School Time for Death: Tendrils of Control (Death Dealer Saga Book 4)

by Jessie Wolf

  ‘All right Storm Dancers any one got eyes on Bethany Hightower?’

  Alice is the first one to report back. ‘Wave Dancer, this is Kitten Mistress. The last time I saw the target in question she was over with the Princess and the rest of the Dancers.’

  I know that we broke the classes up into three parts so, and that the princess was over with Fuyuko’s party thanks to Alice.

  ‘Wave Dancer, this is Monsoon Maiden I have eye on Bethany. Is there a problem?’

  ‘No problem Monsoon, give me your location over.’

  ‘We’re over by the fire base display. Why?’

  ‘I need you to send her on down the trail to the Wall. There is someone here she needs to see.’

  ‘Roger that, I’ll get right on it.’

  I move up next to the old timer. “Excuse me sir.” When he looks over at me I watch as his eyes take in the school uniform that I am wearing. “I just wanted to thank you for your service.”

  His eyes light up with surprise at a young girl like me thanking him for serving our Empire, but I could tell he has a question for me. “That’s alright young lady. Would you be here on a field trip with your school?”

  “Yes sir I am. We have eight whole classes here today. Four in Modern History and four in Citizenship and Moral Conduct. Why do you want to know?” I know he just wants to know if his granddaughter is with us, but I still have to play the part of a teenage girl and not a second generation Death Dealer. I don’t want to scare the old man by revealing who I am. Thankfully I see Bethany coming down the trail.

  When she gets within distance to talk in a normal voice without yelling. “You sent for me Mrs. Nakatoma?” when I step out of the way of her grandfather she squeals in excitement. “Grandpa!” before the old man knows what happening she has him wrapped up in a hug.

  “Bethany, I’ll leave you and your grandfather to talk. I think you should spend the day with him and learn from him this afternoon. I believe he can teach you a great deal about what it means to be first a Death Dealer and then a citizen of the Empire.” I turn and walk off leaving them alone but before I get too far she stops me.

  “Be back by eighteen hundred, Bethany. If you’re going to be early just have the trooper on duty page me. If you’re running late have the Hall staff page one of the teachers and we’ll come find you.” I head on down the trail leaving them to catch up.

  Every now and then I stop at a name and remember who they were, and say good bye. After a while I no longer find any names of friends, only the names of those I have given orders to. Those names take up whole sections of the Wall. After a while I begin to cry and think that this might not have been one of my better ideas.

  “How many of those names do you know sissy?” Nanase’s voice caused me to jump when I hear it. I thought that I was alone. “I’m sorry if I scared you sissy, but I saw you walk off from your group after talking with Janet. Don’t worry about them by the way Mr. Lenard has them well in hand, I told him about the conversation with her about ‘our’ grandfather. I told him it might have upset you as he was the only person you had for so long.” Leave it to my baby sister to be watching out for me and having my back.

  “Thanks Nanase. I had to walk this part by myself. As for your question, there are too many names on this Wall that are friends of mine from back in my younger days. Hell, there are whole sections of this thing that I am responsible for. I was the one to give out the orders that sent those men to their deaths.” Before I even finish she has me wrapped up in a monster hug. Of all my family Nanase maybe the most loving of them all and the least judgmental of them all. There are no condemning remarks from her about my past. She knows that I feel the loss of every one of those men.

  “Come on sissy. I want you to take me through the Hall of Heroes. I want to hear about all those men from you. If anyone can tell the truth about them it’ll be you.” Taking a hold of my hand she drags me the rest of the way down the trail well ahead of everyone else. As we enter the Hall I see a few of my students have already made it here. Most of these girls are walking around with what looks like a veteran. They are asking him questions about some of the men that are pictured here. I smile as the middle aged man smiles and answer them. In some cases he talks about the battle where the men won their medals, in others he has to explain what the medals mean, and why they were given instead of some other.

  As we walk around I see that the Hall has also had some renovation. An entire wing has been added to the building. One of the girls asks the veteran what that wing is for. He looks over at it before answering.

  “That young lady is a very special wing that has only been added in the last ten years. Down that wing are the pictures of every man or women to have earned the Parliamentary Medal of Honor. Not just the ones who are Death Dealers, but from all the Military forces throughout the Empire. Down that hallway are the bravest of the brave. If you want to see the true heroes of the Empire, that is where you need to head. Over there are three hundred and fifty-nine of the bravest people to have ever served the Emperor.” I smile when one of my students stops the man and asks him why there are so few people to have won the medal. “Because young lady, that is the hardest one to win. Those who do win it normally die in the process. The few that actually win it and still live are a very rare breed. I know of only three men, correction two now that have won that medal that are alive. One of them died here just a few months ago. Of the other two one is a teacher at your very school, Master Gunner Lenard S’chn T’gai. The other is a young man in the House Military for House Nakatoma.”

