The Oracle Of New Delphi                 by: Hypatia

 

Part 6

The Sea King was sat on the car park when we all got there, Mike sat inside smiling.

"Long time no see Boss" he said as we loaded everyone in.

"Well your not known for your offensive capabilities or your stealthy approach are you" I joked back

"No and every time I fly over Glasgow they shoot at me when they hear me" he pulled a face "at me"

"What’s it like there?" I asked

"No shop talk or Jimmy will skewer me and roast me over an open fire"

"But" I objected

"No buts that is exactly what Jimmy said he would do to me and he is bigger than me, I’m a coward by nature anyway" he joked as he sat me in the co-pilots seat.

"You have good eyes watch for cables and wires as we fly as I have no co-pilot" he said

"Why we have all these people some must fly"

"Have you asked them" he suggested

"No"

"Ask and ye shall receive" Mike said as he started the first engine with a whine and a clicking noise until it roared into life, he then started number two and gave a last look around before releasing the rotor brake and the large blades began turning setting the helicopter shaking. When he was happy he pulled up on a stick next to him and it lurched into the air with some squeals from Wynne and Claire.

 

An hour and a half later we were descending onto the field at New Delphi where people were working in teams on the new graves reminding me of the cost of this. I also saw a fair number of the original graves including the three at the front had white gravestones and someone had stopped erecting another to watch us land. Mike put us down with a bump and we remained in side until he had shut down the rotors and both engines when Mike said we could leave. Bob and Anne were out in front to see what the helicopter brought and both came running forward when they saw me disembark.

"What’s up" Anne demanded

"Nothing" I quickly answered

"Anne a message from Jimmy" Mark said "except for the funerals Kathy is not to work here, no business at all"

"Kathy?" Anne asked looking at me.

"Forget it he worries too much" I said shrugging it off.

"Jimmy can be accused of lots of things, worrying too much is not one of them" Bob said looking at me "what happened with Edinburgh the reports we have had were sketchy"

"Let’s have a coffee I will tell you the basics then I claim some sleep for a few hours" I told them.

"Fine you look like hell you could do with some sleep" Anne replied tact not her concern at the moment.

I introduced them to everyone and as we sat there drinking I explained the full story of The battle from Falkirk to its grizzly conclusions on the bridge.

"Ten thousand dead" Bob repeated at the end.

"Probably a fair bit more" Paul said "We couldn’t do a proper count after"

"Jesus and I thought it was bad in Keld after the shooting stopped no wonder Jimmy sent you back" Bob said

"No that isn’t why he sent her back" Mark quickly said "Jimmy said and I agree that Kathy is to have a couple of days here just relaxing as there she is busy trying to sort out everyone’s smallest problem herself. He is concerned that she might end up having another Middlesbrough episode."

"Right no discussion about work" Anne said "drink up then hit bed for a bit"

People started to go to unload the helicopter, "Sam wait up a second please" I asked

"Anne can I have a quiet word please" I asked Anne and we walked through to the deserted dining room.

"Anne meet Sam, Sam this is Anne I was talking about" I told him and he held out his hand for Anne who shook it smiling.

"Hello Sam" Anne said smiling

"Sam here could do with a bit of help with his reading, writing and maths on the quiet though I don’t want it known generally" I said

"I don’t mind at all but it’s not as if I have any teaching materials" She said "I will happily do what I can and don’t worry Sam I wont say a word to anyone. You’re just helping me out that’s all"

"Thank you and I’m sorry" Sam said looking at the floor.

"Stop that now, I don’t apologise because I can’t do what Kathy does or apologise because I’m not as big as you so don’t start being sorry." Anne said firmly making Sam giggle

"As far as teaching equipment goes where could you put a full schoolroom set up, teachers monitoring point and half a dozen student computers" I asked

"Are you serious?" she asked her eyes suddenly open.

"Be here on the ship" I assured her

"Oh thank you I have been trying to do a little with the kids like Jenny from memory but that will make all the difference" She said hugging me tight.

"Ow you are getting distinctly bony Anne" I threw in just to get even more on her good side as she crushed me to her.

"Flatterer your as bad as Bob, but thank you for noticing I am trying hard"

"No flattery I can tell" I told her honestly "but Sam is looking rather worried here at where this conversation is heading"

"Sam I’m sorry do you mind helping with the unloading?" Anne asked him and he went.

"He’s a good man, tackled a man with a gun for me without being asked, but thanks to shit at school he didn’t go. I don’t want anyone giving him hassle over the fact he’s learning" I explained

"Don’t worry only you and I need know everyone else can piss off" Anne said fiercely

"Ooh aren’t we the militant one"

"No I have had just about enough of some people here and I am not going to dump it on you, at the moment how much sleep have you had?"

"This is self inflicted due to me being up all night singing with Jimmy" I admitted to her.

"Well whatever it is get to bed" she pushed me towards the door and I grabbed the bags on the floor that Sam had been nursing and walked up the stairs.

 

I was glad to be back in my room as much as I had been made welcome in the hospital It wasn’t my place, I walked through to the bathroom dropped the bags and started the bath running I was looking forward to Paul but I wanted to be perfect for him and I must admit the helicopter flight and the shouting earlier had left me sweaty. As the bath ran I started looking through my acquisitions Muriel and Brian’s books I put safe I glanced through the bag of tights and stockings I hadn’t looked I just grabbed and I picked a few packs of tights and a couple of packs of stockings for me. I put that bag to one side I now had three bags left and I should only have two. One bag was the two knives the other one was the skirt, t-shirts and underwear, I opened the unknown bag and found that someone probably at the start of all this before it was obvious that this was permanent had been grabbing school uniforms. Not a lot of use now really, but I held up the skirt to me it came down to just under mid thigh, I slipped on the blazer it fitted well. I ran to my drawers and found some of my plainest white underwear and found a pair of thicker black tights a pair of black shoes.

 

I jumped in the bath quickly and washed trying to keep my hair dry then I took the razor that I shaved my armpits with and proceeded to attack the little bush of pubic hair I had. Soaping it up was fun shaving it was slightly awkward but with a lot of care I managed it without injury, seeing the smooth hairless mound with the cleft visible with the lips slightly swollen from anticipation I thought yes. I slipped on the white panties the feel of the cotton on my now hairless crotch emphasising my change, but I didn’t care I wanted Paul to enjoy me as I was going to enjoy him. I slipped on the bra and the opaque black tights enjoying the way they clung to my legs. The blouse was pale blue and a bit tight for comfort on my chest but it should get his attention, I picked up the dark grey skirt and pulled it up it was a little bit of a struggle to fasten and a little tight on the bum. I pulled it up just a little higher to make it finish at mid thigh. I slipped on the shoes put on some perfume on my wrists and neck and walked through to the bedroom to wait nervously for him.

 

"Kathy are you here?" Paul said as he opened the door "Oh"

"What’s up don’t you like it?" I asked suddenly worried I had misjudged him

"No, yes I mean I like it very much" he said

"You like little me?" I asked sat there on the edge of the bed head bent down looking at my feet he closed the door and came over to me sitting down on the bed next to me.

"Oh god yes, I love you Kathy" he said putting an arm around me. He pulled me back onto the bed his lips found mine tentatively at first then more insistently pulling at my lips with his a hand slid up my leg.

"What do you think you are doing?" I demanded pulling my lips away from his "I’m not that sort of girl"

"What sort of girl are you then?"

"I’m a good little girl and I know that boys like you shouldn’t stick a hand up my skirt" I told him standing up and turning my back on him.

 

He came behind me holding me tight his lips found my ear then my neck. One hand was rubbing my breasts as the other reached under my skirt then up to the junction of my legs which longed for his attention. He started rubbing at the front of my pussy causing me to moan loudly.

"What are you doing to me you naughty man" I gasped when I could. He didn’t answer but I could feel his erection against my bum I pressed back against it and he forced me forward to the dressing table I rested my hands on the surface to stop myself falling over as his attention to my pussy was making it difficult to stand. He removed his hands from my breast and my pussy and pulled up the back of my skirt then pulled my tights and knickers down in one swift movement to just above my knees. I heard his zip and a large hot blunt object started pushing between my thighs. At first it slid along my sopping pussy a few times causing me immense pleasure then he adjusted his angle and the head started spreading the lips trying to find an entrance, I spread my legs slightly more and just moved slightly and he was home. Suddenly he slid forward filling me totally his hands found my shoulders and he stared pumping into me viciously not thinking of my pleasure just of his. He pulled back on my shoulders as he rammed into me again and again I was getting nothing out of this and it was slightly scary being used and fucked rather than loved. I closed my eyes and concentrated on squeezing him on every entry to try and help. His pace increased becoming more forceful and his last few strokes hurt, but suddenly he did one last thrust into me. I clamped down with all my force as he spurted jet after jet of sperm deep inside me.

"Oh god Kathy, I’m sorry I just couldn’t help myself" he said as he slipped out of me.

"So you like? I asked turning around to face him the skirt falling back down.

"Oh yes" he said hugging me tight

"Good you made me messy you can wash me clean go and get a flannel" I pushed him towards the bathroom and stood still, the sperm running down my thighs waiting for him he returned and knelt down I lifted the skirt up to give him access.

"Do you like the changes down there?" I asked

"Yes" he said as he wiped me down gently as he took the flannel back I slipped off my shoes tights and knickers. He came up to me I put my arms around his neck and his hands reached for my bum he guided me towards the bed and undressed me before lying me down on the bed. Then he made up for the disappointment of the first time twice.

 

The friends and relatives of the fallen arrived that evening not as many as might have turned up but still more than we could handle really, but Anne again worked wonders. The next morning as Priests and Rabbi’s made their preparations for the afternoons services. I watched from the roof with Alex as these preparations continued.

"You did well to only have these losses" Alex said

"Yes but would any of those people believe that" I indicated a small group of people standing watching solemnly.

"Probably not but anyone else living in Edinburgh would agree with me" Alex pursued but I was silent.

 

The funerals were the proper solemn affair and standing there with Wendy, Anne, Bob, Trisha Brian and Andrea we represented what people expected of New Delphi. I looked at John’s headstone "John Bebington Royal Electrical And Mechanical Engineers. John gave his life to save us in our darkest hour and became the first hero of New Delphi".

I looked at Bernard’s "At the moment of his victory he was taken from us and we weep for our loss", then at Luke’s "Lost in Newcastle protecting The Oracle from a sniper, now with the god he loved".

 

"You haven’t seen these properly yet have you?" came Simon’s voice from behind me. I looked around and saw Luke’s Father with the Catholic Priest Father Harrison.

"No I haven’t come down here since I got here, Bernard always said leave people to it as if you keep nosing around you cause disruption" I admitted.

"Well look around read the stones everyone has a little bit about what happened to the person and we have put aside our theological differences to do this. Actually" Father Harrison said putting an arm around me and speaking in a stage whisper "I think that seeing I am a tool of Papist repression of the people, he quite likes me"

"No don’t go too far William or people will think you don’t mind my Methodist heresy" Simon said smiling "We both decided that we might not exactly believe the same things but the general direction was right and William here is a fantastic councillor with those who are distressed. I am the first to admit I don’t have the patience for it."

"No but the words you have written have brought comfort, everyone feels that their loved ones part is recognised" Father Harrison said "Kathy I haven’t asked your permission if I could stay here, I haven’t even asked my higher ups if I can stay but I feel this is the place I can do the most at the moment. So if I may do you mind me hanging around here"

"I have no objections at all anything that helps these people is welcome, in whatever flavour of religion or counselling" I told him looking at the people clustered around the vicars, priests and the Rabbi on the field. "I wish I had some of their faith then maybe it wouldn’t hurt so much what I must do"

"Faith is one thing that anyone can find, though once we leave childhood and our belief in everything scepticism takes over. The thing I heard once though was a statement made over a hundred years ago in the time of Second World War. In the trenches everyone finds faith and it is true the fact of being under fire always makes people feel nearer to god" Father Harrison said

"I don’t find any faith in battle, I find that if anything I am more likely to think why if there was a god that this would be happening and before I hear I am an instrument of god, with these poor souls resting here and ten thousand dead in Edinburgh I feel that maybe I am working for the other side"

"I don’t say what you are or why you are here now I only know that in these times you came forth and I will thank god for that as I pray and I will pray that he eases your suffering with your burden" Simon replied

"I don’t know if I believe but thank you I need all the help I can get" I said

 

We carried on through the gravestones one I saw caught my eye Paul Michael Swanson "Lost to us on the banks of the Tyne saving his friend"

"Father, Simon I have a task I would appreciate if you would undertake"

"What Kathy" the Father asked

"In Edinburgh I have a man working out a system of medals and decorations, they probably wont be more than novelties in the future but if they are to mean anything then they have to go to these people as well. If you can, can you investigate the circumstances of the deaths here and pass me a list of recommendations for decorations posthumously" I looked at them both "I want to but I can’t make the time at the moment and I don’t want to leave it longer than necessary"

"We have the records already, I took over the job from Anne as it is one thing the Vatican and the Catholic Church is known for records so it is no extra work. I will be glad to do it"

The three of us walked round talking to people, hugging and shaking hands as was needed but the one thing that was obvious was these people appreciated that something was being done to commemorate their loss and someone there to share their grief. The Rabbi was a strange old soul and I must admit I have never had much contact with Orthodox Judaism, yes I have had Jewish friends in a different life but besides dietary concerns I knew nothing of their faith.

"Sir" I said to the Rabbi "I am afraid I have to admit ignorance to your faiths needs if I can do anything for you please don’t hesitate to ask"

"Child your people here have offered nothing but kindness and friendship to all here with that in abundance who can ask for more?"

"I can, those who were taken returned and the end of the bloodshed" I said to him

"The return of those taken from us is something that everyone here wishes for but will not happen. As for the end to the bloodshed well my people know that the end of oppression, tyranny or inhumanities by one man towards another sometime requires bloodshed and sacrifice to stop. These things are inevitable with human beings and someone like you restores my faith doing what you feel is right and giving all while not asking anything" The Rabbi said holding my hands

"But I do ask and they give all they have, just look around you" I indicated the field of green the empty dark pits waiting for their occupants to arrive and the brown turned earth of the others showing they had already swallowed the evidence of my acts.

"But child you do not ask what they do for you, yes they do it because you ask it of them but you ask of them for them" I stood there looking at him trying to digest this statement "It has been freely given so pray with us for them and us who remain, but though your faith in god may be tested do not fear his faith in you is not"

"My fear though" I told him "Is that I am not a Moses leading my people out of slavery, but that I am a Captain Ahab on a mad quest doomed to fail and destroy those around me who trust me, believe in me, though I don’t and I will lose all I love"

"Katherine I call you now as you are not a child, if yours is the path of folly then I will happily be Ishmael to your Ahab. Because even if our belief in you is misplaced, which I do not think it is, then your aims, concerns and the love you give to all are worth seeking out the White Whale for"

"And if I get us all killed?" I asked

"Then we go down fighting knowing that we believe in what we fight for and knowing that you will be there with us, fighting beside us and weeping for every person you lose. Yes I have seen you on the roof with the pretty young woman who watches over us, even before I got here and met you, before we freed our city I heard the whispers in the dark places where people gathered to plan the plans that shaped men’s futures"

"Do you know what those whispers were?" he asked loudly so those around could hear

"Those whispers in the dark places that drove men to fight for freedom were of the words of a child, a young woman of immense courage. She was willing to risk her life to save people she didn’t know, and her words and the words of those people here with her were words of hope and strength. Look around you and see those people who were awoken by the words on the radio, those people if they lose all else have their pride and that shall never be taken from them even in death. Much better to die a proud man or woman fighting for a cause that is right, than to hide in the shadows and the dark slowly dying. These people know that you weep for their loss they watched you up there and whispered of it. Why does she cry? asked one and an answer came back because she cares. Why does she cry alone asked another for we also cry? Perhaps she feels we are not good enough for her came an answer" The Rabbi looked at me sternly.

"No, no I protested never that" I protested looking around at the faces I knew were now asking that question of me

"I cry alone because I caused their deaths and I am not worthy of that sacrifice they made or of interrupting your sorrow" I answered

"You are many things Katherine and no matter what your faiths or beliefs in yourself and what you are doing never forget that above all you are a good person now come say a prayer with me for two men I have known since they were children thirty years ago. Who were proud to fight for their city in the name of New Delphi for they knew it was right" he started saying a prayer in what I presume was Yiddish and I didn’t know what the correct responses were so at the end I just said Amen.

"I’m sorry I don’t know the correct responses" I said

"You have shed tears for are loss there is no greater response" he said "It looks like we are about ready to start shall us men of the cloth move to the front" he looked around at the other vicars and priests and we all started moving to the front.

 

"Ladies and Gentlemen it is a sad duty that brings us here today to honour these people who gave their lives for their city and the people they love. This is the place where we started it all where four of us decided to set up a radio where five of us started talking to the people out there and where eight of us fought a force of hundreds to save our lives. Here the people from around came to our aid without thought of their own safety and here the first member of New Delphi fell risking his life for all of us. We buried him here and others have joined him over the weeks and months and I know he would be proud of the company he keeps. Everyone who dies for my dream will be honoured here always and while I live I will never forget the sacrifice these people made because I asked" I handed the service over to Father Harrison who had worked on it with the other religious figures and the service went ahead smoothly as the bodies were lowered in groups of twenty due to the numbers I read out what was know about each persons death and a bugle played the last post. A piper in uniform played a few tunes I didn’t recognise for those who had fallen and it was done.

 

We ate and talked and cried after the service and eventually people started drifting off into small groups and I escaped to the roof where Alex was coming to the end of her shift seeing my mood she didn’t speak and I looked out over the field lit by the setting sun.

