Near Future 1: Awakening (25 page)

Caitlyn could tell that they were all as shocked as she had been when Crystal told her. But it was up to her to try to make it right. "I personally am going to do everything I can to make amends for what I have done, if she will let me. We all have to do that." She paused a minute to let it sink in. "Whenever we get a chance, we will need to tell her how sorry we are, and let her know we will do our best to make it up to her if she will let us."

Caitlyn looked at each of them until slowly they all nodded. None of them noticed Carla watching them with a smile. Carla had already figured out that Miranda was a very special person. It looked like a few others had too.

#

Alone with her thoughts, Miranda was surprised a few minutes later when Carla came into the cockpit instead of Hernando. "I told Hernando to rest a few minutes. I figured I could take care of bringing you a little food." She handed a sandwich and a bottle of water to Miranda. "How are you holding up?"

Carla had a concerned look on her face, that made Miranda wonder if she could read her mind. Despite trying to pretend to everyone she was ok, Miranda was struggling a little bit. "I was fine until everything slowed down. Now I've got the shakes." Miranda held her arm out, showing her.

Carla gave her a knowing smile, reaching over to give her a comforting hug. "That's normal," Carla told her. "Believe it or not, I saw combat a number of years ago. You run on adrenaline until it's over and then it hits you. I broke my leg in the landing, but managed to keep moving until the fighting was over. Then I passed out completely. Spent six months in the hospital recovering. My doctor asked me why I didn't just take a sledgehammer to my leg while I was at it. I told him I tried, but everybody kept shooting at me so I had to shoot back."

"That was the hardest and yet best six months of my life," she said. "I came to care a lot about the doctor that took care of me. Really I think he was the love of my life, but we were careful to keep it professional because of the whole doctor-patient thing."

"He wrote me afterwards, wanting to meet with me, and I stupidly hesitated to answer him. By the time I did, I received a message back that he was unavailable for the foreseeable future. He had left to go to the Tibetan mountains to study with the monks there. I never heard from him again, and I've regretted it ever since."

By this time there were tears in her eyes. "I can't believe I just told you that. I don't think I have ever told anyone else," Carla said with a sigh.

"Thank you for sharing it with me. After all this is over, I think you need to look him up. Maybe you still have a chance."

"Maybe. Having a close call like this really makes you think. Everything I thought was important before looks a little different now."

The two sat there for a few moments. Somehow Miranda felt a strong bond with her, surprising herself with the strength of it. She had no idea why, but she had learned to accept those feelings when she had them. Already, she considered Carla a good friend that she intended to treasure.

The silence was broken when the radio crackled, "Attention Flight 921. You are approaching our air space. Please stand by for additional instructions in five minutes."

Carla roused herself. "Looks like things are about to start moving again. I'll get the pilot back up here. I really enjoyed talking to you."

The pilot returned shortly after. He began to give Miranda the instructions she needed to prepare for the landing. They had to circle the airport while the controllers in the tower and the pilot discussed the situation. Miranda explained that she thought with the pilot's help she could manage it, eventually convincing them. Unlike in VR movies, this situation just didn't happen in real life, but they really had no choice

They continued to circle while the airspace was cleared and emergency vehicles were brought out beside the landing strip. Miranda had to work really hard at calming herself, knowing she didn't dare risk another headache.

Finally they were given the ok to land. The pilot and aircraft controller together provided the instructions for Miranda, Miranda carefully following their instructions to the letter. The landing went without a hitch, the touchdown a little rougher than Miranda would have liked, but that was just nerves. Everyone breathed a huge sigh of relief when they were safely on the ground.

Miranda's relief was at least as big as everyone else's, and she slumped back into her seat when they finally came to a complete stop. She did smile when she realized that her head was fine.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Reckonings

Somewhere on a overseas US military base.

#

One of the big advantages of their landing site being a military airport was they didn't have to deal with any press coverage. To Miranda this was a very good thing, since she realized that she had definitely not been keeping it low-key. However, she felt that she really didn't have a choice. She was also just a little worried that she could be in trouble for some of her actions. Technically she was only a citizen with a reserve status, and definitely not authorized to do all that she had done. However, she gratefully saw that at least the soldiers that came forward did not include MPs. All of the other students were assisted off the plane and led into a large building where they had set up an area for them to be received. Both of the pilots were carried directly to the base hospital.
 

However, Miranda, Carla and Hernando were directed to the main administrative building at the airport, where Carla was separated from them for her intelligence debriefing. Luckily, Miranda had gotten Carla's contact information before they left the airplane, both of them swearing to stay in touch with each other. Carla seemed to feel the bond between them, too.

Miranda and Hernando were led to a small briefing room of their own, where they were met by two officers. The two men quietly asked their names and then proceeded to grill the two of them for all of the details about the events. Miranda would have preferred to play down her part, but she knew that she didn't dare try to lie to them. The two officers with them were very good at their jobs, and they expertly brought out all of the details, even the ones she didn't think about. Hernando also elaborated at times, talking excitedly about the part she had played. He explained that without Miranda's assistance they would not have been able to escape. He tried to elaborate on her fight with the elite guard unit, but he knew they didn't understand what it really meant other than it was one against four.

Eventually, they covered it all to their questioner's satisfaction. Or at least they stopped asking questions. Before either Miranda or Hernando could ask any questions of their own, the base commander, General Zane, came into the room where they had been sitting. He had obviously been listening in the secure viewing room outside the briefing room. "First, I want to thank each of you for working out a difficult situation. If the new regime had been able to hold American students as hostages, our ongoing negotiations would be much more difficult, and who knows what some of them would have had to endure. Before we go too much further with our discussions, we need to determine what status we should apply to each of you."