  All the girls look at him as if he is trying to play a joke on them, which is until one of the girls spots Nanase and me. “Nanase! Hay Nanase, is what this gentleman saying true? That one of your House guards is really a winner of the Parliamentary Medal of Honor true?” Nanase looks over at me for how to answer the young girl.

  I come to her rescue by answering for her. I walk over to the gathered girls and the veteran. “Yes, Tammy, he is telling you the truth. As a matter of fact all of you were escorted here today by that young man. And before you ask I was there when the Emperor presented him with the medal himself. If you girls like when we get to my family’s estate tonight I’ll introduce you to him, but not now while he is on duty. Now I want each of you girls to spread out and find one man in this part of the Hall, then I want you each to research that person, and the medal they have won. Once you have done that I want a five page report written up explaining what you learned from that research.”

  After I walk away the old vet looks at the girls and asks. “Um… Excuse me young ladies, but who was that girl? She acted like she was one of your teachers or something?”

  The giggles that come from a few of them lets me know they are not totally upset with me. “Sir, actually she is a teacher. That is our Citizenship and Morale Conduct teacher to be honest with you.” I watch as they split up and head their different ways, but not before thanking the man for telling them about the Hall. I move off to the side to watch my students as they discover the sad truth regarding their freedom. I showed Nanase around the Hall explain the different medals and awards that each man had won. I also explained why. To say I had her undivided attention would be an understatement of the first order.

  Over a period of three hours all of our students showed up and each of them got the same little speech from the veteran that talked to the first bunch. I was pleasantly surprised when Bethany came in with her grandfather, along with Lisa, Kimberly, and Stacey. I watched as he took them around the Hall, I lost track of them when Mr. Lenard came in with the rest of the students that I was supposed to be watching.

  I walk right over to him. “Mr. Lenard I must apologize for my behavior earlier. I should never have left the students the way I did. I’ll…” once again I get interrupted by one of the teachers.

  “There is no need to apologize Lady Maiha. Your sister explained what was going on, and I must say that I would have been surprised if you had not gotten
upset. I had no idea that your grandfather was Lord Owens.”

  “Trust me sir, when I say that I try not to let people know who my grandfather was. It’s hard enough to be the Head of House Nakatoma, but when you add in the fact that your grandfather is the man called ‘Death’ well you can see how it goes?” I smile at the young man who was a PHM winner. “After all you know just how hard it is to be a normal person when you have a reputation hanging over your head.”

  Before he can ask me what I mean by that we hear an excited squeal form the PMH wing. “Oh My God! It’s Mr. Lenard up there!”

  “Shit, I was hoping that was still under construction.” The grimace on his face told me he was embarrassed by having won the PHM.

  “Let me guess. You feel that you don’t deserve to be in that hall or in this building at all right?” The look he gives me is one I have seen before on more than one young man. Every last one of them felt the same way about the medals they were awarded. “Mr. Lenard I have no doubt that you feel there are others who were more deserving of your medal but you were the one who received it. Do not disrespect them by being ashamed of wearing that medal. Remember they honored you by nominating you for it, return the respect they deserve.”

  I walked away from him to give him some space to think about what I said. I spent the next few minutes talking with some of the other girls. As I moved from one group of girls to the next I found that every last one of these pampered would be leaving here a changed person. This even more pronounced with the ‘Heathers’, none more so than Janet. I don’t know what it was she saw or read that made her change, but maybe, just maybe there is hope for the girl after all. It was while I was talking to a group of students that I found my first indication that the ‘Heathers’ were dissolving. At the base of one of the pictures was a ‘Heather’ pin. I looked at the name and found that it was the father of one the girls.

  It took Dee De and Charlie both a few minutes to find the name of the girl who had left that pin there, Salina Kyle. Her last name did not match up with the name of the man in the picture. It took some digging, but I found the adoption paper work for her filed by Maria and Brian Kyle. From orphan to High Families heiress, no wonder the girl has problems. Being forced to see that her real father was just a front line scout in the sixteenth The Queen's Lancers aka the sixteenth (or The Queen's) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons must have been a real shock to her system. That and the fact that he was a winner of the Empyreal Cross with oak leaves for uncommon valor. The death of her mother six years later from Cycallomainia or the Red Plague on Morgan’s Landing left the girl with no one to turn to. No wonder she latched on to the ‘Heathers’ when she had the chance.

  As I stand there thinking over what that little gesture might mean for Salina, Alice comes up behind wrapping her arms around my waist. “You did a good thing here today, kitten.” She whispers in my ear. “Every one of these girls has found out something about themselves. Some of them have made a complete turnaround in their attitudes. I don’t know how you ever came up with this idea, but I have to say it is one of your best. Right up there in your top ten like four or five.”

  Looking over my shoulder at her with a small smile I ask. “What is one through three?”

  “If you have to ask love, then you really need to think about everything you have done in the last year. However I’ll give you a hint. Your mama, sisters, and finally me.” she gives me a quick peck on the neck and walks off. The more I think about what she said the more I smile. For some reason Alice always knows what to say to keep me from going down the rabbit hole of depression that are my memories of darker times.

