we’ll be a big tribe, not a nation.”
Nathan held up his hand, “Eleanor, we’re still fighting a war. Every village has people in the field. How can we select delegates to a constitutional convention if everyone doesn’t have a chance to vote?”
“C’mon, Nathan, that’s the least of our problems.” Her dark eyes flashed in irritation. “We can distribute ballots to every man and woman in the Army and they can vote for the people they want. Everybody gets one vote and every district gets one delegate, sounds simple to me.”
Anna Samuel from Fort Yukon stood up. “I think it’s my turn to speak, Nathan. Eleanor is right. We can’t keep telling everyone that nothing can be done until the war is over.
“The Russians have asked for a cease-fire and the British have folded their tent and run off in the night. This war is finished for all intents and purposes. You—we—cannot drag our feet any longer.” She looked around the room, making eye contact with every other delegate before sitting down.
More hands shot into the air and Nathan held both hands above his head. “Okay, I surrender. If you want a constitutional convention, you’ll get one. We need at least three people to work together to set up the delegate election.”
Every hand in the room shot up again.
“We need to do this logically,” Nathan said. “Claude, you’re as downriver as a person can get and you know the diplomatic ropes: you’re selected. Gennady, you’re about as upriver as a person can get and still be in Dená country: you’re number two.”
The room grew even quieter as they waited for the third committee member to be chosen. Nobody questioned Nathan’s right to make the selection; after all, he was the president.
“Anna, you’re midriver, and you know folks from all over the Dená Republik, so I think you’d make an excellent, third committee person.”
Anna stood. “Thank you, Nathan. Claude, Gennady and I have a lot of work to do, so as soon as we decide when this election will be held, we’re going to leave this body and convene our committee.”
“How much time do you need?”
Claude stood. “I think we can have it all organized to hold an election three months from today. Assuming, of course, that we have logistic help from the military.”
“So ordered,” Nathan said with an insincere smile. “Now we must decide whether or not to officially consider the unification request from the provisional Tlingit Nation.”
Blue stood. “Since we all have a lot to do, why don’t we just consider the question and skip the first part?”
“You’re out of order!” Nathan said, rapping his gavel.
“But she’s right,” Anna said with a grin. “There’s too much fancy stuff to wade through if we do everything your way, Nathan.”
“Do we offer the Tlingits a unification treaty or not?” Nathan said with some heat.
“This is why we need a real government,” Gennady Ustinov said. “We need to put the best minds we have to working on this idea.”
“General Grigorievich, do you have a question?” Nathan asked.
Grisha lowered his hand and rested it on the arm of his wheelchair. “More of an observation, Mr. President. The Tlingits, my people, are just as tired of Russian domination as you are. You know them, have traded and intermarried with them for centuries before the Russians ever discovered Alaska. The concept of an Alaskan Republik is as forward-looking and sensible as anything I’ve heard yet. My recommendation would be to send a delegation to them to confer and come up with a workable plan for unification.”
“Thank you, General,” Nathan said, looking around at the others. “Any other thoughts on this?”
Andrew Isaac stood. “I think we should send the general. He knows his people and he knows us. Wing should go with him as his wife and as a fellow delegate. If we can’t trust those two, we can’t trust anybody.”
As soon as Andrew sat down, Joanne Kaiser called out, “I move we vote on it.”
“Second the motion,” Gennady said.
Moments later Grisha and Wing were declared ambassadors to the Tlingit Nation.
“Now if we can just get you there safely,” Nathan said.
10
Akku, Russian Amerika
“The Tlingit Nation Army is in a very tight place. I’m not sure we can get out with everything we want,” Captain Paul Chernikoff said, pacing back and forth in the small room. Rain tapped on the windows and wind sighed through the towering spruce and hemlock outside the building.
“Define your terms, please,” General Sobolof responded in a quiet tone.
“The Japanese have attacked Russian Amerika, but not the Russian mainland, unprovoked and without warning at the very moment the Russian Pacific Fleet was destroyed by the California Navy. We made a grave error when we signed the military aid pact with Japan—we left the option of taking action up to them. We asked for a paper tiger and got one with steel claws instead.”
“Did you not support the pact, Captain?” General Sobolof asked.
“Yes, sir, in the strongest terms possible. I think the Japanese naval attaché perhaps duped me, and I should have anticipated that possibility. I didn’t.”
“No need to fall on your sword, Captain. We all agreed to the pact.”
“It’s just that I remember being very outspoken and possibly rude, General Sobolof.”
The general grinned. “I was once your age, Captain, and had just as big a mouth. What’s past is past; we cannot change that.”
“No, sir, we cannot. My brother has secured the cooperation of the Dená people as well as that of the ROC and the USA. The US fleet is sortieing out of the Kingdom of Hawai’i, preparing to engage the Japanese fleet if all other options fail.”
