Into Africa

By

UCSBdad

Disclaimer: I own no Castles. Or Becketts. Rating: K+ for language. Time: The present day, but in an alternate universe.

Lt. Diori had been to the local village and reported back to Rick.

"You went to the village? Why didn't you clear it with me?" Rick demanded.

"Because this is my country, Captain, not yours."

Rick nodded. "Okay, I can understand that, but I need to know if you leave, okay? I might really need you and your men."

"Certainly, Captain. The caid said he knows nothing of the attack on us and swears none of his people were involved."

"Do you believe him?"

DIori smiled. "Not a bit. But from the quality of the attack, I suspect it was organized by bored young men in the village. Just for something to do. Much as teenage gangsters in your country would organize a drive by shooting."

"Gangbangers in the village? Did anything bad happen to the kids?"

"There was no wailing in the village, no show of grief, so I expect no one was killed. Some were doubtlessly wounded, and now, feeling like men, they will be less bored."

"Do you think they'll attack again?"

"No. I think they realized they were lucky to get away as lightly as they did. But, in time, other young men may try."

Rick wondered just how accurate Diori's report was, but as he had no choice but to depend on the Nigerien officer, he shrugged and moved on.

The Special Forces engineering sergeants had made some barbecues out of oil drums they had cut in half. After Dr. Bradley's choices of meals, the dig crew were thrilled to have different food.

Billy Hebert sat down next to Chris and handed her a plate with a hamburger, a hot dog and potato salad on it. "Is this okay, Chris?"

She smiled at him. "It's exactly what I asked for, lover." She lowered her voice. "I might want something else later, though."

Billy just blushed.

Once the sun had gone down, everyone began to drift away from the barbecue. Billy drifted some yards behind Chris when Mr. Reed stopped him. "You seem to have gotten really friendly with that blonde awfully quick, soldier."

Billy had no idea how to reply, but finally stammered out, "I guess."

"Have you been sneaking off with that woman and doing things the captain said you oughtn't do?" Reed growled.

Billy tried to speak, but nothing came put.

"I never did meet a young troop that didn't think with his dick." Reed growled into Billy's ear. "If you don't treat that young lady right, her daddy isn't going to be around to kick your ass, but you can be damned sure I'll be there. You gonna treat her right?"

"Yes, sir." Billy squeaked.

"Get the hell out of here then. And remember, if she's tough enough to come to a shithole like this, she'd make a fine Ranger's woman."

Billy got.

"What happened?" Chris asked when Billy caught up with her. "Why did he stop you? Who is he?"

"That's Warrant Officer Reed, the second in command of the Special Forces team. He knows about us."

"Do we have to stop seeing each other?"

"No. He said if I didn't treat you right, he'd kick my ass."

Chris leaned in and kissed him. "You can tell him not to worry, lover. If you don't treat me right, I'll kick your ass." Then she took his hand and led him off into the darkness.

Meanwhile, Rick was with his team, planning for the new bunkers. "We're going to need more than just two personnel bunkers. We need to dig in their generator and wire their electrical system into ours so that if one generator goes down, the other one will keep us going."

"What'll we do about the food they have?" Sergeant Barber asked. "It's tasteless."

Rick shrugged. "We need to order a lot more hot sauce. We can help them out some with food, but the Army isn't going to keep them supplied."

Billy was happy to volunteer to help dig out one of the personnel bunkers since he would be near Chris. Suddenly, his e-tool hit something. He stopped for a moment. The noise was like hitting something metal. "Hey, I may have found something here."

At once, he was surrounded by archeologists who were in turn pushed aside by Dr. Beckett who began working on whatever Billy had hit with a brush and a very small trowel.

"Oh, I don't believe it." Chris said.

"But there it is." Someone else said.

"Okay, what is it?" Billy asked. It looked like a long lump of rusty metal to him.

Chris kissed him quickly. "I think you've found a spatha."

"Oh, wow." Billy said, only mildly sarcastically. "What's a spatha?"

"A Roman cavalry sword." Dr. Beckett said. "Roman infantry carried a short sword called a gladius, but horsemen needed a longer sword. Roman cavalry swords were called spathas."

"So, this means the Romans were stationed here?" He asked.

"Probably." Chris replied. "But Roman weapons were high quality, especially around the time of the first century of the Common Era. What used to be called AD. So, any local would sell his soul for a good Roman sword. That said, the garrison here was probably an ala of auxiliary cavalry, about the size of a small battalion or so."

Dr. Beckett interrupted Chris. "I want to go over this area very carefully, and get a camera here so we can get photos of the find in situ." She smiled at Chris. "And, Chris? You can give your boyfriend a better kiss. This is a very significant find. "

Chris did give Billy a very good kiss to the cheers of both Rangers and archeologists.

It took several days of hard work, but additional bunkers for the dig crew and their supplies were finally finished.

