Chapter 9

When Prince Andrew and the now not-so-small group accompanying him stepped from the transporter terminus into the receiving hold of the colony ship Boudicca they were nearly deafened by the racket. The Marines and Fleet Auxiliary crew were losing the battle to maintain control and tempers were fraying as a result.

Andrew looked at the Captain who’d appeared just behind him and shouted, “Is it normally like this?”

The Captain shook his head and guessed that it was because of the number of children. On a normal pickup the adults were bought aboard and settled down before the children they wanted were recovered. These children arrived into a settled environment with at least one of their own parents.

This was a total contrast, the average age of the volunteers was under eighteen and the children had been dragged up here at the same time. A lot of those children had neither of their parents with them and many of the volunteers they’d been assigned had no experience in looking after upset children. The military running the show were in exactly the same situation.

Andrew spotted his ‘mother’ and headed straight for her, dragging the rest of the party with him. “I know it’s terribly remiss of me but I don’t know your name?” said Andrew.

“Jessica, Your Highness,” replied the naked woman.

“Jessica, for now just call me Andrew,” said the Prince. “More importantly, have you got any suggestions of how we can calm this situation down?” he asked waving an arm to encompass the hold.

Jessica pointed to the small group with her and Andrew noted that it was his new family. Each of them was holding hands, and the youngsters were being comforted by the older members. “Get the families to hold hands, and sit down,” Jessica said, “It’s much harder to cause trouble when you can’t rush around.”

Andrew glanced at the Captain who shrugged, “We’ve tried but no one is listening.”

Elizabeth piped up; “Play a fanfare, that always gets attention.”

“Sounds reasonable,” said Andrew, “Then follow it up with an announcement.”

“I’ll try it,” said the Captain not sounding at all hopeful.

The sudden blast of a Royal fanfare stunned everyone, even those few who’d been expecting it. The announcement for everyone to sit and for ‘family’ members to hold hands was so loud that no one thought of disobeying. Even the Royal couple, who’d come up with the idea, found themselves sitting on the cold hard deck.

Captain Wainright was amazed at the response but didn’t hang around to let things start again. He hopped up on a podium in the centre of the hold and started the standard speech that was given to all colonists.

Things went slowly, mainly due to the large numbers being processed, but they did hit on the odd hiccup as they went along. The medical testing was going to take days but as the average age was so low there didn’t appear to be the excessive numbers of heart complaints and diabetes type problems that the extraction teams normally had to deal with.

One thing the Marines hadn’t allowed for was the number of under fourteen-year olds that still to be picked up. Someone higher up had assumed that any adult present at the garden party would be there to escort their children and this assumption turned out to be wrong, badly wrong in fact.

All of the catering staff, the entertainment groups and security people present had been going about their normal working lives and following the extraction they had children they wanted to bring along with them. It turned out that even the parents who had been there with children often had younger children, who’d been left in the care of grandparents or friends, so that an older child could attend what was being billed as the party of a lifetime.

The Boudicca was soon full to overflowing, and something needed to be done about it, urgently, before lives were lost.

The answer was the Braemar, sister ship of the Boudicca and a ship that was conveniently in orbit waiting its turn to do an extraction and colony run. Captain Wainright and Prince Andrew were fortunate in that they didn’t get involved in the shenanigans that got the ship passed across to what was a purely British adventure but it was managed somehow. Favours were granted that would, no doubt, have to be repaid at some later stage.

Over the next three days the eligible children who were still on Earth were picked up and reunited with the parent who claimed them. The colonists were also split into two groups, with the second group being transferred across to the Braemar. Then, oblivious to the fuss being kicked up on their planet of origin the two ships started the long journey to Albion side by side.

The Right Honourable Member for Bromhurst stood between the rows of green leather seats and called clearly. “Mr Speaker, it is only fair that the Prime Minister, who after all, was present during the abduction of the Nations’ children, should be given a chance to put his side of the story to the House.” Around him the backbenchers were yelling their support in a most undignified manner.

The implication, inherent in the statement, to the effect that the Prime Minister was in some way responsible for the events that had occurred at Buckingham Palace was not missed by the man himself. The Prime Minister rose and gripped the sides of the despatch box amid the roar from his own back benchers. Both sides of the house were trying to drown each other out, calls of “shame,” and “here, here,” could be heard amidst the general hullabaloo - Party politics at its very best. The Speaker of the House called for ‘Order’ and the Prime Minister waited for relative calm to be restored.

As he waited the Prime Minister mused on the one saving grace so far and that was that Donald Prendergast had stayed out of the battle and probably, judging from events, had been doing his best to rein in his party. How much longer those two states would be true was open to debate. Donald’s’ position as head of the opposition party was under severe pressure for allowing his wife and children to leave with the young Royals.

The tabloid press had been having a field day over the numbers of children who’d been taken without consulting their parents. The broadsheets were attempting to give a more informed opinion but as a whole the press was behaving like a rabid pack running wild. The fact that, after careful reflection, most of the families involved had come out in favour of the event was being ignored, with only the statements of a minority of the parents, those who were complaining, appearing in print - usually under glaring banner headlines proclaiming ‘Child Abuse’ and ‘Kidnapping’.

“Mr Speaker,” the Prime Minister’s opening words completely silencing the House. “As my learned friend so clearly stated, I was present when the Confederacy carried out an extraction of volunteers at the Queen’s garden party and I can say categorically that force, as has been reported by various tabloids, was not used to remove our children.”

The subtle reminder that his own son had left was missed by most of the members present, “The Act, which this assembly passed, was followed to the letter and gave those present no option but to comply with the lawful procedure being enacted. That members of the security forces, the police and the judiciary, who were present at the event, concur with this statement is in the public domain. Whilst the action may not have been the purpose of, or even within the spirit of, the legislation that we passed, it was within the letter of that Act.”

The Prime Minister paused and looked around, the silence becoming almost frightening, “This fact is something that everyone in this House, and that other place, is going to have to live with!”

This created an uproar; so much so that the Speaker was forced to suspend the session, which may well have been George Brown’s plan. Quietly the Prime Minister left the room, wondering how much longer he would be able to hold his position, a task he was heartily sick of doing...

The White House press briefing was slightly less fraught, but not by much.