"The one problem with being in my profession is I am always asked why" the voice of the Rabbi came behind me.

"My problems are how and why? I have to take Glasgow to secure Edinburgh and all of Scotland but it will be bad news. What do I call you?" I added as an afterthought

"David will do as I don’t want to here you mispronounce my name repeatedly and my faith is not yours" he replied

"David, is what I am doing right, do I have the right to put more good people in this place of sorrow" I indicated the field with the stones casting long shadows on the grass.

"I have heard the story of the first battle here told by Tom down stairs when you left and the one thing you left out of your description was your part in it. You risked your life to try and save a friend and you have done that again and again for people you don’t know. I have no right to stop you doing what you feel is right so you have no right to refuse those who march with you though you may wish you could"

"What answer do you give when asked why?"

"I answer honestly I don’t know why"

"Shall we go back down before Jimmy and Tom re-enact the Tyne bridge" I asked

"Certainly but I haven’t heard that yet and my wife will want to hear it" he told me

"She is here?" I asked

"Yes comforting people she is very good at that"

"I wish I was"

"She wishes that she had your strength and you wish that you had hers yet they are two sides of the same coin as I have seen both sides in each of you.. But one thing I have seen here is that you are the one who has lost the most and received the least help. Who shares your burden?"

"Bernard did now down there, he understood now he just eases my nightmares as he promised me" I answered looking at the grave.

"Nightmares tell us many things what do yours tell you"

"What is this a bit of Psychology in your training?" I asked

"Just a little, a couple of years" he admitted

"Well I have cracked at least once with the sight of what one man will do to another and then I have caused more blood to be spilt than men I have executed. An interesting paradox I am trying to stop all this yet stopping it is more destructive than what has been done sometimes I think the way out is to blow my brains out but that would leave all this shit for some other poor bastard to sort out. There is a girl here who’s parents were murdered for being ill after giving their food and water to the children then with the promise of food and water for her and her brother she was horrendously raped and tortured sexually by a Sergeant I later executed if I had gone a day earlier it wouldn’t have happened. How am I supposed to feel I don’t know yet I still wake up screaming and reaching for my guns. There was a child I airlifted out and I haven’t had time to se if she is still alive, Jenny and her mother down there I have barely spoken to since she came out of the town but I just don’t know how I can do all I want to"

"Do what you can that is all and let me see what I can do, us church types have one thing in our favour we can get the people who will help with relief efforts moving. This I can do as they all know me whatever their faith and know that while I may not be the wisest man in the city I am often right" he said "Now come down and spread your beauty around a little brighten up all our lives"

"Your almost as bad as Bernard"

"That is a complement I accept" he said taking my arm and walking me back down stairs.

 

"There you are Kathy I was worrying a bit" Jimmy said as I reappeared

"She has been talking to me for a while and I feel she takes on too much as her responsibility" David said

"I know and I blame myself for not noticing it and placing more on her rather than easing it" Jimmy answered

"No its not" I protested

"Yes it is I found out I am giving people instructions to do things only to have them come around to you and dump the problem"

"You need administrative staff" David said

"Sorted now but nearly too late" Jimmy replied "there is a hell of a lot of crap involved with moving an army and this one was getting it all"

"Not a good thing for a person of action to get bogged down with administration, more dangerous than the battlefield as it is insidious and it takes over your life. You have had a lucky escape Kathy" David laughed a strange sound in the current atmosphere "you could have been stuck in Edinburgh fighting for you’re live under a mass of paperwork"

"No we don’t use paperwork it’s all up here" I tapped my head.

"What do you mean?"

"Well priorities today are ammunition and weapon servicing for all captured weapons, we only have a few people who can do that. Food we are fine for another week, toilet rolls were a problem I don’t know if it’s been sorted. Fuel for the ships is an issue if we want to use them again and I could do with a supply of decent boots for anyone who joins us to Glasgow. Mike needs to go and try more military bases for weapons and ammo and we have three vehicles out of action one through lack of a tyre two through mechanical problems unspecified" I told David "Do I go on?"

"You are running all this from your head, how about he battles?"

"Well we move in with a general plan then modify it as needs require after assessment of the situation" I explained

"Go and have fun with your young man as he seems lost and I will keep the company of this man for a while" David told me and I took the hint and walked off to Paul who was sitting there miserably.

"Hi Hon you look like you’ve missed me" I said as I sat next to him.

"I always miss you but that’s not the problem I just don’t feel comfortable at funerals" he admitted "though I know it’s got to be done"

"Thank you" I told him as I grasped his hand

"For what"

"For being here for me when I need you" I said squeezing it "because I hate this too"

I looked at the radio not being used in the corner all communications had moved with us to Edinburgh and I must admit I had neglected it with all that was going on leaving it to Ian and whoever else he needed. I walked over and powered up the set tuned to the 3.7 MHz frequency we use to use so often of a night. I pressed the button sending out the RND in Morse code and pressed the button.

"This is Radio New Delphi and this is The Oracle speaking is there any one on this frequency?" I asked waiting not expecting any response.

"This is Radio New Delphi and this is The Oracle is there anyone on this frequency?" I repeated.

"Kathy?" came a voice from the speaker

"Yes can you identify yourself?" I asked

"It’s Frank" came the voice

"Frank we lost contact with you weeks ago we feared the worst" I told him

"The worst is here now" the voice came back "I don’t know how much longer we can hide from them there is no food left in the city and there is talk of cannibalism people are being snatched and never seen again." There was silence from the room behind me as this bombshell was dropped.

"Frank how are you and Mary?" I asked

"I’m not too bad Mary though after being ill was weaker to start with she is not good and I don’t think she will last much longer" he said sadly "but I know I will be with her soon after. You have given us a bit longer together and for that I thank you and I want you to make sure you finish it all"

"Fuck that for a game of soldiers we are getting you out of there tonight" I told him "Frank I need a reference point a location I can meet you to get you"

"No Kathy it’s not worth the risk" he answered.

"Well you might have the right to decide what is too much risk for you but you don’t have the right to decide that for me, give up on yourself if you must but at least fight for Mary. I need a point we can find from the air to meet you and you need to be able to hide nearby." I shouted at him

"There is a motorway junction not too far away it is the one after the M5 turn off as you come south I should be able to get her there and hide for a while but I don’t know how long we can be hidden there and the gangs are bad" he answered

"Look let us worry about the gangs how many are we bringing out?" I asked

"Can you at least get out Mary my daughter and her two kids, me and Tony can take our chances here" he said

"Stop jerking me around Frank how many do you want out is it six?" I asked

"Can you take six" I looked at Mike he nodded

"Yes let me get an estimated time of arrival Mike how long to do one hundred and forty miles"

"Two hours for best fuel economy and a half hour to get up and running you can only have three with you though" he said

"Mike warm her up, Jimmy kit up, Wendy are you willing to play?" I asked

"Yes I’m game" she said "ready in five minutes"

"I have experience with weapons and I am a qualified field medic from what was the Israeli army before our nation was lost to us again" David said

"You sure?" I asked

"Yes very sure I can do some good here" he said his face the same as the old Corporal who I had met in Edinburgh.

"Say you goodbyes and Wendy will kit you up see you out there in ten minutes." I told him

"Frank we will be there in two and a half hours have your family there and I will see you then and good luck"

"Good luck to you too but please don’t risk anything on our account" he said

"Shut up and get your family ready to go" I told him and left the radio to get my kit.

"Here you go boss" Alex said arriving with a SA80 and a bag of magazines.

"Let one of the guys carry that" I said looking at the bag that she was having trouble carrying.

"Well can’t have you running short can I" she said smiling "Lets get you out there. But Boss"

"Yes"

"No more holes in you tonight, please." She said

"For you and you alone I will see what I can do" I told her and walked out to the field where Mike was preparing the helicopter.

"Kathy you take the Co-pilot seat again, you three I have a harness each for you. If you are hanging out playing silly games there are two rules, hook on first and secondly don’t shoot the cab. I am getting to like this old girl" Mike said with a grin.

"Are you tooled up" I asked him

"Look it takes two hands and two feet to fly this thing I am not going to be shooting people. Besides I don’t like the noise" he said as he started the first engine "Lets go and play"

 

The flight down was sobering to the left as we climbed to what Mike considered a safe height was high enough to see some of the devastation that took York. Manchester to our right as we skirted between the city and the Peak District was dark as was Stoke on Trent then Mike dropped to follow the motorway to the south. The last ten miles from the edge of Wolverhampton to the pick up point we started to get unwanted attention the occasional flash of a weapon and groups of people pointing in our direction. The M5 junction came underneath us and I realised we had a couple of cars following us. A few well placed shots from Wendy and Jimmy dissuaded them from too close a pursuit. The junction came up beneath us and we carried on for a couple of hundred yards and Mike set her down.

"I can’t see them" Wendy shouted

I undid my belt and dropped the side door grabbing the SA80 and a couple of magazines which I shoved in my pockets, I knew I should have put on my flying jacket as I was limited to the two extra magazines. I stepped outside and looked around.

"There they are under the bridge" I shouted "they need help. Three adults were trying to half drag, half carry a woman and a child a toddler was being pulled along by the hand. None of them looked in good condition.

Jimmy and Wendy jumped from the cargo door to catch me up as I ran towards them

"Come on move it" I told them "we have attracted some attention here"

"Let me carry her" Jimmy said grasping the older woman who was barely able to stand let alone walk, she was skin and bone. Wendy grabbed the toddler and we started helping them towards the helicopter I glanced back people were gathering on the embankment with weapons pointed a shot rang out.

"Move it now" I shouted and aimed my weapon towards them, safety off on fully automatic I sprayed the group and all dropped to the ground, David opened up from the helicopter cargo door single shots ringing out at the people as they came into his line of sight. Then with one great rush about sixty or seventy people decided to cross the two hundred and fifty yards to us I glanced back at the helicopter they were nearly there and I reloaded again letting lose with a spray of death people dropping in the roar of the weapon l grabbed the last magazine walking backwards slowly and slammed it in and selected single shot picking my targets now only a hundred and fifty yards away taking out the nearest while continuing to back up. The rifle came down on an empty chamber as the deeper noise of Wendy SLR took over and I turned and ran. Jimmy was firing as well now and they had started firing back. I hit the cargo door and the strong arms of David and Jimmy pulled me up and in and as Wendy screamed at Mike to go I reached down for a pistol and emptied the magazine into the approaching people and I felt the cab rise and we were airborne and moving. Mike went high and fast and we were soon out of range sat in the back

"Anyone hurt?" I shouted above the noise of the helicopter and the crying of the two children.

"Fine here Sis" Wendy said

"No problems here" Jimmy answered

"Mike how are you and how’s our transport?" I shouted forward

"I’m fine and she flies so I’ll get her back" he shouted back

"Frank how about your people?" I asked the older man

"Mary’s not good at all but we’re a lot better here than down there, thank you" he said

"David see what you can do to make her more comfortable I’m going forward"

 

Mike was heading north at around one hundred miles an hour I saw that his side window had a hole in it.

"You hurt?" I asked

"No but if I stuck my tongue out I could of licked it on the way past" he said with a big smile on his face "this action shit makes you feel alive"

"Yes it does right up to the point it kills you" I told him

"By which time you don’t care" he answered "How are they back there?" he asked

"Not good in fact except for the kids they look worse than Middlesbrough"

"Shit that bad? I’ll get us back as fast as possible" he assured me.

"Good because my first stops the loo" I said my bladder giving me twinges

"I should have brought a bucket" Mike suggested

"Look if you think I’m going to squat over a bucket in the back of this thing with everyone back there you must be out of bloody tree. Home James and avoid the bumps" I told him

"Yes Ma’am" he said "and Kathy"

"Yes"

"It was nice to see you in action, I always like watching a pro at work" he said

"Thank you but I’m a gifted amateur you want a pro then watch Wendy" I said and settled back for the trip home.

 

The lights on the field and the lights of the house guided us in the last few miles and I was nearly wetting myself. We touched down and I was out with the rotors still running.

"Get some help here for these people now" I shouted running towards the house.

"What’s up" Paul shouted as I ran past him

"Toilet" I said quietly

"What?" he shouted back

"I’ve got to hit the loo" I shouted and the people parted for me. Five minutes later I was back out much happier and I returned to the dining room

Mary was very rough and Anne had taken her away with Wendy Frank and his family were not much better. Mike and David were telling everyone about the pick up.

"I have never seen the like of it" He said "She saw them up above and sprayed them with a magazine while shouting at us to move, then she started walking backwards slowly and firing picking her targets till she knew all her people were on board before turning and getting into the aircraft"

"But you did nothing did you?" I said "You weren’t there firing to coverer us making sure they kept their heads down. Wendy and Jimmy didn’t pick up Mary and one of the kids to run with them to the helicopter"

"Yes we did" Jimmy said "But it was you that gave us the time we needed to get them on board"

"Come on let’s stop this now" I said "Frank how are you and your family?"

"We are alive" the gaunt man in his mid forties said "thanks to you and The Oracle where is she"

"You’re talking to her" Mike said putting a hand on his shoulder. "Sit down get something to eat and I’ll introduce you to everyone" Mike led him to a chair "I am Mike your Pilot today, the ugly one there is Jimmy he’s the one who ran off with your wife, David there is a Rabbi despite or perhaps because of his skill with weapons. Wendy and Anne are with Mary at the moment, you probably know them as Athena and Hera. Finally the young lady pretending that she did nothing today is Katherine The Oracle of New Delphi and I have a tip for you trust her totally and utterly unless she’s talking about how little she has done because then she talks a load of crap"

"Thank you for that Mike." I glared at him raising a giggle from the assembled people "Frank get some food in you and I will get hot drinks because I don’t think you’re in any condition to touch alcohol then I will arrange beds. Do some of you people mind doubling up and possibly a few sleeping in here?" I asked the crowd

"Look boss if we bed the team down in the surgery then you have plenty of room" Suki said

"Do you mind I asked" looking around at my people "What about you and the girls Suki?"

"Boss The chance of sleeping alone in a room or with these hunks no contest, these win every time" she said slipping an arm around two of the men.

"Look we don’t want to put anyone out" the younger woman said from Franks family "you have done enough already"

"Look I’m sorry I don’t know your name" I said

"Helen and that’s Tony my husband" she supplied

"Helen after the shit you and your family have been through there is no way on earth that you are sleeping anywhere but a bed as soon as you and the kids have eaten your fill I just have to do a little juggling as we have had a major funeral here today." I explained. I saw Anne having a word with Frank and guiding him away with a drink and a plate of sandwiches she returned a few moments later.

"How is she?" I asked

"Fifty-fifty according to Wendy" Anne said quietly to me "She has an IV line in and she is resting, Wendy says that if she makes it through the night she will probably make it"

"My team are kipping in the surgery tonight if you tell them what you want where they will do it"

"Fine I will sort out a room for Tony and Helen I think we have two cots that will do for the kids stashed away, Mark, Jones do you mind giving me a hand?" and she was gone again

"Thank you" Tony said coming up to me to shake my hand.

"Look we can do all that tomorrow" I said guiding him back to the table where Wynne and Claire were helping with the children "tonight you eat then sleep, understood?"

"Yes but thanks" He said

"Eat man before I set our gun toting Rabbi on you" I said "Helen if he moves again hit him" and they ate their fill and then Anne led them to their room.

 

I sat down feeling dejected at a table and removed my empty pistol and asked Paul to grab my cleaning kit and box of rounds from our room, he did and I stripped it and started cleaning it. The routine action taking my mind away from how those people looked

"How is Mary?" Bob asked

"If she makes it through tonight she has a chance" I answered bluntly

"How bad was it?" he asked

"Pick up was no problem a bit of shooting and we were away, you have seen much worse so don’t worry" I answered

"James" David said to Jimmy "this is nonsense what she is saying she was a hero out there"

"No that was very easy compared to what she normally puts herself in the middle of" Jimmy answered

"You consider her actions normal, nothing exceptional"

"She did what anyone of her force would have done if asked, for her that was tame" Jimmy answered "You should have seen her in Newcastle now that was a sight worth seeing"

I reassembled the pistol and fired it on an empty chamber testing the action and I was satisfied, I then refilled the magazine.

"Jimmy I don’t know after Glasgow if we will be able to do anything for anywhere else" I said to him.

"I know we have too much planning to do to be able to get to Birmingham in the next couple of months" he answered

"You cant just leave them to die" a woman said

"I don’t want to leave them to die" I snapped back "but I have to take Glasgow before we can even think about moving south. Then it’s Manchester, Liverpool, Nottingham and Stoke first before we hit Birmingham"

"But why?" she asked

"Because I would get my men slaughtered getting them down there and possibly lose Scotland as well if I went straight there and no other city will be in much better state" I said putting my head in my hands.

"After this is all over we will be lucky if we have a couple of million people alive in this country and personally I think it would be a lot less without what is happening here" Jimmy chimed in

"She’s right Jimmy" I shouted at him "what gives me the right to pull out six people from there and leave the rest of the poor bastards there to die. But I don’t know how I can save them without risking everything we have won"

"There was once a man who saved a large number of my people" David said

"Yes Otto Schindler a member of the Nazi Party and a profiteer whose friendship with a Jewish family as a child prompted some action from his conscience. But he was still a womaniser who hurt his wife deeply and died in poverty living off the charity of those he saved" I told him.

