Haze Gray 105
Taylor shrugged "We didn't intend this to turn into what it did. Obviously, it needed done, but are we really the ones to do it? We just went after the traffickers. We thought they would have some connections but not that we would unravel everyone except the Italian mob. It's not really in our purview. We are after all simply citizens."
The girl interviewing her nodded "Hence all the federal and state law enforcement jumping in once you started arresting criminals.
"That doesn't explain the US military, National Guard, and Reserves, though."
Taylor smiled shyly, "I think they were keeping an eye on us and stuff just happened around them. Stuff they didn't like. At least at first, then we started feeding intelligence and since they were in the field already..." She shrugged again "Thier commanders used them in a sort of peace keeping roll. Notice they immediately turned over prisoners to law enforcement."
The young woman nodded "And as they were activated by the governors, if in some cases slightly retroactively, Posse Comitatus does not apply. It doesn't apply to the Navy and Marine Corps anyway and as you all are Naval Reserve units of the United States and the governor of New Hampshire activated you and then loaned you to all the states you are working in the legalities are satisfied."
Taylor blinked and listened to Ginny cackling for a moment. Then she sighed. The girl in front of her smiled "And you didn't know, you were just out here doing the right thing as you saw it." Taylor huffed. "So, the Qatar squadron commissioning as units of the US Naval Reserve is news too?"
Taylor snorted "No. Being Americans is all they can talk about. Hence the bikinis and hijabs and no boys within a hundred meters. Bit of a split personality. Plus, they somehow got their Imam to buy it."
"Well, Islam is the world's fastest growing religion. It's not like we don't have Muslim girls in the University. We have seen this before. Your girls got the idea for those wraps from our girls. Those are in case some male shows up." The young woman shrugged.
"I have to talk to them. I'm assuming most of those female Marines are theirs?"
Taylor shook her head "Our detachments are mixed. So are our crews. Some of them might be ours. Their crews are segregated for cultural reasons. The ships are after all girls and the crews live inside them. It's rare that a ship girl has a male relative in her crew. The Qatar squadron made the decision their crews would be female, so they are."
"That sounds like they could have been male?"
"We're actually still working on it but yes. The crews are permanent summons of the ship girls and they are sailors from all periods and ships. One Marine who was a sniper on a US Sailing Frigate but was a woman posing as a man. It doesn't really matter to us. At least not if they can do their job. The Chiefs, Gunny's and senior officers are serious about that. Oh, and they better not make trouble." Taylor shrugged again.
The young woman turned a page in her notebook "OK, that will keep the sociology people busy for a while. Now the engineering students. Why sixty-year-old equipment?"
Taylor chuckled "It's pretty." The young woman gaped at her and she laughed. "I'm not quite that shallow, it was available in scrapyards or just laying around abandoned. Really at this point most of it is just the frame and body, everything else has been upgraded in the shops. So those B series, and the ENDT 673 were easy to get for mostly free. The engines were in military five-ton trucks for about thirty years, so we got them in cans from the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Office just for asking. And going to pick them up.
"The shops worked them over and got them tuned really well and making about three hundred horsepower.
"Then they found EN 707 engines, gasoline engines, which they converted to natural gas or flare gas or whatever kind of gas that needs to be spark ignited. Of course, that wasn't all they did to them, turbos, tuned all to pieces, valves changed because no lead in the fuel, completely reworked. They liked those so much they became the base of all our heavy-duty gas engines. In a pinch they can even burn gasoline. We have gasoline direct injection heads for them now. Really, they are the go-to engine. The busses get smaller Chrysler slant six engines running on gas driving a generator and HVAC compressor. Dynamic electric braking. They got tuned to pieces as well of course. Of course, now we have gasoline direct injection heads for those too. In both cases with a piston change and timing adjustment they could run the fuel we make out of the junk plastic. The trains already burn either that or gas in turbines running generators once they wear out the EMD 710 engines they have now, which might be never I'm told. Apparently that fuel is real easy on them.
"So, the rest of the equipment and vehicles are the same. They find them in salvage yards and rebuild them. If they don't meet standards after testing five of the rebuilds to death, they go into the blast furnaces as scrap. All of that model from then on. Unless we find a demand for parts through catalog sales. Then they are disassembled, the parts measured, reconditioned, and put in the system for sale. That's mostly nineteen eighty and younger stuff though."