 
"Since Miranda is a reserve officer, we may decide to temporarily activate her during the crisis. That would make the political situation a little cleaner than if she was classified as a civilian. Fortunately, also, it appears that none of the opposing soldiers were killed, and there were only a few slight injuries. So if you do not have an objection, that will be our plan. You can then be deactivated when you leave this base to return to your school."

"Hernando, your turn. To everyone in the room, this is Captain Hernando Gonzalez, a US Special Forces operative who was assigned to Kinza in response to intelligence we received on the situation there. He was sent there to aid one of our agents in escaping the country, and she's the woman that exited the plane with the rest of your group. She has quite a tale to tell on her own. Unfortunately for Miranda and her classmates, the information we knew ahead of time about the situation was not specific enough, and our communication between organizations not good enough for us to cancel their attendance in the games. And since Hernando's mission was classified, we will have to omit the details of his service from our official communications."

The general turned back to Miranda. "Miranda, do you have any questions or do you need more time to think about your status?"

Miranda replied, "Sir, I am comfortable with whatever you believe is the best decision for me and for my country. I do thank you for asking, since I am currently under your authority."

The general breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Great! That will be our game plan." Turning to Hernando, he said, "And you, young man, do you have anything to add?"

Hernando replied, "Sir, as you know, it is often my job to do things without official acknowledgement. I am quite comfortable with that. I do want to go on record as saying that I have been very much impressed by this young lady. She convinced us all that we had to find a way to rescue her classmates, and then she followed through by doing her best to get that done. Her shooting ability is the best I have ever seen, and her hand-to-hand capabilities you would have to have seen to believe. I am going to have stories to tell my Green Beret friends when I return to my special forces operations base. If she could be recruited into the Green Berets, I would be attempting to do so. However, if we ever form a space forces unit and it allows women, this girl will be there and kicking butt."

The general was pleased that all were in agreement. He had listened to the entire debriefing and agreed that what Miranda had done was quite noteworthy. He had some plans about that. He had also seen her file, and he knew that she had previously been involved in stopping a terrorist attack at their school. Her agreement to allow them to activate her temporarily from reserve status fit into his plans very well. "Good. We will proceed with this game plan, but I will tell you that I am proud of what you two were able to accomplish, and I will provide both of you with as much assistance as I can. Hernando, I believe you have an official de-briefing yet to be done, and I suspect your commanding officer is not going to let you get any sleep until it is completed. You have a ride waiting for you, so I wanted to wish you good luck." He shook his hand and then Hernando departed with a rather anxious looking soldier who had been waiting just outside the door.
 

General Zane just looked at Miranda for a moment. Finally he said, "Please remain here."

Miranda and the officers quietly sat for the few minutes it took for the general to return. None of them knew quite what to say to each other, Miranda decided. He walked back into the room and said, "You have a VR call that I need you to take here."

The general motioned to his assistant, the VR console in the room lit up, and Miranda and the officers were amazed to see the President of the United States sitting in the White House Oval Office. Everyone in the room quickly stood at attention. The President smiled and said, "I wanted to talk to you for a moment. I and my staff have been monitoring this crisis for the last few hours, and we have been very concerned for all of the students, our citizens, who due to no fault of their own were placed in grave danger."

He looked at Miranda and said, "What you have done, young lady, is incredible for someone with as little training as you have had. I can say without reservation that you are a hero for your country."

He gave her a smile, before he went on. "I am going to recommend you to Congress for the Medal of Honor, our highest military award. You certainly deserve it for everything you have done."

He paused a moment and then continued once more. "Unfortunately, I must ask you to keep this quiet until we have completed negotiations. We continue to hope that these negotiations have a good chance for success, and if these events were made public, it could possibly have a negative effect. I know that that is not fair to you, but it should only be for a little while."

Hardly able to breathe, Miranda replied, "Sir, I didn't do it to be rewarded. I only wanted my team members to be safe. And I had help from Hernando, the pilot, and the other students who assisted me."

The President replied to her, "Yes, and each one of those will be appropriately awarded for their actions if it is within the power of this administration. However, it is you alone, who in choosing to act, enabled each of the others to be able to do their part. If you had chosen to remain quietly with your group, our agent would have been able to extract you and the few others there with you, but the soccer team and the others would have been left to the mercy of those men. I shudder to think what would have happened."
 

He paused a minute and then went on. "Miranda, thank you again and have a safe trip home. I will be seeing you in a few months at the White House to personally give you that medal." He smiled at that, knowing he was really looking forward to that task, one of the duties of the President's office he particularly enjoyed.

The President then turned to the general, "Gene, I would appreciate it if you would take care of our guests until they are able to return home. In fact, I want you to escort them back. That way we can finalize our response to this little incident, and we can finally get together for that round of golf you keep promising me."

The VR call ended and Miranda and the officers all looked at each other in amazement. General Zane spoke to the group, "That, lady and gentlemen, was our Commander in Chief who is a personal friend of mine, and one of the best people I know. He genuinely cares for each member of our armed services. He is the type of Commander in Chief this country needs, and I am proud to serve under him. When I told him about what you did, young lady, he insisted that he wanted to talk to you personally." He saluted Miranda and she quickly returned the salute, totally taken by surprise by the action.

Miranda was directed to a small apartment on the base, where she was told to rest a few hours until the arrangements to fly them home could be made. The officer accompanying her said to her, "And this time you will be in a passenger seat."