"Yes, sir," the private said.
"Teddy, have Mama to take a look at them wounds. Tell her to bandage him up properly."
"Yessum, master," Teddy said.
Teddy escorted the private out of the library. General James sat and looked at the envelope bearing Colonel Younger’s official seal. He noticed his guests were trying to not show their enormous curiosity. James reached for the letter opener on the table beside the ashtray. He slit open the envelope and retrieved the paper from inside to read.
"Dammit!" General James said.
"Is the colonel in good health, General?" Le Trosne asked. Jeremiah was at the edge of his seat, but said nothing.
General James waved the letter. "It would appear, ambassador, that damn madman Colonel Custer has once again pulled together enough fools to die fighting for the dead nation called the United States of America!"
"Really?" Ambassador said.
"Amazing! It's hard to believe, General," Jeremiah said. "I remember running into a few of his supporters in Canada. Very strange."
Teddy returned a little later. "Is there anything else, master?"
"Yes, Teddy. Send a boy to get Captain Greene. I want to talk to him and this. Also get Lieutenant Morgan too."
"Yessum, master." Teddy left.
Later Captain Greene came into the library with another man. "You wanted to see us, General?"
"Yes, Captain, Lieutenant." The general told what he had just learned from the letter. "Morgan, get your crew and that army airship of yours ready to fly."
"Yes, sir!" Morgan turned and left the room.
"I want you to get a platoon ready," General James said. "We'll attack Custer from behind. It might work if we plan it right."
"We, sir?" Captain Greene said. "You're coming with us?"
"Yes, I am. I--"
"Where are you going?" Ashton said from the doorway of the library. "I saw Betsey taking care of a wounded soldier."
"Colonel Younger's fort been attacked by Custer again," General James said. "We need to get out there to help him. Maybe we can finally catch that vermin, Custer."
"We?" Ashton said. "Why are you going out there? At your age?"
"Age?" General James grumbled when she poked him in his potbelly.
"Major should be back soon enough. Shouldn't he?" Ashton said.
"Well, that's possible, ma'am," Captain Greene said and realized too late that he shouldn't have and got a glare from the general.
"You're not thinking of taking that old Army airship, are you?" Ashton said. "It's hardly more than a large balloon."
"It can carry a platoon of soldiers, Ashton."
"Too slow. You could use my little airship. It would zip you over there and back faster than a whirlwind."
"It's ready to go?" Captain Greene said.
"I thought you would have to repair it after its run to Toronto and back," General James said.
"Already done, Frank," Ashton said. "It's even refueled. I was planning on making a test run today, but if you and Captain Greene want Lieutenant Morgan to go check on the fort with a couple of your men real quick-" she paused to shrug -"that would be well."
"Well. Good. Captain, gather a couple of your men and tell Lieutenant Morgan to go look at the fort in Ashton’s airship. Afterwards, y'all get back here. Major will probably be back by then and we'll go from there."
"Yes, sir!"
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
Ellie and the Wangs.
Ellie Jackson rode into Cleveland and put her horse up in a stable at a cheap inn. She had gotten money from her cousins, but needed to save what little she had. She really needed to find an airship to get to Michigan. The inn had no tables where you could eat, but just a few old chairs and stools. She bowl a stew of potatoes and onions and sat on a stool to eat.
She wanted to ask people about the airship. Though, most were men and boys that seemed tired from work, they didn't seem too friendly.
Ellie left after her meal to find a saloon where people with some beer or whiskey in them might make them talk more openly.
"There's these guys that say they have the fastest airship on the planet," a Danish sounding man said.
"That piece of crap is held together by spit and string!" shouted another drunk.
"It might be," the Dane said. "It still is fast. I saw it fly."
There was some yelling and cursing, but Ellie was eventually able to learn that the crew of that airship had a table in the back of the bar. She went to look for them. A variety of characters sat at the tables; they looked to be in conversations that they would prefer to keep secret. This she realized because they all went silent when she voiced her needs.
