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

by Hechtl, Chris

  “Who asked you,” he growled.

  “I just don't want to be standing next to you if you cook off like a roman candle bub.”

  “Love you too sweety,”

  “You can get out of it in the field,” Jethro said watching the armorer work.

  “Who said?” He turned amused to the panther.

  “You did. Right in front of us. “You're taking parts of his armorer off and working on them. That means it's fixable in the field, and it also means you can pull it off.”

  “Yeah. Sorry, just messing with you. Seeing if you're paying attention,” the armorer turned a look and shrug to the lynx. ”Still not a good idea though, you’re in a hot zone you want all the cover you can get. I knew a guy who got his damn fool head cut off when he took his helmet off at the wrong time.”

  Jethro blinked at that. He didn't remember that happening to the boarding parties. He wondered if the armorer was pulling their leg.

  “Anyone know where the weak points of the armor are?”

  “Abdomen, armpits, joints, and head visor,” Jethro answered not even thinking about it.

  “Bingo. Frontal armor is slopped. Know why?” the armorer asked, bending down to work on something behind Miles.

  “Added layer thickness to the armor. The diagonal cuts weight while adding thickness. It also gives the incoming projectile or beam an opportunity to ricochet away at an angle.”

  “I bet I could get in and take a suit out by hand,” Jethro said.

  “You could yeah. But not in a skinsuit.” Hurranna said with a snort. “Buck naked.”

  “Not possible,” the armorer said.

  “You'd be surprised. If I need to do a sneak, I can't do it walking around like a well, that. They'd hear me coming clicks away.”

  “Yeah, that they would,” the armorer nodded looking up. “You gunning for recon?”

  “That's the idea.”

  “So why here?”

  “Nothing better to do,” Jethro smiled. “I took the sniper school and aced that. Unfortunately there isn't much beyond it. There isn't an advanced recon school up yet. So I'd like to learn as much as I can, as long as I can. When the brass gets ideas on what to do with us, I want to be prepared.”

  “And he doesn't want to be holding up a wall somewhere on guard duty. Best to keep busy or at least look like it,” Miles said amused.

  “Smart,” the armorer turned back to Miles. “Okay stand, let me see if that sticky actuator in your leg is fixed.” He watched with practiced eyes as the marine stood then bent. He checked his tablet. “Still got some stiffness. Might have to see if it'll break in gradually. I'll check again in a bit.”

  He turned back to Jethro. “Problem with your theory is you learn a lot they find all sorts of things for you to do. Over achievers end up getting into all sorts of trouble.”

  “My point exactly,” Jethro said, smiling a toothy smile. The armorer froze at the sign of teeth then shrugged it off.

  “Your funeral kid. Just saying. Don't expect miracles. These babies are the basic no frill jobs. No shields, thirty hour power supply, twenty if you're in combat for extended periods. There are a couple external hard points for weapons and that is it. Carry too much weapons or gear and your thirty hours ends up being closer to ten or fifteen though.”

  “Okay, that sucks.”

  “No cloak, no embedded weapons, no inertial dampeners, no flight ability, just a whole lot of armor and motors to keep you moving in it. Basically armor over a skinsuit.”

  “Great,” Hurranna said dryly. “I thought shields came as standard?”

  “Keep dreaming that dream. Shields are a bitch to engineer this small. Needs an AI to run them anyway. All those algorithms for force emitters and impact angles and such. Them's for fancy armor like elite cadre. They got them first and pioneered them so I heard. I can't do that here. Lock outs. Power too.” He shrugged.

  “Oh lovely. This gets better and better,” she shook her head giving the panther a dirty look.

  “You wanted to be here,” he sighed. “Baby steps. Remember that.”

  “Which is what this is,” the armorer nodded. He handed the Tauren a tablet. “Check his actuators one by one while I work on missy over here.” He went over to work on Asazi's suit.

  “I've seen you before,” he said moving her arm up and down then plugging into the suit to make software changes.

  “I don't think so. I think I'd remember you,” she said, looking over her shoulder to him.

  “I do. I don't forget a face. Yours is a bit distinctive with the broken nose and scar.”

