Jethro Goes to War (Wandering Engineer Jethro's tale) (19 page)

 ...*...*...*...*...

The group wandered
out looking stunned an hour later. The gunny let them walk out on
their own, waving off other noncoms. They needed to absorb this data
on their own. For some it would be a life changing experience.

“
What the
hell? He just cut and ran?” Sergei growled.

“
Seems like
it,” Zebo said.

“
Tactical
retreat. Sometimes you have to fall back. Give ground in order to
preserve what you can. Fight on a different day.”

“
Cowardice by
any name is still..”

“
It's not,”
Hurranna said quietly.

He looked down at
her. “How would you know?”

“
You think
he's a coward?” she asked, arms crossed. “You and I both
know he could have taken them all out. Hell everyone in here knows.
You were in the line when the Admiral took down Leo. I was there too.
So was Jethro. I know he could have taken that room apart. And so
what if he had? Everyone else there would have been dead.”

Sergei blinked at
her. He had started to swell but then deflated. “That's right.
Dead. He gave up his honor in order to save lives. His reputation is
tarnished. But he made damn sure the truth got out. His side. He's on
the side of angels, we all can see that,” she grimaced. “When
Commander Logan mentioned the download I peaked while he was talking.
I had it play back on mute. He didn't do any of the crap he was
accused of. He knows, it, they know it, and now so do we.”

“
Accused of a
crime he didn't commit. A few of us have been there,” Letanga
said, nodding. He rubbed his whiskers. “But something has to be
done.”

“
Probably. But
not by us. Higher minds than us will deal with it in their own
fashion. We've got enough to worry about,” Corporal Jefferson
said, turning around. They paused, some trying to brace but he turned
back, leading the way back to their bay. “For now, just
concentrate on your education. The time will come for things to be
set right.”

“
And if it
never comes?” Zebo asked as they entered their bay. Jethro made
his way to his rack. He laid down and then pulled up the bookmarked
file. He watched as a window in his vision appeared and the file
began to play.

“
It's an
imperfect universe. We all know that,” Valenko growled. “But
somehow, someway, I'd love to get in a room with a couple of those
bastards.”

“
Me too. Me
too,” Jethro growled softly. A few of the others did as well.

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

When each of them
got to the final message from the Admiral they paused, eyes closed,
absorbing it. “Shit,” Valenko breathed.

“
Yeah,”
Zebo breathed.

“
Yeah,”
others in the bay echoed.

“
Gotta hit
them where it hurts. We've got to show them we can be the best. Kick
ass and don't even bother taking names,” Sergei growled
pounding one fist into the opposite hand. “He'd want it that
way.”

“
Gone but not
forgotten,” Jethro silently vowed to do something if he ever
got the chance. Some things just had to be avenged. He just needed
the right opportunity.

“
All right you
lot settle down. I'm going to give you some much needed rules of
survival in combat,” Schultz growled, nodding to them. They'd
moved into a split schedule, morning PT and field work, and afternoon
classes. His troop had settled down faster than the others after the
news of the Admiral's exile had spread. A single day and they were
back in the routine.

The troop
immediately settled as the gunny looked around. “Consider these
traditions passed on from generation to generation. Sometimes we
forget and have to relearn them. Here's a few of my favorites. The
rest are in your toots under Murphy's laws of war.”

Jethro grimaced at
that. He was still getting the hang of accessing information. If it
wasn't top of the index he had a hell of a time using the scroll to
find what he wanted. Fortunately he'd read this once before.

“
All right,
rule one. If the enemy is in range so are you. Simple right?”
he asked and then nodded.

“
Rule two, No
plan survives contact with the enemy. That's why they call them the
enemy.” He nodded as a few looked confused. “Figure it
out on your own time,” he growled. “Three, Sensors work
both ways. Four, Anything and everything can fail in combat. When all
else fails rely on your own eyes and ears.”

Valenko and Jethro
nodded at that one. “Five, there is no such thing as surprise.
You just weren't paying attention hard enough.”

“
Six, No
combat ready unit has ever passed inspection. No inspection ready
unit has ever passed combat.”

“
Seven,
Professionals are predictable, but the universe is filled with
amateurs. Predictable gets you killed.”

“
Eight.”
He waited for some of the confusion to die down. “Eight, The
important things are simple, the simplest things are hard.”

“
Nine, if it's
stupid but it works, it's not stupid.”

“
Ten, if
things are going too well it's an ambush.”

“
Eleven, KISS,
Keep It Simple Stupid. Twelve, The easiest way is mined. Thirteen,
incoming fire has the right of way. Fourteen, perfect plans aren't.”

Valenko snorted at
that one. He remembered it from his studies. The gunny gave him a
look and a nod. “Fifteen, Friendly fire isn't. Sixteen, armored
vehicles are bullet magnets,” he paused watching them absorb
some of that. It was one thing to hear something like that, it was
another to experience it. Hopefully they would survive and remember
it to pass it on.

“
There are
more. A lot more. Study them carefully in your own time or with your
teammates,” the gunny paused then snorted. “Okay one, no
two more,” he said. He cleared his throat. “Teamwork is
essential, it gives someone else for the enemy to shoot at,” he
waited a moment. “And one of the Admiral's favorites, Prior
Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.”

“
Words to live
by, words to die by if you screw up. So don't screw up,” He
grimaced as an incoming page came in and then nodded. “You're
platoon,” he turned to Jefferson and then stalked out.

