They got sandwiches from a vendor and then went over and sat near a window.
“Seriously. What's the big deal, it's not like they can do crap. I mean... And the tax thing... Is Jen really buying it?” a voice said from behind him. His shoulders itched.
“Shut it man, they're right here.”
“I don't give a shit man. Hey soldier boy,” a hand reached out and grabbed his shoulder. He turned. The man blinked as Sergei and Hurranna looked up.
“Crap,” His friend muttered trying to back away but locked in place by the crowd. “Crap crap crap...” he said shaking his head.
“Yes?”
“I got a beef with your boss.”
“You can talk to him. He's right over there,” Hurranna said, pointing out the window to the cresting silhouette of Firefly. The guy looked at what she was pointing at and his mouth dropped open.
“Damn that's a big ship,” he muttered, stunned by the giant arrow shaped vessel. Firefly was one of the largest ships in the system right now. At least one of the largest in flight. The battleship Bismark was still in pieces in her slip and will likely remain that way for a long long time.
“You should see it from the inside,” Sergei said hunching his shoulders. “Old Federation warship. One of the last of her class and first of the new.”
“What?” the man asked confused. Jethro hid a grimace. The guy smelled of dirt, beer, and stale chips.
“He means they are building more. And other stuff. New fabricators, new tools, new shuttles, the works,” Jethro said nodding to the ship.
“All that?”
“Well, some of it,” Hurranna shot Jethro a quelling look. He shrugged as the man's hand dropped from his shoulder. “We can't do some stuff like replicators any more since the Fleet Admiral was forced to leave.” She shook her head.
“Is it true he was ah...”
“No, he didn't do anything wrong. Check out Knox's broadcast. You'll get the truth there. The Admiral dumped the entire thing, everything he saw, everything he did to him and us.”
“Oh.”
“So, I mean, why'd he leave?” someone else asked, turning in his chair to look at them.
“He wasn't given much choice. He leaves or twenty thousand people die. The damn bastards had the colony rigged to blow if he didn't.”
“Oh.”
Another guy nodded. “Yeah Bert, I heard about that. Didn't think they'd go through with it though,” he shook his head. “Seems he's kinda yellow for backing down.”
“Would you risk being wrong with those odds?” Sergei growled. “Think about it. Twenty thousand men, women and children? He sacrificed his honor to make sure they got to see the next sunrise. It takes a hell of a lot of guts to do that. Give up everything he was trying to do, his reputation to save them. He could have gone on a rampage. He could have killed the people who set him up. Could have ordered us in.” He nodded his chin to the others. “We'd have all gone in a heartbeat. He didn't. He backed down. Hopefully, we can finally see justice done and the people who caused the mess will be brought to justice.”
“Yeah,” a few people nodded.
“Check out the links in your mainframe. Firefly uploaded it all there when we got here. Plus all the latest news from Knox and some other stuff. Teaching stuff, all sorts of stuff. Stuff on how to fix your systems, all sorts of things,” Hurranna suggested.
“Really?” the man said shaking his head as he got up. “I'll have to check that out. Thanks miss.” He nodded as he dumped his tray in the trash and then tossed it on top of a pile of other dirty trays and left. “Come on Bert, we've got work to do!”
“Coming,” Bert said looking over his shoulder. “Sorry. I'll check it,” he mumbled then left. The crowd dispersed after that.
“Whew,” Hurranna said shaking her head. She was glad they'd defused that situation so easily.
...*...*...*...*...
“Interesting,” Hurranna said looking up from their rack later that evening.
“What?” Sergei asked. Jethro looked up as well.
“That website Firefly set up. I was just checking it out and checking out the FAQ.”
“Okay...”
“Is the port admiral and Fleet Admiral the same person. Answer no.” She shook her head. “They need hypertext links that lead to short bio's and that holo image Firefly showed us.”
“Huh,” Jethro snorted. “Drop someone a memo. Maybe they'll actually listen to a grunt.”
“You think?” Hurranna asked. She grinned. “Already done.”