Ellie eventually found an empty table. It looked like a rough place where a lot of people had lost their lives. She knew that in such a place you had to be ready to fight at any time. She was ready. Gun or fists. Knees and teeth if they were needed. Sometimes a lady has to be animal to survive.
"What do you want to drink?"
"What?" Ellie looked up to see a young brunette girl with a bodice cut so low that Ellie could tell that the nipples were pink and long like that on a good milking cow. She wasn't the prettiest girl in the world, but her smile was sweet. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"
"Drink, sweetheart," the waitress said. "What do you what to drink?"
"Beer?"
"We got that. My name is Jessica. I'll be right back."
Ellie watched her walk away for a second and then scanned the room again. She wondered if maybe she should have been more discreet than she had been.
Of course, that has always been my problem. I'm like that girl that...no. To be honest, it's my personality that is like that girl's bodice. I just let it all fall out without any concern for politeness. And I'm afraid I'll never be able to stop until I'm dead.
While Ellie was thinking and watching for trouble, Jessica returned with a tray of beer mugs. Jessica set six on the table and sat beside Ellie in one of the three empty chairs.
"Thanks, Jessica," Ellie said. "I wasn't looking for company at the moment. I do appreciate the interest, though."
"I thought you might. But I'm not a waitress here. I'm the pilot on the airship that you was asking about, but my name is Jessica. Jessica Wang."
"Uh, hi," Ellie felt under the table for the butt of her gun. "I'm Ellie. Ellie Jackson. Wang? You're Chinese?"
"I'm very watered down. Like the beer."
"Her father is half-Chinese and her mother is one-third Chinese." The man who spoke appeared from behind Ellie and sat in the chair opposite Jessica. "Jessica is my daughter. My name is Marco Polo Wang and I'm captain of the Hell-Beast. This my first mate Helen Wang, and she's my wife too."
Another brunette with slanted Asian eyes and high cheekbones appeared with two white men with long blond hair and beards that looked a lot alike. The twins, as Ellie guessed, had brought a couple of chairs and sat together between Jessica and her mother.
"That's part of the triplets; Jed and Ted Carmichael," Captain Wang said. "Ed Carmichael is back with the Hell-Beast and so is our son Chuck."
"Nice family you have, Captain," Ellie said. "I need a fast airship to get me into General Frank James' plantation in Michigan. I can pay you now and a lot more when we get there."
"Who are you?" Helen Wang asked.
"I'm Colonel Ellie Jackson," she said. She realized that making something up could be a big mistake and she didn't have the time to waste looking for another airship crew. She held up her metal hand. "I'm with CSA Army Intelligence. I was recently injured-my hand was cut off during an assignment. I'm President 'Stonewall' Jackson's daughter. I could pay you a lot for your service to your country."
"Our country?" Helen gave a cold stare. She didn't say any more.
"We could use the money, Mom," Jessica said.
Captain Wang held up his hand and looked at his wife. She slinked closer and the two of them whispered back and forth. Eventually they pulled away from each other and looked
at Ellie.
"We'll do it," Captain Wang said. "For less pay than you would think."
"Praise the lord. You're true patriots," Ellie said, though she didn't believe them.
"Not exactly, Colonel," Captain Wang said. "We have recently lost our benefactor and are struggling to survive."
"So you need me?" Ellie said.
"We thought maybe you could be our benefactor," Captain Wang said. "An airship needs to be registered and regularly filled with helium and coal."
"Not to mention the repairs," one of the triplets said.
"How soon can y'all get that airship of yours a-moving?" Ellie said.
"I think we could go now if you're willing, Colonel," Captain Wang said.
"Great." Ellie slugged down some beer. "As soon as I sell my horse, we are gone."
#
An hour later, as Captain Wang and his crew led Ellie to the Hell-Beast, she began to worry that she had just made the worst mistake in her life. Ellie thought it appeared to be a cross between an airship and a junk pile. The gondola hung from three large balloons and a dozen smaller ones. She counted the number of propellers on it, but kept losing count around thirty.
"What is that?" Ellie said.
