Featured Article » Fiction

Elizabeth

Written by Ernest (Butch) Lutz and John Zeek

Frank Jackson took a swallow of beer and settled back in to his chair. "Ah," he said. "Nothing better than beer on a summer day. Now, about the transportation problem we were discussing, Dan, we're going to have to support a larger army in the field. We've done pretty well with the vehicles around here so far, but they aren't going to be enough."

Dan Frost took a sip of his own beer and nodded. "I know it's a problem, Frank. Do you have any ideas on how to fix it?"

"Well, the obvious choice is to start building wagons," Frank said. "But if we do that we're going to need a lot of them. And that doesn't include all of the horses we'd need. Not to mention the equipment we'd need to outfit them, and the feed the horses will need when deployed."

"What about trains?" Dan asked.

Frank shook his head. "We're nowhere near ready with the rail lines we have right now. And with all the infighting going on with Quentin Underwood and company, I don't know when we'll ever finish the line to Halle. Torstensson is in town and one thing we discussed was the slow progress of the railroad."

Dan thought for a moment, letting his gaze travel around the room. His eyes lit on a Military Police lieutenant and an idea began to grow. "You know, Frank, there might be a way. Hang on a second, let me get someone." Dan waved and shouted, "Lieutenant Pitre, come here for a sec, will you?

"I think you need to talk to this Lieutenant Pitre," Dan said as the young woman made her way to the table. "She showed us some pictures the other day that may be a start on a solution to your transportation problem.

"Elizabeth, have you ever met Frank Jackson?" Dan asked.

"I think we talked a couple of minutes at Rita's wedding, sir. I know your wife, though," Elizabeth said, nodding at Frank.

"Frank, this is Elizabeth Pitre, New Orleans' gift to the Ring of Fire, MP lieutenant, and paratrooper," said Dan in introduction. "Elizabeth, General Jackson was talking about the problems we're going to have with keeping the armies supplied in the field. We don't have anywhere enough trucks to go around and we probably won't have enough for years. Would you tell him about the railroad your grandfather works on in England?"

"Well, sir, Granddad Spencer volunteers at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford, north of London. He works on a narrow-gauge railway that was standard in the British forces from WWI up into the 1960s. Besides a couple of paperbacks my granddad gave me, I've a bunch of pictures on my computer."

"Why don't you come over to headquarters tomorrow morning around ten? You've got me thinking and I want to bring a couple of other people to see your pictures," Frank said.

"Sir, I'll be there. I just need a few seconds to set up and plug in my laptop. I'll bring the books my grandfather gave me, too," Elizabeth said.

Elizabeth showed up at headquarters in a neatly pressed set of BDUs. She wore the black bar of a first lieutenant on her right collar, and the crossed pistols of the Military Police on her left. Instead of standard army boots, she was wearing black rubber riding boots.

General Jackson and two men were waiting in his office. One of the men was an older up-timer and the other was a down-time officer. She didn't know who either of them was.

"Elizabeth, this is General Lennart Torstensson and Charlie Schwartz. Charlie worked on the railroad link to the coal mine and helped to build the steam locomotive. He also worked on the B and O for more years than he likes to admit. General Torstensson is the captain general's chief of artillery," Frank said. "Gentlemen, this is Elizabeth Pitre, who, I'm told, might just have the makings of a solution to our transport problem. Why don't you set your computer up on this table and you can talk us through your pictures."

Setting up the laptop and getting to the right place took a few moments. Elizabeth began her presentation, "Sir, this picture is of a Simplex twenty-five horsepower gasoline powered locomotive pulling four cars at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford. It is on a six-hundred-millimeter gauge railway, which is very close to two feet. This was the standard size light railway used by all sides during the First World War."

Elizabeth continued showing pictures, "The beauty of this system is that you use prefabricated track you can lay virtually anywhere and very quickly. You can also move a great deal of material over one of these systems. Most of the freight cars were rated to carry a ten-ton load."

