Jethro 3: No Place Like Home (75 page)

“Do you know anything about these investigations?” the woman asked, leaning over conspiratorially to the doctor.

Thornby snorted. “If I did I couldn't tell you, everything is sealed.”

“Oh,” the woman said, sounding disappointed. Thornby turned to wink at Jethro and then she moved on.

The legislature hadn't gone unscathed. Several of the governor's closest supporters had been implicated and therefore investigated and arrested. Senator Gerald Long had dropped from a stroke when he'd been arrested. He was in a coma and not expected to recover for some time, if at all. Mister Edever, Lake, Dean, and others were all under investigation. Lake and Dean vehemently proclaimed their innocence, but several of the roaches like Madra had already gone underground or left the system.

“Talk about a clean house! It's going to be quiet here...”

“Good. It's about damn time. We should be a...an example. A showcase of what others could be, leading the way you know?” Sergei said. “Not a laughing stock with corruption everywhere you turn.”

“There is still going to be corruption,” Hurranna reminded him gently.

“Yeah well, here's to hoping it won't be for a while,” Sergei said, nudging her.

She snorted. “Keep dreaming,” the Neolynx said, but toasted with him anyway.

Jethro was glad that Walker was out, or on his way, and so were the cronies. A general house cleaning was promised. He didn't care; it wasn't his problem. His future was in the stars, as a Marine.

The End

Here is a short story with Firefly on her first patrol.

Firefly left Pyrax on orders from Admiral Irons to go to Gaston. She was in hyper the nine point five parsecs for thirty-one point seven days. The ship traveled in Gamma band, an almost leisurely rate after their Delta high speed runs.

Firefly had left the Yard with a couple external cargo pods on her hull and her interior stuffed as much as possible with equipment. The external pods held several dozen spy satellites they were to deploy in each of the systems they visited. The spy sats would serve as bread crumbs for them, but also keep track of the coming and going in each system. Payload Assist Movers or PAM rockets were also packed away for use, they would help transfer spy sats to jump points the ship wasn't going to go to.

Captain Renee Mayweather and her senior officers took the added time to settle their crew. That included her new XO Commander Dart, who she found had never been out of the Pyrax system until now. He had yet to lighten up, which was annoying.

The turnover in her crew had been high lately, over the past year she had lost and rebuilt her crew four times. Fortunately most of the losses had been due to poaching in Antigua, Pyrax, B101a1, and Pyrax again. She sometimes missed the easy familiarity she had with her original crew. She knew it had been a time for a change. Janice and Shelby both needed to get out and spread their wings, but she still missed old familiar faces. She knew how they thought, and she knew they knew how she thought.

Part of her problem was getting to know the new faces and how they thought and reacted. Of course there was a remedy for that, the ship ran training simulations daily under the new XO's hand. He wasn't satisfied until they were up to his exacting standards. She liked that.

Renee was still of two minds about her number one. He was stiff, uncomfortable with informality with the crew, but he handled the paperwork side of the job with aplomb that made her a bit jealous.

The journey had allowed her to learn her crew and build them up into a working team. Some had been very green; the XO hadn't had the ability to deal with their insecurities and low confidence so Renee had found herself making small words of comfort or encouragement from time to time to make up for the lack.

Sometimes she wondered about that role. An XO was there to run the ship, to forge the weapon for her to use. A Captain was usually aloft, a stern parental figure that oversaw all and kept an eye on the mission. Her new XO was almost cut from the book for his role, while Shelby had been completely different. Renee had to remind herself almost daily to not compare the two command styles too closely.

One thing she had recognized was a distinct chilly atmosphere the XO projected around the nonhuman crew and the Marines. The Marines she understood in theory; there was the usual rivalry between the Navy and Marines. But being chilly to Purple Thorn or any of the others was odd. Fortunately, all kept a professional air so she hadn't yet had to take a hand in things.

For those that hadn't been out of the system, and for those whose first time had been their recent trip to B101a1, Firefly organized a crossing of the hyperwall party and initiation. The usually stuffy XO was quite hard pressed to keep up with the antics and embarrassments. The Captain had firmly put herself forward as on duty, taking away that excuse. Renee had all she could do to keep a straight face as the crew got some of their own back against the XO. They would be chuckling about the tomatoes alone for at least a week she judged. Good, that should help take some of the starch out of his shorts.

Gaston was planned as a brief stop. They were to look for Kiev, visit the recruiting station, add to the charts of the system, drop a few recon satellites, and show the flag. The Zanzibar tender Destiny had been through six months ago to make contact. Captain Logan had Destiny on a short leash, running her back and forth between the nearest systems around Pyrax. She didn't have a set schedule, but Renee expected the ship to return to Gaston sometime soon.

Apparently the visits and good will the Admiral and Destiny's gifts had built up had made the Navy quite popular. That and the fact that no pirate would dare stay in the system with a proper warship lurking about. Captain Mayweather wasn't happy about the media circus, but she played her part and was all smiles for the cameras.

She did a couple of mild interviews and dutifully passed on to them recordings and news broadcasts from Pyrax and abroad. The reporters were green; she could tell from their awkward questions and almost hesitant reactions to her answers. They definitely hadn't had enough time with their equipment. Most of it had either been built locally or purchased from Destiny.

She was just glad it was all over and the newsies had left. But then their people had gotten through the mountain of footage she had turned over and the news of all the battles Firefly has recently been in hit the main stream news media like a firestorm. Firefly's crew was besieged with requests for follow-up interviews.

The crew on leave on the planet received hearty pats on the back and offers of free drinks as well as services in bars and other places. The news sparked a major signup spree at the local recruiting officer. Everyone expected to join Firefly's crew and fight the pirates the next day.

