Jethro: First to Fight (8 page)

“See, we were confused by how Willis had
gotten past security. John pointed out a few things, but not a whole hell of a
lot. We made a lot of assumptions and then just dropped it, after all, the
bitch was dead,” Bailey said.

“But this says differently?” Horatio
asked, pointing to the camera. Everett nodded.

“Yes, see, the Chief had found a few
things but NCIS and ONI had bagged it all. But well, I was curious, so I went
hunting myself.”

“He poked around my systems, which
alerted me. I was about to snap his head off when he pointed out his poking
around had found something of interest,” Chief Chambers grunted, arms crossed.
“Which is why he's here and not in my brig.”

Everett flushed. “I admit, I had done
some poking around before hand, I had hacked the woman's tablet and cloned it's
hard drive.” He pulled out a flash stick and tablet. He put the chip in the
tablet and then tapped at it. When he had what he wanted to show he turned it
to let the naval officer see.

“I see.”

“I didn't find anything, at least not
when I first looked at it.” But then I ran a search on it and found a read me
file tucked away in an odd folder. It was strange, embedded like that, where no
one could find it.”

“You don't do that with a read me file,”
Horatio said nodding. “Usually you leave them out where people can find them,
that's the whole point.”

“Yes sir. I read it and up until a day
ago I had been even more confused. It was an explanation on playing with the
cameras but it was coded. It took me a while to break it.”

“You broke the code?” Horatio asked,
raising an eyebrow.”

“He apparently used a lot of Destiny's surplus
computing power to do it,” Bailey said dryly. “Which is where I came into the
story, when ops found someone running a lot of stuff in engineering they called
me.”

“Ah.”

“When he got into the file he showed it
to me. It is directions on how to access a little known circuit in these
things,” Bailey said, reaching out to tap the camera. “Something built into
them. A tiny board that lets someone else control them remotely. And since
we're a naval reserve vessel and these are navy issue...”

Logan grunted as if he'd been punched in
the stomach. He picked up on it for what it was right away. “Just a minute,” he
said, holding up  a finger. Grimly he used his implants to call in NCIS,
Security, and ONI. Lieutenant JG Irene Teague of ONI domestic showed up within
minutes, special NCIS agent Frank Sekim a few minutes after that. Once
representatives of each investigator department arrived Horatio also called in
any AI in range. He had the Destiny group lay it out to the newly arrived
personnel and to the AI attending. The story sobered all of them.

“What this means is a group of unknown
individuals put these in the cameras to override them. They did this in the
docks.”

“Shit,” the intel officer said and swore
softly. He was now so pale he was almost translucent. “They were purpose built
from the beginning... that means someone in fabrication and installation...”

Horatio's eyes cut to him and then back
to the group in general. “Exactly. We've got a massive security and
intelligence breach here people. There is more than one individual involved,
that's for sure. This has been well planned and executed. We need to see how
wide spread this is. Get a team on Destiny, lock down her communications, lock
down the crew and then take her security system apart. Destiny is a naval
reserve vessel so it's our jurisdiction. Find out how far this goes. I don't
care how.”

“Sir, what about leaving it in place and
using it to track anyone using it?” the intel officer suggested and then looked
at the civilians in their midst. All of the civilians were suddenly looking
very uncomfortable.

Logan frowned. It was a good idea
actually, you didn't want to break an intel chain once you identified it unless
you absolutely had to. What you did do is trace the source of the infection,
see who's involved, what they've got so far, what they were after and then
either roll them up or feed them disinformation. He'd picked that up a long
time ago. The admiral's refresher hadn't hurt either though.

“Sir I think we need to discuss this...”

“Right.”

“About the civilians, they should go
into protective custody...”

“I... um... I'm looking into joining up
actually,” Everett said holding up a hand. Bailey snorted.  Logan looked
at him. “The admiral suggested it. Lieutenant Commander Sprite was well...” He
squirmed. “Someone I came to admire I guess you could say.” He blushed.

Horatio nodded. That was two
recommendations in the lad's favor. “All right son.”