"So, the stuff older than that that you guys keep is up to the task and last longest?" The young woman asked.
Taylor nodded "Sort of best of the best really. Part of that is ease of maintenance. The Gos as well, we don't issue four wheelers, the worker teams get a Go with a driven trailer and a full set of implements.
"The new tractors not so much. That's the problem with packing on systems. So, all these new tractors that have all this field monitoring equipment, engine monitoring equipment, implement monitoring and control equipment, it's all another system to maintain and usually can't be maintained in the field. So why have an operator? Why not just make it autonomous? Case is headed that direction." She shrugged.
"We actually have people to employ. Maybe corporate farms could automate, but our farmers work the land they are assigned and are responsible for it. They take classes, study their land and the methods we propose and then use the equipment provided, which is suitable to their region, to farm.
"If they can take classes and maintain that equipment too its more profit for everyone."
"How does that work?" She asked.
"Well, they get a budget for their farms, it includes fuel, seed, fertilizer, maintenance, wages, everything. It's all based on their individual land, their teams, and the projections we make of the market and weather. If they produce more than expected they get a bonus. If they produce what was expected but save in one area or another, they get the savings as a bonus. If they are doing their scheduled maintenance on the equipment. Less and a team comes around to see what is going wrong. They are encouraged to sell to the stores, where we pay market rate. The stores have the facilities to store and process their crops and sell back to them at very low profit. Cost plus a penny a unit generally.
"We sell to outsiders at the market rate or a penny a unit under market price.
"Then we sell the seed for the next crop at a substantial discount to market rate to our farms. Topsoil from the composting operations, fertilizer, everything they need. Cost plus a percent or two. The stores have to make money as well. They have to pay a minimum payment on the equipment unless they are farming for me. Then they only have to pay if there is neglect.
"The seed is generally open pollinated now, so in some cases they save their own seed. Corn and wheat, like that."
The young lady nodded "And the sound suppressors? You found a way to use even the squeal."
Taylor shrugged "Now if we can conquer the smell when we fertilize." Everyone nodded, wrinkled their noses then giggled. Taylor smiled "At least we covered the lagoons and catch the gas."
The young woman looked at her "Fuel is your main worry."
Taylor shook her head "Food. But it takes fuel to make food. Process it, store it, transport it. Fortunately, the layer cakes, or the down ones here, each have at least a million and a quarter acres in food production year around so can feed their inhabitants and ship to other locations. The ones on Hispaniola are the same but more because they are up and down. We average three crops a year in them and everything in them is electric and the electricity is generated by us using the water for cooling, mineral extraction, industrial use, consumption, and irrigation.. The ones in Cuba will be the same. Plus, we can get three crops a year off the islands mostly. Tobacco and sugar cane not so much but the rest is easy."
Cassie chirped "Bananas, pineapples. Citrus. Nuts, dates, some other stuff. None of it staples."
Taylor waved "Like that."
"Proteins, or are you using beans for that?" The young woman asked flipping through her notebook.
Taylor smiled "Invasive species if they are available, then of course hogs, cattle, and chickens, plus as we clean up the oceans, we are getting some explosions in the ocean populations. Confirms that micro plastic hurting the oceans thing."
"And gives you a source of fuel."
Taylor smiled and shrugged. "Cleaning the water gives us chemicals too. Most people don't know it but there were and are places where oil seeps out of the ground naturally. There are those places in the oceans too. Aside from spills and sunken ships. Every one we find we cap and clean up. That's where most of our five hundred thousand barrel a day refining is coming from. The rest is clean up we are paid to do. We mix our fuel made with plastic with that for home heating oil and fuel oil. Our heavy oil engines are the only ones I know of that meet tier four, our aircraft as well. The trains too. Everything really. No matter what we are running them on for fuel."
"Which sadly brings us to the law and economics students. Aren't you a monopoly?"