She showed pictures in a WWI diorama setting. "Another good thing about this gauge is that it is small enough to run through a trench close to the front lines."

Torstensson asked, "You said they could carry a lot of weight, can you carry big things like cannon on one of these little trains?"

"Yes, sir," Elizabeth said. She pulled out a small paperback book titled Narrow Gauge at War and showed them a picture of a railcar carrying a large fieldpiece and then another picture of a standard gauge railway gun being hauled over several cars.

"How hard would it be to build some of these trains?" asked Torstensson.

"Charlie, what do you think?" Frank asked.

"You know, I bet you could use a garden tractor for a locomotive on something like this," Charlie Schwartz answered. "I think we might just be able to come up with something that would work, but track is going to be the problem."

"Would you try to build something like this for us?" Frank asked.

"I'll be glad to help and advise, Frank. But you really need to have a unit to experiment with this and figure out what will and won't work," Charlie said.

"Would you command the unit, if I authorized the formation of it?"

"Frank, I said I'd be glad to help and advise, but I'm too old to command something like this. You need a bright young officer to take charge of this. I'll teach him everything I know," Charlie answered.

"Excuse me, sir," Elizabeth said, "Why don't you appoint Mr. Schwartz as a chief warrant officer? It would give him the rank and authority he needs to train everyone in this unit."

"Chief warrant officer? What is that?" Torstensson asked.

"Chief warrant officer is a rank used in the U.S. Army for technical experts. A lot of army pilots had that rank, back up-time. It's like what you do with master gunners in your artillery," Frank answered. "Elizabeth, that's a perfect solution. That is, if Chief Schwartz has no objection?"

"Hmm, Chief warrant officer, I think I could live with that," Charlie said as he looked at Elizabeth with a twinkle in his eyes. "But I need a really bright young officer to teach and to lead this unit. I originally said I'd teach him but it could very easily be a 'her.'"

Jackson and Torstensson looked at the young woman standing in front of them. They could see the obvious intelligence in her eyes and that she knew what was coming next. Torstensson had a question first, "Lieutenant, what is that device you have on your uniform above the words U.S. Army?"

"Sir, those are jump wings. That means I jumped five times out of a perfectly good airplane with a parachute and lived to tell about it," she said.

Glancing over at Frank, Torstensson said, "She's definitely tough enough to do this. And from this presentation, she has more knowledge about these little trains than anyone in this room."

"Lieutenant, you just got a new job," Frank said. "You're now commander of the First Railway Company (Provisional). Right now the company is you and Chief Schwartz. You two get together tomorrow and come up with a list of what you'll need to get started."

"Lieutenant, after you get things started, I'll send down a liaison officer to work with you to figure out how best to use these little trains of yours," Torstensson said.

"Sir, I was supposed to go on a duty swing with the Military Police starting ne—" Elizabeth began.

"You don't worry about any of that," Frank interrupted. "I'll deal with Dan Frost."

"Yes, sir." Elizabeth sighed. "If I'm going to be transferred, can I take a couple of people from the MPs with me? I'm going to need all the help I can get to make this work." Mentally she was kicking herself for not keeping her mouth shut.

"Let me know who you want from the MPs and report here tomorrow morning. I'll have a place for you and Charlie to start work," Frank said. "Go on now; you really did a good job with this and we need to pick your brains as much as Charlie's."

"Yes, sir." Elizabeth said. As she walked away she felt like she had just gone from the frying pan into the fire.

Before leaving headquarters Elizabeth and Chief Schwartz met up and had a cup of coffee together. The chief started out with some ideas he had. "I know someone we should get on board pretty quickly," he said. "Anse Hatfield. He ran a switch locomotive up in Detroit for a few years. Besides that, he has a couple of lawn tractors and other stuff that we might need."

"Hatfield. I think I've heard of him," Elizabeth said. "Isn't he also a bit of a gun nut, too?"

"Yep," Chief Schwartz answered. "and he can probably provide some weapons out of his stash. I bet we aren't going to have a very high priority for weapons."

