Chapter 22

The Governor decided to keep the surviving members of the Mexican army busy by having them bury their dead. By hand.

They needed something to keep them busy. While they were doing that, Red Hawk and the council were on their way to the battlefield. Me? I was hip deep in the Mexican Captain's guts. The stasis field had him stable, but a .58 caliber ball fired at close range into one's belly tends to make for a lot of messy work.

There had been a few men who had survived Tabitha's strafing. One was a lieutenant that belonged to some rich and powerful family in Mexico. The surviving Mexican officers put no small amount of pressure on any, and every, one on our side to fix him up before the Captain who, according to them, was pretty much a nobody. Zoë seemed to have put herself in charge of settling this dispute and the first one to make angry moves towards me ended up with nine millimetre vent in his forehead. That pretty much ended further discussion on the subject.

A little after fifteen hundred hours the council's big helo landed along with four field kitchens. A group of troopers got out and quickly set up a large screened tent with tables and chairs and sent Mae for me. I kissed my lovely wife and left her to finish closing up the Captain. I cleaned up and trotted over to the big meeting with my shadow. Yeah, you guessed it: Zoë.

While I had been sewing up intestines the remaining officers had been plotting our demise. Tabitha had simply set her bird down and put the computer to listening and translating. This had Gov. Bell and several hundred Rangers ready to kill them to a man.

The governor and our council discussed the Mexico problem for over an hour before Red Hawk turned to me, "Tom you are too quiet! What are your thoughts on this?"

The governor didn't know about my future past as it were, and I really wanted to keep it that way, "Well," I started, "the problem in Mexico is that one percent of the population has ninety nine percent of the wealth, so you end up with a bunch like these officers, moneyed elite. That's just problem one as I see it. Problem two, the US government left the state of Texas on its own. I'm not sure what they would have done had we not stepped in. My guess is they would have just let Texas go back to Mexico; a victim of the US government's loss of Manifest Destiny."

I stood up and walked around a bit while I composed the rest of my thoughts, "First, I think that the state of Texas should secede; go back to being the Republic of Texas. Second, the Republic of Texas should annex Mexico. Once those two things have been done the next step is that the new Republic should seize the land and possessions of the ruling elite and see to it anyone who wants land gets it. You may have to kill most of the ruling class but you need to realise that as long as they are in power, any of them, you will have a lit powder keg sitting out side your front door." I turned and faced the Texas governor, "You understand that we can't support Texas if it's going to be pro slave, right?"

Now it was Governor Bell's turn to stop and ponder. He stood and walked in a small circle in front of his chair, "The Texas legislature is in session right now. I fear it will be a hard sell. The pro slave folks are not going to be happy. They will not like having anyone of colour a free person. There will also be a large group that will be upset with all of the Roman Catholic influence." Governor Bell turned and looked to me.

I shrugged, "We can always offer the same deal as we gave the pro slave folks in Santa Fe?" The governor looked stricken, but I had two other points to make, "And if you people are going to preach freedom of religion, then you need to practice freedom of religion. Another thing that is sure to come up is Spanish, the language. I think if you're smart you'll push people to be bilingual. If," I stepped a little closer, "if you make these changes and take advantage of the resources that will be available to you then the Republic of Texas will become one of the world's great nations!"

I didn't have to wonder long. It didn't take Governor Bell two shakes of a lamb's tail to make up his mind, "I'm in!" the governor stated, "Can y'all come to Austin and speak to the Legislature?"

I had to turn to see what Red Hawk wanted to do. Apparently he thought this was just as important as I thought it was. He was speaking quietly to Broken Knife. When he finished Broken Knife started whistling commands and our people started moving.

Governor Bell walked over to Red Hawk, "Sir, could I impose on you to have Commander Trammel return me to Austin?"

Red Hawk smiled broadly, "You may ride with the commander or with the council. I assume that you will want at least some of your Rangers to come with us as well? We will be bringing our honour guard. I'll leave one of our companies here under the command of your Rangers to watch over the prisoners. With your permission the remainder of our troopers will help the people who were evacuated get back in their homes. Fanny, go get Commander Trammel." Fanny performed her trademark mount and rode hard for the helo area.

Governor Bell smiled shaking his head and chuckling, "Granted. Red Hawk let me say that I can't thank you and your people enough for the things you've done. I will be sure and let every Texan know what you and your people have done. We owe the Band a great deal, not the least being our freedom."

The Mexican lieutenant that had been mouthing since the battle ended came forward, "We give our parole! Now you have to let us go!"

Governor Bell lit in to him, "Give you? We don't have to give you a damn thing save an ounce of lead." The governor paused for a second then turned to Red Hawk, "Can we take these officers with us?"

Red Hawk grinned and started to reply to the governor then turned to me and spoke quickly in Comanche. I responded in kind and then Red Hawk turned to the governor, "What if we took a company of your Rangers and a company of our Troopers and march them right up to your capital?"

I thought that the governor's face was going to split wide open, "That, Sir, is a wonderful idea!" He turned to the Ranger captain standing near him, "Get your best company and form them up. We will be taking the officers with us."

The Ranger captain came to attention, "Sir!" He spun on his heel and took off barking orders as he went.

Red Hawk turned to Maggie, "Load First Company and our 'guests' over there. Put them on one of the big helos. Make sure they are all tie wrapped hand and foot. Inform them that any of them offering any foolishness will get to find out if they can fly."

Maggie grinned broadly and saluted, "Sir!" She spun on her heal and went to whistling orders. I saluted and left to see to my wounded.

Governor Bell walked back over to Red Hawk and offered his hand, "Will Trooper Polk be coming to Austin with us?"

Red Hawk looked around to see if the coast was clear, "Tom will be with us and where Tom is Zoë is. She is under strict orders from Tom's wives. Do you have a particular reason for asking?"

The governor walked back to Red Hawk, "With your permission I would like to honour her and Commander Trammel."

"I think that would be fine," Red Hawk stated. The ever present Fanny touched his arm. He turned to see Commander Trammel walking towards them.

Tabitha came to attention and saluted, "Reporting as ordered, Sir!"

Red Hawk returned her salute, "Governor Bell would like to return to Austin. When you get there have your people set up the comm system. We'll be less than an hour behind you."

Tabitha saluted Red Hawk and then turned to Governor Bell and saluted, "We are at your disposal sir." Governor Bell offered Tabitha his arm and they walked off towards the helos. Thirty minutes later they were streaking towards Austin.