by Chris Hechtl
“I was in on the cave assault on Protodon, sir,” Jethro reminded him. Besides, I'm spacer bred, sir. We both are,” he said, indicating the two cats with a thumb. Letanga nodded.
“That's agoraphobic,” the captain replied. “Space is big. Claustrophobic is tight spaces.”
Jethro nodded patiently. “Yes, sir. It's actually both. Agoraphobic is having trouble dealing with the big black, but claustrophobic is with dealing with being in a suit and in the tight confines of a ship. You've been in a rack; you know how that can be.”
“Yeah,” the captain replied with a snort. He paused for a long moment. “You work on surveying that mess,” the captain finally said.
“You aren't coming, sir?”
“No. I'd borrow Bast if I could since I don't have my own A.I. yet, but you'll be out of range. That means I get to deal with the paperwork on my own until I can get a proper staff assembled. But I've got to file the paperwork for that,” the captain said with a grimace. “And I've got to get a handle on our budget. Admiral Irons just pointed us in the direction and dumped a couple terabytes of stuff in downloads for us to read. Sorting it out will be fun. It'll also take time, but he wants us to hit the ground running. The only way to do that is with an A.I.”
Jethro nodded. Getting each of the other Cadre candidates their implants was going to be fun. “Yes, sir. I see what you mean, you definitely need your own A.I., sir,” Jethro said as Bast flicked her long ears.
The captain rolled his eyes. “Don't remind me. Another thing to get situated. Lucky me. At least one of us has been through it already.”
“Yes, sir. Sir, I'll take Letanga and a small team if you don't mind.”
“Feel free. Get it done. I'll be in my office here checking out the space they've got assigned here for us to use. Guards,” he said after a moment.
“Sir?”
“Support personnel too,” the captain mused, cocking his head. He swore under his breath and then looked up. “I'm thinking ahead. As in, what the new base will need. Guards for one, patrols, plus support personnel. That's a headache. I think I see why they want us here. We can skim off what we need and stay relatively under cover.”
“Yes, sir. So do we abort?” Jethro asked, ears erect. He glanced at Letanga and then the captain.
“No. Do the survey. We'll think long term.”
“Yes, sir,” Jethro replied with a nod.
“I'll check on the troops,” Letanga said.
“Good. Feel free to use my office for the moment, Jethro. I've got a meeting. When we get a chance, we need to tour the facilities next door,” the human officer said as he walked out of the room.
Letanga blinked, then rose and left without a word.
“What have we gotten ourselves into,” the black panther said, shaking his head. His eyes caught Bast's. “You came around after the Cadre was started, right?” She flicked her ears at him and then nodded slowly. “So you didn't have to bootstrap it all. Lucky me, I've been through this once before on Agnosta, but I never thought I'd get stuck near the top trying to figure out what to do.”
He snorted after a long moment of thought. She cocked her head at him, a clear sign of inquiry.
“You can talk,” he accused. She flicked her ears. “Okay, yeah, I was just thinking. When we were on Agnosta, I was a grunt. We followed the plan but wondered what was going through the heads of people who came up with it, and when things had to be changed, how they came about it. We were normally told to shut up and get back to work,” he said, flicking his ears. “Now I wonder how much they had planned, how much actually worked as planned, and how much they had to make up on the fly.”
Bast sniffed in disdain.
“I guess we're going to have to find out for ourselves shortly,” he said quietly.
Act II
Chapter 18
The following day Jethro managed to clear enough of his schedule to survey the secure base next door. The base was shaped in an octagon, with the roads forming the shape of the octagon. They went in a circle with the buildings each taking a place outside the center circle with the grass, flowers, and flagpole.
He was surprised that Captain Lyon hadn't checked it out as base commander. Apparently, the captain was too chained to his desk to get out and about often. He hoped it didn't affect his PT and leadership long term.
Security was tight at the entrance, not as tight as getting through to Admiral Irons, but tight enough. Once he was through, he drove his jeep around the center quad with the empty flagpole and flowerbed to the admin building at the top of the octagon and went in. He checked the map and grunted. The complex was as they feared—just a small admin building, a single dormitory building, a tiny infirmary on the other side, a warehouse, and a couple basic facilities—not much there. They would have to go out of the complex to use the RECON Commissary, BX, or other facilities for instance. There wasn't an airstrip or landing pad for aircraft or spacecraft. There wasn't even a garage, just a parking lot between the admin complex and the dorm.
It was definitely not enough for their needs. They needed a secure armory morgue, workshop … he shook his head as the list crowded into his mind, threatening to overwhelm him. And the other problem was there wasn't much room to add them. RECON had already taken over the area around the complex. Terrain obstacles prevented them from expanding out further. He also didn't like the idea of having the morgue sitting out on the edge of the complex. That was too much of a security risk.
For the moment, he decided it was in their best interest to keep the personnel in their currently assigned dorms and facilities to allow them to remain camouflaged. Any activity would naturally generate interest he knew. Even his visit would hit the scuttlebutt grapevine he thought as he left the complex.