"Katherine you know our history any act of kindness at the time of darkness will always be repaid no matter what flaws the person has his memory will always be honoured" David said

"No I do not criticise or denounce the man I long for his humanity to be able to make mistakes and have faults and still be successful. But if I fail I’m likely to take us all down with me. Is there anyone here who can do this job, because if there is they can have it." I answered

"Kathy nobody I know can do your job and the pressures you are under are immense, but this is a curse for you but a blessing for us. Do as you feel is right and carry no guilt for the fate of those you face or the fate of those who fight with you as neither are your responsibility"

"And by what right do you give me absolution? The right of a Rabbi to forgive a Gentile I do not remember reading that anywhere and what would you create if you could. Can you imagine me without my self doubts, conscience, guilt and fears leading those people. If I was let loose in the world as it is without these restraints no one would stop me and hell would surely come to reign on earth."

"No we have better people that them" some one said

"No our people are the same as their people only ours are doing it for the right reasons. Here they kept attacking till the field was covered with their dead and I don’t think I could have made people do the same. They are strong and skilled, just their beliefs are fundamentally wrong in my eyes and that is a rather flimsy reason to leave ten thousand dead around your city." I shouted someone brought me a coffee.

"Jimmy is this doped?" I asked him

"No Boss" he answered and I took a sip

"I apologise for my harsh words but I have a lot to think about as I must ask more people to come with me to Glasgow and kill more men and women that we cant afford to lose" I told them "David I am sorry if I have hurt you with my words as you risked your life tonight for others without a thought for yourself"

"I will tell you truthfully Kathy your words do hurt me only because of there truth not because of the fact you said them to me. What has the world come to when a Gentile child teaches an old Rabbi morality. But you have made one mistake in what you have said" He paused and looked around "You say that I did it with no thought of myself that is not true. As the bullets flew around us I only had thoughts for myself and the desire to flee. But it was the sight of a child, alone, standing in the path of the people who would destroy us fighting valiantly to defend the people she said she would help that gave me the strength to get up and fight"

"Flatterer how does your wife put up with you?"

"Ah very easily all it takes is a beautiful wife and a big stick and I am good" he answered causing a woman by his side to blush.

"Well if she left her stick I’m sure we can find one for her" I answered with a smile

"Promises, Promises always of these young girls promises" he said laughing

 

The night went pretty well after that and the next morning I said goodbye to them all, offering that any time they wanted to they could visit and stay.

"Kathy you have a good heart so do not fear what you do, if your heart was not good the doubts you have would not assail you." David said hugging me tight

"He may be an incorrigible old fool" his wife said who I now knew was called Ester "but he is wise in some things"

"He is a teacher to his people and his courage is an inspiration to them so go and tell them that I said this and that I am proud he fought at my side" I said hugging her tight.

"Boss I will see that all runs well and we will see you there tomorrow or the day after" Jimmy said

"No you will see me there this evening and I want every important person you can get in a meeting in the castle at eight. I want religious, military and civil leaders I will send Mike to Newcastle and Middlesbrough first to pick up people there as a decision needs to be made that I cant make alone" I said

"You need the rest" Jimmy protested

"Yes and I will get it when we finish this job" I told him and I pushed him towards the Lorry where Tom was hugging Muriel who was crying about his departure again. I watched them go waving to them and then went back inside to talk to Frank.

 

"How is she?" I asked Frank in the kitchen where Anne was standing over him making him eat.

"She’s alive at least, but very weak." He said

"Well I am getting Bill back here in a couple of hours so we can see what he can do. I’m sorry I couldn’t send Mike for him last night but he needed to check the damage to the cab in the daylight"

"Bullshit Kathy you and Wendy have saved her life once before then you risk yourself last night. I don’t think you have anything to be sorry about"

"What is the situation in Birmingham how much longer can people hold out?" I asked

"Birmingham is lost, we have spent weeks hiding in lofts and cellars from the marauding gangs and it was only by pure luck I was in the house when you came on channel, getting some things for Mary" he said

"Then the people have nothing to lose?"

"No and it was only the thought of Kim and Nigel my grandchildren that made me let you risk it"

"Look" I told him firmly "when all seemed dark you were a friendly voice so how could I leave you?" and he was silent.

"Mathew Mark and Paul are shifting those computers into the cellar" I told Anne "and I will get them up and running before I leave as you seem to be getting quite the little school gathered here"

"I know and I’m looking forward to it" She said smiling

 

By ten in the morning Mike had declared all the damage superficial and was on his way to Middlesbrough and Newcastle then up to Edinburgh. Late afternoon we could be expecting him back to pick Paul, Mathew, Mark, Suki and me up. I got stuck into the computers getting the individual units working then tying it in as a network and setting up the teachers security system and by dinner time I had it all up and running.

 

I went up the stairs and down the passage to the kitchen.

"Your up and running Anne your password for everything at the moment is Salamis"

"Thank you Kathy I don’t know if you know how much this means to me" she answered

"Look when this shit is over we wont want people like me good at killing and destruction. We will want people like you and Bob builders and teachers as if we don’t have people like you we might as well quit now" I told her firmly "how are Helen, Tony and the kids?"

"Fine thanks to you" came Tony’s voice from the entrance to the dining room.

"I’m glad" I said turning to see him looking a lot better than last night.

"Well thank you for my families life if I can do anything for you just ask" he said

"Well yes you can" I told him "I need you to say here and relax for a couple of weeks eating all you can till Anne gets fed up with you. Then we can talk about where you feel you will be of most use" I walked back in and ate with the family older child Nigel was wanting to run around and play.

"Go on let him Jenny’s outside with her mother let him go out and play" Anne said

"Are you sure we don’t want to be a bother" Helen said feeding Kim with some mush which she was happily spreading over her face.

"Look this place above all to us has been a home, no matter what people think. Yes we have the cemetery out there now but all of those people died for the possibility of kids laughing and playing. He won’t do anything to bother anyone and neither will you two, enjoy this place as it is as much your home as mine." I said and secretly thought perhaps more.

 

We took off at four in the afternoon after Mike had refuelled again from our tanker, that was another thing we would have to hunt out I thought more aviation fuel if we wanted to keep using the cab.

 

The meeting was held in a large room at the castle filled with chairs and I looked at the assembled people business men, politicians and civic leaders.

"Ladies and Gentlemen you have a decision you must help me with as I don’t feel I can make it alone. Last night we took a little trip to Birmingham and the sight of the people there was pitiful. Of the six people we brought out all of them are severely malnourished one may yet die and these people considered themselves lucky. They talk about cannibalism and murder, this situation is probably going on in many cities and it is too late for me to try and save them all. I have two options tell them to run or tell them to fight. What do I tell them?"

 

The discussions went on for a hell of a long time swinging one way then the other after two hours I turned to them.

"The time has come to make this decision what do you think I should advise them?" I asked and all but three people voted to evacuate the cities "This was the decision that I had reached as well and I will broadcast that message tonight to be played every hour on all the frequencies we use. I thank you for your help in this and those of you who don’t agree do not worry I couldn’t come to a decision either way for a long time so it was a close call please enjoy this city for the remainder of your stay and Jimmy will arrange transport when you are ready to leave." I left them and bummed a lift to the radio station that Ian was based in Sheila was on the air.

"Look Ian I need to talk now on all frequencies and it needs to be repeated every hour for the next couple of days" I told him

"No problem Kathy it sounds serious"

"It is" I admitted

"Right go on in and speak I will be recording and then I can play it back whenever" he indicated the door with a red light on above it.

"We interrupt this program for the moment as The Oracle has just turned up at the station and I wasn’t expecting her back tonight so she must have something to say that’s important" I nodded and she pointed to the other microphone.

"People Britain who are living under the oppression of the self imposed dictatorships I have an important message for you. Last night I was in Birmingham and I found it disturbing, people are starving to death in that city and cannibalism has started to rear its ugly head. The time has come for all people who still can to leave the cities and get into the countryside and head north we will be heading south and will help and welcome all people escaping oppression. To the people of the countryside, the people who to a certain extent have escaped the worst of the ravages of this disaster I ask your help and understanding for these refugees within our own country because we will be coming to help as soon as we can and the next refugee if the gangs change their patterns might be you. Do not under any circumstances go towards York as that area is dead, Scotland should be safe within two weeks but safe areas will be broadcast as soon as they are known. To the gangs and the dictatorships that have turned this disaster in to an apocalypse I have the blood of ten thousand men and women like you on my hands just from Edinburgh another four thousand are captive. I am coming and when I come your gods will not protect you from my wrath for all who stand before my forces will fall, because they are fighting for their freedom and the freedom of others and they shall slaughter any force that opposes them. Thank you for your time" I left the room.

"Ian I want full details of all the battles we have fought broadcast from the first at New Delphi to the bloodbath here. The more gruesome the better I want the bad guys scared shitless of us and the good guys looking to join us" I told him

"Can do but it will be tomorrow before it happens" he said

"That’s fine" I assured him and headed back to the hospital to sleep. As we slipped into bed I asked Paul a question.

"Have I done the right thing"

"I don’t know love" he said holding me tight in his arms "I don’t pretend to know and all I ask is that you go with your feelings because I am sure they are right"

I lay there awake listening to him breathing his body tight against my back and his hand cupping my breast wondering. Was I doing what I would do or was a Megalomaniac streak programmed into this body and that was what was taking control. I knew that I was a different person from who I was, the most obvious thing was that I was lying here in Paul s arms enjoying the security I felt and the sensations within me his hand caused. I was still musing on this when I woke up with Paul kissing my neck and I abandoned my worries to the one thing in this whole shitty mess that I was sure of Paul’s passion and the pleasure it brought me.

 

That week with the help of the staff Jimmy arranged I had a quiet week, occasionally relishing the anonymity that civilian clothes brought and having the spotlight of another night at the Queens the fact of not being questioned every minute eased my burden but I must admit Suki was given quite the run around as my liaison and sole contact between the staff working for me and me.

"How the hell did you cope Boss?" she asked one day "you were always polite with the stupidest enquiries"

"I didn’t it was cracking me up how are you coping?"

"I just tell them to piss off and think for themselves when it gets too much, they only argued once than I took Matt and Mark down they sorted it out" she said laughing loudly at the memory.

 

The night of the celebration I asked them the question of would they accept me as Boss Lady and the people of the city answered with one voice Yes. Then I asked them to follow me to Glasgow and again they said yes. Preparations were made and one week later a force of seventeen thousand people left Edinburgh and I was jubilant with the news from Bill that Mary was going to make it.

 

We had run into large groups of people escaping the city thanks to my broadcast and none of them were in any condition to join us so we fed them and sent them east knowing from the look of some of them that they wouldn’t make it. Less than ten miles from the city we set up camp in full sight of any one who wanted to see us and waited one day for all those who wanted to run to run and the ninth day after the party as the sky lightened with dawn we made our approach into the city.

 

I split the force up into three groups of almost six thousand men Jimmy and me taking the centre route along the M8 into the city, Tom taking the southerly route through East Kilbride and Major Bruce leading the Northerly force through Bishopbriggs. Initial resistance for Jimmy’s team was light most of the defenders fled at first contact, Major Bruce was reporting much the same but Tom was running into some pretty firm resistance.

"Jimmy can you carry on like you are I need to head down to Tom to find what’s going on down there. If everything they have is centred to the south of the city centre then we may need to all drift south to hit them" I told him

"Watch your arse Boss I don’t like the smell or the feel of this place it’s too easy at the moment" Jimmy said as I left him.

"Ok kiddies time to go and do what we do best, Sam stay close, watch and learn. Your doing great at the moment though. The rest of you keep your heads down and we took off at a jog south west towards Toms troops.

 

They seemed to have fortified the area that Tom was attacking in a large semi circle and vicious probing hit and run attacks of the sort Wendy excelled were being launched against Toms flanks. These modified cars. backed up occasionally by large numbers of troops on foot were taking a toll on his men that I wasn’t willing to accept. Skirting the outer edge of this fortified area I found out Toms problem it looked like houses on the streets had been demolished and twenty to thirty feet of bricks and rubble produced a most effective barrier to us and stopped us getting any idea of what was behind it. All streets that were barricaded so also were defended as we found out on a couple of occasions when the defenders thought we were in range.

"Suki get Wendy’s crew in here tell them to set up as far from the defences as possible and start sniping lets relive the pressure on Tom a bit an squeeze these bastards. Tell Jimmy to drift south and Major Bruce to move with all possible speed without risking anything once we have them pinned in here then we can take our time but while they have the option to get in and out of their hole we are buggered."

 

We carried on towards the sound of the gunfire and Suki warned Tom we were coming in. We came in on his right flank and I was escorted to his command point.

"What’s the situation here Tom" I asked the man

"We cant see what we are fighting there could be ten thousand men the far side of that barrier but I don’t know. All I do know is every time we probe the fire back is nasty very nasty"

"Look hold this position and just contain them here Jimmy will be moving in on your right and Bruce is coming as fast as he can south once they are in place we can keep them in their hole and just whittle them down rather than the tricks that are being tried on you at the moment" I said

"Block all the exits and then make the area to hot to live in" Tom said

"That’s it don’t risk your men for the moment we take our time" I said as we left to find Jimmy’s men coming south.

 

We were half way back to Jimmy’s force when from one of the streets on our left we heard the noise of a car engine. Peering around the corner we saw a group of about fifty of the opposition with some unidentifiable vehicle with Metal welded on it and small slits for firing.

"Shit that is the next attack intended for Tom" I told the team "If we pick our spots and hit them first we can take them. Men first then all aim for the front of that car if enough shit hits it in one place then we can take it out"

My team quietly took there positions one at a time keeping to the sides of the road so not to be seen jumping in and out of gardens for the cover it gave I took position in a doorway slightly closer to the enemy than really necessary sort of three hundred yards away from them and my shot was to be the order to open fire.

"Fuck" Paul said from behind me.

"What?" I asked and he indicated down the road a child was leaving a house about half way between us and them. I couldn’t tell if it was male or female but I would say it was under five and obviously bewildered.

"Wait lets see if she moves away" I said quietly to him

One of the men in the group turned and saw the child and raised a pistol and took a shot another one laughed and a rifle fired kicking up tarmac about five foot from the child who fell over.

"Stay here I’m smaller and quicker than you when I’ve got her start shooting" I said to him and took off my coat. I started running towards the child keeping in close to the hedges for the hundred and fifty yards while another two shots missed the child. I cut across the road and reached the child and picked him/her up it was heavier than I thought and with the child in on my left side I ran for cover over the road. Suddenly there was a shout and firing started from my right the direction of the enemy something hit me and I went tumbling the child hitting the ground hard. I reached down and grabbed a pistol crawling to place me between the fire and the child. My team opened up with all weapons and above my head a murderous stream of bullets flew and I added my ammunition to that ploughing into the enemy. One pistol exhausted I grabbed my other one and emptied that into a group of half a dozen men heading towards me as large arms grabbed me like a toy and then grabbed the child and we were carried towards a house with no door. I was tossed on the floor inside and looked up to see Sam guarding the door firing into the men who had been running towards me, as I struggled to reload he then reversed his rifle and used it as a club until he was lifted backwards by the force of the shot that brought him down I moved to get a shot at the doorway and it hurt, I saw a man holding a large revolver and my shot took the top of his head off a second was hit in the chest as was a third I waited for a second and I saw the uniforms of my men.

"Get Jimmy’s team here now Suki" I said every breath hurting "that barricade isn’t manned get the team to take it and we are in"

"Thank god your alive Boss" she said after passing on the message

"How’s Sam?" I asked

"Bad but he’s alive and a strong as an ox I’ll get a medic here for him" She said looking at me curiously "Boss why haven’t you got up?" I was still lying on my back head towards the door in the position I had been firing from.

"I think I was hit Suki if I try to move it hurts" I answered honestly.

"Let me have a look where does it hurt?" she said kneeling by me

"Everywhere I don’t know where I was hit but I think I was" I coughed and some salty substance filled my mouth.

"Boss I am just going to roll you gently" Suki said moving my body onto its side.

"Oh fuck Boss." She said as the pain was released in my body by the movement "The Boss is hit bad we need medics now. I repeat the Boss is down it is bad we need help get some fucker here now please"

I looked at Suki wondering what all the fuss was about as it didn’t hurt now that she had let me lie down.

"Suki relax" I said "I’m just a bit bruised that’s all"

"Boss don’t move" she said "Where are those fucking medics the Boss is hit bad" I closed my eyes for a moment and was rudely awoken by Suki shouting at me this time.

"Don’t you drift off on me Boss stay with me please" she was weeping it must be for Sam I thought.

"Sam?" I said though it was hard to talk

"He will be fine don’t worry just stay with me"

"The barricade do we hold the barricade?" I asked

"Yes we do the team is up there stopping anyone retaking it they can hold it for hours" she said still crying

"and the child" I asked

"The kid is fine a few bumps and bruises that’s all"

"Good" I replied closing my eyes for a moment again.

"Kathy can you here me?" another voice came through to interrupt my rest.

"Mmm" I answered unwilling to speak

"Kathy I am going to roll you over to have a look" it was Bill’s voice what the hell was he doing here I wondered.

"No" I said remembering the pain when Suki moved me

"What was that Kathy?" Bill asked

"Hurts when I move" what the hell was going on here why didn’t they listen and what was happening with all the shooting out there "No"

"I’m sorry but hurt or not I have to look, Andrea support her as she rolls, you too Suki Trisha you pass me what I need and help me roll her gently on three. One, two three" Bill said and I screamed aloud as the pain shot through my chest and upper body.

"Fuck clamps, I need to clamp these bleeders clean there that’s it can you see where that is coming from ah yes that’s it any more we have a shit load of blood still coming from somewhere" Bill was saying as he did something behind me I screamed again as more pain shot through me.

"Fuck this get Mike here we have to get her out now to Edinburgh this is beyond me" Bill shouted "Jimmy get Mike in now" I couldn’t make out the next part of the conversation as my head was in someone’s lap restricting what I could hear.