  “Thanks,” she said dryly.

  “Sorry,” he grunted and sat back. “I do know you. You're that fighter. The one in the ring. Yeah,” he nodded. “I remember now.”

  “Yeah,” she grunted. “That was me.”

  “You won the Pyrax female champ for one year. Kicked this one girls ass hard. I was there, even I winced when she went down.”

  “Good,” the hard woman grinned. “She stayed down too.”

  “Yeah. Damn near broke her neck.” He shook his head. “I'd say that's good. Let me set you up with a test here.” He moved back. “Okay what I want you to do is stand then we'll go from there.”

  Carefully she stood. He watched the tablet and then closed his eyes. “What are you doing?” she asked, tugging on the line to him.

  “Shh. Don't do that. I'm checking your systems.” He grimaced as she moved a little. “And don't move. I'm resetting the default on your right leg. Okay. Do a kneeling squat, that knee.”

  Carefully she did. Her arms were out for balance. “Good, okay, that's okay. You’re lucky, this is an old suit, so it's been broken in already. Get up and do it again, this time with your other knee.”

  She complied then he had her straighten. He had her do toe touches and then graduated to jumping jacks. “You are good. Okay, I usually don't do this, but I want you to take a walk. Just down the hall and back. Get into trouble feel any vibrations, any grinding sounds or smell smoke stop and give me a holler.”

  “Okay,” she said. She nodded moving for the door. “I'll come with you I need to stretch my legs,” Hurranna said. She jumped to all fours and then moved off at a lope. “Just don't step on me. Or fall on me.”

  “No promises,” Asazi said with a laugh.

  “So you really can move like that. The whole leg thing threw me,” the armorer said watching them go. “Crap that's going to be a bitch to figure out.” He shook his head. He grimaced. “Okay we're working on the basics today. Which is going to take a while.”

  “Well, I for one am going to lunch,” Sergei said getting up. “No point sitting around twiddling my thumbs on an empty stomach.”

  “I was wondering what that rumbling sound was. Here I thought it was Ox all this time,” Jethro teased.

  “No, I ate this morning and will not need to graze until evening. Please enjoy without me. I wish to explore more here.”

  “Yeah well, I'm kinda getting a might peckish myself,” the armorer growled. “And I'm not about to leave anyone in my shop alone. Those are the regs.”

  “Um, what about us?” Miles asked, holding up one arm. “I kinda need to go.”

  “Did you hook up the suit connections like you were supposed to?” the armorer asked, hands on his hips as the others left.

  “Um...”

  “Catheters for peeing, the hose you shoved up your ass is for number two. Even a grunt like you should know it's more than something to get your rocks off.”

  “Funny. Well ah, I ah, didn't um...”

  “Didn't hook them up? What's the matter with you? I told you... Oh hell, let me get a wrench...”

  Jethro snickered as they left. He shook his head. “Live and learn.

  Chapter 15

  The next morning they filed in early. The armorer was going over a gauntlet and robotic hand. “Sit, sit.” He pointed to the row of stools. “Okay, yesterday we worked on the basic moving stuff. Legs, and arms. By the wa
y chimp girl, your suit's in. I'll get it to you in a minute.”

  Betty brightened at that. She smiled and then wiggled a little.

  “Now see, your hands are inside these here gauntlets.” He held up the gauntlet and then put his hand inside. He turned it so they could see the open access panel. His fingers went through rings in a controller and then flexed. As each flexed, fingers moved on the robotic hand.

  “See, you've got three fingers and a thumb. The two smallest fingers are joined into a mitten to make it easier to maintain. The suit uses the rings and signals from your neural implants to read what you intend to do and then do it.”

  “I was wondering about that ,” Sergei muttered.

  “Some suits have custom jobs for different missions. I'll get into those later.”

  “Like heavy weapons, demo and point man?”

  “Yeah. Now shut up or I'll lose my train of thought,” he grimaced. “Where was I again?” he flexed his hand.

  “About to explain why our hands are inside the gauntlet making us look like apes instead of inside gloves?” Jethro asked.