Renee put a firm stop to that; she met with Mr. Fenly who had been designated the planetary spokesman. She thought of him as an ambassador, even though he still insisted he was just an honest broker. “Maybe we'll pick some up on the way back, if we have room. For now we're headed out and in a different direction,” she said patiently to the local recruiter and Mr. Fenly for the umpteenth time.

The ensign in charge of the recruiting office winced but nodded. He should have known better, Renee thought with a dark look in his direction.

“I see. But I must pass on a message from the mayor’s council. We are taking Admiral Irons advice and forming a constitutional convention to review and re-enact our system constitution, while reaffirming our desire to join Pyrax and others in reestablishing the Federation.”

Renee smiled with just a hint of enthusiasm. “That is great news!” she said.

The older man nodded. “We have to sort out the economics of it all, and the federal taxes of course. But we do want a ship or two ships on station here. If we're going to pay for protection we want that protection. That much we are firm about.”

Renee nodded. “I fully understand and agree with you. Especially after what happened to Centennial.” His eyes darkened at that reminder. “I can't commit to anything now, but I will pass on your request to Captain Logan. If you could have a formal written request for me drafted?”

He sighed and spread his hands. “I don't think we'll have it before you leave,” he said.

She nodded in understanding. At least they were talking, which was fine with her. “That's fine, we can pick it up when we swing back through to Pyrax. Along with any delegates you'd like to send along, and any other people who would like to join the military,” she said.

He nodded. “Will we get a large ship? Perhaps your ship?” he asked hopefully.

“I don't know,” Renee said slowly. She tried to think of a way to be diplomatic yet not get his hopes up. “I know larger ships are under construction again now. I will certainly put the word in. The ship will need to be supplied though.”

“I see.”

“Which we'll pay for. But initially it will most likely be one or two smaller ships. But they won't have their own shuttles, or if they do the shuttles will be dropped off on your planet and will need their own hangar. You can get into the details about basing rights, fuel, and such with the Captain and the negotiators. I know Agnosta cut a deal with the Navy and Marines, you may ask for that as a reference or template,” she said.

His eyes brightened. He licked his lips nervously. “Are you certain you need to leave?” He asked nervously.

She nodded. She knew they were nervous; after the report of the pirate fleets, they had every reason to be. If a pirate came in through the B452c jump point, but decided to nibble around Pyrax, she could jump to Centennial, then to the Janus system and hit Gaston. B452c was becoming a choke point system, a cross roads they needed to fort up and block the pirates from using. She frowned and then nodded as a thought came to her. “One of our missions is to look after shipping. A ship has been reported past due, and we're going to try to find her,” Renee explained patiently. “I don't know how long we'll be gone.”

“I see,” he said, bobbing a nod.

There had been no sign of the bulk freighter. Nor any word from the various ships that had passed through the system recently either. That could mean anything though. Hopefully nothing bad.

“Well, we'll keep an eye out for them, Captain.”

“Please do. If you do see them, let them know they are overdue, and we're looking for them. In the meantime, may the Goddess of space protect you and yours.”

“To you too, ma'am. Good hunting.”

---(<=>)---

Renee had to chat with Commander Dart about his formality and insistence on a formal mess diner. She didn't mind the occasional dinner with her officers, but even she was busy, and damn, it, sometimes too tired or cranky to jump through hoops. And yeah, sometimes she just wanted to relax. She'd put up with it for a month on their journey to the Janus system, but she was starting to agree with the crew. She was heartily sick of the hoopla.

He seemed to thrive in it, like it was their due as officers. She wasn't so certain; she knew he had yet to earn his spurs. She also noted that there was an increasing exasperation level in her crew. He was starting to slip in the respect department, and that she couldn't have.

Her new chief engineer was the most vocal opponent to the dinners; he found ways to get out of the dinners after a while. The chief engineers, like the Captain and XO, had no set schedule, having to make themselves available at all times to run the ship. They were busy, either overseeing tasks, dealing with paperwork, training, discipline, or covering a post if necessary.

The XO didn't like the dodge and called Lieutenant Saul Edinger on it. Edinger was good; he'd served on a couple of the frigates as a chief engineer before he'd done a tour in the Yard. He'd taken a hand as chief engineer of Damocles, but the mess during the training exercise had made him put in for a transfer in disgust. He'd been on desk duty in the Annex before Renee had snagged him.

The problem with Saul was he was an informal man. He, like a lot of engineers, liked to get his hands dirty; he didn't like to be stuck in a stuffy uniform in a meeting. He'd had his fill of that during his tour at the Annex. His whole reason for accepting the transfer to Firefly was so he could get back into the guts of a ship. He'd made that plain in his initial interview with Renee.

But the XO was stubborn. He went after the chief, even chasing him into the head one time before the smell of the chief’s number two had forced a hasty retreat. He'd come looking for him later though. The chief had been busy and noncommunicative to the point of surly. The XO had considered filing charges of insubordination and apparently had said as such. The Chief had told him to do whatever the hell he wanted but he was busy and either get with the program or get the hell out of engineering.

The skipper heard about the confrontation from Firefly and decided an intervention was long overdue. She called Dart in to her wardroom to have a chat. He was still seething over it all.

“I want his ass,” Simon growled. “He's disrespectful. He should know better,” the XO said in clipped tones. “He clearly undermined my authority in front of the crew.”

Renee snorted. Dart had climbed back up on his high horse as soon as the line crossing had been finished. He'd hated it, but as the keeper of tradition he hadn't been able to get out of it. Fortunately, the next time he participated it would be as an observer. But now he seemed to be taking things out on the crew. She didn't like that. She also didn't like turf wars in her officers.