"Don’t give a fuck you get him here now no matter how hot this location is you don’t have five minutes to fucking secure it I want him in the air now or its game fucking over" Bill was shouting and I went back to sleep.

The rest of my battle of Glasgow is fragmented the sound of a helicopter swinging from a line in a stretcher, people crying in the helicopters interior and a corridor with doors being opened for me.

 

I woke from a dark dreamless sleep in panic something was down my throat I tried to reach up to remove it but couldn’t seem to make my arms work. I tried to shout for help but couldn’t I started panicking and struggling.

"Kathy don’t struggle came a male voice that tube down your throat has been helping your breathing, don’t try to speak" a male voice said

I relaxed a moment and tried to figure out what was happening.

"Kathy I am going to remove this tube I want you to blow as hard as you can as I pull" he said and I did nauseated by the feel of the tube being removed from my airway.

"Sam, how’s Sam" I croaked and heard talking but couldn’t make out the words.

"Sam is fine he is up and about, not half as bad as you were" the man said

"Glasgow?" I managed to say

"Scotland is free once more thanks to you, now I have just given you something to help you sleep you need to relax" and I slept again

 

I opened my eyes and looked at a dimly lit ceiling my back hurt badly. I moved my head and saw a drip leading to my hand and the rest of a small room outside the windows it was dark. I sat up slowly the pain making me catch my breath and slid my feet to the edge of the bed. I slowly stood on the floor on legs that didn’t want to hold my weight and used the drip stand to hold my weight. I shuffled towards the door and managed to get it open and drag the drip stand through with my body I came onto a ward that was mostly empty. I looked at the three beds that were occupied and decided I didn’t know who they were and continued to walk towards the exit. In the corridor I slowly walked along looking for anyone to answer my questions and I saw a sign for casualty. I came into the area with mine and Paul’s room and opened the door nobody was there and the bed hadn’t been used. I had to know if he had made it. I made my way to the staff room where I first met Wynne and Claire there was some one in there I opened the door and shuffled in.

"Yes can I help you?" Said a nurse I didn’t know

"Casualties, how many people did I lose?" I asked

"What?" she said

"How many fucking people did I lose in Glasgow for Christ’s sake tell me" I cried at her

"You’re The Oracle?" She said her mouth open

"No I’m Mary fucking Poppins. Now how many people did I lose?" She ran past me and hit an alarm button on the wall which started all sorts of annoying noises and buzzers and things which went directly to my brain.

"For gods sake please tell me how many of my people I killed and was one Paul" I asked as she guided me to a chair the act of sitting making me cry out in pain. People started arriving there was a lot of fuss I couldn’t make sense of.

"Come on Kathy lets get you back to bed" someone said.

"NO" I shouted the pain again wracking my body with spasms "Tell me now please how many of my people did I lose and does anyone know anything about Paul?"

"I’m here Kathy" his voice came through the crowd and he pushed through his face looking thin and drawn.

"Thank god for that at least" I said as he grasped me in his arms. I don’t remember them putting me back to bed.

 

I woke up back in the room this time it was daylight and a nurse was sat in a chair reading.

"How many did I lose?" I asked

"Oh your awake again don’t worry about that at the moment" she said in a professional voice

"I do worry about that an I want to know now or I will start tearing this place apart" I informed her.

"You are not to worry yourself, what are you doing?" I took out the drip in my hand and sat up and slid my legs out of the bed. I stood up easier this time but still some pain.

"I am going to find some answers" I said

"Please get back into bed you don’t want to get me in trouble do you" she said using a new tact.

"Bullshit you wont get in trouble for a difficult patient" I told her as I opened the door she put a hand on my arm to stop me.

"If you don’t want that arm broken do not touch me again" I said and walked out she headed for a telephone as I entered the corridor. I slowly walked towards the casualty department amongst the crowds of people I was unnoticed I entered my room and let the long hospital gown fall to the floor, I found a pair of knickers and a bra but couldn’t seem to find any boots to go with my spare uniform so I pulled a pair of trainers out from under the bed and proceeded to slowly get dressed. How long had I been out I wondered as I put the uniform on I felt like shit and the dressing on my back was in the way of my bra but I wasn’t going without. I slipped the trainers onto my feet and slipped the two pistols home that were on the bedside cabinet and walked slowly into the bathroom. I looked in the mirror I looked like shit. I was thin and pallid my eyes sunken, well my make up skills won’t cover that I thought and just gave my hair a few brushes before putting my beret on and going outside.

 

It was a sunny day outside and there seemed to be a lot of activity in the city as I stepped outside I saw a Land Rover with someone in I didn’t recognise.

"Where’s Jimmy?" I asked

"Who?" The young man asked

"Captain Houston where is he?"

"Oh at the castle" he said pointing in the general direction

"Fine take me there" I told him

"Pardon?" he asked

"Do you have a problem hearing take me there I am in no condition to walk" and he started the vehicle after I carefully climbed in. We drove up to the castle and I thanked him as I climbed out of the car.

"Wait here" I told him he seemed undecided but then nodded and I walked inside past the guards standing there with there mouths open.

"Where’s Jimmy" I asked a woman passing by she stopped and looked at me.

"Sit down Ma’am I will go and get him" She said guiding me to a chair I took gladly

"What the fuck are you doing?" came Jimmy’s voice and I looked up to see his face again pale and drawn

"They wouldn’t tell me how many did we lose? Please Jimmy I must know" I looked at him.

"Three weeks ago we laid to rest six hundred and seven people at New Delphi. Since then we lost another Nineteen and we buried them last week" he said looking at me

"My team?" I asked dreading the answer

"Sam was bad very bad but he is up and about now and you had a few minor casualties" he said

"Anyone I should know about?"

"Tom was a mess but he is now recuperating at New Delphi but that is about it" he answered

"Jimmy I don’t think I can do this again, six hundred and twenty six people lost, oh god why did I do it" I said

"We won" Jimmy replied

"Yes till next time" I said

"No we have won Manchester surrendered at the news of the fall of Glasgow as did Birmingham and Liverpool soon after since then we have started relief operations across the country. We did it we have people in London and people pulling survivors out of the wasteland that was York." He said

"What?" I was unable to comprehend this

"You fucking did it you won we have the country back" He shouted hugging me I moaned in pain at this. "Lets get you back down to the hospital"

He helped me outside and someone was there with a camera.

"Captain Houston can I ask why The Oracle is here I thought she was critical" a voice said

"Yes she came out of the hospital without telling anyone to ask about her men" he said

"But wasn’t the report yesterday that she was still in intensive care"

"Yes but a little thing like that wont stop her when its her men she’s worried about" Jimmy said laughing as he helped me back into the car.

 

The doctors and nurses at the hospital were in a state of panic, for twenty nine days I had been critical and the city and a lot of the country held their breath for me. Then I disappeared going for a walk the day after I got out of ICU. I apologised for the scare I had given them and demanded a selection of the newspapers that were much in evidence in the city.

 

Back in bed I settled down to read now in one of my own nightdresses with Paul sitting watching me. I arranged them in chronological order and picked up the first one GLASGOW LIBERATED, THE ORACLE CRITICAL and a picture of me lying on the floor trying to pull myself in between the child and firing with my pistol raised. During the battle to take Glasgow yesterday The Oracle of New Delphi, Katherine was leading a small team to try and penetrate the fortress that had been created in the south of the city. Leading her team The Oracles Own Specialist Force a group of twenty five men and women who wear the Blue Beret against a group of nearly one hundred men and one armoured vehicle a child wandered out into the road. Troops from the gangs holding Glasgow started using Louise Bradshaw who says she is nearly five for target practice. Katherine made a mad dash of one hundred and fifty yards in full sight of the enemy to try to rescue the child being hit in the back while protecting her with her own body. Then while on the ground she pulled herself between the child and the enemy and started firing from one of her pistols before discarding it and carrying on firing with her other one. At this point when it looked like all was lost a man came running into the line of fire scooping the child and The Oracle up in his arms and getting them to the safety of a house where he stood defending them with bullets then using his rifle as a club before this man believed to be one Sam Murphy was shot and fell. The Oracle then took up the fight again though grievously wounded kept the enemy at bay till her men finished them off and held the position they had taken for half an hour under heavy fire till relived by the men of Captain Houston known for his defence of Edinburgh. At this time the word is that Katherine The Oracle of New Delphi is in an extremely critical condition and according to an unnamed source she is not expected to survive. Sam Murphy the man who ran to her aid is in a critical but stable condition. At his time it is believed that over five hundred members of The Oracles forces gave their lives for what they considered a just cause. Though some question the wisdom behind such an attack on a city as large as Glasgow. This reporter feels that though the losses are something that can never be taken lightly that the fact that this city is safe shows the wisdom of her actions. We all pray for the lost and the wounded at this time but I feel that every one in this city should take a moment to say a prayer for the young woman whose life is in the balance at the moment.

 

"Makes fascinating reading doesn’t it" came Bill’s voice from the doorway

"Just catching up on the news I seem to have missed a lot by being asleep"

"Well you threw a whole hospital into disarray and scared Paul here half to death" He said

"Sorry no one would tell me anything so I had to ask Jimmy what the situation was" I answered unrepentant

"Well some doctors believe the young must be shielded from the truth and others have met you" he said smiling "You are to let us know where you are going and please listen to some of the things we tell you. For two weeks we didn’t think you would make it only Wendy had any real hope for you and by god she was right. Now for that truth that we were talking about Kathy when was your last period?" he asked

"I don’t know a while ago but I skipped after I got shot up last time. I even tried a couple of pregnancy tests just in case" I said "Why?" I added realisation starting to hit me.

"When you got shot in the arm at Newcastle your contraceptive implant was destroyed, your two months pregnant" he said and my world went black.

 

"Kathy come on wake up" Bill’s voice roused me

"Shit" I said as I came around

"Why?" Paul said beaming

"Because there is so much to do" I answered

"And you did it you saved us all and we have won" Bill threw at me "the field is yours"

"Oh what do I do now?" I asked confused

"Well you can have the child or we can." I interrupted him

"No more killing its time I brought life into this world rather than death" I said "but" I looked at Paul

"I have known for weeks and if you can put up with me I want to be a part of your life" Paul said coming over to my side

"Put up with you I was running around the hospital last night dragging a drip with me trying to find out if you were hurt. The sight of that empty room scared me silly" I told him tears running down my face as Bill slipped out to leave us alone.

 

I was officially in hospital for the next two weeks which drove me mad and the fact I kept slipping out with Paul kept driving a couple of surgeons who had put a total of over forty hours of surgery into me mad.

"Bill can you talk some sense into her?" Mr McMillan asked him on the third day of my imprisonment

"No and if any one had talked sense into her none of us would be here now" Bill said

"Look I promise I wont do anything too strenuous, I get driven everywhere anyway and I don’t think action is likely to come this way." I said loudly "If you will lay off the moaning I am always here for morning rounds"

"Look I don’t think you realise how seriously you were hurt" he said

"Yes I do I have seen it from both sides. Have you?"

"She’s irrational, uncontrollable and unreasonable" Mr McMillan said

"Doctor" I said carefully the one thing he hated being called as a consultant surgeon "I can be all those things and more but you haven’t seen that yet. I have fought a battle in a worse state than this till that bugger there stuck me with something, never again though. Besides I have a little party in four days I need to see a tailor about a uniform."

"Do you realise you could make yourself ill again" He said

"Yes but I wont" I said as I got out of the bed.

"Now gentlemen you have had your poke and prod at me can I get dressed in private" I asked them ushering them towards the door.

 

I had a few things I wished to do today the first was Mr McKinney and uniforms as my last one had been cut off me which meant I was down to only one decent one and the one that I got shot in the arm with.

"Hello anyone here?" I asked as I entered the shop

"My dear Kathy is that you?" came Mrs McKinney’s voice

"Yes it is me and Paul I escaped for a while" I told her

"Should you be out of hospital?" she asked setting both me and Paul off giggling.

"Yes you should" she said looking at me "and you have gained weight"

"Well" I started to say

"No, when are you due dear?" she asked indicating a chair

"Seven months or so" I said beaming at Paul

"Congratulations and what a time for it to happen a new life for a new age" she said smiling.

"I know though if had know before I got shot up I might have taken more care" I admitted

"Bullshit young lady" she said shocking me "I know that you would have done exactly the same thing to save that child, I have seen the papers, I know what you did and you did it for the same reason you have done everything because you are a nice person who cares. Though Mr McKinney has been moaning since he started on your uniforms about tailoring to a woman’s curves, the fact that your going to be having another curve will make him have kittens"

"I’m sorry" I said "I don’t want to be a bother"

"No you can be all the bother you want as everyone owes you more than we can repay. This is joyous thing so be proud have you two any plans" She asked

"Not at the moment lets wait until they let me go from hospital" I said "I was hoping to grab one of the uniforms if any are ready as I only have this one now my others have holes in them, and are rather bloodstained"

"Your uniforms like that one are ready, the dress uniform will be a couple of more days"

"Can I wear one of them now please as this I’m sure wants to walk off on its own?" I asked her

"Come on I will help you" she said guiding me to a changing room.

She helped me undress seeing the difficulty I was having undressing, since that first trip out I had made use of Paul. She gasped as she saw my back the dressing having ridden up though I had yet to see it. As I stood there in bra and panties she looked at me.

"Yes just showing a little" she said and I looked down at my previously flat stomach and saw just a little rounding along my panty line "how are you feeling?"

"Scared silly and sore where I got shot that’s about it though for the moment" I admitted

"Do not be scared it is a joyous time and should be savoured" she said as she helped me with the shirt "better quality material than your uniform softer but harder wearing"

She then helped me with the trousers and the boots which I had no chance to bend down to fasten.

"Thank you its perfect" I told her

"Don’t thank me thank Mr McKinney" she said

"I will but can you come to an event at the Queens on this Friday My team again" I asked

"Just try and stop me" she answered firmly I hugged her and said goodbye

 

Friday night came around and again my team met at the Queens. This time the crowds and the tables were out before hand and due to the numbers of people in the street we were not able to drive down it we had to stop at the end. As we got out the crowd the people surged forward and Sam walked forward.

"The Boss is not well yet so please stand back because the guys are a bit nervous about her health" and the crowd did. We walked into the pub to be welcomed by Harris, Mr McKinney and his wife and the two James with their wives.

"Kevin" I shouted the landlord "What’s the circus out there?"

"Not my doing this time word spread this place was closed tonight and they arrived" he said

"Fair enough" I said and sat down

Tom was not well enough to travel so a space was left for him at Suki’s instance as I sign that he was welcome and we ate another of Harris’s wonderful meals. At the end I struggled to my feet feeling bloated as this was largest meal I had eaten for months.

"Men and women who proudly wear The Blue Beret of the OOSF, this shows you go places where others fear and have done deeds that men would say are impossible I ask you know is there anyone who has fought with you that you feel deserves to wear The Blue Beret?"

"Yes Boss" Suki said standing up "We would be proud to have Sam Murphy as a member of this team as he has proved himself in battle"

"Sam will you come up here please" I asked and the large man stood and walked forward as I went around to the front of the table.

"Sam a very short time ago it seems to me, due to the fact I was asleep, you asked could you join my team. I said yes but warned you it would be dangerous and I could not promise you a Beret. You told me given a fair go you would earn it and tonight this team has said you have. I also wish to thank you for risking your life for a second time to save mine" I told him and hugged him tight "Bend your bloody head down so I can give you a kiss" I said loudly getting a laugh from the unit I kissed him and then stood back.

"Sam Murphy I am proud to present you with this beret for I know that you have earned it and I welcome you into the OOSF" I gave him his beret with the badge on it to put on and waited for him to return to the table.

"The toasts to those we have lost may they never be forgotten" I drank the small shot of Whiskey I had requested for myself and slammed the glass down as did the room.

"Secondly to the men and women I proudly fight alongside the members of the double Oh S F. I couldn’t find better men and women anywhere may you keep your weapons clean and your heads down the OOSF" and I repeated the act with the second glass of Whiskey and walked around and sat down.

"My turn you lot" Jimmy said standing

"Last time I was here I made a fancy speech about how you were some of the meanest bastards I had ever fought with, excuse my language ladies. But I am afraid I was mistaken." This got some boos and hisses and Jimmy raised his hands for quiet "Yes I was mistaken when I came into that street where The Boss was hit I found eighty nine bodies, not bad but you did have The Bosses help and afterwards I am sure I saw at least eleven with the mark of Kathy’s nine millimetre. Yes Kathy your slipping I picked up your guns over twenty shots fired only eleven dead"

"I didn’t start shooting till they hit me" I protested

"Excuses, excuses" Jimmy said laughing "But as I climbed that rubble that blocked the way what did I see?" he looked around waiting and no one answered "At the end my lads did a clean up from the road behind that barrier eight hundred and fifty six bodies were removed and double that wounded. This group of twenty five men and women twenty six if you include The Boss, though I think she should be counted three or four times, accounted for nine hundred and forty five dead and over sixteen hundred wounded and held that position despite repeated attack by overwhelming numbers for fifteen minutes. You Ladies and Gentlemen are not some of the meanest bastards I have fought with, you are the meanest bastards with one exception. Ladies and Gentlemen I give you a toast to the meanest bastard on the battlefield and someone I have had the honour to fight with, the pleasure to class as a friend and the duty to call Ma’am Ladies and Gentlemen Katherine, The Oracle of New Delphi" they drank and I was left almost speechless.

"Right everyone we have two choices here and the decision is yours, do we continue this party inside or outside?" Outside was the overwhelming consensus and we moved out into the street.

"Look you lot" Jimmy shouted as we got outside to no avail. I drew a pistol and grinned at him firing five shots in the air.