He wasn't certain how long they'd be able to fly under the radar. For the time being, every day was a gift.
<)>^<)>/
Letanga and Jethro surveyed the mine site. It was simple enough to sign out a military jeep but quite another thing to get it up some of the narrow logging roads. Some of them were in bad repair, having not been used in ages. When they got to the end of the road, in that case a landslide, they'd climbed out, gathered their gear and then hoofed it the rest of the way up to the site.
What they found was something out of an ancient museum photo. The site was obviously abandoned. Most of the equipment was old, decrepit, with wood and rusted iron. Rails led into the mine. It gaped at them hungrily, making the duo naturally nervous to explore it. But, unfortunately, that was what their orders called for.
“Are we going to bed down in one of the shacks?” Letanga asked, indicating some of the mine site's buildings around the open cave mouth.
“Why? Getting soft?” Jethro asked.
“Just asking,” Letanga said defensively. When he saw how badly deteriorated the buildings were as they passed them, he let the matter drop entirely. Better to get rained on than to have the roof fall in on them he thought.
Their implant-augmented night vision let them see into the Stygian darkness only so far. There was not much to see though, Jethro thought, as they got to the edge of the cave mouth. He could see the heat signatures of Pterodactyls and bats on the ceiling. That meant the floor below would be slimy with their droppings. Slimy, sticky, and stinky he thought.
“Come on. Let's get this over with,” he said softly, leading the way into the cave.
When they got about thirty meters in, he paused as a thought struck him. He turned and examined what was holding the roof up. The beams were thick, but definitely had signs of age. The rickety wood made them leery of getting in too deep. “We need proper engineers, a geological survey, the works,” Jethro said.
“The more people brought in on this the more chance of someone talking. And maps …,” Letanga shook his head.
“I know. But it's not our problem,” Jethro said as he shucked his backpack and then went through the contents. He pulled out a disk-shaped drone. Letanga noted what he was doing an
d copied him.
The duo released the floating probes to scour the inside of the mine and map it. Once the probe found a dead-end, it returned the way it had come and then took an unmapped path at a junction. Within an hour, the two probes went deep into the mountainside, so deep that their signal was cut off. When they lost signal with the two cats, a probe would finish its journey at a dead end and then return to the last point of contact to upload what it found before it went back for another trip.
There were several places where shafts had collapsed on the map. Also some air shafts and some signs that people had tried to live in the cave at one point. One of the probes even found dried out dynamite and the other found a desiccated body.
It took hours to finish the map. Letanga took off to check the mine buildings. He came back with a map. They compared the two maps. The yellowed paper map the leopard had found allowed them to anticipate the probe's actions, but it was inaccurate in some places.
“Out of date,” Jethro said.
“True, but some help,” Letanga said.
“I'm not knocking your find. You did well,” Jethro said. He grimaced as the probes returned. “They need a recharge. They got most of it though,” he said as he caught his probe. He shut the drone off. Its fans slowed and then stopped as he tucked it under one arm.
“We should have brought a relay or hell, more than one,” Letanga said.
“Shoulda, coulda, woulda. There are relays, but we left them in the truck. We had enough to hump up here as it was,” Jethro said as he shouldered his rifle and went out into the sunlight. It was getting dark; they sun was around the wrong side of the mountain. His eyes adjusted, but it still sucked.
“So much for laying out the solar blankets,” he mused, looking around them.
“Yeah,” Letanga said. He grimaced. “Lunch?”
“Might as well,” Jethro said, indicating a spot to set up camp. Yeah, not a fun place to be,” he said as they cleared the cave entrance.
“I wonder if we can keep this part as is,” Letanga said. He turned and framed the mine with his hands.
“Are you serious?” Jethro demanded, eying the leopard.
“Yeah, hear me out. What we have here is camouflage. We get in deeper and then expand on it. Keep this as is. Bore a side tunnel; maybe use an air shaft as an elevator in and out. Maybe a tunnel train?” Letanga wrinkled his nose in thought, ears out.
“Subway,” Jethro supplied.
“Yeah, one of them. If we've got the budget for it, we could have a robot dig it for us. Or a Burmite crew? Or Telerite?”
“Telerites can't keep a secret worth a damn. They are horrifyingly untrustworthy,” Jethro said in disgust.
“Yeah, but if they think they are building for something else, like an emergency shelter or an armory, they don't have to know what the base really is for. And once we've got the basics, we can figure out fitting it out later if we have to,” Letanga persisted.
“Write it up and pitch it to the captain when we get back,” Jethro said. Letanga blinked at him and then his ears went out. “What? I'm not doing it for you! And I'm not holding your hand either. Your bright ass idea, you pitch it,” he said. “The worst he can do is shoot you down, right?”
“Um, yeah.”
“Well, there is the whole shoot the messenger thing if it blows up in our face,” Jethro said thoughtfully.
Letanga groaned. “You would bring that up,” he growled.
<)>^<)>/
The duo reported back to base two days later. It had been a dangerous return journey; the mountain had been pummeled by a rain storm that had made driving in the mud messy and scary. Jethro knew he was going to have a few nightmares about sliding over the edge of the road and off a cliff for some time.