“Who'd you send it to?” Sergei asked, shaking his head. “The Major?”
“No. Firefly. The AI.”
“Okay...” Jethro shook his head. Sometimes Hurranna had quite the set on her.
Her grin widened. She flicked her ears and sat back. “And Firefly just updated the page. Looks like my work here is done!” She stretched purring in appreciation.
“You're kidding?” Sergei asked. “Just like that?”
“She's not kidding.” Jethro answered, refreshing and then checking the page out for himself. “It's been fixed. I'm glad you thought of it.”
“You're just wishing you had the idea first. Help with the promotions board,” Hurranna said, punching his arm lightly.
“Not likely,” he snorted. “The Major isn't holding promotion exams again until the next class graduates. Since we don't have a place to train them...”
“Oh,” she blinked. “Yeah, could be a long wait.”
“Yeah.”
...*...*...*...*...
Hurranna smirked as she held up a necklace. It had a jeweled cat in the center. The eyes were bright diamonds. “I'll take it.”
“Okay. I'll just need your credit information...” the vendor said, holding out a padd.
“No, I'll debit it from my account,” she looked at the tablet and sent a coded signal. “Check your account in a minute.”
“Um...” The man withdrew his hand. He looked at her in confusion.
“Right about... now,” she nodded, timing it to the second. He looked down and refreshed his account page. Her transaction was there at the bottom.
“How did you do that?” he asked as she took the necklace from his nerveless hand.
“Implants. Gotta love them,” she grinned. He shook his head, sitting down on the stool behind his counter. She walked off, playing with the necklace chain before bending her head down and putting it on.
“Nice.”
She looked up and spun snarling. “Why that little...”
“What?” Jethro asked, following her. She slammed her hand on the vendor's before he could finish packing. “I want it back now.”
“I'm sorry, all sales are final,” he said. She snarled. He paled, eyes going wide at the sight of her sharp teeth.
“Not that. You little worm. You just tried to empty my account out. My security system just alerted me. When that failed you hit me with another transaction. For something twice as much.”
“Um... I don't...”
“Problem here?” Jen said coming up behind them. Hurranna nodded.
“Yeah uh, these people are causing a...”
“He just stole money from my...” Hurranna snarled, ears flat, scut like tail thrashing about. People were coming over to see. A crowd quickly began to form.
“Everyone listen up. Anyone who's done business here, I strongly suggest you check your bank accounts now! Especially if you've done business with this...” She wrinkled her nose at him. “Piece of trash today.” She looked around to the crowd. A few people gave her hostile stares; but a few others began to look down, and then pull out a tablet or communicator and check.
“Crap,” the young man said, backing away.
“Zack, Zack, Zack, when are you going to learn?” Jen sighed shaking her head. She turned to the marines. “He tried to drain your account?”
“Yes. Then when that didn't work he hit me with another purchase.”
“Oh, that's new,” the sheriff sai
d turning to the vendor. She glared at him, hands on her holster, then turned and put her fingers in her mouth and whistled a complex tune. A man's arm was raised out of the crowd in a wave then someone began shouldering their way through the crowd.
“Zack...”
“Hey, I'm missing money too! My money's gone!” someone in the crowd said, waving their communicator.
“Mine too!” another woman said looking up from her tablet. “It just went through, just now!” she said pointing at the man. “Thief!”
“I did no...”
“Zack...” Jen sighed. “Don't make this harder than it already is.”
Jethro looked around, noting the crowd was getting a little ugly, but for once they were on the same page. His roving eyes caught a shadowy figure dressed in a cloak trying to move away however.
“Hang on...” He went over. The man spotted him coming and tried to bolt. Sergei caught him easily and picked him up by the throat. The guy's legs kicked and then he froze as the Liger went face to face with him and growled. One sight of his bared teeth and the kid started whimpering.
Jethro grimaced as the man's bowels let go. He shook his head. Jen was looking over to them. He went over and pulled a tablet out of the man's satchel. “Ah... hmmm What have we here...”