"Works for me," Elizabeth said. "If he has any sort of railroad experience, that's a good thing. The tractors and weapons are gravy."

Chief Schwartz was walking by the power plant when he saw Anse Hatfield and three other men. They were sitting outside the little tavern up the road from the power plant. Two of Anse's companions were obviously German mercenaries. The other Charlie wasn't sure about. The fellow was wearing khaki work pants and a Blue Barn dog food baseball cap but also had a German farmer's shirt. His boots never came from a store, either. Charlie didn't know him and he knew most of the West Virginians.

"Hey, Hatfield. Got a minute? I need to talk to you," Charlie called.

"Sure, Charlie. We're just sitting here resting up from the afternoon shift," Anse replied. "By the way do you know the guys?"

"Can't say I've had the privilege, I'm Charlie Schwartz," he said, extending his hand.

"This is Wilfried Schultz, Bernhard Toeffel and Jochen Rau." Anse pointed to the Tavern and added, "Benno and Jochen run this place and Wili works with me at the power plant, pushing coal."

"Glad to meet you fellows," Charlie said, looking over the trio. Toeffel and Rau, both in their twenties, were obviously former mercenaries, but Schultz was harder to place. Schultz didn't look like a mercenary, but the gun on his hip didn't make him look like a farmer either.

"Okay, what do you need? Do you want a beer before we start talking?" Anse asked. "Benno makes a pretty good brew."

"No beer, Hatfield. I'm on duty," Charlie said, pointing to the bar on his collar. "I'm in the army now. You'll notice I'm a chief warrant officer. Since you're a friend you don't have to call me sir. You can call me Chief."

"Well, since I'm not in the army, how about I keep on calling you Charlie? The offer of a beer still stands. I'll even buy, just to show you I still like you even though you're an officer," Anse replied.

"Anse, that's what I want to talk to you about. Were you serious when you said you drove a switch engine?" Chief Schwartz asked, wondering if he could convince Anse to join his unit. "We could use a man with that kind of experience."

"Sure, I was serious. I ran a switcher for five years. And, what do you mean 'we'? You mean the army needs me? I don't mind the militia, but if you're talking full-time army . . . I need to think about it. Besides, what does the army need with some one who can run a switch engine? I don't see too many switchers around. That coal for the power plant would be a lot easier to move if we had one," Anse said.

"Anse, we're putting together a crew to build a narrow gauge railroad. It won't be like the one they're building to the oil field, though. It will be a tactical rail to follow and supply Gustav's army. Something quick and dirty, throw down the track, run a supply line faster than horses, pull it up and move on. You'd be perfect to train engineers, since you know how an engine is supposed to work," Chief Schwartz said.

"Well, it sounds like a good idea, but I repeat, what are you going to use for an engine? I still don't see any around," Anse replied.

"Don't you start laughing," Chief Schwartz said, shifting uncomfortably. "We're going to use a lawn tractor. I think eighteen to twenty horse power will be plenty for what we want. It will be small enough that we can load it on a barge or wagon to move it around. I don't notice anyone mowing their grass since the Ring of Fire, and those little motors are going to waste."

"What gauge are you going to use? And where are you going to get track? There's a lot more to a railroad than just an engine," Anse said, shaking his head.

"That's what this unit is for. We're going to solve all those problems and any others that crop up. For example you left out brakes and wheels. This is an experiment to find out if it can be done. It is important. You know how they supply armies in the here and now, don't you? We're trying to give them a better system. Gustav is going to be fighting a defensive war and you can't rob your own people and expect them to like it," replied the chief. That got the attention of all four men.

"Sounds like you at least have the questions figured out, Chief. But where are we going to get a lawn tractor?"

Schwartz noticed the change from 'you' to 'we' and began to think that he had just gotten an engineer. "Well, I was going to leave that to the engineer to figure out. If I remember correctly you had a nice Gravely ride-on tractor at one time. What ever happened to it? The government would pay for it, you know."