"That's the Hell-Beast!" Captain Wang said. "Ain't she somethin'?"
"Somethin'. I'm not sure what, but it is somethin'."
"Yep. All aboard! Get that steam engine running hot! We need speed today! We are taking this lady to General James' plantation! Hero of the Confederacy!"
"Something like that," Ellie said, but not too loud.
Ellie watched in amazement mixed with a good measure of fear as the Wang family and the Carmichael triplets raced everywhere over and above the airship to get it ready to go. Soon, the order was given to release the lines and before Ellie knew it a strong wind blew into her hair as the airship called the Hell-Beast rocketed northward through the sky.
Ellie sat with Mrs. Wang and her daughter to eat some Chinese gruel called congee that was made of boiled rice with pork.
"You planning on killing this woman you're after?" Mrs. Wang asked.
"I-I think so." Ellie took a bite of what was in her tin spoon.
"You and her used to be friends?" Jessica asked.
"Actually...lovers," Ellie confessed.
"Oh.”
"I see," Mrs. Wang said. "That's why you are so eager to kill her and so eager not to."
"Huh?" Ellie said.
"You might not want to do this. If you killed her you might not want to live with yourself afterwards."
"I don't know." Ellie stirred the food with her spoon.
"Yep, that's the problem. Isn't it?" Mrs. Wang said.
"Maybe you should find someone else to replace her," Jessica said.
"Yep," Ellie said. "But I need to get rid of her first."
"Are you sure that's the best plan?”
"Huh?" Ellie said with her mouth full of congee.
"Jessica had another brother and he was in love with a woman," Mrs. Wang said. "They got in a big fight and he killed her. Afterwards he just walked around like a ghost and cared about nothing. Eventually he hung himself from a tree.”
"It was...terrible," Jessica chewed on a fingernail.
"I-well, I don't know what else to do," Ellie said.
"Don't do anything, miss," Mrs. Wang said.
Ellie got up and walked away to be by herself trying not to think of the good times she had had with a woman named Momiji.
CHAPTER FIFTY
Repair.
Lieutenant Commander Brice watched the aftermath of the battlefield through the AM screen. Where is he? Brice moved it around until he focused on Colonel Custer walking the ruins of Fort Detroit that had been taken from him and he had finally gotten back into his hands. Will Custer be able to keep it? He has supports in Canada and other parts of the world, but how long will that last? Several of Custer’s officers followed him as toured the Fort.
"We got a lot of rebuilding to do here," Colonel Custer said. "Captain Goncalvez."
"Yes, sir." Captain Goncalvez was a Mexican mercenary with an expertise in field artillery.
"It might be a while before any Confederates attack, but still want you to get your artillery pieces in place around the fort. We'll need some new trenches out there too."
"Yes, sir!" Captain Goncalvez saluted and left.
"You never know, they might have gotten to get word out to General James."
"Yes, Colonel," Major Dodger said.
"Lieutenant Tubman," Colonel Custer said to the black woman who worked as a scout leader for the colonel. She unofficially had the rank of lieutenant, though women didn't have ranks in the US Army nor were women supposed to be in the U.S. Army, but these were sad times for the U.S. Army.
"Yes, sir." Harriet Tubman delivered a sloppy salute. "I'll get ‘em patrols out there, Colonel."
"Thank you, Lieutenant Tubman." Colonel Custer watched the muscular woman walk away. He then said, "Lieutenant Taylor."
"Sir?" Lieutenant Taylor said.
"I want you in charge of cutting trees for repairing this fort. I know Fort Detroit's made of stone and brick, but that's the best we have to work with now. We'll need more firewood too."
"Yes sir." Lieutenant Taylor saluted before he left.
Broken stone from the walls and other debris was being pulled away for scrap or to be burned. Also graves were being dug for the dead, and a larger grave for the remains of soldiers from both sides who couldn't be identified. The mass graves had become a horrible SOP—Standard Operating Procedure. Brice thought Custer had a deep sadness on his face.
"God help these poor souls if you hear me," Colonel Custer mumbled.