“But as a reservist sir. I don't want to
lose my billet on Destiny.”

Logan nodded again. If the admiral
recommended the kid he was okay in his book. “Okay.”

“I'm thinking of signing on as a
reservist as well. I think ten percent of my engineers are of the same mind,”
Bailey admitted. The Destiny security Chief looked nonplussed.

“I'll put a note in your files alongside
the admiral's recommendation. We'll take you when you are available and work
with your schedule. Thank you gentlemen, good work,” Logan said with a firm nod
of approval and then shook each of their hands in thanks.

Jethro had a wrestling bout during PT
with other Neo's. There were dozens of Marines on the ship, Firefly had the
largest ship's company, an actual platoon of Marines on board. Of that group
ten percent were from F platoon, and they had a reputation as the bad asses of
the corps to protect. That made most want to
keep
that reputation up,
which meant regular practice. They were constantly on the lookout for fresh
victims to play with.

It wasn't surprising that the Neo's
occasionally got together to train. With them it was a 'no holds barred' match
that just stopped at murder, broken bones, cuts, or permanent injury. Biting,
using your claws, or breaking bones were considered lines you didn't cross.
Jethro ran the gauntlet as usual, running up against dogs, wolves, other cats,
and even a black bear. He was ever wary of a claw or tooth, he had to be, if
one tore his skin up it could permanently damage his cloak. Still, it was
demanding and fun. Others respected him and each other afterward, so he
recognized the bonding psychology involved. But he received a few sore muscles
and a dislocated elbow in the last match. That too was normal, though they did
hurt.

He showered later, nursing his injuries.
His implants took care of the pain, but he was stiff. One of the things they
tended to do was rib each other over the injuries so he did his best to hide
them.  He was also sore in a couple of odd places on his back and side,
places where he hadn't thought could be injured. He had managed to avoid the
bear's bear hug but twisting away from it had done something, most likely
pulled some muscles.

He took a soak in the whirlpool, much to
the disgust of the locker group who carped about having to pick fur out of the
filtration system. The soak did help him though. Still he groaned softly when
he bedded down in his rack for the night. He fervently hoped his implants would
enhance his natural healing, kicking it up a notch and heal him overnight.

The Gunny spotted him moving slowly at
reveille the next morning as well as favoring his right arm. He scanned the
young panther and then ordered Jethro to get checked out by the medics.

Gusterson their greyhound navy corpsman
took one look at the dislocated elbow and tisked tisked. Jethro had put it back
in place right off, but the soft tissue was pretty swollen, and there was a
torn ligament. He ordered the panther to sickbay.

Jethro entered hesitantly, favoring the
arm as he approached the front desk. The human female nurse smiled. “Another
one?” she said, slightly exasperated.

“Another one what?” he asked, looking at
her in confusion.

“Oh wait you're a cat. Never mind,” she
replied, shaking her head. “We've had a couple of the Neohounds come in with
problems in their necks and spines. Arthritis in one, it's common in beagles as
they get older.”

“Ah.”

“Even with your re-engineered necks you
Neo's still tend to have the problem. The doctor said it's the bones fusing, or
trying to fuse together once the soft tissue in between them erodes. So take
care of yourself and when you get a pain, come in. A couple shots of steroids
and a little stem cell injection to rebuild the layer and you'll be right as
rain,” she said smiling as a beagle exited.

Jethro made a hole to allow the other
Neo to pass. He had a stiff vertebra collar on to keep his neck up. His ears
and tail drooped though, a sure sign he was still in some pain.

Once the beagle had made a follow up
appointment the human female returned her attention to Jethro. “So, what's your
problem?” she asked, hands over a virtual keyboard.

“It's nothing really,” he said
demurringly. She eyed him and then did a quick scan.

“No, I can see the swelling, you should be
checked out. The doctor will see you,” she said, sending a signal to doctor
Standish.

“Just like that ma'am?”

She smiled. “Just like that. Follow the
corridor here, bear left. He'll be waiting,” she said with a dismissive nod.

