“Son, your father was a good man. It is going to be alright.”
Nathan looked up at Jon. The eighteen year old boy had tears in his eyes as he held his dad’s hand.
Nathan, you have to be strong for your mom and for your family. You are the head man now.”
Nathan stood up and looked at Jon.
“Yes sir, yes sir you are right. I am now the man of the house.”
That day the valley would be missing twelve heads of the house as that was the number of them that had been killed. Another fifteen were wounded and had been patched up by Doc and sent back to the Miller’s barn. Doc was finishing up when he eyed the Colonel.
“Jon, who is this?” asked Doc.
“Doc, I want you to meet Colonel James, he was the leader of this attack on us.”
Doc looked at the man with a smirk and then at Jon.
“So he is a prisoner? I didn’t think we were going to do that.”
“Oh no he is no prisoner, I think when you talk to him you will find out his story and then understand what I am getting ready to do. Doc, I think he is a good man that needs our help.”
Doc looked again at Jon and shrugged his shoulders.
“Well Jon, I always believe in your judgment. Colonel it looks like you are hurt; let me take a look at that cut on your head.”
“Yes Doc do that and I need to go find JT and retrieve something.”
Jon headed back toward the group of soldiers and valley men that were making sure that the work was going on without trouble. He found JT and walked over toward him.
“JT, how is it going?”
“Great Jon, these fine troopers are loading up dead and wounded. I do think we need to have them leave us some vehicles because we are going to need to clear this road.”
“Why don’t you just have them do it?”
“Great point let me get the Lieutenant and have him comply.”
“JT, would you also have them bring up a Humvee and get the keys. I need the vehicle, just tell them it is the spoils of war.”
“Hey Jon, speaking of spoils, we are going to keep all of their weapons and strip the vehicles of the heavier weapons. They come back again they are going to get hit even harder.”
Jon looked hard at JT and took in the reality of the words. Would they actually come back and try this again. Looking around at the slaughter he questioned the rationality of such a move. But then he knew the Order was not rational. They would do what ever they could to make sure that their beliefs and coercive way of life would not be hindered.
“Good, if they come back we will make them pay even worse.”
Jon walked back toward the truck he had found the boxes of Urban clothing in. He opened one of them and retrieved a size of extra large and large. A few moments later the Humvee he wanted arrived whereby he instructed the driver to park the vehicle off the road and then took the keys. He then headed back toward Doc and the Colonel. On his way he ran into Mort, Riley and JT surveying the field.
“Man that was some fight.” said Riley.
“Yea they sure did put up a fight but we whipped em in the end.” said Mort.
“Jon, I hope not too many of us got hurt, I know about my men but how does it look.”
“Well it is never good, looks like we lost twelve men and about fifteen wounded.”
“Damn, Damn, that is twelve empty seats at tables.” said JT.
“Yea and families without fathers and husbands.” said Riley.
“And some sons as a couple of the younger boys were killed.” said Jon.
Jon stopped for a moment and again looked at the dead. He also realized that for the Troopers it would go down hard as it looked like they had about three hundred men down. He felt bad for them even though they were the enemy of sorts. He began to think about history and the relevance of what had happened. He wondered if Confederate soldiers at Fredericksburg had the same feelings, or the Northern soldiers at Gettysburg. But no, this was not a Civil war and in no way should be the same. Or then again maybe it was.
“Hey, guy’s, I am going to take Doc and some wounded to the Millers and then pick up Amanda. When you all are through here, come on over to the house and let’s have some drinks. Frankly, I need one.”
“We will be there Jon.” said JT
“You can count on it.” said Mort.
“Good, then I will see you there.”
Jon came back to where he had left Doc and the Colonel. Doc had dressed the Colonel’s head and was conversing with him.
“Hey, let’s get back to the Miller’s Doc and see how the other wounded are.”
“Ok, let me get my stuff.”
Jon looked over and Nathan was still there next to his father.
“Doc, let’s get Nathan and his dad back with us as well.”
Jon walked the four hundred yards and got his truck. He brought it back and he and Doc began to pick up Nathan’s Father to lay him in the back. Colonel James seeing the men struggle jumped up and came toward them.
“Let me help. I have a lot of experience with this.”
The three carefully set the body in the back and Nathan crawled in the back as well. Jon and Doc retrieved their weapons and bags and loaded them in. Jon looked around and saw Chris standing watching the Troopers loading wounded. He held his rifle at the ready in case of trouble.
“Chris, we are heading back, do you want to come with us?”
“No Dad, I think I should stay here and help out, make sure these Troopers stay in line.”
Jon smiled as he realized his son had truly become a man and he was proud.
“Alright son, but catch a ride when you get ready and come on to the house.”
“Got it dad.”
