“It wasn't just him. His followers did as well,” Sergei growled.
“True.”
Doc sucked in her breath and then let it out slowly. “That... sucked.”
“It's nature ma'am,” Jethro said not looking at her. She looked at the panther in confusion. “Male cats tend to kill off the kits of rival males in the wild. He did it to prevent them from challenging him,” he said, turning to meet her troubled gaze with his own.
“But in doing so he alienated the other males in the group,” the doc said nodding.
“Something like that. If they knew it was happening. Unfortunately males tend to be... accident prone.”
“Curiosity killed the cat?” Doc asked sounding amused and appalled.
“Something like that.”
“Well, it's over and done with now. No sense crying about it. Can't change it, can't... Whatever,” Sergei sighed, sitting back against the pillows.
“Get some rest. You are going to be on your toes and running until you drop in next to no time.”
“Looking forward to it,” Sergei said amused.
“Masochists. Nuts,” she laughed.
“He just wants to blow stuff up ma'am,” Jethro said with an amused ear flick and tight lipped smile. She laughed.
“All right, have fun with that. Just don't blow anything important off. I'm not promising to put it back if you screw up spectacularly enough. I'll check in on you later.” She left.
“You okay buddy?”
“Just fine,” Sergei said, reaching up and turning his reading light off. Jethro could make out his glittering eyes in the dark. “Hunky dory as nana says. I'm fine. Don't worry about it.”
“Okay. Just remember, the corps is family. You ever want to talk...”
“I like you Jethro, but not that much,” Sergei growled playfully. Jethro snorted and rolled over.
...*...*...*...*...
Jethro woke and blinked as an icon appeared on his vision. He tried to focus on the spinning ball but it seemed to move. He stopped, rumbled a sigh and then narrowed his gaze. After a moment a mouse pointer appeared. He used his index finger to trace the pointer to the ball. The ball blinked and then disappeared in a shower of fireworks. After a moment a HUD came up.
“Welcome Recruit Jethro of Anvil Feline clan to the introduction to your Heads Up Display or HUD for short. This will introduce you to some of your simpler implants as well. As you have by now noticed using your index finger as a mouse pointer will allow you to navigate your HUD in two dimensions. You can also point with it when it is in three dimensional form. Do you wish to try now?”
He blinked and then shook his head. “Very well. Accessing secondary training protocols,” the artificial voice said. “In order to make this an enjoyable experience that you will more easily learn we are going to do this as a game. Please pay attention to the basic rules. As your skills improve we will add additional resources for you to learn and master. Shall we begin?”
He blinked and then settled himself. He double tapped his index finger on yes.
“Very well, for now using your finger for the mouse will serve. However when you are in a combat condition or linked into a network this may not serve. We shall explore alternative methods of communication in a moment. In the meantime let's explore your computer knowledge.” A series of icons appeared on the left side of his vision. “Click any of the icons to get started.”
He harrumphed a sigh and closed his eyes. The icons and HUD vanished for a moment then reappeared in his mind. He grunted and then pointed to the first icon and double tapped.
...*...*...*...*...
“Wondering about the debrief?” Doctor Thornby's voice said in his ears.
He looked around confused and then grimaced and closed his eyes. “Yes Commander I was,” Jethro said. His fingers traced circles on the bed sheets.
“I'll be there in a minute.”
A few minutes later she came through, nodding to the nurse on shift and then sat on the edge of the bed. “You are a special case.”
“I am ma'am?” he asked amused. He'd already known that. There weren't many panthers, and no other panthers in the corps.
“And you know it,” she said slapping his thigh. “Don't deny it,” she grimaced. “We'd planned on giving you the stealth recon package, but unfortunately we don't have that on file. At least not all of it. We've got the recipe for the basics though, which is what you do have.”
“Ah.”
“There was a limit on what we could tamper with. For instance your muscles and skin. If we gave you the same upgrades the others got it would interfere with your ability to use your chrometophores to cloak.”
He winced. “I was worried about that ma'am. It seems to work fine though.” He held up a hand and cloaked. She nodded hiding her anxiety. It was more than a little freaky to see a patient disappear like that. If the sheets and pillow weren't still tented and dented she'd have sworn he wasn't there.
“That's because I held off on that and your muscles. Usually we change the muscles to make them more efficient. We reinforce the tendons and muscles with micro actuators and also add more nerve bundles to improve twitch response. But in researching you I found that it would interfere with your infrared dampening ability.”
“Yes ma'am,” he said decloaking.
“It's not all doom and gloom,” she said. She patted his leg. “We did get you the metafactors for health and recovery. You'll heal fast, and you can mentally control some responses you couldn't before. You've got the packages so you can dump chemicals into your body when needed.”
“Yes ma'am.”
“It's just like your body does on it's own. These though you can control consciously. Adrenaline, methamphetamine, and other chemicals you'll get in the debrief.”
“I did ma'am.”
“All right,” she said. She nodded. “We've reinforced your skeletal system, but I couldn't do much for your nerves. Again the stealth thing. We just don't know enough about it. You and another patient have the same problem so we held off.”
“Okay,” he nodded wondering who the other patient was. Letanga maybe?