Kate came into the command bunker. "Rick, can I ask a favor of you?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"I just got an e-mail from the president of Duquesne-New York. They want to Skype with me tomorrow night. Dr. Bradley is back in the US and as I expected he's filed some very serious charges against me. I can do a face to face on my satellite phone, but the quality is poor. I'd like to be able to use your comm equipment so I can show the university what I've found here so far."

"Sure. We're all set up here. Come over whenever you're ready."

Kate spent the rest of the evening and most of the next day preparing her defense for her actions. Just after dinner, she went to the command bunker. To her surprise, Rick would be sitting next to her for the discussion.

"Rick, you don't have to sit with me. This doesn't involve you."

"But it does. According to US Africa Command, Bradley has made some pretty serious charges about my command here. I want to be present if any of those are brought up."

Kate started to argue, but before she could say a word, President McIlhenny of Duquesne-New York appeared on the screen. With him was Professor Harold Lockwood, Dean of the Duquesne-New York Law School.

"Good evening, Dr. Beckett. As I'm sure you're aware, Dr. Bradley has brought some very serious accusations against your leadership of the Niger dig. We, of course, will need to hear your side of things."

Before Kate could reply, Rick spoke. "First, I think we should consider Duquesne-New York's failures in this."

McIlhenny's eyebrows shot up. "Our failures? Who are you?"

"Captain Richard Rodgers, Special Forces, US Army, commander of Task Force 86, the unit co-located with your dig team."

"This hardly concerns you, Captain. Now if we can continue, Dr. Beckett…"

"I'm sorry, but this does concern me. The Army has informed me that Dr. Bradley has made some serious charges against me and the way I've handled my command. In addition, some of the things that Dr. Bradley has complained about are things that Dr. Beckett did in reaction to things that I did. Accordingly, I believe that Dr. Beckett's actions cannot be separated from my actions."

"That may be all well and true…" President McIlhenny began.

"I'll begin with Duquesne's decision to continue pressing for this dig even after being turned down by the government of Niger. Certainly, the university couldn't have been completely unaware that the whole of the Sahel has been a war zone since at least the collapse of the Gaddafi regime in Libya in 2011. However, you asked Senator Souder, an alumnus, to intervene with both the US government and that of Niger for you. Oh, by the way, I understand Senator Souder is downplaying his role in all of this. I believe he's saying he merely passed your requests on. Politicians being what they are, he may forget that he even did that if things go bad here."

"I don't think that our actions can possibly…." Dean Lockwood began.

"And now we get to the law school's mistakes." Rick continued. "I had asked that Dr. Beckett take certain precautions that I thought necessary from a military point of view. She turned to Duquesne and for some reason, the law school provided a reply."

"It was a matter of contract law." Said Lockwood, angrily.

"No, it was a matter of common sense. I'm assuming that no one involved had any experience in Africa and certainly no one had any combat experience. Rather, it seems, this was considered as some sort of bloodless law school exam, looking for precedents and making sure the precedents were on all fours, as the legal saying goes. Did anyone stop to think that disagreements in the Sahel aren't settled by well paid lawyers in comfortable courtrooms, but with guns? You're going to look awfully foolish when this comes out."

"If this comes out." McIlhenny said. "It's hardly in Doctor Beckett's interest to make this public."

Rick smiled. "It's not up to Dr. Beckett, I'm afraid. There have been numerous journalists asking US Africa Command if they could be embedded out here. Think of it, gentlemen. A US Army Special Forces officer with a small group of US soldiers in the back of beyond, plus a very photogenic archeologist. It sounds like a wonderful story. And, on the other side, a group of lawyers. You know, the military is quite highly thought of these days, while lawyers are usually ranked somewhere between child molesters and serial killers in the public's estimation. It should be interesting."

Lockwood was outraged. "How dare you impugn the legal profession like that?"

"I didn't impugn anyone. I merely pointed out how the public views lawyers. Are you saying that the legal profession is held in high regard?"

McIlhenny spoke. "I think we should consider this manner more fully. After all, this is no more than a disagreement between colleagues. There's no reason that it should not be settled privately and in a friendly manner. Good day to you, Doctor Beckett. We look forward to seeing your reports on your fascinating dig."

The screen went dark.

"Reporters are coming out here?" Kate wailed. "That kind of publicity could destroy my career. Everyone will see me as a glory seeker and chasing after headlines and not as a serious archeologist!"

"Oh, I don't think we'll be getting any reporters here in the Air Mountains. When I said "out here", I meant in Africa Command's area of operations. All the reporters want to go to Libya where there's a real war. Or, maybe with the French in Operation Barkhane. Certainly not to some minor scrap like this."

"But you said…You said…" Kate spluttered.

"It's not my fault if they misunderstood me. Do you think Dr. Bradley's complaints are going to be taken seriously?"

Kate stared at him for a long moment. "Thank you, Captain Rodgers. I've learned a great deal about you from all of this."