"Yeah, I still have it. Me and Hank are changing it over to run on ethanol right now. Don't know why, our lawn care business is pretty well dead. It's a twenty-seven horse power Professional Model, to be exact. Think it would work?"

"That's just what we need, nice heavy tractor with good power. Now all I need is someone to drive it since you're not interested," Charlie said.

"Wait a minute," Anse said. "I never said I wouldn't do it. If you're going to use my tractor I might as well go with it. I went through Nam as an enlisted man and what was good enough then is good enough now. With that condition, sign me up, Chief."

"Well, I just happen to have an opening for a sergeant in charge of a train crew," Charlie said. "Sew three stripes on your sleeve and meet me and Lieutenant Pitre at Frank Jackson's office at nine o'clock tomorrow morning. You better remember that he's General Jackson, and be on time."

"Lieutenant Pitre? You mean you're not in charge?" Anse asked noticing the looks on the faces of his three friends.

"No, Sergeant Hatfield, I'm not. We're working for a real U.S. Army officer who knows all about narrow gauge railroads. I'll see you tomorrow morning," Charlie said.

After the chief left, the three down-timers began to speak at once. "Lieutenant Pitre from the MPs? She threatened to arrest us after the business with Wili's cow came out," Rau finally said over the general noise level.

"Ja," Toeffle agreed, "und the police don't like our tavern."

"Guys, I get tired of sitting around just spinning my wheels. This is my chance to do something. Pushing coal at the power plant is not my idea of a long-term career," Anse stated.

"Und we will be helping protect farmers." Wili stated. "I will join."

"Are you sure, Wili? This isn't like being in a local militia."

"Ja, Ich go with my brother." Wili responded as he laid his hand on Anse's shoulder.

Toeffel looked at Rau. "Jochen, business is bad. We should sell the tavern und go with them." Then with a grin at Hatfield he added, "We are the real soldier here. Und we will protect the old men."

Later that evening, Elizabeth and her old college roommate, Caroline Platzer, were having dinner at the Thuringen Gardens. Elizabeth was not in the best of moods with this new assignment.

"What kind of miracle does this bunch of hillbillies expect me to pull out of my ass?" Elizabeth ranted. "At least with the MPs I'm doing something useful."

"Beth, like you've told me on more than one occasion, lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way," Caroline responded. "Who knows, you might actually get something going. I know you will do better than that bunch claiming to be laying a line to Madgeburg."

On that note, Elizabeth changed the subject. Caroline wisely followed her friend away from the subject of railroads for the rest of the evening.

Early the next morning, Elizabeth and Chief Schwartz met at Army headquarters. They were given a room with a table, a couple of chairs, and a telephone to use.

"Well Chief, I'm glad I got a couple of people from my old MP platoon. One of the first things we're going to need is a company clerk. Someone has to answer the telephone and track messages," Elizabeth said.

Chief Schwartz chuckled, "Ma'am, I think you're right. No military ever ran right without paper."

Elizabeth passed on some of her father's observations about armies and paperwork as she explained her background. She was an army brat of sorts. Her father was a reserve colonel who worked in the Pentagon as a civilian. Her mother had served as a nurse in the British Army. Her brother had served in the Coast Guard and was in his third year at Louisiana State University. Elizabeth told the chief about a videotape she found in the items she was planning to take home after Tom and Rita's wedding reception.

They found a TV/VCR and brought it into the office. Chief plugged it in and Elizabeth inserted the videotape. The tape started and Elizabeth forwarded it through scenes of a very young Elizabeth and her slightly older brother with their parents.

"This is what I think you'll be interested in," Elizabeth said. A very old man appeared in the screen with a man Chief now knew as Elizabeth's granddad. "This is my great-grandfather," she said. "He spent three years on the Western Front running these trains. I was probably about six when they filmed this; it wasn't long after that he died."

The old man began to speak, standing next to a locomotive like the one they had seen in the pictures. "Chief, you'll probably understand this a lot better than I did last night," Elizabeth said.

