Angelika Queen Of Mars

Chapter 47

Chapter 47 R & R

Now that everybody was gone, you might think Dori and I could just kick back and coast.

WRONG! First on the list was dealing with transferring the gold coins we were paid by the Falthians into legitimate cash, which meant selling the gold which was exact duplicates of American and South African coins, call it counterfeiting, but coins don't carry serial numbers, and it was the only way we could get paid. This exchange had always been a pain in the ass, but for some reason the effort had become harder, as we were forced to deal with several dealers to avoid the government poking their nose into things, and lately it seemed as though the number of buyers had shrunk. Kevin had made a suggestion that I was still mulling over, it seems that his mother is in possession of an old twenty dollar gold piece,

"This thing is old," proclaimed Kevin, "My great great grandmother received it in payment for some blanket she made for some trader way back in the 1880's. For some reason, she hung onto it and just kept passing it down, my mom always kept it hid from my dad, but every now and then she'll take it out and show me." We discussed the possibility of her letting us "borrow" it so the Falthian exchange house, (the Falthian equivalent of a bank) we dealt with could copy it.

"I don't know LT," replied Kevin dubiously, "It's a family heirloom."

"I'll give her two modern coins to hold as collateral while her coin is being copied, but don't tell her that." He promised to talk to her again about it, but didn't hold out much hope. This then gave me the idea that perhaps there might be decedents of the women who came to Falth all those years ago who might have one or two with their memorabilia. Anyway, there was that to deal with, then after all the visitors that we had just had, major remodeling was in order, since I didn't know a whole lot about it, I planned to talk to my mother, and Belinda for help. Dori also had her own ideas, but unfortunately, the kind of style, and design of home interiors, and furniture were entirely different where she had come from.

Another shed was also going to be needed, one large enough to store two fifth wheel travel trailers inside during the winter, so they could be rolled out during warmer weather. This also meant concrete pads for them to sit on, as well as a special septic system for them as well. Being a "way station," I couldn't have a shabby looking place for our guests to stay in. Dori was also determined to take an online computer science program to learn our computer system, along with languages, such as Python, and C++.

She was already studying the Falthian system, as well as their computer set-up's as well. Her goal was to develop a combination of the two, a project one of her Falthian professors was encouraging her to do. As if that wasn't enough, she was working diligently on improving her English, and expanding her horizons. I was incredibly lucky to be married to such a woman, feeling at times I simply didn't deserve her. Apparently there are a number of novels on the market dealing with the subject, Carman, as a joke ordered them, but unfortunately Dori wasn't impressed, calling them pointless, and silly.

On top of all that, we were staying busy at the office, ordering select blends of coffee, bulk peanuts and more recently, coffee makers themselves. Normally, our appliances which operate on 110-240 volts won't work on Falth, but Moreck found someone who came up with what we called "black boxes," basically a converter that tied into the building or home electrical system on Falth. They didn't have electrical devices like we did that you simply plugged into a wall outlet, their appliances were hard wired into the particular home, office, plant or building. The black box simply created a port that allowed a coffee maker to be powered, and adjusted the incoming power down to roughly 115 volts.

About a week after everybody had departed, a call came into the office; it was a woman identifying herself as Danica Kraus.

"I'm sorry to bother you, I guess I got the wrong number, Gerry gave it to my mom, I'm so sorry."

"Are you talking about Gerald Landecker, recently discharged from the Marine Corps?"

"Yes," the woman replied,

"This is the right number, my name is Jake Gandrigg, I used to be Gerry's LT, I still am in a way."

"Oh great, listen, is the job he told me about still open, 'cause I really need one."

Right now I wasn't too keen on where this conversation seemed to be going.

"Slow down there Ms Kraus, I don't know what Gerry told you, but I only interview face to face, in person, I don't do anything over the phone." There was a long silence, then.

"Where are you located?"

"We're out here in Deadwood South Dakota, know where that is?"

"I'm not dumb,"

"I didn't say you were, it's just that a lot of people have never heard of the place."

I heard a sigh, some shuffling around, as though she was deciding whether to come or not,

"Let me ask you this?" I said, "Are you married?"

"No,"

"Any kids?"

"No,"

"It's possible that you may be out of the country possibly for two or three years, any problems with that?"

"Umm…No,"

"You didn't sound real confident about that."

"I'm sure, I can handle it."

"I assume you're in Texas?"

I'm in Tyler at my uncle's right now,"

"All right, come on up. If you don't like what I tell you, I'll reimburse your travel expenses back to Texas, sound fair?"

"Yes, and thank you."

"When you get to Rapid City, call me, and I'll give you directions."

I hoped I was doing the right thing, as well as her accepting the job. Although I wasn't keen on women in the military, there were a lot of things they did pretty well…As long as the guys left them alone.

About two weeks later, as my mom and Belinda Jessup were well into their redecorating efforts, and the new well was being dug, I got a call at work.

"I didn't think you were coming," I said,

"Well it took me a little time to sell all my stuff, and my bike needed a new front tire. Look, I'm just off I-90, someplace with a big green dinosaur, my damn map blew away, and I don't have a GPS."