"Look most of you know the rules" I said loudly as shouting was out of the question "I have brought my men’s party out to you, treat them with the respect they deserve as everyone who wears The Blue Beret has earned it on the field of battle. Please do not push and shove as some of them are wounded still"

"Isn’t that that fucking dummy Beef" came from a young man in the crowd possibly just twenty.

"You have five seconds to apologise to my man Sam then I blow your brains out" I said levelling the pistol at the man " Five, four, three, two" I counted

"I’m sorry, I’m sorry stop counting" the man shouted

"This man saved my life in Glasgow carrying me and a child to safety while under fire then defended the doorway from the forces attacking till he ran out of ammunition and used his rifle as a club against people with guns" I told him "He was still fighting them as he was shot. What gives you the right to say anything about him? He wears the Blue Beret which means he is more of a man than you will ever be. Now go before your ability to draw breath is severely compromised by one of our young ladies here who seem to hold Sam in high regard."

"What" the man said obviously rather drunk.

"Get your bum out of here" Suki shouted "Before I take you around the corner and break your legs for you. You are not invited to our party"

"Fine I never wanted to be here with…" a shot rang out

"Quietly and quickly" I said and he left to cheers from the crowd I made my way to one of the tables kept clear for my people and sat down listening to the music.

 

Jimmy got up and sang a Lennon and McCartney song Let it Be to wild applause then the crowd started asking for me.

"I don’t know" Jimmy said "she’s not even supposed to be out of the hospital yet"

"I’ll give it a go but nothing energetic" I told them as I carefully walked to the front where a chair was provided. Unlike last time someone had set up a sound system this time and a microphone was passed to me I looked around at the guitarist to be surprised at a different face.

"What happened to the guitarist from last time?" I asked

"I’m afraid he didn’t make it" the new guitarist said "he died in Glasgow with the group attacking from the south"

"I didn’t even know his name" I said tears forming in my eyes for a friend of just one night

"Andrew Harper and he was buried at New Delphi with honour" the man told me.

"I will seek him out when I return because he was kind" I assured him.

"What would you like to sing for him" My new accompanist asked.

"Lets try this one its another old one by a group called Dire Straits" I suggested and he struck the first few bars of Money For Nothing "right record wrong song Brothers in Arms" I told him and he nodded.

"These mist covered mountains are a home now for me" I started with the disturbing melody and the equally disturbing lyrics considering the situation.

"But my home is the lowlands and always will be" I continued to the silent crowd.

By the time I was on the last verse the tears were rolling freely down my face and the faces of many of my team and the crowd and I finished the last verse to stunned silence.

"Can you do one more?" the guitarist asked strumming aimlessly

"I know the words of hundreds of songs but I don’t know what I should sing next" I told him.

"Why not something that they can all sing to or join in with, I have found I can be utter crap and still make a living if they can join in" he admitted

I took a deep breath preparing myself after whispering a title to the guitarist

"I’d sit alone and watch your light my only friend through teenage nights and every thing I had to know I heard it on my radio" half way through the first line I realised I didn’t have the voice to do the old song justice and I beckoned Jimmy out to rescue me.

"You made them all those old time stars" Jimmy took over and I left him to it playing it to the full he loved the fact he was the centre of attention so I slipped back to Paul and with this gesture I moved out of the spotlight. I slipped away early that night back at the hospital before eleven and as I slipped into the bed I talked to Paul about the plans for our future.

 

For the next week I was a reasonably good girl but I arranged for a meeting on the day we were due to celebrate our victory. In the Chapel of St Margaret up at the Castle I had all the people important to me I could get. Jimmy, Wendy, Major Bruce, Frazier, Bill, Brian, Andrea, Trisha, Bob and Anne were the ones I had to have and Tom was using two sticks to help him walk Muriel was in attendance all the time. Simon, Father Harrison and David were there for my conscience and my team and the team from Middlesbrough were there because they had earned it.

"You are wondering why I have asked you to this place, what am I planning now you’re wondering. Well I am The Boss Lady, The Oracle of New Delphi and now I wish to be Katherine again before I become a mother" I said to them causing gasps from a number of people.

"I am standing down as The Boss Lady and you have to decide who you want to run this show. If I am needed if the shit starts again I will take the reigns again but only for any hostilities. It is time to build not destroy now and I don’t know if I will be any good at that but I intend to find out with our child. So talk amongst yourselves because tonight I tell the people and I would like to have a name to suggest." I walked out of the chapel taking Paul with me as he had decided that he wasn’t going to risk being voted in and I stood there looking down on the city thinking what would become of my life now.

"What are you thinking about my love" Paul asked

"I’m thinking how scared I would be to face this new future without you" I told him turning around to face him.

"You scared the hero of the people The Oracle of New Delphi" He said

"Never with you to hold" I hugged him tight and he carefully put his arms around me and with a piper playing some sad lament I didn’t recognise somewhere down below we stood there together for a long time, until Suki came to find us.

"You have met here under the rules of New Delphi, however informal those rules are" I said as I looked at the people I loved "who do you want to lead you?"

Bob stood up and walked to me "We want you to lead us and you will always be The Boss Lady, what you say will go. But we will accept your decision and we have voted a leader to take charge till you return" he said

"I am not planning to return and I don’t want anyone to feel I am looking over their shoulders" I answered

"Well you accept the decision here or keep the job" Bob answered and sat down next to Anne. I looked around for support from the people there but got none.

"Katherine" David said "occasionally you need to bend as these people will not"

"Fine who have you voted on? But I am done now." I said to them

"Our choice of leader to be voted on every four years is Jimmy though he objects greatly, which I consider a good sign" Bob answered "He can ask for a vote any time he wishes to extend his term a further four years and with a majority of the people here, the executive committee as such, voting they can force the leader to put his or her position to the vote. But as is being made clear to you this is a temporary post and on your return you take charge again and we stop all this crap, The last part is at Jimmy’s insistence and I agree wholeheartedly"

"Fine Jimmy you will do a fine job, you have been running this army since the start. Bob I gather you refused, looking at the glances that Jimmy is giving you" I said

"Yes I refused it worked as me second in command with nothing to do but I am no leader, I’m a husband a father and a civil engineer" he said with his arm around Anne

"All a hell of a lot more important than being boss" I said "well we have a celebration tonight lets go and tell the people who to vote for"

 

That night amongst the people of Scotland in the uniform made by Mr McKinney I announced my resignation and James Houston hero of the people of Scotland became leader of our nation. After the celebrations the next morning I travelled to New Delphi as Jimmy stood no chance if I was around. I disembarked from the helicopter and looked at the graves now over a thousand of them on the field to the right of the drive way and wandered amongst them.

"You are looking for some one?" Father Harrison asked

"Yes a musician I sang with before Glasgow he died and I didn’t know till he wasn’t there" I said

"What was his name?" he asked signalling to some one who came back with a small note book.

"Andrew Harper, he was with Tom" I answered and he flipped through the book and guided me to an earthen mound without a headstone yet.

"The minstrel boy has gone to war" I said to the priest and left him there wondering.

 

As the summer progressed so did the relief operations in the cities and my pregnancy soon I was having to open a button on my skirt and my bra size increased as well. One momentous event in my life was Paul proposing to me at dinner shortly after our return to New Delphi. As he got down on one knee with everyone there looking I said yes and cried as he slipped a diamond ring with a surround of small rubies and sapphires on my finger. Two weeks later with me three months pregnant we were married in a service in the church in Keld with just friends and no one else there, though the church was packed by people I knew were friends and important to me. I had one minor problem my lack of a surname but I was to be married as Katherine of New Delphi. I stood there with Anne, Sheila and Wendy fussing over the cream wedding dress on the morning of the wedding.

"What the hell am I doing?" I asked them

"Getting married in about an hour" Sheila said

"I need five minutes alone with Wendy please, sorry" they left me assuring me t was no problem and as they left I turned to my wife who I loved.

"Wendy what the hell am I doing?" I asked

"Your getting married I hope" she answered

"No what the hell is your husband David, the man who loves you with all his heart doing" I asked

"David is dead though he has been reborn as my sister Katherine. I shall always treasure the love we had as man and wife it was more important than you can ever know to me. But in Katherine The Oracle of New Delphi I have gained a new kind of love from you the love of sisters and of comrades. Now you have found love go and enjoy it do not worry about us we will always love each other." She said hugging me "and don’t you dare cry"

I was taken to the small church in Keld it was a small affair just friends and with a service worked out by David, Simon and Father Harrison I was married in a protestant church by a Jew, a Methodist and a Catholic. Jimmy gave me away and Suki, Sheila and Trisha were bridesmaids as Wendy asked me not to ask her.

 

We ate we drank late into the night and eventually we escaped to our room where Mr and Mrs Paul Maitland made passionate love all night.

 

Late in the summer I must have been about six months gone, I was walking through the gravestones as the last few were being erected and I wanted to see it through to the end. I stopped at a new white grave baring the name Andrew Harper "The minstrel boy has gone to war" he fell protecting his wounded comrades at the battle of Glasgow. I stood there looking for a long time the memories of the people I had lost filling me with sadness till I got kicked in the bladder hard. No time for self pity when you have an alien growing inside you and I walked back to the house slowly as the sound of an approaching helicopter could be heard. I looked for it and found it Mikes new toy the old Sea King having been retired due to number of holes acquired during my pick up and evacuation. I watched the modern small helicopter land and when the rotors had stopped spinning Mike and Suki got out and walked over to me.

"How’s it going Big Boss Lady" Mike asked looking at my stomach

"Hit him for me Suki he’s too quick for me at the moment" and Suki happily obliged

"You want a lift back, you be gentle with the pilot" Mike said to her

"Come off it fly boy" Suki said grinning "you don’t take me back and the largest piece of your new toy there will fit down your throat when Sam has finished with it. You insult the Boss Lady I thump you, you have to put up with it"

"No fair who do I get to protect me?" he asked us

"Well if you eased your load a bit and let some other people fly some of the jobs you might have time to find a girl" I suggested

"No fly first, women later" he said as he escorted us both in.

"What’s the news then?" I asked

"Well Portsmouth is grim Bill has medical teams down there all the old horrific diseases are rampant south of Birmingham." Suki said seriously

"Shit, its what Wendy feared when his started" I told them

"Bill thinks we can control it but Jimmy is making sure it doesn’t get any further north" She said "that’s where Wendy is"

"Good the last thing I need is her fussing over me. Keep her busy and I can do what I want" I said remembering the argument when I last headed out on the little Honda

"Well I have a new batch of papers from our illustrious group of politicians for your signature" Suki said

"Have they done anything about the medals yet?" I asked

"No they keep talking about it then getting stuck in another problem. Last time it was a discussion on foreign policy" Suki admitted

"Foreign Policy what the hell could they discuss about that" I asked

"Well someone didn’t like the attitude that Austrian had on the radio about you and they were discussing if they should break off diplomatic relations" she answered

"Bloody hell we have a couple of dozen people outside this country that we can contact and they want to declare war"

"Basically yes. But it was voted down, the new monetary system is taking a lot of time as well"

"I’m glad I’m not part of it anymore" I said as I signed Katherine The Oracle of New Delphi on all the sheets without reading them "and I don’t know why I have to sign all this crap"

"Jimmy insisted on it as he says he is doing the job for you" Suki said

"Bull he just doesn’t want the job" I complained as I finished the last ones

"Are you two staying for dinner?" I asked

"No Sam and I are eating out tonight but if you want us to." Suki’s face showed her conflict of interests

"Go have fun but next time bring him with you if you can fit him in that toy and we will all eat here its too quiet without the chaos" I told her hugging her tight and then letting them go I watched sadly as they lifted off.

"What’s up you look sad" Paul said.

"Its just with everything moving to Edinburgh I miss everyone. Yes I know we have the high guard and Simon and Father Harrison it’s just strange." I admitted

"It might be strange but it is fun to be able to shut the door and molest my wife, without worrying who will come in" he said his hand finding my bum.

"What’s up with you?" I said turning to face him and putting my arms around his neck my bump and my bigger boobs pressing against him.

"I just love my wife" he said his hands lifting my dress pulling up the back to expose my bum in blue panties and tights to the world and his hands explored the padded curves under the nylon covering, sending tingles to my groin and causing a welcome moisture between my legs.

"Oh do you and you think that will make me drop my knickers for you?"

"Yes, come on we have a while before dinner" he said grasping my hand and pulling me inside, he knows me so well I thought.

 

Winter I gave birth to our first child a son John Andrew and Paul cried with joy as he held him for the first time and over the next few months I found out about sore nipples from the other side. As I told Anne as she watched me feed John I now knew why while all the shit was going on she kept moaning about her boobs.

 

Spring a year after the disaster that nearly destroyed us all and we were requested to come to Edinburgh. I had not been to the city since the day after the victory celebration and I was slightly apprehensive as we climbed into the helicopter with Mike. Yes I had had people down from the city including the Mc Kinney’s but I had not ventured far from New Delphi. We landed near the rock and a long black car took us from the helicopter to the seat of government in the castle.

I was shown to a large room full of people some I knew others I didn’t.

"Katherine Maitland, The Oracle of New Delphi, I as the senior speaker in this government have a request made by the members of this house. We the Government of Great Britain ask one more task of you, The Oracle, the reason any of us are able to sit down here today. Tomorrow in a civil ceremony will you present the honours to the relatives of those who have fallen and to those who as yet survive? And you have to say yes or you will prove an old Rabbi a liar"

"Yes David I would be honoured to. But it’s about bloody time" I said smiling at him.

 

That night was declared an OOSF function and the team gathered from all parts of the country and I feeling strange to be back in uniform left John for the first time in Anne’s capable hands.

"Just go he will be fine and when it moves into the street we will join you" Anne said pushing me towards the door.

"Maybe I should just check if he’s hungry before I go" I suggested

"Paul get her out now before I strangle her" Anne said laughing.

 

I enjoyed the meal it was the first time that me and Paul had been out for a meal as man and wife and I asked the question was there any one here they felt should wear the Blue Beret not expecting a reply.

"Yes Ma’am" Suki said standing "This force feels that Simon Corner has earned the right to wear the Blue due to his actions in a skirmish outside Southampton and we also feel that there should be two honorary members as well. Captain James Houston we feel has distinguished him self enough times with us that we are sorry it hasn’t been done before and Tom Allrenshaw who has always been the understated one when it came to his actions in battle."

 

I presented the three berets proud of the recognition that Tom and Jimmy received Muriel was beaming with pride as was Jean. I then made the toasts and enjoyed the taste of the strong spirit and Jimmy took over. His speech was less verbally offensive than usual and I don’t think one of the ladies gasped at his language but he finished with the toast to The Oracle of New Delphi and I blushed. We moved outside and found that the crowds had been held back by a police presence.

"Hey" I shouted and a uniformed officer in charge looked my way.

"They are invited they know the rules" I said and he looked at Jimmy.

"Go on have your fun but don’t hurt him" Jimmy said smiling and I drew a pistol and fired repeatedly into the air.

"I said that those people are invited to my little party here as they know the rules now let them in like a good boy or I will shout" I said the pistol still in my hand

"Yes Ma’am right away" he said and the party began I looked for a guitarist and found the man I didn’t know the name of and walked over to him after claiming John off Anne.

"John Andrew" I said showing him.

"There is no greater tribute" he said smiling.

 

We had a late night that night though I only sang a few times as I was unwilling to leave John the people accepted it and the team fussed over him almost as much as I did. Around three in the morning I was walking through the old part of the town with Paul, Mathew, Mark, Wynne and Claire.

"Don’t worry" Wynne said as we walked "John is fine with Anne and Bob"

"I know I just miss him being around" I said

"Try missing something as big as this lump. He wouldn’t take me down south with him, too dangerous and I had to be without him for a month" she said holding on to Mark possessively.

"I know what he’s like that way, I ran at the barricades in Doncaster and suddenly I’m shoved in a corner with those two on top of me" I laughed "scared the shit out of me for a moment"

"I don’t know about that" Claire said elbowing Mathew "I think you probably quite enjoyed it"

"No love" Mathew chirped in "I thought she was going to shoot me at one point she was so pissed off, then she found some bad guys instead to shoot"

"Shoot you never" I protested "well just a little, nothing fatal"

"It seems strange walking the streets of a night without it being the prelude to an attack" Paul said hugging me tighter.

"Do you miss it?" I asked

"Well in some ways yes, but before I met you I would have said no" he answered ambiguously

"What do you mean" I pressed him

"Well when I met you I was scared shitless about what we were going to do, a few hours later we are screaming like banshees while charging a machine gun position in the fog" he paused "at that point after we had done it I don’t think I have ever felt so alive in my life"

"I can relate to that" Mark said "Kathy’s plans were always so preposterous that when they worked you just thought did really I do that?"

"Plans who has plans I just wanted to see what was on the other side of the bad guys all the time, just because you got caught up with my curiosity don’t start saying I had a plan or they will try to stick me back in charge"

"Come on you miss it" Mark objected

"Yes I miss the people, knowing what was going on and the hustle and bustle" I admitted "But the responsibility for peoples lives and deaths no way. I couldn’t back off and look at the situation objectively I had to be in close and that meant the deaths related to me personally"

"Do you still have the dreams?" Claire asked

"Oh yes" I shuddered at the memories "This is stupid none of us have seen half their lives yet but we are talking like we have had our best years."

"But it’s done, you won" Mark said

"Well let me think about it I might not be willing to run a war but there has to be some stupid game somewhere that people as determined as us can win" I told them "If I find something that doesn’t necessarily involve getting shot at and has a fifty fifty chance of survival will you four play?"

"Count us in we missed most of the fun" Claire said indicating Wynne "Matt?"