Doctor Standish took charge of Jethro's
case since it was a slow day. He used nanites to repair the ligament tissue
after he did his own assessment. “I'm curious, I'm looking at your implants,
and you don't have some of the basics. If you had this would have been
preventable,” Doctor Standish commented.

“It's my cloak sir,” Jethro replied.

“It is? Fascinating.”

“The cloak is more than my skin sir.”

“Your epidermis? Well, I can see why the
implant surgeons didn't want to blemish it, but we now use nanites for such
things.”

“You do? Sir?” Jethro asked, ears perked
in surprise.

The human doctor nodded, not looking up
from the arm. “Indeed we do. Oh I know, the first teams couldn't control the
nanites, a clear case of chicken and the egg. In order to make and use medical
nanites you needed medical implants. Well, now we've got them.”

“If you say so sir,” Jethro replied,
feeling amused. He flicked an ear.

“Indeed I do. When your class graduated,
let's see..” Jethro felt the doctor access his ID implant. “Ah yes, first
class. First graduated class actually. F platoon, impressive,” the doctor
replied.

“We did our best,” Jethro replied.

“Yes, I see that. Sent quite a few to
sickbay, but you gave ten times what you got in return. Hmmm...” he picked at
the wound with the nanites. “I'd put you in a regen tank but there really is no
need for something this minor. The Quick heal is working nicely.”

“Which is why he's doing it out of the
box. Showing off. Again,” the nurse said.

The doctor smiled and winked at Jethro.
Jethro snorted. “Do try to relax,” the  doctor admonished. “It's only
nanites,” he said.

Jethro didn't even bat an eye. The
doctor frowned. “Interesting. You have no problem with the idea of nanites?”

“No, should I? You're controlling them
doctor,” Jethro responded.

“Interesting,” the doctor drawled,
sounding like someone who'd tried to pull a prank only for it to blow up in his
face. “You're unique,” he murmured.

Jethro's ears perked. He snorted softly.
“So, nanites, I take it the medical staff can now use them?”

“Each time we get someone like you to
practice on, we get better,” Doctor Standish replied, smiling slightly.

“I see,” Jethro said, churring slightly
in amusement. The doctor glanced at him and then shrugged.

“Now we do most of the implant surgery
with nanites. It's minimally invasive and has a much shorter recovery time.”

“Lucky for the new recruits,” Jethro
murmured.

“Well, we can bring you up to standard,”
the doctor replied. “Eventually. I am a bit concerned about these strange
growths in your body,” he murmured, looking at the tablet the nurse was holding
out.

“Strange growths?” Jethro asked. 
“Is that what's bothering my back?”

“It would appear so. I thought it was a
hernia, but they aren't embedded in your muscles, they're below them. Deep
tissue indeed. Strange.”

“Are they cancerous?” Jethro finally
asked, worried about his exposure to space might have harmed him in some way.
Cancer was a big concern for Neo's. Their artificial gene sequences could be
thrown out of whack due to a lot of issues over time.

“No. I'm making a note here to look into
it further though.” The doctor made note of the strange growths that were
causing the panther pain. He put it off as something to do with his unique
ability, but made a note to explore further when the panther's medical
evaluations came up.

Jethro talked with Standish a bit, more
small talk before they got back to improvements in medicine. Standish stated
that they were getting a better hang on the implants, now that the medics had
them they could do some of the implant surgeries in a regen tank with nanites.
“So we can catch you up to your unit.”

“Interesting.”

“Though, you said we can't make some
changes,” the doctor tapped a stylus against his lips. “Hm... you know, let me
get with doctor Thornby on your case. I don't want to mess up anything.”

“Yes sir. I remember my muscles have
some croc genes in them.”

“Oh?”

“They can shed heat fast and can go from
cold to full action in microseconds.”

“Nice,” the doctor smiled. “Yes, I'll
put a note in your chart to look into that when your eval is up in a couple of
weeks.”

“Yes sir.”

“For now though, light duty. At least
until that is healed. And no wrestling. I mean light,” the doctor said,
waggling the stylus at him.

“Yes sir.”