Chief Schwartz heard a man with an American accent asking questions of the old man and the old man's detailed answers. The interview continued for about ten minutes.

After finishing the interview, Elizabeth turned the TV off and turned to the chief. "What do you think?" she asked.

Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, the chief replied, "We might just be able to pull this off. The biggest problem we're going to have is track."

"Here's something else that might be of help," Elizabeth said as she pulled out her copy of Narrow Gauge at War. "We should probably get a couple of copies made of this book and get everyone to read it. Folks might have some ideas after seeing this."

"Good idea," the chief replied.

"I agree that we can probably pull this off," Elizabeth said. "Since I've been here, I've seen all sorts of stuff that people hang on to. We can probably come up with the stuff for the locomotives and cars pretty easily, but track is what is going to make or break us. I don't think it's as big a problem as some people might think, though."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I've ridden over a lot of the territory in the Ring of Fire. Once I started thinking about it, I realized that there are a bunch of old railway rights of way. They didn't look as wide as normal rail lines," Elizabeth said. "We need to get out there soon and start looking around."

"Sounds like a good idea to me. At nine I've our first recruits coming to see General Jackson," the chief said. "He has a twenty-seven horsepower lawn tractor that he's willing to contribute as our first locomotive."

Elizabeth chuckled, "Chief, you and I are going to get along just fine. I need to go down to City Hall and find out where they found some space for us to set up a shop. I should be back in time to meet our recruits and I'll also start scrounging around for a clerk. What about tools?"

"Well, ma'am, I've got some things we can use and Anse Hatfield, he's our first recruit, has a bunch of stuff in his shed that will probably be of use to us."

Just then, there was a knock on the door and a young man stuck his head in. Sergeants Bicard and Born and Corporals Kerner and Schmidt from the MPs were reporting in for duty. Along with them was a young down-time man named Ludwig Bode. Bode didn't want to study classics any more, he said. When Elizabeth learned he could operate a computer and answer a telephone he was made the company clerk. Because he had had a year of ROTC, he didn't have to go to basic training, either.

"Sergeant Bicard, you're on your way to OCS," Elizabeth said. "After OCS, you come back here and take charge of the horse-drawn trams." Sergeant Bicard nodded his understanding with a smile on his face.

"Staff Sergeant Born, Sergeant Kerner, and Sergeant Schmidt, you three will have your hands full here," Elizabeth said. The three newly promoted NCOs nodded in understanding. "Sergeant Born will be the platoon sergeant of the horse-drawn tram platoon and Sergeant Kerner will be the Headquarters squad leader as soon as he trains our new recruit here to be a clerk," Elizabeth continued. "Sergeant Schmidt, you are now the mess sergeant. We will come up with a field kitchen where you won't have to cook over an open fire any more."

Later that morning, Anse and his friends reported to General Jackson's office. When Elizabeth saw the three Germans with Anse, she and the chief had a quick discussion before going into General Jackson's office. After the meeting with General Jackson, Elizabeth asked them to follow her to the company office.

"Sergeant Hatfield, I don't know how you are able to attract some of the most dubious company in Grantville," Elizabeth said. Anse tried to respond, but Elizabeth cut him off. "At this point, beggars can't be choosers. I'll give the three of you a chance. But, I'll be watching and you better believe that I will run your rear ends clear out of Grantville if you get out of line, understood?"

Anse and the three Germans nodded their understanding.

"Ma'am, is there anything else?" Anse asked.

"Nope, just get with the chief to get directions on where to bring the tractor," Elizabeth said.

After directing Hatfield where to bring the tractor, Elizabeth and the chief then back to their office. They had a lengthy discussion about what else they would need besides people to operate and maintain equipment. The first thing was track-laying and maintenance crews. Second was communications, since they knew they wouldn't get radios. Chief Schwartz suggested old-fashioned telegraph.

Before going to lunch, Chief contacted Pearl Chaffin, a widow who had worked for years as a telegrapher on the B&O. She agreed to take an appointment as a warrant officer and to train the telegraph operators for the railway unit.

