Chapter 21

With Narith's people's help we built hundreds of windmills. Some lifted water from the Ogallala aquifer, but for the most part they were for generating electricity. It was my sincere hope that we could avoid the ecological disasters of my previous life.

I also did everything I could to straighten out some of the mistakes of my past. One of those was sixty cycle electricity. When I was in the eighth grade one of my classmates had been killed when he lifted a joint of irrigation pipe into a power line. Our science teacher, one of the football coaches, gave us the history of electricity in the United States. Before this I had had little or no respect for this "teacher", but seeing him with tears in his eyes as he explained why the U.S. has sixty cycle while the rest of the world uses fifty put him in a entirely new light. The 'great' Thomas Edison was responsible for sixty cycle and the electric chair. It seems that sixty cycle is more efficient for killing humans. Safety for those exposed to it wasn't as big on his list as making money and spitting in the face of his rival Nicola Tesla.

There was still a lot of grumbling about 'Manifest Destiny'. It took a while to come up with a solution. That solution was the brainchild of little Fanny. She had recovered from the injuries she had received during the tornado and was once again being our Fanny. Her suggestion was that we announce that we had adopted the idea of 'Manifest Destiny' and would be annexing all of the land north south east and west of our beloved plains. Once our plans and the reason for them were conveyed to the Queen of England and the Mexican government things got most unpleasant for the young United States.

Mexico and England accused the US of kicking the dog, so to speak, and told them in no uncertain terms that they were quite sure they could reach an agreement with the Band on the division of the US claims on both coasts. It was our version of Teddy Roosevelt's big stick policy. No matter - it worked. There were even a few of the die hard 'Manifest Destiny' proponents that nearly found themselves lynched.

We did actually consider annexing the western states, or what was in my earlier life the western states. In Late July we met with representatives of Mexico, England, the Commonwealth of Canada, the Navajo and Apache nations, and five chiefs that represented a large majority of the tribes of the Northwest. The Canadian and United Kingdom representatives had been dealing with some of the less than stellar members of the human race, and formerly U.S. citizens in Vancouver. Their law enforcement people were more or less under siege. They were interested in the Band getting troopers in the Oregon territory if for no other reason than to help keep the peace. There was also a large area claimed by the northern most plains peoples that they could not see being of much value. Their biggest interest was in timber. The seas of grassland that made up the southern plains of Canada were of no use to them. They were glad to cede it to us in exchange for peace and our troopers taking over law and order in the Northwest. Thus the states of Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and a large part of northern California joined Freeland.

We had already established a series of towns along the Oregon Trail, but stopped at the Rockies. Now Band settlements were extended into Washington and Oregon. We were also forced to send in two companies of troopers to clean out the criminals, riff-raff, and various ne'er do wells. Many of these were turned over to the Canadian officials. Some were tried and expelled, or executed. This went a long way towards endearing us to the good and decent people of the area.

What did the folks in the United States think of all this? The short answer is not too much. Journalist from the U.S. Wrote several articles detailing life in Freeland. Between technology, standard of living, infant mortality, and the low crime rate, Freeland had become a major drain on the young U.S. Disenfranchised women, married and single, and a good portion of the educated males showed up at our border crossings.

The ruling council spent many, many hours with Narith and his people discussing how we should establish our country. We weren't the only ones that they helped. A large uranium deposit in what was New Mexico was of interest to Narith's people. They worked with the Navajo Nation by drilling water wells and setting up windmills to pump them. They also gave them vaccines and taught their medicine men how to treat the many illnesses that plagued all indigenous peoples. Like the people of the Band the Navajo were offered solar panels and windmills to produce electricity.

The U.S. was also offered solar and wind power. They didn't like the idea of individuals having 'free' power. They suggested that Narith's people hand over the panels and wind turbines to a select few and then those same few would sell the equipment to the 'common man'. It came as no surprise to me that the ones getting the equipment and making a one hundred percent profit were the same elitists that made up the 'manifest destiny' and 'robber barons' from my history.

Things had been mostly quiet for over a year. I think it's called the law of unintended consequences. The first we knew of it was when a company of Texas Rangers flagged down one of our LRP's, that's a long range patrol for those not in the Band. The patrol was on the far eastern edge of West Texas near the outpost on the Leon River between where Abilene and Eastland were in my time.

The Rangers had a letter from the Texas government to our leaders. The patrol commander radioed back for instructions. Due to the time of day Red Hawk ordered the LRP commander to make camp and the Council would fly in early the next morning. The Rangers had been riding hard for days living on warm water, jerky, and hard tack. The Ranger Captain gladly accepted the offer to dine with the members of the Band.

The fried steak and taters, with biscuits and water gravy was a welcome change, but the real winner was the peach cobbler that was served for dessert. After supper the troopers of the LRP got an ear full.