“Yeah right, Marines, why do I even
bother. Go on, get out of here. I mean it though!” the doctor said as Jethro
jumped off the bed and headed for the door. “Seriously now!” Standish said.
Jethro did an about face and then saluted. He winced. The doctor sighed,
shaking his head. “Just go,” he said in exasperation, waving a dismissive hand.

“Marines,” he grumbled, taking a tablet
from a nurse. “Who's next?”

...*...*...*...*...

Jethro was on light duty for a couple of
days until his body fully healed. Off duty he was bored. He hopped a shuttle
flight over to the Annex to see Valenko in the regen tank. The bear cracked an
eye at him and then went back to sleep. “He's heavily sedated,” the human nurse
attending the bank of regen tanks said from her desk. She didn't even look up
from her tablet.

“Oh,” Jethro replied quietly.

“Oh don't worry, you won't disturb him,”
the nurse said and walked off.

“Wanna bet?” the bear growled. “Go get
into trouble or something.”

“That an order?” Jethro snorted. He
pointed to his arm. “I can't, doctor's orders.”

That got Valenko to crack an eyelid
again. “What'd you do? Arm wrestle Sergei again?”

“Now that would be really stupid,”
Jethro snorted. “No, wrestling in PT.”

“Ah. Should have tapped out,” the bear
said. His muzzle twitched. “You know what sucks being in here? I want to sneeze
and I can't. It fracken bugs the heck out of me. Itching inside my nose. The
damn nanites I bet, crawling all over the place. And I want to scratch my nose
and my ass, and I can't. Sucks.”

Jethro couldn't help it, he flicked his
ears in humor. “Another day and then they'll pop the cork and then they can
wring you out,” Jethro replied, teasing. “I wonder if you lost weight?” he
asked.

“Probably. Hospital food sucks,” the
bear grumbled. “Go on, go chase Gunny around for something light to do. Light.
I plan on kicking your ass myself when I'm out of here,” he grumbled.

“Me? What'd I do?”

“You are looking disgustingly healthy
and I'm in a mood. Now get.”

“Remind me to have Sergei pick you up
when they let you loose,” Jethro replied. He waved. The bear waved weakly back.

He caught the evening shuttle back to
Firefly. Morose, thinking about the bear, how a centimeter lower and the plasma
would have cooked his brain and there would have been nothing left of him but
meat. “Just lucky I guess,” he muttered, sitting back and closing his eyes.
“Some luck.”

“You say something?” a Marine Private
asked.

“No, not to you,” Jethro said, not
cracking an eyelid. He heard a snort. After a moment he relaxed and let the hum
of the machinery lull him into a doze until they docked.

...*...*...*...*...

Alan Nelson frowned, knowing his boss
was going to be stubborn about the agenda coming up. He watched him adjust his
tie in the mirror out of the corner of his eye. He stood there dutifully as the
man turned and adjusted his vest and then waved the steward off with the
jacket. “Not now,” he grumbled.

“Sir, your wife told me to remind you
your daughter's recital is tonight. She expects you there,” Alan said before
his boss could settle himself into his chair.

“You can go,” the aide said to the
steward. The man bowed slightly and left quickly and quietly as the governor
sat in his chair.

“Oh she did, did she? Well, I'm not
interested in attending. Make up an excuse, we're busy tonight. Well, Tracy and
I will be,” Walker replied. “It's bad enough I'm doing that dinner tonight.”

“The dinner is 50,000 credits a plate
sir. It's for your re-election campaign,” Nelson reminded him.

“I know that, that's why I'm going.”

“Sir, the recital is also a public
event. Part of it will be televised. And of course if you aren't seen you will
be missed.”

“So?”

“So sir, people are going to ask where
you were, and why you weren't at the recital. And they are going to start
asking themselves how dedicated to your family you really are. Which could
become a problem.”

Walker's eyes narrowed slightly. Finally
he sighed. “You know my darling daughter has tones that can bend metal.”

“I know she's learning sir.”

“Fine. Get me some earplugs. Find a way
to pull me out quietly if I need to get away. Stomach bug, an urgent call,
something. I'm not sitting through the whole thing.”