Chapter 23

The following new characters appear in this chapter:

Taweesin

Professor Prawut’s brother, 5’-6’’ tall, 140 pounds, 46 years old, thinning black hair, brown eyes

Pongpen

Professor Prawut’s older sister, 5’-2’’ tall, 135 pounds, 48 years old, long black hair turning gray, brown eyes

Natsuda

Professor Prawut’s younger sister, 5’-2’’ tall, 130 pounds, 44 years old, long black hair, brown eyes

Prasarn

Professor Prawut’s nephew, Pongpen’s son, 5’-7’’ tall, 130 pounds, 28 years old, short black hair, brown eyes

Chirathep

Professor Prawut’s nephew, Natsuda’s son, 5’-6’’ tall, 125 pounds, 24 years old, medium length black hair, brown eyes

Saman Somsuk

New interpreter, Political Science student, male, 5’-6’’ tall, 120 pounds, 23 years old, medium length hair, gray eyes

Mae Ning

New interpreter, Political Science student, female, 5’-3’’ tall, 115 pounds, 22 years old, long shiny black hair in a ponytail, very dark eyes

The following character returns from previous stories:

Naomi O’Flannagain (Omi)

SFC, Magic user Team A-31, 5’-7’’ tall, 135 pounds, 36C-24-36, 30 years old, long red hair, green eyes

Cleve has the Narrative back

We were all up early the morning after returning from the Wat. Kanisha and those on the Operation to Vientiane left that morning. They were gone for five days. Kanisha called in each evening to keep us informed on where they were, and what they had done that day. Trish and I were somewhat surprised by how their encounter with the guerrillas had turned out.

Those on the Vientiane Operation had only been gone a few hours when Professor Prawut arrived in a van with his brother and two nephews. The Marines on guard at the front gate notified me of their arrival. Trish, Lucy, and I went out to greet them and see what they had to say. Following the usual greetings, Professor Prawut made the introductions.

“This is my brother Taweesin. He is the president of our family’s transportation business. These others are my nephews, Prasarn and Chirathep. They are my sisters’ sons. They will be driving two of the buses. My brother will drive the third bus. My sisters didn’t choose to come out here today,” he told us

“I thought you were going to have employees drive the buses,” the Colonel said when he had finished.

“That was the original plan, but we have lost a number of drivers, as many are afraid of the disease,” the brother, Taweesin, told us. “We barely have enough drivers to take care of business now, and have had deliveries canceled because not everyone is open for business now,” he continued.

“All right, when will you be able to start moving the families and dependents of our employees?” the Colonel asked.

“Would two days from now be too soon?” Taweesin asked. The Colonel looked over at me for advice.

“We will need to see how quickly our employees can gather their families and dependents,” I told him, but had a questions for him.

“How large are these buses and how many people can they carry? Also, where will our people be able to board the buses and at what time of day?” I asked.

“The buses are regular commercial buses and can easily carry 50 people in comfort or 70 if crowded,” Taweesin told us.

“That’s good. Where can they board the buses?” I continued.

“It would depend on where they live. If they live close together, we could pick them up near where they live. If they are scattered across the city, it would be better for them to come to a central area to be picked up,” he told me, but had a question also.

“Where are we to deliver all of these people, and how many will there be?” he asked.

“The proposed site is an old, abandoned Wat not far from here. The use of the site was to be arranged by one of the Monks who was here for the cremation of the dead terrorists,” the Colonel told him to raised eyebrows.

“The terrorists have attacked you?” he asked in shocked surprise.

“Yes, but they won’t try that again. Most of them were killed during the attack and those that we captured were turned over to local authorities,” the Colonel told him.

“We will be providing security around the site for the vaccinations,” I told him following that.

“Yes, we can see that you have many soldiers here,” Prasarn, the nephew, said as he looked around at the many Marines visible.

“Those aren’t soldiers, young man,” Lucy told him. “They are Space Marines. It would greatly upset them if they heard you calling them soldiers,” she finished but had something to add to that.

“We are also Magic users and will ward the area where the vaccinations will be given,” she said with a smile at Prasarn’s shocked expression on hearing this.

“We should adjourn to the mess hall and speak to our employees to determine where they live and where their dependents and relatives live,” I suggested.

On the way to the mess hall, we were joined by Samsung and the two new interpreters, Saman Somsak (male) and Mae Ning (female). Kanisha and Jong had introduced them to us last night when we returned from the Wat. Sompung knew both of them and later assured us that they were both fluent in both spoken and written Thai and Standard.

At the mess hall, Sompung had all of the kitchen help come out to the mess area and sit at a couple of tables. Taweesin was introduced by Professor Prawut before they got down to learning where everyone lived including their relatives. It turned out that they all lived in a two square block area that was just off of one of the major highways in New Bangkok.

“It will require four buses to move your 180 dependents and relatives plus yourselves to the Wat,” Taweesin told them. “Also, each of you will need to be there to assure us that they are your dependents or relatives,” he explained to the women in Thai. “Each bus can carry 50 adults in comfort. If many are children, more can be moved at one time. Also, what time do you start work?” he finished. His words had been interpreted in Standard so we knew what he was telling the women.