  Before I have a chance to get back into my foul mood Nanase and Nanami come up to me smiling. They were unusually excited about something. “Ok, what are you two up to this time?” They both just smile and grab my hands pulling me over to the PHM wing. I let them drag me through the exhibits, I don’t want to be here, but I know that sooner or later they’ll want to know about my PHM. Several of the students see this and follow. Finally we get to where the twins are dragging me.

  There in front of me is a picture of my younger self with the Emperor and a few of my friends. Of course the Emperor, was only a prince then and much, much younger. Hell we all were, also every last one of us was in combat fatigues, and battle armor. None of us had shaved or bathed in a month of Sundays, some us had bloody bandages showing, not every photogenic, the looks of pride and happiness on our faces told a different story. We were all gathered around fire pit having our first cups of hot coffee and cigarettes in days. I remember when the picture was taken the day after one of the hardest battles I had ever fought. None of us thought we would make it out of that one alive.

  I am brought out of my reserve by Fuyuko. “Sissy, is that your grandpa up there?”

  Smiling over at her before answering I see that we are not alone. Over half the ‘Heathers’ are around us. “Yes, sister dear. That is our grandfather; he is the one sitting next to the Emperor holding the coffee pot. Back then the Emperor was only a prince and third in line for the throne. I remember our grandfather showing me a picture just like this one. It was taken just after the Battle for Kelly’s Crossroads on the planet Sherwood in the Loxley System. If I remember correctly they had been in a nonstop fire fight that had been going on for four days. The worst of the fighting had happened the day before. Our grandfather held the crossroads for nine hours on his own keeping it out of enemy hands while the prince and his unit moved up to reinforce their position. Almost every man in our grandfathers unit had been ether wounded or killed by the time they got there. Their actions kept the enemy from getting into the rear area for the Death Dealers that were fighting that war. If they had failed a field hospital, supply unit, and a whole slew of support units would have been open to direct attack. He and every man in his unit were awarded the PHM, by the Emperor Sha Dan the third, the current Emperor’s father. That is the first time an entire unit was ever awarded the medal.” As I talked about that day the memories come flooding back.

  “Why is his, the only picture here with a group, Mrs. Nakatoma?” It was one of the ‘Heathers’ who asked that question. Dee De gave me her name again so I could answer her. I think I wouldn’t be able to do this job if not for her and Charlie.

  “I’ll have to be honest with you Caitlin. I had no idea as to why, other than the fact that our grandfather really hated to have his photo taken. Even as a child growing up in his home there were very few pictures of him, but a great many of his friends and family. He always said he would rather remember friends and family than his own self glory. He was a very private man and never bragged about his past. It wasn’t until he passed away that I found out about him being a First High Lord of the Death Dealers.”

  The looks that I received from the girls that were gathered around me were ones of surprise and awe. Amanda Winchester held up her hand to ask a question. I motioned for to go ahead. “Mrs. Nakatoma, you said that everyone in your grandfathers unit was awarded the Parliamentary Medal of Honor. I thought it was only awarded to individuals.”

  “That is correct, Amanda. Do you remember when I said this was the first time an entire unit was awarded the medal?” the girl nodded her head yes. “The reason for this was that our grandfathers unit consisted of only seven men.” At the looks of shock I continued. “That’s right ladies, seven men held that crossroads for four days against three battalions of heavy infantry. Every one of those men was wounded including our grandfather. Four of them died before they were reinforced by the Emperor and his company of heavy APS’ on the last day.”

  “Why were they even on planet Sherwood anyway?” I was not expecting that question, and I really didn’t know how to answer it. Thankfully Doctor Brim was there and he was able to answer that question. I mean how do you explain to a whole generation about wholesale genocide? How do you explain the total eradication of a people just because they are of a different race? How do you explain the legalization of discrimination of a pe
ople just because they worship a different god? It never made any sense to me, so how can I explain it and I witnessed it firsthand.

  “We were there to put a stop to a crime that was so horrendous that it has only ever been exceeded one time in all of human history, class. What was happening on Sherwood only happened one other time. During the early part of the twentieth century between the years of nineteen fourteen to nineteen forty five there was a period of great unrest in the world. Two wars had fought on a global scale, economic collapse everywhere, one country was hit harder than the others.” he went on to explain all about the how the Jews were treated by the government of Germany and its people, and how it lead to the Holocaust. I listened just as hard as the other girls there. I may have Master’s degree in both Modern History and Military Science, but this was a time I never really understood. He went on to tell how the causes of that war had started even more throughout our history. When he came to what had happened on Sherwood, he had my undivided attention.

  “For over fifteen years the planetary government of Sherwood was doing its best to force the religious group known as the Followers of the Universal Truth to leave their planet. They used the very laws against them. They made their faith illegal. When that doesn’t do the trick they removed their rights one at a time. Finally when nothing would drive the Followers off planet they forced them into concentration camps. These camps quickly became death sentences for the Followers as they were first starved, abused, and finally just out right killed.”