“What other options are there?”
“Frankly, General, none.”
“What are the Californians doing?”
“One of their submarines sank a Russian warship in Alaskan waters; other than that they are watching and waiting. In the meantime we are completely cut off from the Pacific by the Imperial Japanese Navy.”
“Are the USA and the ROC declaring war on the Empire of Japan?”
“That depends on whether or not the Japanese pull back.”
“So what happens if the USA and the ROC save our asses from the Japs? Are they an instant enemy also?” General Sobolof poured himself a glass of water and then drank it. He slammed the glass down on the table between them.
“Are we reduced to choosing who our new master will be?”
“The Dená Nation is sending a delegation to us, to explore the possibility of an Alaskan Republik.” Captain Paul Chernikoff said it as if it were an afterthought.
“Who suggested this republik?”
“My brother did, Genera
l. It just came to him, the possibility, that is, and he ran with it.”
“I think you and your brother have just redeemed yourselves, Captain.”
“Do you mind if I sit?” His relief was evident.
“Of course not.”
Chernikoff dropped onto the chair and sighed. “The most positive thing about this delegation is they’re sending our cousin, General Grigorievich, as head of the delegation.”
“Grisha?”
“You seem surprised, General Sobolof. Why?”
“Wasn’t he cashiered from the Russian Army?”
“Yes. He also led the Southern Dená and when the truce was called, the Dená made him commanding general of their army.”
“How can that be? He’s not even an Athabascan.”
“Personally, I think they thought he would fail, and he didn’t. Our northern brothers are doing something I think we should copy, immediately.”
“What?” General Sobolof asked in a guarded tone.
“Reward ability with increased responsibility. Grisha went from a rescued slave to a general in less than a year.”
“And we don’t?”
“With all due respect, General Sobolof, we never see the individual, we only see the kwan.”
The older man blinked and looked toward the rain-soaked window. “Perhaps there is something to what you say. I will bring it up to the others. Let me do the talking; you do not have the rank to push a thing like this.”
“Believe me, General Sobolof, I am very aware of that.”
11
65 miles south of Delta
“Sergeant,” Bodecia said, “would you please bring me the other pack, the one Pelagian was carrying?”
“Please, name is Rudi to person who saves my life. Of course I will.” He hurried off before she could respond. He had never been good at social skills, which served him well in his career.
In the Russian Army one agreed with one’s superiors and instilled respect and obedience in one’s subordinates. As an enlisted man he could rise no further than command sergeant major. Lieutenant Yamato’s squadron had obliterated Rudi’s command.
Colonel Lazarev came to mind. He hadn’t liked the man, but he had respected him. Rudi hadn’t found any trace of the colonel’s body. But he had been standing in the turret when the tank fell into the canyon.
Rudi found the pack near the place where Pelagian had been hit. He hefted it, winced at the flash of pain in his chest and side, and hurried back to Bodecia. The day seemed too warm to bear.
As soon as he dropped it next to her, Bodecia tore into it and pulled out the mottled green silk of Yamato’s parachute. She shook it out and started tying it to saplings.
“Help me, Rudi. We must build a shelter to keep him out of the sun and rain.”
Rudi glanced at the cloudless sky. “Is not raining.”
“It will. And the sun is strong this time of year.”
In twenty minutes they fashioned a tent, which could shelter up to five people if they were friendly. They gently moved Pelagian into the shade and piled their gear close. Rudi carefully pulled in large rocks to make the position defensible if the need arose.
The pain flashed in his chest again and he grunted.
Bodecia peered at him with her obsidian-black eyes. “How are you feeling, Sergeant? The truth now, I’ll know if you dissemble.”
“Is Rudi, please. I ache most of the time, sleeping has become difficult, this gives me much weariness.”
“You should have said something. I could have—”
“Please, is of no account. I am alive because you save my life. I do not complain, you asked me.”
“I could have given you something to help you sleep. You should let me finish my words.”
“I already know what you will say. If I take medicine to sleep, I lose survival edge, I don’t let little wrong noises wake me, and we all die. I am well able to endure small discomfort, please not to worry.”
“I, or the dogs, would know if someone came close. I could wake you. You need to heal as fast as you can.”
“How would you know if dogs also sleep, or wander? You don’t sleep at all? You are only healthy person here, must stay that way.”
“Rudi, look deep into my eyes, yes, right now.”
He stared, more out of politeness than curiosity. She wasn’t a hard woman to look at.
“Good, you’re getting close, now concentrate on what you see in there.”
He started a smile but it died halfway. Something moved in the back of her eyes, something there and not a reflection.
“Do you see shapes or people? Do you see yourself, or what you wished to be? Look deep, push your senses, and open your heart and mind.”