  “Yeah. No offense miss,” the armorer nodded to the chimp. She waved a passing motion. “See this way your hands are protected. Getting tiny servos for fingers are a bitch. Try to get them to fit your hand shape and you run into all sorts of issues. If one freezes up you end up giving someone the finger. Which can get awkward if you don't intend to do so.” They snickered or smiled at that. “Eventually... well, let’s just say engineers saw the light and followed the KISS principle.”

  “Ah,” Jethro nodded.

  “Yeah. I'm working on new hands for you lot now. I kinda like the idea of claws, I may work them into the next gen if I can get it figured out right. But your claws inside the gauntlet... that's a problem,” the armorer said then shook himself. “The new suits take direction from your implants. You jack in and they will follow the impulses from your nervous system. It takes a little getting used to there is a slight lag. Millisecond or two.” He grimaced as Miles came out of the suiting chamber looking confused. One arm was bare.

  “Got it here kid,” the armorer said. He waved the hand. Miles looked at it and then down to his bare hand. “Just fixing the actuator. They need some breaking in. They stick a little first out of the box. It takes time for things to mesh. For software to settle down, and for parts to align like they should. You get the most teething issues in the first thirty to one hundred hours of service.”

  “Oh.”

  “It'll need an overhaul when you get to a thousand hours but that's a headache for a different day. I'll show you how to maintain your hands in a minute. The woman done yet?” he asked craning his neck and body around Miles.

  “Just about,” Miles answered. He stepped aside as she came to the door.

  “Right. Okay let me get miss chimp set up then we'll go over the hand maintenance together. That way I don't have to repeat myself.” He motioned for her to follow. She got up and then shrugging to the crew did.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  Jethro nodded as the armorer returned with Betty behind him. “Okay.” He went over to the gauntlet on the table and picked it up. “I showed you how your hands fit inside. Now here's a few things you should know.”

  He pointed to each of the joints and the cables inside. “Keep crap out of there. Seriously.” He looked around. “Get muck and crap up inside your joints and your fingers will gum up. Which isn't good in a fire fight. Even hair... oh hell.” He looked at their fur.

  “I thought we didn't use a trigger finger?” Jethro asked.

  “Who says?” the armorer sniffed. “Yeah, some of the weapons can be interfaced with and you think fire and it does. But think about that. You really want your gun to go off every time you think fire?”

  Sergei shook his head. “I can think of a time or two when it wouldn't be a good idea.”

  “Yeah, me too,” the armorer said. “So we've got a safety system and a trigger. At least for now. Once you've gotten into combat and settled then you can work on what works and doesn't. I'm curious about what does and doesn't work myself.”

  “Yeah,” Jethro grimaced. “I'm not keen about finding out the hard way though.”

  “Which is why we do these breaking in periods then do as many training ops as you can. That way you find out what's going to break so you can watch for it when the ball drops. Better to hit the ground running than get your ass shot up cause you can't work something or it locks up.”

  “Um...”

  “Trust me. I've seen the elephant,” the armorer sniffed. “Before I came here I was on Avalon four. I did medieval style armor sure. But I knew what worked and what didn't.”

  “So why...”

  “None of your never mind girly,” the armorer snarled to Hurranna. She reared back and hissed a little in surprise. He turned to the chimp. “All set?”

  “Yeah,” she nodded. “I do a walk?”

  “Yes. Your suits a hybrid so we're going to tune it for a bit.” He went over to a shelf and pulled down another gauntlet. He tossed it to Jethro. “Try that on.”

  The panther caught it and then spun it around a few times, checking it out. It was a bare bones affair.

  “I don't have all day,” the armorer scowled. Jethro grimaced and put his hand inside. “Fit like a glove?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Then it's too small for you. We've got to keep the skin suit in mind when we fit you. Try this.” He handed Jethro another then passed the one Jethro had tried on to Hurranna. “Try it. It'll probably be...”

  “To big. Waaay too big.” She showed him the forearm view. He could see her fingers could barely reach the loop controls.

  “Yeah, afraid of that,” he sighed. He looked over to Jethro. “Fit?”