But to catch you folks up you need to learn a little bit of the history of this time. It seems in our efforts to corral the Manifest Destiny proponents we had empowered the government of Mexico. The Mexican-American War of my time was shortened when Polk, under pressure from the Manifest Destiny folks, withdrew Winfield Scott in May of 1847. This was due to our Santa Fe interference.

That meant that there was no clear winner of the Mexican-American War. To the great generalissimo Santa Anna that meant he won. He really didn't need very much encouragement to begin encroaching on the Freeland reduced state of Texas. Added to that he was less than happy about the new Navajo and Apache Nations that had been formed. Zachary Taylor still had his nose bent all out of shape over us and consequentially refused to establish normal diplomatic relations. He didn't have a problem screaming for us to save his butt when Robert E. Lee was knocking on his back door, but since that was no longer a problem he didn't need us. He didn't take Santa Anna as a serious threat, mainly because he had little use for Texans and the Mexican army was a long way from him. It seems 'beltway politics' existed long before the beltway.

We, the Council, had a pretty good idea why the Rangers had flagged down our patrol. To that end a flight of our attack helos left three hours before we did. Just as we were getting ready to sit down where the LRP and Rangers were, Bravo flight reported in. Over ten thousand Mexican troops were marching through South Texas heading for San Antonio. Red Hawk looked across the aisle at me and I simply nodded my head.

We had discussed this along with a number of other possible situations that we felt could impact Freeland. Red Hawk turned to Fanny, "Scramble Pegasus!"

Fanny had the communications officer send the message along with the details of Bravo flight's report. That set in motion a whole raft of things, not the least of which was that a message was sent to Washington D.C., routed through the British government since Old Rough and Ready wouldn't allow a bunch of "redskins" an embassy. Red Hawk also had Bravo flight return via Austin and inform the Texas officials as to the situation and obtain permission for our planned response. We had no intention of extending the same courtesy to the U.S. government. Diplomacy is one thing, being a good neighbour another.

Bravo flight landing in Austin created quite the stir, but nowhere near the stir that just turned fourteen year old Tabitha Trammel caused when she marched up the steps to the governor's mansion helmet under her left arm and her M4 slung over her shoulder. When she was first dismissed as a 'little girl' she said, "I guess you're not interested in the Mexican army headed this way." To say she had their attention after that would be a gross understatement. After that she was finally escorted to then governor, Peter H. Bell. She came to attention and saluted Band fashion, "Bravo Flight leader Tabitha Trammel. I have an emergency communication for you from our Council." She handed the governor the printed communication generated by her helos computer.

Governor Bell dropped into his chair and exhaled, handing the print out to John Greer, the Lt. Governor, who read it and uttered, "Dear God in heaven!"

Governor Bell stood again and faced Tabitha, "Will your troops be able to stop them?"

"Yes Sir, without a doubt," she replied proudly.

"What do you need us to do?" The governor asked.

Tabitha smiled. "Would you like to go to meet with our Council? They flew down to meet with a company of your Rangers that had flagged down one of our LRP's." She paused when she saw the question on Bell's face, "Sorry sir one of our Long Range Patrols. They were on the Leon River."

Governor Bell turned to Mr. Greer, "I guess I'll go. That leaves you in control I'll try to keep you posted. You had just as well alert the rest of the Rangers and have them assemble."

He looked questioningly to Tabitha, "Sir, I think here will be fine. Should they be needed elsewhere I have been instructed to tell you that we can move any of your people anywhere they might be needed."

The governor nodded. "I believe I am going to acquire a taste for crow before this is over. I'm afraid, young lady, I have been less than complimentary of your Band. I'll apologise to you now and to your council when I see them." An aid came forward holding the governor's hat and coat. After donning his coat and taking his hat in hand, "Lead the way young lady."

Fifteen minutes later Governor Bell was belted into the jump seat of Tabitha's helicopter and given a head set and an injection to ease any motion sickness he might suffer from. Five minutes after that Bravo flight lifted off and headed to the Leon River encampment.

The governor was amazed at the helicopters. Their speed and agility were beyond anything he had as a reference. His conversation with the fourteen year old pilot left him stunned by her spirit and maturity.

Tabitha had sent Red Hawk a notification on the helo's communication net that she had the Governor and was en route. He had responded and instructed her to give her passenger a demonstration of her craft's abilities. "Governor Bell," Tabitha started, "Red Hawk, our leader has asked me to show you what this craft is capable of."

Tabitha keyed her throat mike, "Bravo flight this is Bravo leader. Orbit left, use a short burst on the small lake below. I'll be rotating to the right so the Governor can watch." Tabitha keyed the intercom, "Governor Bell you might want to hold on."

Tabitha pushed the control forward and the helo nosed over. She dived on the small pond and pulled the trigger on the mini-gun in the nose. The surface of the water danced as hundreds of bullets impacted it. The helo pulled out of the dive and banked to the right. The Governor was turning a light shade of green as Tabitha turned the helo so the two of them could watch the rest of the flight. One after the other the helos of Bravo flight dived on the small pond.