"She’s The Boss Lady I’ll play whatever game she asks" and all eyes turned on Mark

"I don’t like the idea of putting Wynne at risk but I don’t think I could stop her and I agree with you we are too young to live in the past" We all shook hands if I called they would come.

 

The next day I woke late, normally John’s movement would make me stir but he had stayed with Anne overnight and ten in the morning seemed like a luxury. I looked at Paul asleep next to me the small patch of hairs visible on his chest. I trailed my fingers through them moving out to his nipple with just the odd hair sticking out from the small circular pink area surrounding it. I nibbled on the nipple for a moment causing him to open his eyes.

"Are you trying to seduce me wife of mine?" he asked

"I wish we had time but everything starts at midday and we have to get ready and claim our son back as well" I told him after a long kiss

"Fine neglect me, forget about my needs in favour of your son" he teased

"Look you its your needs that caused OUR son so get your bum up and out of that bed" I said pulling the covers off him to find a huge erection.

"Mmm well maybe we have time for a quickie" I said tracing a finger up its length.

 

We got up to the Castle for half eleven no breakfast, a two minute shower and I threw the makeup on my face. Outside it had looked bloody cold so I put on a pair of tights under the trousers of my uniform. As I was finishing sorting things out Paul the swine had decided to start molesting my bum, which had delayed things a while. But we were here and on time though slightly sticky and dishevelled. In the castle after reclaiming our son I followed my nose to the kitchen that had been set up.

 

"Any chance of a coffee and a sandwich" I asked the unknown man working in the kitchen

"I will have to see what I can do but it wont be for twenty minutes at least" he replied without even a smile.

"Never mind too late then" I said turning to leave

"Ma’am too late for what" came Harris’s eager reply

"Oh I was just after a sandwich and a coffee. We woke up late and have had nothing to eat or drink yet, but it will be twenty minutes" I told him

"Bull, I told you that you were always welcome in my kitchen and I meant it sit down and I will do you a bacon buttie and a brew. Does Paul want one?" Harris said as he glared at the unhelpful man.

"Probably have you ever known him refuse food?"

"Well no, but you have to have something there are over a hundred presentations and they are not expecting to eat till after five" Harris said as he plonked a brew down in front of me.

"Kirby make use of your self go and find Paul and bring him here" Harris said

"What does he look like Sarge?" Kirby asked

"Blue Beret, just ask anyone wearing one for Paul and they will point you in the right direction, now move it we are short of time" and the man walked off fast.

"Christ I don’t know how he had enough motivation to survive in Liverpool" Harris said

"That where you found him?" I asked

"Yes military with out a unit left he had been heading back home on leave when everything happened and ended up stuck there"

"But you will sort him out, or break a few bones, one or the other" I said

"I think he is a waste of space, not like the old days" Harris said sadly

 

"That’s where you two are" a man in uniform, one that I didn’t recognise said as he looked in the kitchen "we have been looking everywhere for you"

"Obviously not everywhere, if you didn’t find us" I answered finishing the last of my coffee.

"Well everything is starting as soon as you arrive, we have a lot to do" he said fussing around me and Paul neither of who were in a rush.

"Fine shall we go then love?" Paul asked after draining his cup.

"Lead on where is this celebration occurring anyway?" I asked

"Here it’s a private affair with just VIP’s and the press" he said

"What?" I asked

"Yes we can’t have everyone involved the idea of this is a small dignified presentation to each person and you cant spend more than thirty seconds with each person. We also want some photo’s of you with some of the members of the provisional government so lots of time has to be left for that" he answered.

"Is that so? Well I feel like another coffee while you go and find Jimmy for me" I said and I sat down.

"But" he said

"Run along and get Jimmy I need a word with him. Harris can I have another Coffee?" I asked as the man stood there.

"Captain Houston is not involved with this ceremony it is the province of the Ministry of Defence." He said

"Who is the Minister for Defence?" I demanded

"Dan Mattocks" he answered

"Don’t know him where did he join us?" I asked

"I don’t believe he was part of your forces as he is fifty seven" The man answered

"Go get Jimmy if you want your little occasion to run at all. Paul get the team together please and make sure Suki has a radio" I said turning away from the man.

"But Ma’am" the man said from the door.

"Oh yes your dismissed" I said and waved him off.

"Fifty seven too old?" Harris said coming with another brew and shaking his head.

 

Jimmy arrived before the team did and he did not look too happy.

"What’s the problem Kathy?" he asked

"Well the celebration and presentation is a private ceremony with a few VIPs and I must only spend at the most a minute with each person as the Minister of Defence who was too old to fight at fifty seven has decreed that the press shall take photo’s with me and the right people" I said

"Is this right?" Jimmy asked the man in uniform

"Essentially yes but I feel an unfair bias has been placed on the Minister for making use of a rare opportunity of The Oracle emerging from her self imposed exile for favourable publicity" he answered

"I didn’t know about this Boss but I can get rid of all the photo’s at the end which should give you more time" he said

"Don’t worry Jimmy I am sorting it out" I said "Mark, Mathew we are moving the party to the old city can you start getting people together. Suki I want every decent car you can rustle up for relatives first then people receiving decorations and a couple of trucks for the rest." I said

"But this has been planned and permission has to be obtained off the civil authorities before any form of gathering in the city, such as this. You can imagine the sort of problems that this would cause to the civil reconstruction efforts if every Tom, Dick or Harry decided to turn up for this" he said looking at Jimmy

"Suki get Ian and Sheila to start broadcasting the fact that all are invited and get someone down to Kevin he should be able to get some of the pubs together to put on the booze. Harris what were you cooking tonight?"

"Well I was doing a choice of chicken Kiev, steak or roast for the guests then for the top table…." I interrupted him

"Forget it, I am sorry if it mucks you up bring what you can use with us." I said

"Hotdogs, Burgers and bacon butties for ten thousand" he said smiling "You love making my life difficult don’t you Ma’am"

"You wouldn’t want it any other way but I will ask for volunteers" I promised

"But Ma’am this has been planned for months" the uniformed jerk said loudly

"Listen bud this isn’t a request this is the way it is happening so go and tell your Minister that I changed the publicity stunt and that is the end of the matter. But if you wake up John here I will be finding out if that uniform means you can fight" I said

"Ma’am I am not a soldier and never have been I am a civil servant and the fact that we are now uniformed is a indication of how essential we are in getting things back to normal" he said as he left

"Jimmy what the fuck is going on here?" I asked "it’s a surreal nightmare we blow the shit out of the gangs to be invaded by ministers of defence that don’t know about defence and civil servants" I looked at him

"I haven’t spent more than a week here in the last six months, I only got back from Norwich yesterday" he said looking angry.

"Don’t worry about it they have kept sending me stuff to sign and I have, some rule you made about me having the final veto. I don’t think I managed to read more than a quarter of it"

"Ah so that’s how they slipped in all this crap, snow you under. Well I will sort that out for you" Jimmy was fuming

"Leave it I want to play and I’m an unknown to most of them" I said

"Katherine" came a mans voice "hello I’m Dan Mattocks, Defence Minister, glad to meet you at last. I have heard a lot of good things about you young lady, now I believe we have a problem"

"Oh I am so pleased to meet you minister no problem here" I said sweetly "I have been wanting to have a chat with you, what is our fuel and ammunition stocks like and how many people can we call on when we need to?"

"I’m afraid I don’t know those sort of numbers off the top of my head" he said

"Well what about perimeter security for turbulent areas are you still using Wendy’s mobile force or have you instituted a more permanent form of rapid reaction troops" I asked him

"Well again they are not things I have at hand at the moment" he said looking to Jimmy and our civil servant for backup.

"Well what about weapons there were massive stashes of old NATO 7.62mm ammunition around this country if we had a decent supply of ammunition then old SLRs are easy to come by, as we found out so has anything be done about it at all?" I looked at him.

"Well?" he said looking at his civil servant.

"I am your personal secretary Minister and I would have to ask for more information before I could clarify this point one way or the other, as if I was wrong and misinformed the minister this could have grievous consequences as we are the Ministry of Defence" the man answered

"Fine tell me about it after the presentations as I can see some of my team trying to get my attention see you there Dan" I shook his hand and left pushing John in the buggy before me like a battering ram. "Oh sorry did I catch your leg?"

 

In a large open park the preparations for the presentations were rapidly underway a bandstand was being used as a podium and a few hundred chairs had been got from a school by the look of it. In one corner of the park Harris had set up a large field kitchen and was busy bossing around a large number of men and women. Behind the chairs people were arriving rapidly I bundled John off to Anne and Bob again feeling as guilty as hell for leaving him and for imposing on them and started to welcome the arriving guests.

"Sorry about this I apologised but I felt that this occasion should be shared with the people not just a few so called politicians" I said as they arrived and they seemed to agree with me.

 

As everyone had arrived and as the supposed VIP’s turned up in the back of a military lorry, thanks to Suki, Jimmy started explaining the medal system to me.

"Everyone who fought with us will receive an Oracles Force Service Medal it may take a while but I insisted on that as everyone came voluntarily to fight. They deserve some recognition of that fact" he said and I nodded eagerly ""Then we just did three levels of medals as more than that got silly. The Oracles Force gallantry medal being the lowest, Then the British Cross in the middle and finally The Peoples Medal of Honour, the last one should be equated with a Victoria Cross"

"I’m not sure about the names but that is the idea I had reasonably simple system just to recognise the actions of these people" I told him.

"Well this is not exactly what we had planned" Dan Mattocks said arriving at the band stand.

"Ah well I am an unpredictable sort of person you know one minute I am sweet and nice, the next I’m cutting peoples throats in the dark." I smiled at him "We have saved seats for you all down there" I indicated the empty seats in the area that the recipients were sitting.

"But I thought I would be up here" he said bewildered.

"No there isn’t really enough room you know once we get Tom and Major Bruce up here as well and some of the families have got three or four members with them." I told him "and you will have plenty of time to meet everyone after the ceremony"

"Oh" he looked at Jimmy for support, who gave him none.

"Mathew, Mark do you want to sit with Dan here and keep him company as I don’t want him to feel he’s being ignored" I asked and the brothers led Dan to a seat.

"I almost feel sorry for the man" Jimmy said to me

"What do you mean I was nice to him wasn’t I?"

"Yes and that is very worrying around you and he knows enough about you to be very concerned about how nice you are"

 

I was only presenting some of the top two medals that day and unfortunately a hell of a lot of them were posthumous. The name of the recipient would be called and who they had fought with and the action that resulted in the medal one in particular one of about ten Medal of honour winners was an Andrew Harper.

"Andrew Harper died in Toms group defending a position that was under attack from infantry and a car that had been armoured. Andrew died as he defended the medical position that had been set up to treat the wounded. Though wounded several times he kept up a defence until relieved by other members of the group. He later died of his injuries. Andrews actions saved the life of at least thirty wounded men and women and probably five medical staff." Suki said into the microphone to tell me and the people gathered what the medal was and why it was being presented. I watched a woman stand leaving a child about nine or ten with another woman and walk up to me to receive the medal.

"Was Andrew a musician?" I asked and she nodded tears in her eyes. "He was a kind man and a friend of mine for too short a time. Have you been to New Delphi since the funeral?"

"No" she said shaking her head slightly.

"He has a grave stone now it reads Andrew Harper "The minstrel boy has gone to war" he fell protecting his wounded comrades at the battle of Glasgow. If you would like to change anything please tell me and I will sort it out for you for when you come to stay for a bit"

"What" she said "I cant I have to look after Mike our lad but thank you"

"The invitation is open to all your family it is my home and children are always welcomed I will talk to you about it later." I said as I handed her the little box containing the medal.

"Thank you" she said shaking my hand.

"No I thank Andrew for his sacrifice and I apologise to you for not bringing him home" I said hugging her tight

"You couldn’t have stopped him, he did what he felt was right" she answered tears rolling down her face "and the one thing it cant be called is a pointless loss"

"Never will it be thought of as pointless" I assured her releasing her from my grip and getting Jimmy to help her back to her seat.

 

They carried on until we were near the end and I was starting to get concerned about the lack of medals for my team and the Middlesbrough crew when David stood up and walked forward.

"I would like to thank Kathy, The Oracle for her kind words to every one that has suffered a loss here today but because of the people the last medals are for I feel that something has to be explained first. Some of you know me I am David Peled an old Rabbi and The Speaker up at the parliament at the rock. That doesn’t mean I am a politician I have no vote and shout at all politicians when they act like children. The idea of the medals came from Kathy she wanted to recognise the valour that members of her forces had performed and then she left it to us to decide who received what." David told the people massed in the park.

"The thing is these last medals are to people close to the Oracle and I was concerned that people may feel that the fact that of this influenced the decorations. I say now as a man of god that if anything we were harder on these people than anyone else. But the unanimous decision by a committee of twelve people politicians, military and civilians was that these people have earned these awards. So I will now announce the last ones if you don’t mind dear?" he looked at Suki who nodded and started to walk off.

"The British Cross is awarded to suszss…suisiz…Suki I cant pronounce your name but it is awarded to you for your service as radio operator within the OSSF a position that took you into the most dangerous places and the worst fire zones in the campaign. Of particular note is during the battle of Glasgow the fact that you risked fire from friend and foe to help both The Oracle and a fallen team member despite the fact you had no means of defending yourself." David said to the shocked girl. He walked forward and took her arm and led her back to me.

"Look Boss I don’t deserve this" she said as she stood in front of me.

"Yes you do" I said as I pinned it on her to wild cheers from my team sat down below.

Most of my team received a British Cross with a few exceptions Sam, Mark, Mathew and Luke received the Medal of Honour the cheers came from all the crowd as Sam’s rescue and defence of me was explained. For the Middlesbrough team it was a British Cross each with each of them marching up smartly to receive their medal proudly including Jimmy, Sheila received the medal for her grandfather.

 

"Finally we come to the last few medals Tom Allrenshaw you have been with The Oracles forces from the start you were the relief in the first battle at New Delphi and you have led in the battles of Darlington, Newcastle, Edinburgh and Glasgow always from the front at the final battle you ran out into the line of fire nine times to pull wounded people from danger before being hit yourself. But even after being hit you refused evacuation so you could continue leading your forces for this you receive the Medal of Honour." David said and Tom was shocked, I am sure I heard squeals from Andrea and Muriel in the crowd.

"Now we have a sad one I am afraid the first member of the New Delphi forces to die John Bebington, Apprentice, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. During the battle of New Delphi as the eight members of New Delphi Radio were facing a force of many hundreds, John and Katherine slipped out of the house in the dark to place mines within twenty feet of the enemy. On the way back a car exploded and they came under heavy fire, but both of them made an orderly staged retreat fighting all the way until John was hit. The Oracle then helped him back to within fifty yards of the house before she too was hit. Then The Oracle despite her wounds continued firing to defend her fallen comrade using up all her ammunition as the enemy approached. Anne Jennings also known as Hera was shot and wounded trying to rescue the two of them and then The Oracle was critically wounded. The remainder of the attacking force was driven off by neighbouring farmers who came to there assistance. This was the first battle that New Delphi faced and its first loss. I will not say that John was the first hero of New Delphi as there were eight that night but Anne Jennings also known as Hera is awarded the Peoples Medal of Honour as is John Bebington also known as Apollo." David said to applause and cheers from the crowd "and for their actions that night I award The British Cross to Brian Williams, Patricia Williams, Robert Jennings, Andrea Allrenshaw and Wendy of New Delphi the sister of The Oracle."

 

"On that field of battle the first that they had faced they left one hundred and ninety six dead from a force attacking them of three hundred and fifty. They are the first of the hero’s of New Delphi and the people who with The Oracle made this possible."

I pinned on and handed out the medals to my friends hugging and kissing each of them Anne took Johns Medal of Honour until any surviving relatives could be found.

 

"This country and this city have seen many hero’s over the years some are here today and some will always have a place in our heart. For his actions in Newcastle and valour shown with total disregard of his own safety I hereby award the Medal of honour to Bernard Brown VC and Bar. He now becomes the only person to receive the VC and Medal of honour. His granddaughter Sheila will receive it to go with his British Cross earned for the liberation of Middlesbrough." David said and Sheila came up again looking sad.

"He would have loved today wouldn’t he" I said

"Yes and he would have been so proud to receive these off you a warrior like him" She said as she took the award.

"There was and will never be anyone like him again he was unique and I miss him dreadfully" I admitted.

 

That done David took control again "Now this has been a long day for all of us and I come to the last two recipients then you can all eat." He said to a cheer "A year ago as our world fell to chaos, two young ladies made a stand against a couple of men who took advantage of the chaos. They defended themselves and killed them both in self defence, but even with that scare they opened their house to people lost, scared hungry and displaced. They started talking to people on the radio voices from around the country telling them the same thing that all was lost. The younger of these two girls felt that something must be done to help people and she didn’t talk about it she did it. Wendy of New Delphi, for actions with the motorised sniper unit known as the Light Brigade I hereby award you with the Medal of Honour I could go into specific occasions but at the end of the day these people would like to eat before midnight. Will Captain Houston please present the medal." Jimmy did and Wendy got a big hug and a kiss off him before he stood back and saluted her.

"Katherine Maitland also know as The Boss Lady and The Oracle of New Delphi, for your actions in the first battle of this war at New Delphi I award you with the Medal of Honour." Jimmy presented me with the medal and I got a big kiss and a squeeze then saluted.

"Katherine Maitland also known as The Boss Lady and The Oracle of New Delphi during the battle of Darlington when your men who were new to battle faltered you walked into the line of fire and there with the bullets flying around you, you rallied your troops. Then you led the charge that swept away defences for this you are awarded the British Cross." Jimmy said and David presented it I got hugged and kissed again.