  “Yeah,” Jethro nodded. “Loose like you said.”

  “Okay. Use that for a bit. Keep flexing it.”

  “It won’t move,” Jethro said, brow knit.

  “Cause it ain't plugged in. Sorry. Thought you knew.” The armorer took a cord out and plugged the gauntlet into Jethro's jack. “There.”

  Jethro flexed the gauntlet and then wiggled each finger.

  “Make a fist.” He did. “Good. Take a stylus and try to write with it. Then we'll try a shot with it.”

  “I saw one with claws,” Jethro said softly. He examined the gauntlet closely, watching the fingers flex and curl.

  “You did?” the armorer asked surprised as he went over to the chimp and humans. “Where?”

  “Part of my ancestors suit.”

  “Where... is it still around?” the armorer asked curious.

  “Yeah. Come to think of it. It's in pieces though, it's been cannibalized a few dozen times,” Jethro said, looking thoughtful.

  “Wont matter. If it's got the basic frame and armor we can rebuild it. Go get it. You and you.” He pointed to Sergei.

  “It's on the station.”

  “I'll get you a pass,” the armorer announced. “Hell, if you've got that suit and it's even marginal you just saved me a week’s worth of work. Maybe two weeks. Worth it even if it just gets you out of my hair for the time,” he smiled broadly.

  Jethro snorted. “Sure.” He got up. Sergei followed. “Be back in a bit.”

  “Sure you will.”

  “Uh the glove?” Hurranna said with a laugh.

  “Oh yeah.” The gauntlet came back into the room. She caught it and set it on Sergei's empty stool.

  “Say hi to the gang for me,” she called.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  Jethro checked his uniform and then looked over Sergei's with a practiced eye. “Nervous?” the big Liger teased.

  “A little.”

  “Get over it,” Sergei said knocking on the door.

  “Enter,” a gruff voice replied.

  “Sir,” Jethro and Sergei filed in as the door opened and then stood at attention.

  “What?” the Major asked sitting up in his chair.

  “Sir we'd lik
e to go to Anvil for a couple hours.”

  “You two are green if you're coming to me for a pass instead of your gunny. He's going to chew you up and spit you out over this one.”

  “We're ah. No sir. Um, this isn't a pass request sir. The armorer wants us to retrieve the parts of armor we've got. Or he's got,” Sergei explained looking to Jethro.

  “Ah,” the Major toyed with a stylus. “Family heirloom?” he asked after a moment.

  “Yes sir. My ancestor was recon. He had his suit when he came to Anvil. He kept it up until he died. Then when someone fried the circuits trying to use it they used it for parts.”

  “Hmmm,” Forth thought for a moment and then smiled a little. “Recon?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Good,” the Major stood. He turned and pulled his cover cap off a stand. Then seated it on his head. He came around the desk and moved to the door. “Lets go get it. I've always wanted to see one up close and personal.”

  “Sir?” Jethro asked confused.

  “I'm going. This is important son, we don't have the plans for recon or more advanced armor. With your armor as a template we can fashion more. Besides, I need to get away before I drown in paperwork.”

  “Oh,” Jethro said in a small voice. If the Major wanted to play hooky who was going to stop him? The panther thought fast then shrugged internally. Certainly not him. Jethro followed the Major out the door. “I thought they were in a blue print?”

  “No. Oh maybe somewhere, but not here. The Admiral didn't have anything from Io 11. Her secret files were fried when he got on board. All Sprite could resurrect were noncritical and non secret parts and systems.”

  “Oh,” Sergei said, beating Jethro to the punch. The Major led them to the boat bay. He nodded to Firefly's avatar and walked to a shuttle.

  “Easy as this sir?” Sergei asked Jethro under his breath. They boarded and sat down.

  “No. Just looks that way,” the Major seemed amused at the question. “I squirted an e-mail through my link on the way here.”

  “Oh,” Sergei said.

  The Major closed his eyes and laid his head back in the head rest. “Learn to multitask son, it could save your arse. Get comfortable, it's a couple of hours to Anvil. We were on the other side of the shipyard so it'll take time to go around.”