“The rest is pretty simple. Smell, hearing, and vision enhancements. Jacks to allow you to jack in to equipment. And a wireless officer's net link. Something Admiral Irons insisted on each of us getting.”
Jethro whistled softly. “Officer's implants?”
“Everyone has them. We're growing fast, we need to push people up and we can't afford the repeated downtime this takes.” She waved to the clinic as he nodded. She crossed her arms and tucked her chin down. “For some, they will be pushed before they are ready,” she admitted. She sighed shaking her head.
“To summarize though, you've got most of the same package as everyone else, but you're not as strong, and your skin is still vulnerable,” she said. He shivered at that. To much scarring and his cloak would be next to useless.
“But you've got regenerative tricks up your sleeve like everyone else, so you should heal with minimum scarring,” she shrugged. “At least minor and moderate wounds. Minor wounds will seal themselves in minutes and heal in a day.”
“Cool. But my ancestor...”
“Yes? What about him?”
“He was pretty heavily scarred ma'am.”
“That happens in combat. Especially the extensive combat you marines are famous for. If you overload your system with damage it can't keep up. Try to keep that in mind.”
“Yes ma'am,” he responded, thinking. He looked over to the gunny who was coming back from another therapy session. He had his arm in a sling.
“I thought you were told not to use that?” Doc asked mildly. He grimaced. The nurse with him looked over to her.
“He clocked it on a bar ma'am. Bone bruise,” the nurse said dryly glancing to the doctor. She went over to the station as the gunny sat. She came back with an ice pack for him. “He's doing much better though ma'am.”
The doctor nodded, watching the gunny shift h
is shoulders to get comfortable. His new hand was flexing, and the fingers were curling and uncurling. “I'd say you're doing much better,” she nodded. She had worried that he would have trouble getting the use of the limb back. Judging from his finger movements that was unfounded. Now they just had to help him work on control.
“The sooner I'm back on duty the better.”
“Can't stand hospital food?” she teased with a grin.
“Something like that ma'am,” he said with an ear flick.
...*...*...*...*...
They stood around, patiently waiting for the doctor and her final assessment. “You are all healthy and cleared.” They heard over their links. A few looked startled. Jethro flicked his ears in amusement.
“Disgustingly healthy actually. So you've got no excuse not to get back into training so you can learn to kick ass,” she smiled as she came into the room.
“Yes ma'am,” Valenko said as they came to attention.
She nodded. “Dismissed.”
The others filed out. Jethro held back, waiting so he could be the last to leave. “Commander. Doctor. Thank you.”
She smiled. “My pleasure. Just repay me by not getting killed. I put a lot of time and effort into your furry ass,” she growled. She frowned after a second. “Or in using your implants to get court martialed. You do and I'll rip them out. The hard way,” she warned, one finger up. He saw the sincerity in that look.
He nodded, sober. “Um, I was wondering, why did you... I don't know how to say this. Why did you join up? When did you become a believer?”
“Who said I never was?” she said leaning back against a bed. She smiled. “I've always been one son.”
“But you charged a lot here. I mean before,” he waved to indicate the clinic.
“And I still do. Those that can afford premium service pay through the nose to get it. Especially if it is elective care over required,” she grimaced, running a hand through her hair. “Look son, there are a lot of factors involved. I never charged as much as I did for the money. It was to pay for the free clinics.”
“Oh,” he said, digesting that statement. He blinked at her. “I didn't know that ma'am.”
“Most people never did associate the two. They thought I was doing it for nefarious reasons. Or just to keep tabs on the population, or to prevent an outbreak,” she shrugged.
“Or to start one,” he muttered wincing. She glared. He held up his hands helplessly. “A rumor. Nefarious like you said. Untrue.”
“Definitely,” she growled, eyes flashing. “I couldn't stomach seeing rich people be pampered while others suffered. I am after all a doctor. I got into this to help people. Not to get rich,” she said firmly. She laughed a little. “Double shifts six or seven days a week, hell no. I've got no life. Nothing to spend money on if I wanted.”
“Ah,” Jethro blinked. “Well ma'am, perhaps I can take you out to lunch as a thank you sometime.”
She looked at him in surprise and then chuckled. “Sure. It's a date. Pick the time and place and run it past my scheduler.”
“Right after I graduate ma'am I'll do that,” he chuckled as she walked out.
...*...*...*...*...
“It looks like they are doing well,” the gunny said watching the squad lying in their racks and occasionally gesturing into the air above themselves. A few muttered to themselves. They had been released from sickbay three days ago but were still getting into the feel of things. There had been some incidents in training, injuries so they were now a lot more careful about their speed and power. The heady, giddy feeling of being a superman had been tempered. Just the way it should be. Now they needed to temper that with responsibility.
“Yes. You do realize you're learning as much as them? Your training is more haphazard. F platoon is getting more training than Delta or hell, any of the others.”
“All the more reason to get this right. I put most of the special cases in F to keep an eye on them and give them a consistent experience.”
“But at times you seem to make it up as you go along,” Firefly responded. That drop scenario for example,” the gunny frowned. The damn AI would bring that up again. “I would suggest sticking to the approved syllabus from now on Gunnery Sergeant.”