"What was that, sir?" Major Dodger asked.
"Nothing, Major. Nothing much at least."
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
Future Plans.
Hirohira walked into the navigation room where Lieutenant Commander Brice and Lieutenant McKeon were waiting. He had heard the captain was going to have an all-night brainstorming session with his senior officers. Which was probably why Brice had ordered them to this meeting before the captain's meeting. At the time he was worrying about Wendy, Ensign Montgomery. They had not spoken to each other since the earlier incident in the gym.
Why am I dreading the moment when she walks in, Hirohira thought. Don't I know what to say? What will I say? I--
"Hirohira-san," McKeon said. "I've some ideas on what we can do. We’ll talk about it when Wendy gets here."
"Hello, Mr. Izumo," Brice said. "Take a seat."
"Yes, sir." Hirohira took a chair.
The door opened again and Ensign Wendy Montgomery walked into the room.
"Hello, Miss Montgomery," Brice said. "Take a seat by Hirohira and we can begin."
"Uh-yes, sir."
Hirohira nodded to her and she politely returned the nod.
"McKeon has a new idea on a weapon that we could try," Brice said. "Especially if we can sync with the satellites. But the point of this meeting is to brainstorm over what we have been doing and how it could help the future in any way. Now I hand it over to McKeon to start."
McKeon held up a model of a naval airship and pointed at the lower pods where the guns were located.
"It is current practice in most air navies to place guns on the front, sides and rear of an airship," McKeon began. "This is based on the ships in the sea navies. It seems to have worked so far, but there are alternative theories on air combat that is usually ignored by more conservative officers. Before our century, as you well know, cannons usually didn't fire explosive shells. What did exist back then were very primitive, of course. Now we can fire a shell from a rifled cannon and it will either explode on impact or we can fix to explode in the air before it impacts a target. I've read of a number of theories that recommend dropping one of these shells from an airship. This way we won't have to descend so low and offer ourselves as a target to the enemy. In fact, we will be able to use the satellites to see
where to fire upon or drop bombs on the enemy target no matter how high up we are. It would be almost perfect. We couldn’t miss.”
"A number of old-timers won't like it," Hirohira said. “But aren't some people already doing it?"
"Yes," Wendy said. "Mostly pirates and tribal people. Though they have been used successfully."
"Right, Wendy," McKeon said. "The Sioux have use dynamite bought or stolen from illegal miners in their lands and along with old balloons that they'd patched together while the Apache bands have been using them to fight off both the Comanche and the Texas Rangers."
They talked more about the possibility, but it didn't seem that it would work any better than what they had now, until they got home and redesigned the Kaede. So after a while Brice called the meeting over and everyone got up to leave.
#
Outside the room, Wendy stopped Hirohira. "I think we need to talk rather than just avoiding each other."
Hirohira felt her hand on his arm and tried to push away any lower animal thoughts that her nearness and smell generated in him.
"Yes, Wendy-san," Hirohira said. "I think we should talk."
They walked through the airship, silent at first, because neither was sure what to say. Somehow they found themselves in the stables.
"As I recall," Wendy confessed. "I kissed you. Not the other way around."
"True," Hirohira said.
"At the time I felt that I was doing it to trick you and throw you off. Later that night I thought maybe I had been feeling something else."
"What? I-I am her bodyguard and secretary. I'm not-I-you're her lover."
"I am. I love her very much and would never want to do something that would hurt her."
"I love another woman whom I want to be my wife," Hirohira said. "She's the mother of my daughter. I want-"
Wendy kissed Hirohira again.
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
The Truth of Spies.
General Frank James sat on the front porch in the morning reading a new book called Tom Sawyer by a gentleman named Mark Twain. He had heard rumors that the writer was a Union refugee living in Japan's California at a city called San Francisco. This was James's second reading; he was kind of liking it. Ashton had recommended it to him. He put the book down when Captain Greene approached along the rock-covered pathway to the porch. Captain Greene saluted.
The Mighty Airship Kaede. (The Mighty Airships of Earth. Book 1) Page 20