They began talking together in rapid Thai as soon as he had finished and soon had an answer for him.

“Seventy of our group are children. Many are young children. Several can sit on a seat for two adults,” they told him, and the interpreters told us.

“Good, then three buses will do. We have three buses so we can bring all of you to the Wat at the same time. This will simplify things,” he told them before turning to us.

“When will the Wat be ready?” he asked us in Standard.

“We will need to contact the Monk Srisuwan to find out, but I’m not sure how to contact him,” the Colonel told him.

“It’s not a problem, sir,” Sompung told her. “I have a number to reach him. I will call him now,” he added before going outside to make the call. The Colonel went with him. In the meantime, I had questions for Professor Prawut and his relatives.

“How many dependents and relatives will you and those in your family have to be vaccinated?” I asked them.

“Our families have a total of 52 dependents and relatives,” the Professor told me.

“What about our new interpreters?” I asked them.

“I have 14 dependents and relatives,” Saman Somsak told me.

“I have 12 dependents and relatives,” Mae Ning said in a quiet voice.

“So, counting our employees, the transportation people, and the interpreters that’s about 470 people. That should leave plenty to vaccinate the Monks with,” I said just before Trish and Sompung returned.

“The Monks haven’t received permission to use the old Wat yet. They are also unsure how many Monks to bring to the Wat and how many days we will require it,” Trish told me.

“It looks like we can vaccinate the kitchen employees’ families and relatives in one day,” I told her before adding, “we still need to speak to the drivers.”

“They gave us a total of 120. Surely, we should be able to do that many in a day. How many dependents and relatives do the transportation people have?” she asked.

“Transportation and interpreters are just over a hundred,” I told her.

“So, three days at least,” she said. “That leaves a lot of vaccine for the Monks. Srisuwan is waiting for us to call back. I’ll need to see what transportation they have also,” Trish said before she and Sompung went out again to make another call. In the meantime, I had another thought and turned to the Professor.

“Would you ask the women how long they will need to get their dependents and relatives together?” I asked him. Shortly, he turned back to me with the answer after the women had conferred together.

“They believe that they can all be ready with a day’s notice,” he told me. I thought that was reasonable.

“We still need to talk to the drivers,” I reminded them and went to round up the drivers, while the women returned to work.

It turned out that the drivers didn’t live close together, but many of their relatives had their own transportation and could move everyone to a central location to be moved to the Wat. They still had 120 dependents and relatives to be vaccinated. Only a small number of them were children.

“So, two buses,” Taweesin said.

“Yes, that sounds reasonable,” the drivers’ spokesman agreed. Trish had returned by the time we finished with the drivers.

“We’ll be able to start using the old Wat in two days. There will be 10 to 12 Monks there each day. Different Monks each day, and we will need to vaccinate them along with the other people. On the last day, additional Monks will come out to the Wat to be vaccinated. They will supply their own transportation. They can obtain it from the local government. We will need to alert our employees on what day their families and dependents are scheduled to be vaccinated. Has a pick-up-time been determined?” Trish asked.

“Not yet,” Taweesin told her. “I would recommend that it be early, maybe 6:30 in the morning, to avoid as much traffic as possible,” he added.

“That sounds good, and it’s close to when they leave for work also. Professor, would you notify the women in the kitchen to have their dependents and relatives ready to be picked up at 0630 two days from today? Cleve and I will notify the drivers to be ready at the same time in three days,” she asked.

“Certainly,” the Professor agreed and set off for the kitchen.

After notifying the drivers, Trish and I went up to alert Captain Mellifont and MSG Atchine about the vaccination schedule. Both medical professionals were surprised that we would be starting in two days.

“The medics from the Pasture left us 300 disposable syringes. They are generally single use, but we can sterilize them and use them twice in addition to our regular reusable syringes,” Kim told us on recovering.

“With that many people, it will require all of the people in both of our sections to get them lined up and administer the vaccine. Will the interpreters be there?” Laura asked.

“Yes, at least three of them in addition to some of the transportation people who also speak good Standard. There will also be a number of children with them,” Trish told them.

“The kitchen employees and the drivers will be moved here to their jobs after delivering their families and dependents to the Wat. There will also be a number of Monks there to lead them in prayers and other activities. They will be vaccinated too,” I told them.

“Okay, what time will we be leaving here each day?” Kim asked.

“Probably around 0630. We’ll also be setting up guards around the Wat in addition to having a number of the Partners there to look for trouble,” I told them.

“Do you expect trouble?” Laura asked.

“There’s no way to know, but if word of the vaccine gets out, there could be people desperate to get a hold of it. Additionally, there is always the threat of guerrilla action, though that appears to be reduced presently,” I told them.

“We need to alert the Marines. There is a platoon that has only been pulling guard here since arriving. They might like to get out and see some of the area, especially around the old Wat,” the Colonel said with a smile. On leaving the medical staff, we went to find Lieutenant Norfolk to alert him to the operation.

Later that day, I led Tiger Team, Jaguar Team, and two squads of Marines out to the old Wat. It had been easy to locate as it was marked on the maps that we had received, and we also located it on the satellite pictures of our area.