“Noted sir,” Schultz growled trying hard not to clench his jaw.
“Though I would also suggest you tap their knowledge database as well. It seems you have as much to learn from them as they do from you. This recruit Jethro's database for example. And recruit Valenko's training.”
“Valenko has a few things going for him. Command experience he picked up as a post commander for the Anvil guard,” the gunny replied. “I did check his record. I believe he was in charge of an entire deck at one point. He shows leadership potential in every exercise.”
“Yes. I checked his record. He was a good leader. Until he ran afoul of Mendela and a crony of the port admiral that is,” Smithy responded. The gunny turned to the AI avatar. “I remember the incident now. Valenko ended up a target of old prejudice against neo’s. He was lucky to be demoted to guarding the garbage recycling,” Smithy shook his head. “The XO managed to intercede his influence and keep him from being spaced.”
“This database of recruit Jethro's... I don't suppose it's in your files...”
“Unfortunately no. It's a hard copy on an isolated system. Most likely because of the viruses I was plagued with during the last administration's tenure.”
The gunny grunted at that. He thought for a moment. “The clan Matriarch, is she still on the station?” he asked as he turned back to Smithy.
“Yes. She is. She is scheduled for another round of medical procedures this morning in fact. If you'd like to speak with her I can ask the doctor to delay...”
“No. When will she be done?”
“In two hours.”
“Okay. I'll go. Can you keep an eye on them sir?” He turned to Firefly's holo projection.
“With proper medical back up, of course. So far only recruits Hurranna, Valenko, Deja, and Jethro have gotten beyond the basic course and into the net proper.”
“Interesting. But expected. All have some computer experience.” Smithy observed looking over to the organics. “Is it true the Selkie Déjà refused a hyper-navigator slot?”
“If it's in his file then yes,” the gunny said nodding, not sure where this was going. “Why?”
“Pineped's are marginally better than humans for hyper navigation. Actually about twenty percent better. Not as good as a cetacean or a Ssislli but enough that we need every one. There is unfortunately a limited number available.”
“Because he was taken as a captive of the pirates. He opted to remain here,” Firefly responded. “He was forced to act as a hyper-navigator during his indenture to the pirates so he now has a psychological block towards that career path.”
“Stubborn,” the gunny shook his head. “Which is unusual in a selkie. They are usually adaptive. He's a bit more introspective than I expected as well. Aren't they normally playful?”
“He is out of his element,” Firefly responded. “I believe he will come to terms with that and his aversion soon enough. The dry air alone will drive him mad with a dry itchy epidermis.”
“epi... skin?” the gunny asked blinking as his thesaurus kicked in a translation.
“Exactly. He is a marine mammal Gunnery Sergeant, and his skin requires the occasional exposure to water. Preferably salt water.”
“Which explains why he takes his time in the showers,” the gunny replied, shaking his head remembering that it had gotten the platoon into hack a few times. “All right, I'll try to keep that in mind. Perhaps we can steer his career path back to piloting. He shows an aptitude and an interest in it.”
“That would be advisable,” Firefly nodded.
“Though I'd hate to lose him. We've invested a lot of time and effort into training him,” the gunny scowled. He rubbed the side of his muzzle. He blinked, realizing he was using his new hand to do it and then
stopped. Doc was right. It seemed when he didn't think about it and just used it, he was all right. The longer he had it, the more natural it became.
“Perhaps your investment will be paid off in his passing on some of his experience to his team. In the interim, we were going over the other academy classes and we have a conflict over the usage of park deck. Also several filed protests from the park workers over the obstacle course.”
The gunny grunted. “I'd expected as much. They were fully approved.”
“As long as you put things back the way they were before you came,” Smithy responded. “Your contract for usage of the space is limited and will expire when this class graduates. Unfortunately I've been over ridden and the space has been leased to another company.”
The gunny grimaced and then growled softly. “Okay, that well and truly sucks,” he said exasperated. He shook his head. “Any idea when we can get our own space? Permanent facilities?” he asked, looking at Firefly hopefully but knowing the answer.
“San Diego base will take a few years to come on line, but we've run into engineering snags with it so that is now up in the air. The only possibility we have left is either building an academy station or building domes on a large body. Such as an asteroid, moon, or planet. Unfortunately most of the prime real estate within reasonable distance of Anvil has been staked out.”
“That... sucks,” the gunny sighed. “We need a permanent facility.”
“And access to the Anvil College. Yes I know. As does Commander Logan and the Major. We are trying to work on a solution. Unfortunately building resources are currently saturated so we do not have the ability to build a station or add onto the existing shipyard. Her power reserves are already nearly saturated. Even an inflatable habitat has been considered and rejected.”
“Okay, That well and truly sucks,” the gunny sighed again, sitting back as Firefly showed him the files. He waved them away. “So what then?”
“The ROTC classes will continue of course. Despite the protests and bidding to preempt their facilities, those are in the college charter and therefore sacrosanct. The OTC and boot facilities are not however.”
Jethro Goes to War (Wandering Engineer Jethro's tale) Page 10