After lunch that day, Elizabeth and the chief met back at the office. They had a locomotive and a telegraphy trainer, but they weren't sure how they would get fuel. While discussing the matter, Chief remembered J.B. Torbert, who owned a still outside of town. J.B. Torbert was the town drunk before the ROF. However, finding himself in seventeenth-century Germany had been the motivitation for him to stay sober, one day at a time.

Chief Schwartz caught a ride with an army car out to Torbert's place after the discussion with Elizabeth. He called for J.B., but did not get a response. He saw some smoke coming out of the woods behind the trailer and walked out there, continuing to call for J.B. Torbert.

J.B. was out back tending his still. "Oh, hi, Charlie," Torbert said, "What are you doing out here?"

"Got something I'd like to talk to you about," the chief said. "You still brewing alcohol in that still of yours?"

"Yep, but only for fuel," Torbert replied. "And I've got a bunch of handyman jobs that are keeping me busy, too."

"Would you be interested in selling your still to the army?"

"The army," Torbert exclaimed. "What does the army need a still for? And what's an old man like you doing in the army?"

"You're now looking at Chief Warrant Officer Schwartz of the First Railway Company. We're going to build a unit that can lay track and operate a narrow gauge railroad," the Chief answered.

"Who's we and what's narrow gauge?"

"Well, we just got started yesterday. There's Lieutenant Pitre from the MPs, who will command. She's bringing four people from the MPs and we have a brand-new clerk. Anse Hatfield is bringing his tractor along. That's what we'll use for our test locomotive. He's got three down-time German friends of his who are joining, too," replied the Chief. "Oh yes, narrow gauge. That's when the track is smaller than normal. We're looking at something in the two-to-three foot range for a gauge. That's a lot lighter and easier to put down. Something like one of those little trains in amusement parks."

"What does she know about railroads?" asked Torbert.

"Actually, she's the one that General Jackson got the idea from. Her grandfather works on a military narrow gauge railroad in a museum up-time, so she's got some pictures. She showed me some real detail from an old videotape of her great-grandfather who actually worked on one during World War One," Chief Schwartz said. "And she's smart, really smart, someone who can look at something and come up with a solution where no one else can."

"Well, you're going to need someone to run this still. How about I come along with it?" Torbert asked.

"The lieutenant and I figured that's what you'd say. We'll take you, but she says if you fall off the wagon, you're gone."

"That sounds fair," Torbert said.

"One other thing; we'll probably make a lot of use out of your handyman skills. Do you have some tools to bring along?"

"Well, I've my hand tools, a power saw, a drill, and a couple of electric screwdrivers," Torbert said.

"That's real good. Can you have the still ready to move tomorrow morning? If you can, I'll send Anse Hatfield out here with some people to help you move it."

"I'll have it ready."

"Welcome to the First Railway Company, Sergeant Torbert." The chief held out his hand.

"Sergeant Torbert. I like the sound of that," Torbert said, shaking the chief's hand.

The next morning Private Ludwig Bode was playing solitaire on the office computer at his desk. The desk was in front of the TacRail office. Ludwig was congratulating himself on the easy job he had found. He was surprised when General Jackson and a younger man walked up the hall toward his desk.

"Gut Morning, General," Bode said. Coming to attention and trying to turn off the computer monitor at the same time wasn't working out too well.

"Is Lieutenant Pitre in, Private? Tell her I'm here to see her."

"Yes sir, General. The lieutenant and Chief Schwartz are going over the morning reports right now. You can go right in."

"Wait here, Bill," Frank said to the younger man as he entered the office. Inside he found Lieutenant Pitre and Chief Schwartz standing by the desk looking over some paper work.

"Good morning Lieutenant, Chief. I stopped by to see how things were going and to bring you a new man," the general said. "He will be perfect as your top sergeant, Lieutenant. He's a combat veteran up-time and in the here and now. With your two up-timer sergeants being the town drunk and a loafer whose only real job before the ring of fire was mowing grass, you need someone who knows what he's doing."