Jon drove the truck the couple of miles to the Millers and pulled up in front of the barn. He immediately saw that the place looked like some kind of a field hospital as some of the wounded were sitting outside on chairs being attended to. He saw women scurrying about with pales and bandages. The valley had not seen this kind of death and wounds before but they were acting in a manner that made Jon proud. Doc jumped out of the truck and went in to the barn to help with the wounded. Jon, Nathan, and Colonel James got out of the truck and entered the barn. The first sight they saw were some ten bodies laid out with blankets covering them. They were the dead men of the valley. Nathan looked at Jon.
“I think we ought to get Dad and lay him down.”
“Yes son.” said Jon.
Jon, Nathan, and Colonel James headed out and retrieved the body and laid it down in the barn. As they did Nathan’s mom and brothers and sisters came over. When they saw who it was they all grabbed each other and began to cry. Colonel James could not help but lower his head and look at Jon.
“Jon, I am sorry, I am sorry about this. Sorry that we brought this to you good folk.”
“Colonel, you obeyed orders. Orders from people that have become so warped in their desire to spread their twisted political beliefs that they will do anything.”
“Yea, you got that right.” said James.
At that moment Amanda saw her father and quickly moved toward him, well as quickly as someone on crutches could move. She came up to him and hugged him.
“Father, I am glad you are ok. Where is Chris?”
“He is back helping out making sure the captured Troopers are causing no trouble.”
“So you all licked um good huh. Serves them right.”
At that point she saw Colonel James and looked back at Jon.
“Father he is one of them what is he doing here?”
“Well yes he is but I will explain him later when we get back home. Amanda, go to Nathan, his father was killed in the battle.”
Amanda looked over to Nathan and his family and saw them in their sorrow.
“Oh no, yes I wi
ll go over to them and help.”
Amanda went over and grabbed Nathan’s hand. When he saw her he gave her a hug and the tears began to flow again.
“You people are really good folk in this valley, you know that Jon Smith.”
“We look out for each other and we live hard. It is the way we like it. We don’t believe in Socialism, we believe in doing for ourselves and if a neighbor needs help we pitch in because we want to, not because we are forced to.”
Colonel James looked again at all the people working in the barn. He stepped outside and took in a breath of fresh air.
“I knew it; I knew that these folks were just like I thought they were. They are just like me.”
Chapter 19
The remainder of the 501st Regiment made its slow decent out of the mountains back toward the bivouac area that they had been in for the last few months. Initial results had been radioed back to Governor Tarl and now he was fully aware of the failure. Not only had this group been defeated but the other two that had had been dispatched to take care of two other outlier groups had suffered similar defeats. The 501st had arrived with some two thousand men and now had roughly half that number still alive and healthy. The trucks were filled with wounded, dead, and men that were beaten. Upon arrival the column pulled to an out building and began to unload. Wounded were taken to a make shift hospital while the dead were piled in a warehouse. The central group that had attacked the valley of Jon Smith had done so with seven hundred men. Of those seven hundred one hundred seventy five were dead and two hundred were wounded. Colonel James was presumed dead as they found his decapitated body. Major Jeffers had suffered the same fate as had several captains. The defeat was total. One of the toughest Regiments in the Order had been crushed.
Lieutenant Davis walked into the headquarters and was immediately met by Governor Tarl and Adjutant Schneider. They had come down from the city to monitor the battle but now they were there to conduct an immediate debriefing. The three of them moved toward an office and shut the door.
“Davis it is” said Tarl.
“Yes sir.”
Tarl was noticeably angry and befuddled at this point.
“Davis, what the hell happened up there? I mean you are Storm Troopers that had heavy equipment and they are woodsman with rifles. You should have crushed them.”
“Well sir, it seems they had more than rifles.”
“What do you mean?”
“They had mines, rocket launchers and what seemed to be AR 15s. They also seemed to know our every move as they destroyed both of our flanking forces and cut our column to pieces.”
“Where could they have gotten such equipment?” said Schneider.
Tarl had a look of disgust as he now fully realized that he had little at his disposal to remove or even destroy these outliers. He also realized there would be no hiding the results from the public as the casualty count was much too high. He sat down and began to wring his hands.
“Governor Tarl, we have numerous wounded and we need to get them to the regional hospitals for care.” said Davis.
“Yes, yes of course get them transported. Schneider, get on the phone to the regional health administrator and let him know what is coming.”
“Yes Governor, right away.”
Tarl looked at Lieutenant Davis and shook his head.
“Davis, were you briefed on the man that was the leader of the outliers, a Mr. Jon Smith?”
“Yes sir I did get a brief on him.”
“Did you see him there?”
“Yes, he and what looked to be his other commanders directed us when we were moving the dead and wounded out.”
“Do you think you inflicted many casualties on the other side?”
“Sir, it was hard to tell. We saw them helping out some of their wounded but everything was in such disarray, what with the smoke poring out of our vehicles and the number of casualties we had.”