He jacked into it and then scanned the contents. “Yup,” he looked up. “He's been doing it. This piece of trash gives him the account info, or he steals it.”
“I didn't wire it to him. I entered it,” a woman said, arms crossed. “So they are in it together.”
“Well, since they're twins, I don't doubt it,” Jen said as the hood fell back and the blond man tried to look at her in appeal. “You can set him down gentle like. Not that he deserves it.”
Sergei let the kid down and then stood back, arms crossed. “Not you too Alfred, what's the matter with you? You're supposed to be the smart one!” Jen asked, scowling. She drummed her fingers on her belt. “I warned you both if this ever happened again...” She shook her head.
“Damn it. You're my own nephews!” she sighed, looking down and covering her face with her hand. She ran the hand through her bangs and then looked up. The crowd wasn't very sympathetic.
“Well, if I gotta I gotta. The law is the law. You two get a one way trip out the nearest airlock.”
“No!” Zack screamed, thrashing in Jeb's arms. “No aunt Jen, NO!”
“You pinched too many people boys. I gotta do it,” she sighed, following behind Jeb. “Move,” she said, voice cold. The crowd parted ways. Many were looking more than a little angry. The way was clear to the nearest lock.
“Ma'am.”
She looked back to Jethro. “Your credits will be returned to you.”
“Not what I was after right now. Besides it's not mine, it's hers.” He indicated the surprised lynx. “I was thinking. Perhaps there is an alternative.”
“And that is?” she asked as Jeb stopped and looked back.
“The corps ma'am.”
“Which is what they'll be in a minute.”
“No ma'am. The marine corps. They can be straightened out. Rehabilitated. They can be useful to society.” He cocked his head. “Direct their energies to more... legal uses.”
“Humph.” She drummed her fingers on her pistol butt again. “You boys okay with this?” she asked, turning to them. They nodded. Considering the alternatives, life in the corps was a hell of a lot better than sucking vacuum without a suit.
“We'll take them back with us. Believe me, boot camp isn't a picnic folks. They'll be punished. Oh believe me. And if they act up... well...” he grinned. It was a nasty, feral grin. On a predator it turned more than one person's bladder into a trembling wreck. “We have ways of dealing with that.”
“Um... you sure this is a good idea?” Sergei asked him over their link.
“Yup,” The panther nodded. SP's came out from the nearest airlock and stood at attention. They each held an emergency general issue soft suit. He pointed. “Which is it boys. Out that way?” he turned. “Or that way?” He pointed to the airlock they had been headed for.
The boys looked at each other, at their aunt and uncle and then pointed to the marines.
“Good choice,” he snorted.
...*...*...*...*...
“Was this such a good idea?” Hurranna asked over their link as they went back to the bar.
“What?” he asked.
“Um, well, aren't you afraid of getting into hack when they show up uninvited on Firefly? Setting an example of the corps being made up of criminals?”
“How do you think those SP's and skin suits showed up?” Sergei asked. “I caught a little of it.”
“What?” she asked.
“He tattled. To the gunny. gunny must have called the Major.”
“Who do you think gave me the idea?” Jethro asked. “gunny Schultz will take them in hand. It seemed a waste to kill those kids. They are what, Fifteen? Sixteen?”
“I want to thank you for taking care of my boys,” a gruff voice said. They turned to see an older looking blond woman standing there twirling the tip of her single braid.
“It didn't seem right to waste their lives ma'am. The corps will set them straight.”
“I'd appreciate that. I was always afraid something like this would happen,” she sighed. “Zack is a bright one, always scheming. Alfred...” She shook her head. “He's smart, but he's a follower. Follows his brother, lets him do the thinking for him,” she scowled and sucked in a shaky breath.
“Perhaps this will be a good learning experience then,” Hurranna said, nodding to Jen behind the woman.
The woman looked back to her sister and then her jaw tightened. Jen looked sad but firm. “I don't blame you Jen, you warned and warned 'em often enough. And goddess forbid, scaring them like the last time didn't work. Not for more than a year. But I'd have never forgiven you if you'd of gone through with it.”