"Big green dinosaur you say, are you by any chance at Wall, see a bunch of signs for Wall Drug?"

"Umm…Yeah, this must be Wall, how far am I from Deadwood?" Chuckling, I replied,

"Well if you had come two weeks ago you could have just followed all the motorcycles headed for Sturgis, it's just north of Deadwood. Anyway you're still about a hundred miles away. Look, just stay on I-90, until you see signs for Sturgis. Take exit 30, then exit south on highway 14a, Deadwood's about twelve miles south of there, call me when you hit town."

Three hours later, I heard a bike pull up outside, and moments later a biker chick walks in.

"I'm Danica," she announced, "Man, what an awesome place to ride!"

"You never heard of Sturgis before?" I asked

"Sure, just never got out here, did go to Daytona a couple times." I waited until she took off her jacket, and headscarf, then offered her some coffee, and invited her to have a seat in my little office. As I studied her, something told me I had seen here somewhere before, it was starting to bug me. Danica was tall and well built, what they call big-boned, but not overweight. Her blonde hair was pulled back tight in a well-coiffed bun. She wasn't a "looker," but she had a simple attractiveness that no doubt had everybody trying to get into her pants while in the 'Stan. So Danica Kraus, tell me about yourself," I began.

"Well I served in the second marine logistics group; we supported the twenty-sixth expeditionary unit in Helmand province." I sat up, now I knew where I had seen her.

"I thought I had seen you before," I said, "Now I know where."

"We were pulling guard for a supply convoy and I was sitting in my humvee waiting for the convoy to get moving, my driver pointed off to my right, and made a comment on "The chick carrying the two M240's over her shoulders. Something about you has stuck in my mind all this time, not sure what it was, but I recall you looked pretty pissed off."

Danica shook her head in disbelief,

"Wow, I do remember that, as I recall, somebody had shot the barrels out and they were jammed up, I was taking them back to the armorer's shop for cleaning, so you were there that day huh?"

Chuckling, I replied,

"I was, I got out as a first Lieutenant, but I was still a butter bar at the time, you were an armorer?"

"Actually I was his assistant, got all the dirty work, however at that time, Captain Sutter had appointed me as the unit armorer, cause the i***t that was the armor fell off a tank and broke his leg. The captain wanted to keep things running smoothly so he stuck me in the slot. Actually I really liked it, all the guys liked it too, I made sure all their stuff was clean, and worked." This intrigued me, so I pursued my questioning a little further.

"How'd you get into something like that?" I asked.

"My dad always used to take my brother and I hog or coyote hunting, guns just kinda fascinated me."

"Speaking of which, did you bring anything?"

"All I have is a Kimber .380 Micro, can't afford what I'd really like to have."

"And what is that?"

"A Springfield Armory M1A SOCOM,"

"Good choice, the other guys brought their "toys" but actually I don't think you'll really need one, our hosts have some rather interesting weaponry that might take your fancy."

She then proceeded to tell me about getting pregnant, of being booted out, then giving her baby up for adoption after she returned stateside.

"I told myself I was never going to do something that dumb, getting knocked up, but you know, "s**t happens."

"How well I know," I replied, "All right, here's the deal, listen up."

"Like I said earlier, expect to be out of the country for very long periods of time. We are running a training cadre, this is a peacetime operation. We are training a foreign military unit in house to house, and urban combat, they have even built a whole village based on our specifications. I need someone…And I'm hoping that is you, to handle the logistics, and basically all the admin duties with our hosts. It's a pain in the ass for my guys to keep having to come in from the field to take care of all that sort of thing. Originally I did it, but I've since gotten involved in another venture and can't devote a lot of time to it. She's not here as well, but I had also hired another female out of my old unit to handle all that, but she ended up getting involved in this coffee venture with me, basically, Carman handles the operation at this end, but she's at the head office right now."

"Well I'm pretty good with a computer, and I did start out in the headquarters section, yeah, I can do it sir, I know I can." Just then Dori came in having returned from her walk.

"OHMYGOD! I love your hair!" gasped Danica the moment Dori stepped into my office.

"Dori, this is Danica Kraus, hopefully she will be handling the admin duties for the cadre. Danica, this is my wife Dori." As they shook hands, Danica couldn't stop complementing Dori on not only her unique hair style, but the tattooed design on the shaved part of her head. I let their conversation take it's natural course, as Dori explained,

"Where I come from, to wear your hair this way, as well as the tattoo show everyone that you are a servant of the royal house, it is a very great honor." I thought Dori was revealing just a bit too much information, and winked at her. For all of her brash talk, Danica seemed to know when to shut up and ask no further questions.

"Well Danica," I asked, "Are you "In"?" I saw her start to get sad-faced, as she slowly replied,

"Yes…Count me in, I have nowhere else to go, I sold all my stuff, all I have is on that bike out there, a couple pairs of jeans, underwear and tee-shirts, and what's left of my uniforms. Is it cold where I'll be going?"

"So far, no. And if you do need anything in the way of protective gear, our hosts can provide it."

And so, Danica Kraus, the last member to join our team signed on, I couldn't wait until the Giuffrida set down in the back yard.