Tarl went back to his hand wringing as he had heard enough.
“Davis, go see about your Troopers. I need to get back to the city.”
“Yes sir Governor.”
Davis left the room and Tarl walked out as well. He and Schneider walked out and crawled into the government vehicle and headed back. Upon their arrival they walked to the elevator and made their way to the 51st floor. The sun was setting as Tarl sat behind his desk and looked out toward the mountains.
“Governor Tarl, can I get you anything?”
“No, not right now, I just need some time to think.”
Schneider left the office and closed the door behind him. Tarl sat at his desk and brooded about the events of the past day. He began to wonder what this would all mean for his career. Would the Order see him as unfit to run the region? But why would they he surmised as the failure was in the military, not his running of the bureaucracy. He reasoned that part of the problem of the Order was that the military was still too far removed from the leaders that knew better. The civilian government should always have full control and maybe even to the point of battlefield decisions.
There was a knock at the door and Adjutant Schneider walked in.
“Governor, there is a call from New City. It is Grand Governor Gomez. Shall I bring up the video monitor?”
“No, I will do it. Schneider, let me speak alone with Gomez.”
Adjutant Schneider left the room as Tarl brought up the video communication. Governor Gomez appeared and greeted Tarl.
“Governor Tarl, I have received word that our military exercise to remove the separatists has failed.”
“Yes sir it has.”
“What is the status of the 501st and can they re-group and try again.’
“Governor, they lost fifty percent of their men and no, they are a shattered group.”
“One of our toughest Regiments was that badly beaten? I guess we underestimated our enemy.” said Gomez.
“Yes sir, they apparently acquired weapons that were effective at knocking out our armor.”
Tarl paused as did Gomez, both men not sure what to do next.
“Well Tarl, I don’t think it is worth trying to go in again do you?”
“But sir, we cannot leave them there. How much longer will it be before they are able to influence the populace here into thinking that the old ways are better. If they did then what would happen to us?”
“Precisely and that is why we are going to use Arc Light.”
“Arc Light, what exactly is that?” asked Tarl.
It is a weapon system that uses satellite guidance to direct bombs that are launched from planes that fly at roughly twenty five thousand feet when they launch. It is high impact and precise and will destroy all the dwelling and inhabitants of that valley and the other separatist locations.”
“But sir, that kind of force will be visible to all the people in the city.”
“Yes and that is why we will launch in the early morning hours before light. I think that four in the morning would be a good time. It will take three days to get the system ready.”
“So in three days the problems will be over.” said Tarl.
“Yes, three days and you can then go back to running your region and making sure that we continue to advance as a civilization.”
“Very well sir, I will wait until word. Thank you Grand Governor Gomez.”
The screen went blue as the call was ended. Tarl sat at his desk in a feeling of mixed emotions. He wanted nothing more than to see the valley people and Jon Smith brought into the Urban world and forced to live the life that they disdained. In many ways he felt cheated. But in the end it was a solution.
“I think when it is over; I will still build that villa in his valley, on top of his remains.”
Chapter 20
As Jon pulled the truck up to the house that he and Chris built, he took a moment and looked at it. Amanda,
sitting by him looked over.
“What is it Father?”
“Oh, I was just thinking about this place and all the hard work we put into it. Also all the good times we had, especially the last few months. Some how I feel like it is all about to go away.”
“Well why would it I mean don’t you think that the Order is going to quit sending troops in here after this last battle?”
Jon stopped a moment and thought.
“Yes, I don’t think they will send anymore, but I fear what they might do instead. Well let’s get out, Doc, JT, Riley and Angus will be here shortly.
Jon got out and walked around to the back of the truck where Colonel James and Chris had ridden. James got out and looked around.
“Jon, this is one beautiful place you got here.”
“Well we think so. Come on in and take a load off your feet.”
The four went inside and prepared to relax. Jon and Chris stopped off at the store closet to put away rifles, ammo belts, knives and clothing. Amanda made her way to the sofa and sat down. Colonel Jeffers noted her use of crutches.
“Amanda, what happened to your leg?”
Amanda looked toward Jon and then cracked a slight smile.
“Well, it seems that one of your commando assassin units came here to kill my father and instead shot me.”
Colonel James had a look of disgust on his face.
“I must tell you I did not order that. My second and the Regional Governor cooked up that scheme. By the way, what became of those men?”
Jon was now standing in front of them and answered.
“Well colonel, first that team went and killed an elderly couple who were very dear friends of ours. Then they made their way here. Amanda was out walking and surprised them as she was armed and took the first shot. They then shot her shortly before I arrived. Then the team headed into the woods.”
Jon paused for a moment wondering how much of the story he should tell.
“Where I tracked them down and shot and killed all three. I am certain that their bodies made a fine feast for wolves, bears, and coyotes.” said Jon with a grin.
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