"Katherine Maitland also known as The Boss Lady and The Oracle of New Delphi when the people of Middlesbrough needed rescuing from their hell" a young woman said "You came to us leading a group of men to save us for that action we of Middlesbrough are eternally indebted to you as are I and my brother"

"Sally?" I asked

"Yes James and I live in Keld now as does a woman with a baby who is alive thanks to you. For your actions in Middlesbrough I present you with a bar for your British Cross." I hugged her tight it was wonderful to see her looking so well.

 

"Katherine Maitland also known as The Boss Lady and The Oracle of New Delphi" Simon my brother in law said "at the beginning of the battle of Newcastle we in the Tyneside Resistance were under the misapprehension that you were attacking from the north. We were trying to create a diversion in the south to ease your way in when you came across my brother, now your husband. Rather than shooting first you captured him then proceeded to warn all the resistance teams except mine. My team had been captured and one of my men had been horrendously tortured. As they started on me you came into the room jumping on the back of a man who I would have thought twice of tackling and cutting his throat before dispatching the man attacking my brother. That morning you saved three of my team and tried unsuccessfully tried everything to save the other member. But that is not why I am here today though I am eternally in your debt. On that day when your forces faced a bottle neck at the bridge over the Tyne you led your force through the fog attacking an unknown number of men with only your team and your husband now Paul. You took the machine gun emplacement and I quote here from one of your men "We were stood at the end of the bridge wondering how many would die taking the bridge when the boss told Suki to count to sixty then tell Jimmy and Bernard we went that way. We started of at the jog and I was scared shitless about what we would find at the far end but she just told us to keep up and scream as we attacked. Over half way across she took up the pace so we had to work harder to keep up then she was gone and there was a shot. I was only a fraction of a second behind her and she was already firing the machine gun despite the fact the other defenders hadn’t been dispatched. I killed one of the others as did other people then we held the position till Captain Houston arrived very angry at her little jaunt we then laid down covering fire for him to get out of the bottleneck and after that it was easy. For your actions that day you are awarded the Peoples Medal of honour." I was presented with the medal for the second time giving me the right to wear a bar indicating that I had it twice.

"Why haven’t we seen more of you at New Delphi" I asked him

"Well I don’t like intruding" he answered shyly

"Look your family therefore always welcome and I expect to see more of you. Understood?"

"Yes Kathy" he said shyly as I hugged him.

"You better we need a good baby sitter" and I let him go.

 

I looked around and saw David approaching with a child "During the battle of Glasgow you were preparing to attack a much larger force than yourself when a child walked into the street. You held off attacking and waited to see if the child would move when the enemy used her for target practice. You ran one hundred yards with no cover then picked up the child and tried to get her to safety. You were hit badly which almost took you from us but as you lay on the floor you protected the child with your body while firing at the enemy. One of your men Sam Murphy who has already been recognised here today risked his life to rescue both of you and stood against the attackers till he fell where you took over again firing at the enemy. You personally killed eleven people after you were shot and after your men caught up with you your worry was for Sam and the battle. I have fought with you I know how brave you can be I wish I had had your courage for the twenty days we didn’t believe you could survive. As you lay close to death the people of the cities and towns where you brought salvation prayed for you. For your actions that day and the fact that we have no higher award to give you for valour we can only offer two things. First of all is the assurance that no matter how you decide to spend your life in the spotlight or in private to the people of this country you will always be Katherine The Oracle of New Delphi and The Boss Lady and secondly our thanks and the thanks of a child" he walked forwards with the little girl who was looking shy and uncomfortable.

"Is your name Louise Bradshaw?" I asked and she nodded biting her bottom lip.

"I think your nearly six years old" I said

"No I’m five and a half" she said

"Do you remember me?" I asked and again she nodded

"Do I at least get a hug?" I asked and she ran forward and gave me a big hug.

"Thank you" she whispered in my ear as I held her.

 

That day though the medals I am proud of the defining moment was Louise hugging me and saying thank you that nearly made the loss and the suffering I had caused worth it. The rest of that day was spent talking laughing and eating with the people. I must admit though John got more attention than me but with his cute little face grinning up from his pushchair, I can understand why but I’m biased.

 

As the afternoon moved into the evening I said to Jimmy I had to visit a shop and would he mind taking me there as he had use of a car. I took him through the back streets to the little shop owned by Davy Binnie. Inside a light was on and we entered the shop to find nothing had changed since last time.

"Hello dear nice to see you up and walking for a while there I thought you wouldn’t be able to pay me for those knives" came his voice from the far end of the shop.

"I had a little bit of extra luck that you lent me I am here to thank you and return it" I said pulling the knife from my pocket as we came into sight of him.

"No I gave that to you" he said pushing it back over the counter at me as he put down a hand gun he was working on "and you shall continue to wear it in good heath. It has brought you luck so I consider it in a good home."

"Did you receive that blade or acquire it" Jimmy asked coldly

"I acquired it and it cost me five good mates and a leg. Quite an expensive bit of metal don’t you think" Davy said tapping a leg I hadn’t realised was artificial.

"The price is always too high for one of those but the person who has paid the price for one deserves it" Jimmy replied

"So you were in the trade before you took up politics then?" Davy asked

"No I was SBS before I got forced into this position by this lady, I am still a Sergeant Major at heart as I was a year ago" Jimmy said smiling at him.

"Good I have seen from the papers that you work for a living but that confirms it, how come you became a captain?" Davy asked as he gestured for my pistols which I made safe and passed to him.

"Bernard Brown promoted me but I refused to change uniform, then he died and I felt obligated to" Jimmy answered sadly

"Obligations to the dead are a bastard, but they must be paid in full" Davy said "SAS myself lost the leg doing a little job in Greece and that’s how come I got that" he indicated the knife I was looking lost.

"Little souvenir from the days of the second gulf war. If you’re the only member of a team to survive then you get to wear one of these." He said

"I can’t keep that" I said

"Look this isn’t a thing of pride or of shame it is a statement of fact that my team didn’t survive but we still did the job. I gave this to you as despite the cost to yourself you get the job done professionally and I think it has brought me luck its yours and I will hear no argument about it. What can I do for you?" he asked allowing no further conversation on the matter.

"Well I gather you have a loathing for politicians, businessmen and other pumped up self important officious twats" I said "How would you like to piss on their parade?"

 

The next day after breakfast I dressed in my dress uniform provided by Mr McKinney for the first time. Dark green skirt down to just past my knees light brown shirt and dark green tie. I wore a jacket which with some fast work again fitted over my bigger boobs and black flat shoes and black tights. On my arm on one side I wore the badge of the OOSF and the Middlesbrough team badge on the other arm was a decoration in gold thread of a laurel wreath with two pistols in silver in the middle. The hat was a green peaked cap with two badges the badge of the OOSF and a copy of Bernard’s Beret badge.

"How do I look Paul?" I asked as I buckled on the black leather belt with two holsters for my pistols.

"Beautiful but wear the medals, it will show them what you have done." He suggested and I put them on.

 

Outside the house we were staying in was Jimmy and Davy both in dress uniform both looking handsome.

"Only for you my dear would I get a hair cut and trim my beard down" Davy said rubbing his slightly less hairy chin.

"Shall we go cause some trouble then?" I asked

"Lead on my dear" Davy said indicating with his stick and I carefully climbed into the back of the waiting Land Rover with out showing too much.

"Paul you will be there with the team?" I asked

"Yes love they are on their way now, Suki just radioed in" he assured me.

 

We drove up to The Rock in silence the old castle there a reminder of many ages of this city and it’s proud history. I wasn’t willing to watch that history be turned into a joke by a bunch of idiots. We were saluted on entrance to the castle but outside the large room used by the parliament we were stopped by a civil servant in uniform.

"I am afraid you can’t go in at the moment there is a session of parliament sitting" he said as he barred our path.

"Who is this?" I asked

"Its Captain Houston Ma’am" he answered

"And who am I"

"You are Katherine Maitland Ma’am" the man looked confused.

"Wrong, I am Katherine The Oracle of New Delphi, The Boss Lady and this is Captain James Houston my senior minister within this government are you going to tell me that the two highest people within your governmental system are not allowed entry to a session of parliament?" I said to him

"Well neither of you have been here" he said confusion written across his face.

"No we haven’t I have been busy having a baby and Captain Houston has been leading the relief efforts in person. So unless you want a very ugly scene which will require medical attention for you and these two men to prevent me from castrating you, open the door" I said

"Err yes Ma’am" he said and we went into the back of the large room with rows of seats set out in a semi circular arrangement only the David and the man speaking were facing our direction and he was too busy talking about the present economic situation in the country to look at me.

"Ladies and Gentlemen may I have your attention please" I shouted.

"Ah Kathy this is out of order I am afraid we have an agenda that must be followed" the man speaking said

"No it is not out of order this parliament was set up at New Delphi and in a meeting of this kind anyone may take the floor but I as Boss Lady have precedence and if any one disputes that I will take them out side now" I said no one answered.

"How many of you are officially adults?" I asked all put their hands up and some shouted.

"No by the rules of New Delphi and you can check Anne’s notes on this someone is no longer a minor when they can understand the questions put to them and have borne arms in the cause that New Delphi stands" I said

"How many of you have earned the right to vote?" I asked perhaps a third of them put their hands up to much disgruntled noise which started to build up to shouting and arguments. I signalled to Jimmy and the door at the back opened and the OOSF marched in kited up to stand behind me this brought silence.

"You forget your place two people in this room have been elected Captain Houston as my Prime Minister in my absence and Me Katherine Maitland, The Oracle of New Delphi, The Boss Lady. If you don’t like how I do things then leave New Delphi territory as I have said before you do things my way or walk, because the third option involves a lot of mess and digging of holes" I told the almost two hundred stunned people.

"Is that a threat?" came a voice from the back

"Can you identify yourself please and don’t worry anyone is allowed to speak their mind as long as they speak politely and one at a time" I assured the woman who spoke.

"Amanda Campbell acting second in charge of the Ministry of relief and emergency aid" she said.

"No it’s not a threat but why is an important person like you at the back rather than the front?" I asked

"Well Home Office, Foreign Office and Defence take up the front row with the Deputy Prime Minister" she said

"Well who here is Foreign Office" I asked and three people on the front row indicated they were "and who here is in this ladies Ministry?" one other man raised his hand.

"This is the bollocks I am talking about. The Foreign Ministry at the moment is responsible for a couple of dozen people one of which, an Austrian I believe, they wanted to break off diplomatic relations with. While those two people are responsible for getting aid and relief to a few million at the moment. Change round now you two up there move down here and you three bugger off up there" I demanded and waited for the change round to happen.

"Defence, well what can we say about defence. Come here Dan" I said and walked over to Mark and took his rifle and also took Mathews.

"Suki you come here too" I asked and she shyly came forward.

"Suki here has never fired a shot in her life her faith prevents it I don’t think she has handled one of these more than a few times. Suki, Dan I want you both to strip one of these down and rebuild it" I told them passing them each a rifle.

"The problem I see here is too many people are talking bollocks about things they have no idea about the Minister of Defence knows nothing about our forces, our resources or our strategies this I found out yesterday, neither does his personal secretary. You have three people for a Foreign Office and yet two for relief. Jimmy and I ran an army of eight and a half thousand men from information in our heads and won the bloody battles. Thank you Suki" I said taking the weapon off her and passing it back to Mark.

"The bullshit is going to stop now because this is not an elected parliamentary democracy as most of you seem to think, it is an elected dictatorship and I am Boss Lady." I shouted grabbing the SA 80 off Dan and sending him back with a push as I stripped down the weapon and re built it. I slammed a magazine in and chambered a round.

"What would happen if I pulled the trigger here?" I demanded

"A lot of people would die and you would be in serious trouble young lady" a man at the front said

"Identify yourself and I am Katherine, The Boss Lady or The Oracle to you where did you fight?" I demanded

"Well I am Nigel Sheldrick and I didn’t I am over fifty you know" the man said

"I saw a man fight who saw action in Iraq, Bernard was over seventy and I am young so don’t give me that age shit" I shouted at him making him flinch as the weapon pointed his way.

"If I fired this less than a quarter of you would die and after that there are two possibilities. The first if I said it was murder then they would have to follow the president of law that I set down in Middlesbrough where I was judge. If found guilty that judge would immediately execute me, himself." This brought a few gasps from the rows "But more likely is I would go outside say it was necessary and nothing would ever be said about it"

"But you cant be outside the law, Kenneth Baxter Kathy" he added on the end

"I am outside the law because the law is what I say I am Boss and I am accountable for my actions and I have killed a hell of a lot of people." I said

"But they were the enemy" he protested

"Only because I decided they were, that was my decision to take my forces against them and if I had chosen the other side I would still have won but wouldn’t have this shit now. Laws are not absolute they are arbitrary one mans mass murderer is another mans freedom fighter as the victors write the history and decide what the law is." I told them

"Now I do not intend to stop you doing your jobs" I said as I passed the SA 80 to Mathew "But I feel you are like children testing your limits I can’t spend my life watching you so I intend to bring in a new policy into this parliament. There will be one member of this house who holds the power of the Oracle’s Veto and that will be a person who I appoint who can bring any bill or debate to a close because you are talking bollocks. He will also trim down and restructure your administration system as he thinks fit. I know I don’t know enough about parliament, business or economics to be able to and I am appointing a member of the city of Edinburgh’s business community to stand in for me in this post" I heard a few sighs of relief at this point.

"So parliamentary sessions can only occur when he is available and his veto power is absolute. If there is a disagreement between a parliamentary member and him it will be referred to me and that member will find new employment if I feel the complaint holds no substance. I present to you The Oracle’s Representative Mr David Binnie" this produced more than a few gasps of pain and one of the front row dropped face in his hands.

"I know most of you and you all seem to know me so lets not have any fucking around" he started as I slipped out with the men leaving him to have some fun.

 

Through the doors I thanked the team and asked them to wait for me outside.

"Jimmy a few months ago you said, when I needed transport for the McKinney’s, that the armed forces and all its equipment was mine to call on as needed" I said

"Yes and that’s true" he assured me

"Good because I am going to be making use of everything possible" I said

"Doing what?" he asked

"Come outside and listen"

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the OOSF most of you have fought with me and the person who hasn’t I know is worthy because he wears the Blue Beret" I said to the team. Looking around at the faces that were so much a part of my life.

"I have a request to make it is a volunteer only job but I feel action needs to be done. I am commandeering the two ships in the harbour here and I want to lead a relief effort into Europe. This will not be an offensive operation but as we all know shit happens in any plan. So I am taking five hundred men who are good with weapons and I would like to ask you first as you are the best. You can bring friends and family along but this isn’t a pleasure cruise it may get dangerous and it’s a hell of a lot of hard work, but and I emphasise this it is only a request no one need fear upsetting me for saying no. You have a few days to decide and thank you for today." I said and walked towards the Land Rover waiting.

"Ma’am" came Suki’s voice before I got to it I turned round "the decisions been made Ma’am" she said

"And?" I left the question dangling if I could get half of them I would have a decent core of leaders and I would be happy.

"What do you want me to get started on first Boss we have a lot of work to do?" Suki said grinning as were the rest of the team.

"Ships need crews fuel and refitting, Newcastle’s the place for that. We need teachers, doctors, nurses and engineers. You lot work out a list of everyone you would want to rebuild a world and we will see who we can get. But one last thing thank you for following this mad bitch on another loony crusade" I said tears in my eyes

"But your the Boss Lady who else would we follow who would love us as you do" Sam said and I climbed into the car speechless.

"Don’t you mind Paul?" I asked as he slipped in next to me

"Mind, I have been waiting for something like this since a week after John was born. Besides I always liked you in uniform" he said slipping a hand on my leg.

"Later you randy bastard" I whispered as I kissed him "besides we have work to do"

 

Ten years after the disaster I stood looking at the falls at Niagara with Paul and John, also with us was an as yet unknown person repeatedly kicking on my bladder.

"Paul it’s nice but I need a loo?" I said as I looked at the millions of gallons of water flowing over the falls

"Its not the baby is it?" he asked concern across his face "Because I thought we should wrap it up in Mexico before now and then you wanted a holiday"

"Look I’m fine except I have a foot bouncing up and down on my bladder" I said

"Mummy can we go on the boat there" John asked eagerly

"Yes we can I’m sure they will have a toilet" I told him as we walked down to the boat that ran tours out into the spray again.

 

He helped me negotiate the steps down to the boat as it was a case of my belly is coming the rest of me will follow and John held his other hand.

"When’s the next trip?" I asked the man on the quayside

"For you whenever you want the man said smiling" and helping me on board

"Where’s your loo" I asked and escaped to the toilet as the boat started to John’s delighted squeals.

That night after we had got him to bed we sat there watching the stars on the balcony.

"Do you think Suki’s alright down there? Mexico has been a right bastard to crack so far" I asked Paul.

"Look relax you have set up as self sustaining relief effort worldwide on every continent of this planet except Antarctica we have relief efforts underway and new teams being trained another ten years and the job will be done what will you do then?" he asked

"Well I will have to trade my old man of thirty seven in for a new model" I said as he pulled me to my feet "that is if you don’t dump me for being a fat and ugly cow"

He led me through to the bedroom and kissed me long and hard his hands slipping under the back of my maternity dress to cup my panty covered bottom which had expanded greatly with this pregnancy.

"Paul I thought we were going out for dinner oh" I gasped as he slid a hand around to my front and slipped it between my legs to caresses my pussy

"We have half an hour before the baby sitter gets here" he said one hand unbuttoning the front of my dress so it would fall off my shoulders. He removed his hand so the dress could fall to the floor then unhooked my bra, the now D cup breasts with dark blue veins visible resting on my belly the large now dark brown nipples erect and after attention. He traced the dark line indicating how advanced I was in this pregnancy from my belly button down to my panties and pulled them down. Leaving me naked except for my shoes which I slipped off. I let him touch and caress me for a while then I manoeuvred onto the bed on my hands and knees and waited.