Taylor laughed "Your lips to gods ears. No, we have five refineries, Exxon alone has five, Marathon has sixteen. Some of the refiners do millions of barrels a day. Our production will rise as we get more people trained, but capacity wise we will be limited to a maximum of two million barrels a day, unless we add more refining here in the US. Pretty much all of them are bigger than us right now. Though we are going to add a refinery in or around Cuba somewhere, so maybe two and a half million max capacity. Aside from the chemicals and feed stocks for plastics of course.
"Anyone could make a Go, we don't hold the patents on them. Just the improvements we made and we will license those. The tractors and other vehicles are all reconditioned and improved scrap. Even if those were patented those patents expired after twenty years.
"Our improvements are patented, and we are happy to sell or license them to anyone really. Really the only area we have a complete monopoly in is in being able to target the things the Endbringers build."
She looked at the now wide eyed young lady "It's not a secret."
The young woman nodded "Lots of things make much more sense when you remember that though."
Tammi walked up "That, plus battle ships and heavy cruisers. LHD's who make Marines and Soldiers."
Taylor shaded her eyes and looked up "Tammi?"
Tammi sat. "Wars over, the alphabets have it now. Beach time, church Sunday, back to Mare, refit for Alaska."
Stephanie plopped down "Yep. Windigo got here and they all just kneel and put their hands on their head. Her Pops are bringing her here." Taylor flopped back on the sand. Mozah tched her. "The others will be along.
Taylor rolled her eyes and caught Navy one landing on the river. It was the only one of the Tradewinds that was shiny. Navy blue on top with a gold stripe over a haze gray hull and underside of the wings "Oh my god!"
Raem giggled and looked at the glaring Mozah "It wasn't FML." She then eeped ran in the river and swam off. Something the Qatar squadron was just learning.
The girls scampered into the river with the accompaniment of machine gun Arabic. The older ladies grinned at Mozah, at least at her back, and then looked sternly at the young women.
The charge at the water became general and then young men followed thinking this was an opportunity. The stopped at the line of crewwomen surfacing wearing rebreathers and the dogs trotting up and sitting on the water with tongues lolling out.
Mozah picked up the young lady's notebook and flipped through it. There were a couple more days of questions in there. She moved on to the menus for tomorrow. Obviously, it was going to be a beach day so grilling outside would be the thing to do.
She looked at the Tradewind idling, holding its position as a cradle came out of the harbor to meet it. Household task were good. She would need to be centered if the idiots she suspected were on that aircraft were.
Washington should have accepted the crown. These career politicians were worse than the worst courtiers and you couldn't just trot them out and behead them for being morons. Of course, you couldn't do that anywhere even semi civilized anymore. There were a few though, and if you did one or two the rest would probably stop being idiots.
"Of course, not limiting them to a term in office or two rather than forty years, or however many they could lie enough to win was just stupidity. A de facto monarchy really. And they acted like the petty nobles they were naturally. Pelosi should have been beheaded before she was ever elected. Ignorant sow. She still should be just for making women in positions of power lives' even more difficult.
Taylor had her measure though, she made money, and none of it in Pelosi's district. That tide was probably on the ebb. Mozah looked at Taylor out floating in the water talking and smiling and narrowed her eyes. Had she done it on purpose? Literally none of their operations were in Pelosi's district. Well, that clean up at Hunters point but the Navy had taken that base back and the employees came from Mare on the hovercraft ferries. And that was the district she was planning to run for next cycle. Amazing, she had been run out of the wine country, Los Angeles, and now was going to run and probably get elected for San Francisco. You had to admire her carpet bagging if nothing else.
Mozah firmly put it out of her mind and went back to her plans for tomorrow. One of the women of the group that surrounded her smiled "California, won't slide into the ocean and you can't kill them. Yall have it easier, you can just have the crazy's heads whacked off." Mozah blinked and the conversation got started.
Haze Gray
"I can recognize a naval base when I see one!" Nancy Pelosi nearly shouted at Adrian Smith.
Adrian grinned at her "Big ole thing! Kanmusu Riverine Navy and Coast Guard. A joint airbase just over there." He pointed. "Lots of money for the district. Got two Coast Guard river ice breakers here. Well, based here. They will mostly be working up north. River doesn't freeze so much here. North Platte though, well they will have a lot of work from there west."
"And the destruction of the environment!"
