Chapter 18

Ten hours earlier, Montana-Sasketchewan

Chief Robert ‘Bright Feather’ Redstone was the leader of the nearly 250,000 Cree living in Canada and Montana, mostly on the former reservations – now called the lands of the Cree Nation: Eeyou Istchee – Cree for Land of the People. He parked his Jeep in front of the SEAL Team 9 headquarters tent, on the dirt road just southeast of the junction of Railway Avenue and an unnamed road in Happy Valley No. 10, in the hamlet of Big Beaver, Saskatchewan.

The 15 permanent residents of Big Beaver were overwhelmed when 52 armed men and women strolled into town, wearing the uniform of the U.S. They were escorted by two dozen Cree warriors. The SEAL team made a camp in Big Beaver on the southern prairie of Saskatchewan, on the Eeyou Istchee. Big Beaver has four north-south roads: 1^st Street West, Centre Street, 1^st Street East, and 2^nd Street. Three of the four are 3 blocks long; Centre Street is just 1 block long. There are three east-west streets: First Avenue East, 1 Avenue East and 2 Avenue East. It would seem that nobody wanted to live on a 3rd street or avenue.

The whole town is on a small plot of land on the north side of Railway Avenue, a ‘major’ unpaved road that leads through the Eeyou Istchee to the east and west. There is one business – Aust’s Store – and the Lutheran Church is just west of the town on Railway Avenue. Most of the inhabitants work in the store or in the electric generation scientific project just ‘up the road’ a piece.

The SEAL and Cree warriors made camp and proceeded to make friends with the 15 residents of the town. SEAL Team 9 had been on ‘extended maneuvers’ for nearly a year and a half. They came into Big Beaver during the winter at the invitation of Chief Redstone. The SEALs knew, of course, that their chief, Lt. Cmdr. Samuel Redstone, was the nephew of the Cree Chief. Nobody cared. They had somewhere to go and get warm in the cold of the Saskatchewan winter. Winter became spring and still they were there.

Now, Chief Bright Feather Redstone came to see his nephew. He was an 82 year old Cree, who wore jeans, cowboy boots and a plaid flannel shirt year ‘round. The Chief knocked gently on the upright at the entrance to SEAL Team 9’s HQ. Commander Sam Redstone smiled a welcome.

Sam: “Hey, uncle! This is a pleasant surprise. It’s been too long.”

Bright Feather: “I come in peace, nephew. Could we have some privacy?”

Sam Redstone was a taken back at the Chief’s words. Of course, he ‘came in peace.’ His team had run over 50 mock engagements with the Cree, despite the fact that his official orders had ordered him to use force to take the scientific project that revolutionized the electric generation industry. His team’s weapons – computerized weapons – simply wouldn’t work against Canadians or Cree. The Commander and many of the SEALs thought they detected an intelligence behind the failures, but they could not figure out who or what that intelligence was. They were ‘at peace’ with the Cree, and SEAL Team 9 was just playing out the string until their orders changed.

The team’s XO, Lt. Robert Melchior, looked up sharply from his desk at the Chief’s request for privacy. He put his computer to sleep and just looked at his boss, waiting. His boss naturally responded to the Chief, “Sure.” And he nodded at the XO, who got up and exited the tent.

“I’ll be in the mess if you need me,” he told the Lt. Cmdr.

Sam: “Okay, uncle. This is as private as it gets around here.”

Bright Feather: “I will tell you a story.” He took the visitors chair. “In the days when my father was Chief of the People...”

S: “That was Grandfather Redstone?”

BF: “Yes ... When he was Chief, one year he attended a meeting of the All the People ... you know, all the Native Tribes in Canada and the United States.”

Sam got comfortable; sometimes the Chief’s stories went on a long time.

BF: “The President of the Navajo Nation told the other Presidents of an agreement he had forged with a Ms Lenti of Europe. She was sometimes said to be of Switzerland, sometimes other places, but that is of no consequence.

“She would provide the funds, the Navajo would provide the manpower. They built a major power generation facility and saved the southwest of the U.S. when the Chinese Army tried some foolishness. In addition, they were aligned with the Patriot Assassin. Do you remember that?”

S: “Yes, we studied that case.”

BF: “It was three cases and a controlled invasion of a foreign country, and it was a ‘them’ not a ‘him.’ But that is not relevant today. Ms Lenti worked with all the Tribes. She helped with power generation projects in the northwest, but using water and wind, not solar, agriculture and fabric projects in the southeast, and unique meat food projects with the western Canadian tribes. And of course, she helped us develop the project that changed the understanding of physics and the electric generating industry. We didn’t do much on that project, but we were a part of it.

“And THAT is not relevant today. It is just part of the story.

“Ms Lenti’s son, Michael Lenti has called me early this morning with an amazing story, and that is the story for today. He has asked me not to reveal any details so that you can hear of it directly.

“I ask that you accompany me to the Lutheran Church just up the road to hear the details. Will you come, just on faith?”

S: “Interesting story. But it is you I trust, uncle. If you say it is worth my time, of course I will go with you. It’s not that I have so much to do here ... arrange calisthenics. Busy work.” [laugh]

They stopped at the mess tent and told the XO that Sam was going out for a couple of hours. Then they jumped in the Chief’s jeep and left for the Lutheran Church. There was no one there at this time of day.

The two men walked into the church and encountered a young woman standing near the pulpit. She was wearing a long white gown and combat boots. The SEAL team commander recognized the boots from a distance. They were from Lands End, steel-toed boots if he remembered correctly. The other thing that was startling about her was that she was ‘standing’ about two feet off the ground.

“Chief Redstone, it is a great pleasure to meet you,” she said. “I assume this is Lieutenant Commander Redstone?”

Chief: “okimâskwêsis kisemanitowiwin. “ [Literally: ‘She is the daughter of the Great Spirit’]

A: “No, honored father. It is I who am humbled. Please be at ease.”

Neither man had encountered anything like her – she didn’t even use her mouth to speak. It was unsettling. She pointed at the row of seats in the front of the church and took one of the chairs and sat herself.

A: “I am not of the Gods. But I serve all Gods and I serve no God. I come from another planet and represent those who came many, many years ago to help man come up from the dirt. Now I am here to help again. Nothing less than the future of mankind rests in the balance.”

She looked mostly at the SEAL as she said this.

A: “For now, though, I need some help with a very small task. It is not small to the girl who was kidnapped, but...” [She smiled.]

Sam: “And this involves me, how? Sounds like a problem for the police.”

A: “If it were only that simple. You see, the perpetrator of the kidnapping is President Ellis. The kidnappee is the daughter of Senator MacDowell. The thugs holding her want me in exchange for her. And I’m going to hand myself over.”

S: “What can I do? I’m not a cop.”

A: “And yet you direct a force of men and women ... the only possible force within range that I can count on ... I hope.”

S: “We can’t go up against the government. It’s treason. And even if I wanted to, the men won’t do it, either. I won’t order them into treason against the United States government ... Even assuming that it was possible ... What do you mean we’re the only force within range?”