"Come on you randy sod I want you now." I said to him my pussy eager for him inside me as my boobs and belly dangled below me.

"What ever you say Boss Lady" he answered and slid into me I pushed back eagerly knowing that he was my man. As he built up a rhythm it started my boobs swing in which hurt so I dropped down onto my elbows and enjoyed him pounding in and out of me and my orgasm was triggered by the sensation of him spurting jet after jet of sperm inside me.

"Oh god have I got you well trained" I said when I could speak again "Now come on get dressed this is our last night here I intend to eat out. You know what its like food wise on those relief flights and I have enough problems with my digestion at the moment" I stood up and looked at him lying there dick shrivelled and damp.

"But if you can stand it we can play again later" I suggested tweaking his nipple.

"With you love always more" he said smiling and his dick twitching.

"But if we don’t eat now I will tell Anne you haven’t been looking after me" I teased

"Anything but that" he said sitting up laughing and we got ready to eat.

 

Twenty one years after the disaster we did have a bit of unpleasantness at New Delphi as it had been decided to rebury Bernard’s body in Edinburgh at the Castle. This was an unacceptable decision I decided and called for anyone who was willing to help stop the exhumation. Three and a half thousand people descended on New Delphi and we held out for six days before international pressure caused the government to back down. At the conference that took place at New Delphi my home was declared an international site of historic importance, which proves it is not what you know but who you know as my family had been guests in five of the six countries that decided it. The Japanese Emperor had been wonderful with the children when we visited years before. John then thirteen and Alice then two loved him not needing an excuse to join in the games. I looked at my life after this incident and tried to figure out what to do next as I was still only classed as thirty five years old.

 

Twenty eight years after the crash I sat at the end of a table between two teams of delegates in the town of Gracanica on the Serbian, Bosnian border. The problems there the usual politics and religion with an unhealthy mixture of hatred built on through the generations.

"No you are not leaving this place until a decision has been reached. You have spent the last ten years gradually building up to the point of blowing the shit out of each other again." I shouted at the men and women translators worked rapidly to interpret for them.

"How dare you talk to us like this" one of them shouted

"What will you do if we leave shoot us?" the other side responded

"If necessary I will shoot you, or anyone of the fifty men and women outside who have a Blue Beret will brake your legs. This is my show not yours so temper tantrums, screaming, shouting and grandstanding will not impress me. Both of you have been moving your remaining population towards the border, by force when necessary, for years." I told the stunned men

"That is a lie" one shouted

"We were responding to Serbian aggression" another shouted

"Bullshit. Since the end of the plagues that ravaged the survivors of Europe you have been building up to this shit. My personal solution is to give you two weeks to move your populations out of the border area then make your border area so radioactive that there will be no excuse for hundreds of years. But I have been told that this could be a bit too aggressive for the moment, so you have to come to a compromise." I told them

"Or what?" came from the Serbian camp

"Well I am sure you and your people will figure out your differences before I have to put your resolve to the test." I answered

"What is that supposed to be a veiled threat?" The Bosnian interpreter asked

"No it isn’t veiled at all, I took the Zulu’s into Cape Town to sort out the problems with the new generation of Afrikaner’s. Now we have no problems there at all and no Afrikaner population, though I believe the survivors are doing well in New Guinea. I also seem to remember both of you have had problems with the Croatians in the past I think they might be sympathetic to my needs" I explained to them both.

"You wouldn’t?" came from the Serbian delegate.

"They might be a bit easier for you to relate to than lets say the Russians."

"Look these are threats against our countries" one of them shouted out

"If I come in you will not have countries. The border between your countries is to be demilitarised any build up of forces that I feel is a potential act of aggression will be met with extreme force. I have no compunctions about using a tactical nuclear device. Finally if hostilities do break out between your forces or your general population I will hold everyone here personally responsible an I will execute all of you" I shouted

"You can’t do that" a shout came from the left of me"

"You all know my history and my record if you think that I can’t or won’t then please stand up now and I will use you to demonstrate to the others that I am completely serious" I said calmly

"No, no, NO" a man on the Serbian delegation stood up and shouted "I will not put up with this attitude or treatment"

I drew and fired a single shot at his head the spray of blood and brain covering the people on his left as his body jerked then fell to the ground twitching.

"You think I am fucking about? If you lot start a war then we are looking at tens of thousands dead and I am not willing to let you fuckers piss around while your people die. These are the new rules of warfare the leaders are the first to die and the gentleman there has just demonstrated the principle." I said "Sam can you get that corpse on the table?" I asked

 

"Now look closely ladies and gentlemen this is death close up and this is what you are doing to your people and what if it is allowed to happen I will do personally to you. So the choice is yours and yours" I explained looking around the room at the rather sick and pale looking people "or we can do it as an old fashioned duel ten places and fire."

"Why did you kill that man?" a Serbian asked

"Because it was necessary. If it becomes necessary to kill all of you I will do it personally and not lose a nights sleep. You will now resolve your differences and after that we will go outside and bury this man. Any objections?" I looked around at the stunned men and women but nobody replied.

 

Fifty years after the fall of civilisation and its rebirth I stood with Jimmy as we watched the parade of veterans at New Delphi. Mark and Mathew though both in their early seventies lead the parade with the remaining members of the original OOSF and the Middlesbrough team. Paul had insisted on marching as he said he was only sixty seven the oldest out there was late nineties. Next to us were the remaining members of the original eight. Bob lay at the front of the cemetery next to Tom and Bill having lost his battle against prostate cancer three years ago. Jimmy now approaching ninety had wanted to march but I had convinced him to keep me company on the podium as he wasn’t too good on his feet now. Behind the veterans marching proudly despite their age marched the new generation. Five hundred and fifty members of the OOSF everyone nominated by their peers and everyone having received the Blue Beret off me personally including my granddaughter. Yes she had done well following her father John’s footsteps into the OOSF to be called on world wide. Alice my first daughter was now a teacher and my second Faith was an International negotiation specialist, doing as I did in Bosnia without the use of weapons. Though she assures me that even these days the threat of force to make a negotiation clear an impasse is still used and more than once she has threatened delegates with her mother.

 

"Not many of them left out there are there Jimmy?" I said as they finished

"A hell of a lot more than there might have been without you" He said looking at me with his tired eyes and weather-beaten face showing his age to the full.

"Did I do the right thing?" I asked him

"You ask that of me?" he shouted back "I have two children and four grandchildren who don’t have to go through the shit we went through thanks to you. You have three kids seven grandchildren and two great grandchildren, think of what it was like and imagine what their lives would been like if we had fifty years of the darkness"

"I know but I still worry" I admitted "Did I need to take so many lives"

"Look you have atoned for that you did ten years relief work dragging a kid around with you and living on those two tubs. Since then you have done everything that has been asked of you in the arena on international politics, some of it might not have been conventional but it worked" He said as he took my arm to climb down the steps.

"Well at least life wasn’t boring" I told him

"Boring with you around? I still think about the fear I felt when Suki came along saying you had gone that way on that fucking bridge" He said laughing

"Well it worked didn’t it?" I said laughing too

"Yes as everything you did worked and Bernard would be proud to know how well you did it"

"Good lets go and claim my husband and go and eat before my ravenous hoard of a family clear the place" I told him as I waved to Jean and her first daughter Katherine now in her forties.

 

Eighty years after the Global Apocalypse and the new world I stood looking at the rows of stone the front row now nearly full.

"You understand why I have told you this?" I asked Anne one of my many great great grandchildren

"Not exactly Nana" she admitted

"Look around you see the names these are not just names they are people hero’s who gave their lives for what they believed in. The problem is history is perverting that, the last film I saw barely mentioned Bernard and Jimmy. What it did to Tom was criminal how Andrea felt I don’t know at her age she doesn’t need that shit." I said to the young woman who looked so like me at her age.

"What do you want me to do Nana" she asked as she held my arm to steady my progress over the immaculately kept grass.

"Well I haven’t been here for eleven years now not since I lost Paul and I know that I will join him though how long it will be I don’t know. I promised that people wouldn’t forget and the men and women who wear the Blue Beret will not forget. But I want the true story to be recorded. I have spoken with Wendy and she agrees that the time has come to start putting the record straight" I told her

"Can I help you ladies at all are you looking for someone as the grounds do close at dusk" a young man asked

"No you cant I know my way around" I answered sharply

"Well as I say we do close at dusk then the high guard go on watch, their weapons are real" the man said trying to encourage us to leave.

"Well then if you give us a quick tour then we will be out of your hair" I suggested and he looked at his watch "and if your worried about the time I could take all of an hour to walk to the end of the drive at my age. But after a quick tour I think I could do it a lot quicker"

"Come on Nana’s a veteran and we are only in this country till tomorrow" Anne said looking at the young man imploringly.

"Ok come on then" the young man said with a smile to Anne "This is New Delphi the place where the salvation of the human race started in those dark days after the computer virus that wiped out so much of civilisation. Here The Oracle and her sister made their plans to save civilisation and the first battle was fought against the forces of darkness"

"Bullshit here people fought to stay alive and that was it, plans were not an issue at the time" I answered as we were led inside.

"Er yes well this is the dining room where the first broadcasts were made and you can hear a recording of the message played by The Oracle when New Delphi was under attack" He said slightly flustered at my interruption an we could hear my voice saying New Delphi was under attack.

 

I wandered into the kitchen and looked at the door leading to the passage to the armoury and the room where I first woke in this body.

"I am afraid that area is out of bounds" the man said

"Why?" I asked

"Well its stores and supply area and also weapons are stored there" he answered guiding me to the reception area decorated with photo’s.

"Here we se a picture of The Oracle in battle in Edinburgh firing her weapon at the enemy" the man said indicating a large picture of me in Newcastle reloading the pistol while covered with blood.

"Bullshit that is Newcastle and that weapons being reloaded" I said as I walked up stairs stopping to run my fingers over the photo of me with Tom, Jimmy and Bernard in Newcastle.

"Can you please not touch" the man said "a lot of this is irreplaceable that is one of Anne’s original photograph. Do you think you can manage the stairs?"

"Other than bullet holes or alcohol nothing could stop me" I told him as I headed up to my room. I ignored the rope across the entrance and walked inside surprised to see how little had changed since I had last been here.

"Excuse me" the man said "what do you think you are doing" I didn’t answer I reached out and fingered a uniform a working dress bearing the two badges of the Middlesbrough team and the OOSF.

"Will you leave that alone please that is irreplaceable it was made by Mr McKinney whose establishment still makes the uniforms for the OOSF" the man said pushing past Anne

"No it wasn’t" I answered

"What?" he demanded

"It wasn’t it was made by Milligan one of three that he made. One had a hole in the back another in the arm and this one I thought it had been left in Edinburgh. Though someone has added the medal ribbons afterwards" I answered

"They were put on there by The Oracle herself" he replied

"Bullshit get your facts straight" I shouted at him

"Will you please leave or do I have to get some of the security down here?"

"Try it son" I said as I sat on my bed he left heading upstairs and shortly after two men appeared both in their late thirties wearing the Blue Berets.

"Excuse me Ma’am you shouldn’t be in here and it is time to close up for the night. You should really be heading home" one said

"I am home" I answered as I slipped my coat off revealing the two silver pistols I still wore priceless to any collector and the men sprang to attention leaving the young man very confused.

"Anne I am staying here to make sure they get it right" I said to Anne

"Are you sure Nana?" she asked

"Yes I don’t have much time left to put things straight and people like him don’t help either" I indicated the young man at the door.

"Fine Nana I will arrange for your things to be brought here" Anne said standing up and walking to the door.

"What the hell is going on here?" the young man said grabbing Anne as she walked past "She can’t stay here"

"Yes she can" one of the OOSF said pulling him away from Anne "She’s The Boss Lady"

 

After much fussing and many phone calls it was decided that I could stay, well lets be honest it was decided that it would not be wise to remove me by force. But at the request of the preservation committee I was asked to stay in Wendy’s room. I agreed grudgingly and as I wandered onto the roof for a last inspection of the High Guard Anne accompanied me up helping me with the stairs.

"Good evening I hope you don’t mind me up here, it’s an old habit of checking the perimeter before I sleep" I said to the two men and one woman on the roof.

"Don’t worry Ma’am you are always welcome and I am sorry we didn’t recognise you earlier" the woman said.

"Jane isn’t it" I said studying her face "I gave you your beret six and a half years ago for work during a flare up in the middle east"

"Yes that’s it Ma’am" Jane said beaming broadly

"I never forget anyone who receives the Blue Beret though now it might take some time to recall a name" I told her "But this is your home as much as mine so please drop the Ma’am Kathy or even Boss is better. How long do you live here for nowadays?"

"Six month detachment, you said that New Delphi was a home above all else and while we are here we live here" Jane said

"Good then an old fart like me has some company and you only have to put up with me for six months at most" I said laughing

"Boss with you it would never be a case of have to put up with. We are first and foremost the Oracle’s Own and you received your Blue in exactly the same way as I did though mine I feel was not deserved" Jane said looking at the floor.

"Look at me Jane" I said sharply to the woman and she looked shocked and worried "Everyone who gets to wear that Beret at some point questions it, Suki did as did my husband Paul who is down there waiting for me and I was the most surprised when on that first night at the Queens I was nominated. Never doubt you deserve it because in nearly eighty years I have never doubted if the person I place one of those on deserved it and would wear it with pride"

"Yes Ma’am" she said standing at attention .

"Relax we’re sharing the same house and as Bernard said twenty years younger than me at the time when you get to my age you worry about if you go to bed you might wake up dead. So you will probably see me a lot up here" I said to them all

"Company is always welcome" one of the lads said.

"I know eighty years ago it was just me and my sister on the defences here and from three till six in the morning is a right bastard that’s why you have three on duty. Two to watch one to get the coffee" I said getting a chuckle

"Do you want a brew?" Jane asked

"Not tonight" I answered "Its been a busy day tonight I will sleep. But if you hear me shout during the night don’t come in it’s just the old nightmares returning they are never far away" and I started down the stairs.

"What does she mean the old nightmares?" one of the lads asked

"With the shit that she went through it’s enough to give anyone nightmares" Jane answered

"How old is she now" the other lad asked.

"A hell of a lot older than you Grant" I shouted up "and not even a little bit deaf yet"

 

In Wendy’s room Anne helped me get ready for bed

"Nana what happened to your two sons who you had as Dave?" Anne asked

"One I gave a Blue Beret nearly seventy years ago the other spent his life on the relief operations. Me and Wendy kept our eyes on them through out their lives and from them I have four grandchildren thirteen great grandchildren and at last count over fifty great great grandchildren. So I know they did well though neither is still alive now. Quite a family you have got isn’t it Anne and if you want the really weird then check out the horses over in the other field tomorrow I am sort of related to most of them as well."

 

 

Ninety eight years and sixty two days after the new beginning.

"Is all well up here Alex?" I asked as I came out onto the roof.

"It’s all fine" the young woman answered "but its Julie Ma’am and you shouldn’t risk those stairs on your own"

"The stairs are no problem but names I have problems with I remember your face your Alex’s great granddaughter aren’t you? I gave you your Beret for action in Korea" I said

"That’s right Ma’am" she said and smiled I might get confused but I still never forgot anything.

"Goodnight Julie, but you so reminded me of Alex standing there" I told her as I shuffled towards the door. I walked into what had been Wendy’s room I had been asked if I wouldn’t mind using this room as mine was of historic importance, then I thought sod it eighteen years kept out of my own room was not on and walked into my room moving the rope and closing the door after me. I made use of the bathroom and found a nightdress in the drawer and slipped it on then slipped into my bed. I slipped into a deep sleep and the dreams started almost immediately the dead I was expecting arrived swiftly this time. But it was different this time the accusations where not forthcoming and Bernard came out of the shadows.

"Come on Kathy it’s time" he said holding out a hand

"But what about Paul" I asked "he should be here"

"I’m here my love" came Paul’s voice from behind me as his hands slipped around me "Jimmy and Wendy are waiting for you with the rest of the gang" He slid around to my side and took my other hand and I looked into the face of the man I loved.

"Bernard did I do it right?" I asked

"I don’t know but most of the world thinks so" Bernard said his unmarked face smiling "but its time to move out now Kathy come on I guarantee it wont be boring"

"With Kathy around it never is" came Jimmy’s voice from somewhere ahead and we waked off into the unknown.

 

"New beginning plus 1038 years is where we are now and undoubtedly the great disaster happened" the tutor said to his class looking around at the bored faces.

"Without doubt the place called New Delphi existed and its present form is roughly what it looked like then. According to the records the woman known as Katherine, The Oracle of New Delphi died aged one hundred and eleven years old in her sleep after checking the high guard a task that is even now performed by the OOSF members of at least ten years service. As to the accuracy of the histories recorded by one Anne Maitland these I feel must be taken in the same context as the histories of Herodotus. The reliability of some of the facts must be severely questioned. They were written by a young woman singing the praises of her ancestor and due to this fact the actions and importance of her have been played up to the full. Without these histories it is doubtful that she would be remembered beyond Scottish folk tales and faded films and photographs that make little mention of the men and women who fought with her. The backbone of the forces which fought at New Delphi have to be James Houston and Bernard Brown both distinguished military men and undoubtedly the tacticians and the originators of using a Joan of Arc type figure to head the movement. This is in complete contrast to the great hero Kirk of mankind’s first adventures into space in the years prior to The Oracle. Jones will you please wake up there I am sorry if I am boring you but…."

 

THE END

 

 

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