At first they were shapes. Slowly they coalesced into a startling image of Natalia as he last saw her. Her laughter abruptly crossed an unfathomable abyss to brush his ears.
He sat transfixed as completely as an opium eater. He could taste Natalia’s tears, feel her hands in his, and smell the lavender defense with which she blocked the world. He smiled at her for a long time.
“Ser— Rudi, you need to wake up now.” Bodecia’s voice insistently pushed into his contemplation, eroding his smile. He jerked at her touch and woke.
He pushed himself upright and shook his head. “I have been asleep?”
“Quiet. There’s something out there, along the river. The dogs and I heard it.”
“Were voices?”
“No, it might be an animal.” She continued to whisper. “If it is, it’s a big one.”
Rudi licked his lips and tried to peer through the brush. “What animals live here?” he asked in a low voice.
“Well, no lions or tigers.” Bodecia gave him a grim smile. “But we do have caribou and moose, brown bear and black bear, lynx, wolves, fox, and even muskrats.”
“Real bears?” His voice rose slightly.
“Shh. Da, not like the kind Jerry wears on his chest.”
He thought of the lieutenant’s flight wings: a roaring bear head with wings on either side of the skull.
“California grizzly is national symbol,” he showed a depreciating grin. “Have been extinct sixty years, perhaps more.”
“The Alaska variety sure isn’t. If it’s a bear out there, all we have to do is make a lot of noise and it will probably leave.”
“Probably? Why would it not?”
“It might be hungry.”
“Oh, shit.”
“Unless a bear is very old or injured, it would not be hungry this time of year. They live on fish, rodents, berries, and grubs. All are plentiful in late spring.”
“Then why is it here?”
“These creeks are full of grayling and trout. Didn’t you notice?”
“No.” He knew she was toying with his fears, but knowing that it probably wasn’t a hungry bear calmed him. “What about the dogs, will they go with me?”
“If there is trouble, I will send them to help.”
“I will see what is there.”
“Rudi, all sport aside, please be careful. Do not ever come between any animal and its young. If you do, it is the last the thing you will do.”
He stared into her eyes where all humor had evaporated. This wasn’t a joke.
“Da.” He picked up the rifle and ensured the firing chamber held a round. Thirty years of lessons and memories spread through him. A hunter of men, he carefully edged into the brush.
12
30 miles west-northwest of Delta
Colonel Del Buhrman waved his hand downward and the sixty men within view around him sank out of sight into the brush and trees. He pulled himself down behind a rock wreathed with bushes and peered ahead. A Russian soldier, his rifle carelessly resting across his shoulder, briefly ambled toward them.
Buhrman rested his elbows on the rock and eased the rifle barrel through the bushes, centered his sights on the man’s chest and waited. His index finger caressed the trigger.
The soldier stopped,
peered back down the trail, and shrugged. He turned around and disappeared.
Colonel Buhrman pushed on the safety and moved the weapon to his side. Captain Coffey slid up next to him.
“What’s the good word?”
“They have no idea we’re back here. Pass the word that the guys have done an excellent job of being invisible and Colonel Buhrman is pleased.”
“If I knew where they were, I’d tell Benny’s guys that too.”
“Joe,” Buhrman’s glance held a smile, “they might not even be out here. Wherever they’re at, we’re all on the same side.”
“Sometimes it’s hard to tell. You know that Benny will be where the action is, and that’s out here. Maybe I should have joined the Rangers. At least I’d get my name in the paper on a regular basis.”
“Notoriety is a double-edged sword, Captain Coffey. If they don’t know who you are, they can’t blame you for not living up to their expectations.”
“How do you do it? No matter what I say, you point out how good I got it—and I always believe you!”
Colonel Buhrman laughed. “That’s one of the things I like about you, Joe, you’re gullible.”
They laughed quietly together.
“Tell Major Smolst I’d like to see him,” Colonel Buhrman said.
“Right away.” Captain Coffey vanished silently into the brush.
Colonel Buhrman leaned against a tree a few feet from the large rock and slid down to a sitting position. He appreciated the respite but his eyes constantly moved over the terrain ahead of him.
Major Smolst suddenly squatted next to him. “You wanted to see me, Colonel?”
“You’re good, Heinrich. I didn’t hear you coming.”
“I didn’t want you to, sir.”
“You’re ex-Troika Guard, aren’t you?”
“Yes, sir. Over twenty years.”
“Well, I’m glad you’re on our side and not theirs.” Buhrman nodded toward the rock in front of him. “How many Dená are with you?”
“A hundred and ninety-five, not counting me.”
“Any of your guys know this country?”
“Two are from Delta, and have hunted this area all their lives.”
“Perfect. I’d like to speak with them at their earliest convenience.”
Alaska Republik-ARC Page 5