"Well, this was a sandpit. We were going to have to do something about it. The sand is gone, gravel too, so really the Kanmusu sort of improved this stretch of river. Far as I know all of the work they have done has been like that.
"Gives better flood control too. Those locks they put in make each section a sort of a lake and they can move water either direction. Shouldn't have much worry about droughts in the future."
Nancy glared "And the stockyards with their lagoons?"
"Heh, kind of funny. They put these bag things over them and collect the gas, then of course they use the effluent to fertilize. In the winter normally thank god. Got the other farmers looking at it. More than looking, buying the bags and spreaders. The Sand Hills were good grazing but to now not so good for crops. All this topsoil and natural fertilizer they bring in, well that's changing a bit. Meanwhile the grazing is fabulous now. Doubled the head per acre for the folks who use their methods. Girls are money making machines." Adrian grinned.
Nancy glared "Who just overthrew an elected government and spent the last week shooting citizens of this country."
"Mostly illegals doing illegal things I heard, and as for the Castro's being elected, well it wasn't the girls who started that was it? Mostly they just stopped the Cubans and Russians from being idiots.
"And you aren't going to mention the million plus trafficked people they have freed? I thought you were big on stopping trafficking." Adrian looked at her with an arched brow. Nancy stomped off to the car. He chuckled and turned to the troops standing there. He went over and got in a conversation with them shaking hands all around.
Haze Gray
Taylor toweled herself off and switched to her shorts and very modest bikini top outfit. She watched the older woman walk across the beach in heels. Vicky looked and snorted "Impressive. I would have just kicked them off."
"What do you think you are doing young lady!"
Taylor blinked "Relaxing, been a bit of a week."
Nancy glared "I expect it is tiring murdering people."
Juggernaut shrugged "Not so much. Mostly about shot placement. I think I missed a meeting though; we haven't murdered anyone according to literally thousands of prosecutors. See, when they shoot at you first it's called self-defense. If they are shooting at or trying to harm other people, it's called defense of others. How did you get this old not knowing this? Never been to the hood huh?"
"I'm Nancy Pelosi!"
"Oh, so never had a job in the real world then. Let me catch you up on current events granny. There are bad people in the world. Someone has to do something about it. They generally won't stop being bad people on their own."
"I'm a congresswoman! The former speaker of the house!"
"So, shouldn't you be in DC instead of wasting taxpayer dollars out here boondoggling? You paying for that gas you burned and those aircrews hours, how about the hours on the aircraft? Aside from which aren't you a California elected official? In case you didn't know this is Nebraska." Juggernaut asked.
Nancy huffed and turned to Taylor "Are you going to let one of your subordinates speak to me this way."
Taylor shrugged "Somebody should have a long time ago. Friend, not subordinate, as well. Something you are not. Another thing you are not is a head of state." She made a small motion and two Marines stepped forward and took an elbow each. They steered a spluttering Nancy away.
Mozah sighed "That will be trouble."
Taylor shrugged "I don't get any money from her. All our operations in this country can be sealed off. All she will do is cost her own people jobs. She'll also cost the illegal immigrants jobs and a chance at citizenship.
"Word is she isn't going to win again. The polling is in my favor since we helped the Chinese Navy. It will be even more in my favor when we bring in the Chinese refugees. The district she is planning to run in next has a lot of people of Asian descent in it. Talking to a few candidates.
"She can't do anything about the property I own. Those deals are already made. This latest set was more than I wanted to own.
"Mexico wants me to take over Baja, Sonora, and Chihuahua. And at least build stores in the other states. They know the price is land and mineral rights. Central and south America same deal. Its why I didn't gripe about the front. They are going to be busy.
"Plus, we are still working on Cuba, and now we have the properties in Antarctica.
"The all of North Africa and the middle east are sending me 'notes' " She gave Mozah a glare. Mozah grinned.
"I can let the eighth of the arable land in the United States that I own lay fallow and they can deal with the rise in food prices as well. On top of that I can stop the stores from selling in the US.
"Bottom line, we don't have to be here, and I don't have to take any shit from morons who think they are somebody."
Mozah arced a brow "And when this causes problems for Barack?"
"He should have slapped that idiot down first day, instead she ruined his first hundred days in office. He knows now." Taylor told her bluntly. Mozah sighed.