“
Okay people,
shit shower and shave, inspection in thirty. Move!”

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

“
I remember a
few of those, but I was sure he'd have put in never volunteer and 
if you can't take a joke you should never have joined.”

“
From the
gunny?” the bear rumbled a laugh as the line moved. “The
gunny? Joke?” he snorted at the idea.

“
Oh yeah,
right.”

“
They are in
there. And more. I scanned it a while back. Bookmarked it for easier
access,” the bear said as the cook dumped a mess of charred
protein on his plate. “Hmm, yummy,” he said sarcastically
heading for his table.

“
Yeah,”
Jethro snorted, following with his own tray. The cooks were still
screwed up. Carnivore Neo's preferred their meat raw, or close to it.
Warm worked, rare, medium rare, but not well done. That was shoe
leather. “I just remembered another, never give an order you
know won’t be obeyed.”

“
Clever, think
that one up yourself?” Hurranna said looking up.

“
No, it's
from... never mind.” Jethro shook his head, sat down and
started in with a will. You learned fast to eat what you have, don't
complain about it, and eat it all. Today was no exception. Despite
the shoe leather. Choke it down and move on.

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

“
Recruit
Jethro do you know why you're here?” the Major asked less than
twenty minutes later that evening. Jethro stood at attention and
shook his head.

“
Sir, no sir,”
Jethro responded, wondering what he'd stepped into to get the full
treatment. He noted the Veraxin standing near the holographic images
of the AI. Hell even the Sheriff was here. Not a good sign. They had
pulled him straight from chow. Not good.

“
This is an
informal inquiry recruit,” Firefly stated. “However it
will be recorded and will go in your record. And is subject to the
rules of military justice,” the AI said. That warning got his
attention. The avatar turned to the gunny.

The gunny scowled.
“Do you know the whereabouts of your father? Or other panthers
of your clan?” he asked, pretty sure the kid didn't know.

“
Sir, no sir.
I've been a boot,” Jethro paused frowning. “I have had no
contact with the clan since going into boot training sir.”

“
Which doesn't
mean they didn't tell you their intentions prior to enlistment,”
Firefly responded.

“
Sir. My sire
indicated he didn't want to follow the clan and went his own way,”
Jethro frowned, wondering if he was about to be splashed with
something someone else had done. Maybe the clan went underground
again? What the devil had happened?

“
Your father
is dead,” Firefly responded. Jethro felt like he had been
kicked in the gut. He blinked and looked at the AI. “Sir?”

“
Your sire, as
you term it was killed after attempting to infiltrate me. He managed
to kill four people before he was cornered and was brought down.”

“
Sir ah...”
Jethro grimaced. He didn't know what to say. He felt a pang of
remorse and dread.

“
He was hired
to kill Commander Logan and the general staff,” the Major said,
hands knit together in front of him. “Do you know anything
about it?”

“
He what??”
Jethro said startled, eyes wide in shock. No wonder he was in deep
shit! “Sir, I was...” Jethro shook his head eyes locking
on the bulkhead as his training kicked in. He knew no amount of
explanation would dig him out of this. It would seem like  he
was trying to hide something. Best to face it head on. “Sir NO
sir,” he said and then grimaced slightly. “Had I known I
would have tried to talk him out of it or reported it.”

“
Truth,”
Firefly said studying the recruit. “Vital signs read truthful
response across the board Major.”

“
Which given
his training is to be expected. His background and bloodline however
allows him to control his vital signs.”

Jethro kept his face
blank.

“
Possibly, but
he had an emotional reaction upon hearing his father was dead. I also
have accessed his files and formed a baseline comparison. He is
telling the truth,” the AI replied.

“
Were you
aware of the deaths of that kid and his family? The ones that accused
the Admiral? He died shortly after recanting his story to the IG
investigating team and Knox's reporter in that interview.”

“
No sir.”

“
Your father
was implicated in that. Unfortunately it happened on another colony
so we do not have direct access, so we cannot confirm it,” the
Major grimaced. He pushed a padd on his desk to one side.

“
Sir, any idea
who hired him? I mean, you obviously know who he was after...”

“
No. Oh we
have suspects, but unfortunately we don't know. The one piece of
chatter we picked up was encrypted and we lost the source in a crowd.
He was found dead later,” the Sheriff said, shaking his head
and clacking his mandibles in annoyance.

“
You're not
curious about how we caught him?” Firefly asked.

Jethro looked at the
AI avatar then back to the bulkhead above the Major's head. “Sir
no sir. If you wish to tell me you will do so.”

“
Very well,”
Firefly nodded. “You are correct, you have no need to know.”

“
But we're
going to tell you anyway as a sort of FYI. We tagged him,” the
Major said, sitting back and resting his hands on the desk as he
studied the cat's reaction. From the look the cat didn't seem
surprised. “You as well. Your entire clan and anyone we decided
to keep an eye on. Not that it would have mattered, he may have used
his cloak but he set enough alarms off when he came on board so the
tag just let us identify the intruder faster,” he shook his
head in aggravation.

“
That still
didn't help the three crewmen much Major. Or the civilians he killed
before trying to board,” Firefly responded. “And I
question the need to notify him of the means by which we can track
him.”

“
It wouldn't
matter. He's not responsible right? I'm just letting him know we know
where he is at all times,” the Major eyed the panther recruit.
“Did you join the military to commit a murder?” he
demanded.