"Thank you, General," Elizabeth said. "We always need more people, but Torbert and Hatfield are doing a good job. And Torbert hasn't touched a drop since the Ring of Fire."

"Be that as it may, Plotz is yours." Frank opened the door and called, "Come in here, Bill. This is Bill Plotz, veteran of Desert Storm and Bosnia. He won a Bronze and Silver Star and has a Purple Heart with two clusters. He was a crew chief in the mine before it closed and acted as a sergeant in the battle of the Crapper and at Jena. Besides that, he's one of the hardest men in town. He's just the man you need to get your people under control. The story about how Hatfield pulled one over on you about those coveralls is all over town."

"General, while Hatfield didn't show the best judgment with the coveralls," Elizabeth said, "I gave the okay on their issue. It was a good idea because many of my people were down to rags."

"Don't cover for him, Lieutenant. Maybe he's going to do a good job and maybe he should go back to shoveling coal at the power plant; time will tell. But for now you have First Sergeant Plotz as your top soldier and he's going to watch over Hatfield and his merry men." With that closing comment General Jackson strode out of the office.

Elizabeth turned to Chief Schwartz, "Chief, you were going to check with Sergeant Torbert about how much more of that rail from the lumber trail is serviceable. I think you should to do that now and then stop by the locomotive shop and pick up a coverall for yourself. I'll bring the first sergeant up to speed on the unit."

Elizabeth could tell by the worried look on his face that the chief thought she couldn't deal with Plotz by herself. It was also easy to see that Sergeant Plotz had little respect for her rank or skills. After a year in the MPs and her informal Officer Basic Course under Gunnery Sergeant Duke Hudson, Elizabeth knew she could hold her own.

"Well, First Sergeant, what do you know about railroads? You realize you're going to be serving over men more knowledgeable and experienced than you?" Elizabeth asked.

"Ma'am, I think the general made it clear my job is to keep the men in line and not to be creative. I'll leave that to the management types," First Sergeant Plotz replied.

"And you think I'm one of those management types, First Sergeant?" Elizabeth asked.

Plotz looked at Elizabeth's jump wings which she had transferred to her coveralls that morning. "No, ma'am. Two groups of people I never argue with are paratroopers and MPs and I understand that you have been both. So I guess you're not one of those management types."

"Actually First Sergeant, I'm one of the managers of our little enterprise and you're going to have to be one also if you stay with us. And as a management type your style had better fit with mine or we're going to be working at cross purposes, I hope you understand that. If you're going to be the first sergeant of the rail company you're going to have to learn to be creative. And First Sergeant, you mentioned the MPs. From what I remember from my reading of police records your command style is quite different from mine. And you're going to use my style. Is that understood, First Sergeant? Or do I tell General Jackson to find another home for you?"

"No, Lieutenant. I think I'll stay with the railroad for a while. You never know, I might become one of those management types"

"Fine, Top. Let's go down to the train shop and introduce you to the train crew, and then over to the mess to meet Sergeant Liesel Schmidt who runs our commissary squad or else you won't get fed. Then we'll go to the rail shop and meet the track crew. You know Hatfield and Torbert, but you don't know Born. All the soldiers need to know who you are."

Elizabeth and Chief Schwartz were at the unit mess having a cup of hot soup when PFC Rau came up to them out of breath like he'd been running.

"Fraulein Lieutenant, Herr Schwartz, I was out hunting and I came across something you really need to see."

"What is it, Private?" Elizabeth asked.

"Fraulein Lieutenant, it looks like some iron tracks going into a hole in the ground," Rau replied.

"Chief?" Elizabeth asked.

"Ma'am, it sounds like an abandoned dog hole mine to me," said Chief Schwartz. "We really need to look at this; there could be some stuff we could use there."

"I couldn't agree with you more. Let's grab some of the others and have a look," Elizabeth replied.

When they got to the old mine, they found about twenty yards of track going into a boarded-up entrance. It looked as if it had been abandoned for years.

Elizabeth ...