“I know,” Jen sighed shaking her head. She felt like she needed a drink after an episode like that.
“But you'd have done it anyway.”
“It's my duty,” she stared at her sister eye to eye.
“And you do your duty. You're right. You cut your kin enough slack, and they stabbed you in the back for it often enough. I know. I know,” the woman sighed. She smiled with broken yellowed teeth. “I just hope this don't get them killed.”
“It gave them one more day of life. Look at it that way Lyd. That's all I can say,” Jen said turning and moving off.
“Thanks again,” the mother said, turning and leaving.
“Okay, that's our good deed for the day. What's next?” Sergei joked.
“Don't start,” Hurranna snorted a relieved laugh.
Chapter 19
Jethro went into the brig, nodding to the guard by the door. “You two okay in here?” he asked, coming around the corner to see the two teens lounging on the racks.
“Yeah,” Alfred said, disinterestedly, staring up at the ceiling.
“Yes sir,” Zack said, jumping to his feet. He kicked his brother. “Get up.”
“Yeah yeah,” Alfred sighed, getting to his feet. “Come here to gloat?” he demanded sullenly.
“No, just to check on you. Your mom was worried.”
“She was?” Alfred asked, looking over to his brother. “Tell her we're sorry,” his voice quavered a little.
Jethro sighed. “You can tell her yourself when you’re on leave.” Which will probably be in five or six months,” he grimaced.
“Ouch,” Zack said.
“I gotta ask though, you were caught before and warned, your aunt told us. But you did it anyway... Why?”
“Cause we had to get out of there. See, we...” Zack shot a look to Alfred who looked at him and then shrugged.
“See we wanted off. To see the galaxy. Go places, do things other than scrub toilets and fix air leaks,” he sounded pretty disgusted.
“Ah,” Jethro nodded. Hurranna and Sergei came in. He turned and nodded to t
hem. “Well, you got your wish, you’re going to go places and see things.” Little did they know that they'd probably still end up scrubbing toilets and fixing air leaks.
“Doesn't look like much now,” Alfred said, kicking the bunk.
“Have a little patience bro, we did steal,” Zack sighed. “Having a pair of thieves on board is probably making them nervous.”
“No, not really,” Jethro replied with an ear flick. “We weren't angels either. Hell, half the people in the marines came from the gangs like us.”
“Oh?”
“Stripper. Also gang member and okay, occasional thief,” Hurranna said raising a hand then going back to having her arms crossed in front of her.
“Enforcer. Occasional bouncer, but I also blew stuff up from time to time. Still do in the corps, but it's legal now,” Sergei said with a laugh.
“And I was a spy and an assassin,” Jethro said raising his hand. His claws came out. The other two cats looked at him with amusement and then back to the now goggling kids.
“You're serious,” Zack said, nudging his brother to shut his open mouth.
“As a heart attack. Yeah, we did all that when we were growing up. But we're marines now. We break things and kill people only when we're supposed to.” Jethro said with a shrug. “and we've got a lot more training.” He looked over to the others. “And more toys to play with.”
“Toys?”
“Weapons, powered combat armor, implants, vehicles...”
“Powered... oh wow!” Alfred eyes were wide. “That'd be stellar!” He was practically hopping up and down in excitement.
“Implants? Did you say implants?!” Zack said blinking.
“Yup.”
“Who cares man, I want a suit! That'd be stellar!” Alfred said pounding one fist into the other. “Oh man!”
“Yeah, just got our suits running a week ago. They are cool. And yeah, we get to go see the galaxy. So far we've just been all over Pyrax, but there is a mission shaping up to go to some of the colonies. We may be on it. I hope so,” Sergei said with a shrug.
“Cool!”
“It's not all fun and games. Sometimes we have to stand around and play guard. Or do a lot of class work. And yeah, scrub crap and do stuff that isn't fun. That's all part of being an adult after all. Right now it's a lot of learning and going out to save people.”
Jethro Goes to War (Wandering Engineer Jethro's tale) Page 32