He tried not to think about Shanti doing the same thing in the course of her duties on Kathy's World. And she had to handle not only rain but also blizzards …. he did his best to keep his errant mind on track and focused.
Captain Lyon was busy when they checked in so Jethro had to act on his own. First off, he let Letanga go and then checked in with how things were going. Many of the Phase I candidates were noncoms, so they knew to stick to a schedule and could work well without much oversight. That was good. He'd written up their report each evening, so he only had to sign off on the final report before Bast attached the map and relevant files and sent them off into the cloud for the captain and higher to read when they had the time.
For his part, there were some reports to read, no discipline problems thankfully, but a few requests he needed to handle and some issues with logistics. He grimaced, then settled in with Bast to do his best to get them sorted out.
He was still getting used to being a warrant officer. It was new; he was feeling out the rank and responsibilities. The fact that the admiral and captain had dumped it on him wasn't lost on him. He treasured their trust but was very aware that he didn't want to lose it. He was also very much aware that he had a lot to learn.
<)>^<)>/
Captain Lyon finished reading Jethro's report and nodded to himself once. He signed off on Letanga's idea, but he also agreed it was a long-term project. He wrote out his notes and then called Jethro.
“Sir?” Jethro responded to the vid call almost instantly.
“This is for you and Bast,” the captain said. Bast immediately placed a ghost avatar of herself behind Jethro. “Not bad. It is definitely a long-term project,” the captain said. “And no, before you ask we don't have the funding to start it this fiscal semester. I'm going to put in for a raise for it.”
“Yes, sir,” Jethro said. “Scouting it would be good work for the team,” he offered. “We can do minor stuff.”
“True,” the captain replied with a nod. “The subway … definitely long term. We'll need to use one of those air shafts for a vehicle elevator, another for aircraft, and of course some for actual air, though we could and probably should install air scrubbers,” the captain mused. He shook his head.
“I'm just getting a handle on the budget. Just getting the implants and armor for Phase I is going to eat up our budget for the next fiscal semester,” he said with a grimace. “More like two unless we can get more funding, which we can't since no one knows what we're doing in congress.”
“Joy,” Jethro said.
“So, it's a choice of getting our armor and stuff or the base. I'll keep our people busy.”
“Yes, sir. We can do a bit on our own. We can work on clearing the site, better mapping, do minor engineering, sir.”
“No, you were right; it is a long-term project. I'll consider a couple future scouting missions as training though. That would be cheaper.” The captain shook his head. “I'm still getting a handle on the budget. We've got subsections for support, training …. It is a pain in the ass.”
“We need bean counters,” Jethro said.
The captain snorted.
“Sir?” Jethro asked, clearly curious.
“Sorry,” the captain said, sitting back and chuckling. “I'm just imagining bean counters in a suit,” he said.
Jethro flicked his ears and chuffed in amusement at that idea.
“Get the teams up to speed on armor. Check in with each, I want fire teams and squads sorted out. Read their records; find out who is slow and fast. Get them training with your syllabus now,” the captain ordered. “Familiarization with the armor and classified material can wait until they pass the final psych evals,” he said.
“How is that going?”
“Other than some PTSD, pretty good,” the captain said. “So far everyone has passed. Not quite with flying colors in a few cases but enough to get by.”
Jethro nodded slowly.
“As you know, Letanga is up first. Once you are sure the teams are working out, get with Ox and the armorer coming in and get his armor started. Admiral Irons is sending a secure package for you to use.”
“Yes, sir,” Jethro said. He cocked his head. “I was considering having the team run some of
the op forces against regular RECON, sir. Outnumbered. Character building training,” he said with a small smile.
“That should keep them busy and therefore tired and out of mischief,” the captain replied with a chuckle. “Send me that. I'll approve it verbally now,” he said.
“Aye aye, sir,” Jethro said as he felt Bast access the files he'd been working on and send them. “Um, raw files coming your way. I hadn't finished,” he said pointedly.
“That's fine. I know we're all a bit rough around the edges. Just get it done.”
“Aye aye, sir.”
<)>^<)>/
Since Captain Lyon was so busy and there was no other designated Cadre officer, Jethro worked on running the Cadre in the captain's absence. That meant siccing the other personnel on SIM training and quizzes in-between their run-ins with Doctor Thornby.
Somewhere in there, in-between the paperwork, the leadership and all that, he also had to complete his warrant training to prove he was up for the responsibilities. Just running the Cadre side took time and some mistakes along the way before he got a handle on it. To his surprise he was up to the task.
The continuous SIM training had an added benefit; it kept the people busy and their minds occupied. Twice a week he arranged a hide and seek, where a fire team was tasked to outrun and hide from an op force.
Usually the op force was bigger and better equipped than the fire teams. “Don't give a sucker an even break?” Tikaani asked as he handed her the orders for the next SIM.
“Exactly. You are supposed to be the best; now is your chance to prove it,” Jethro said.
“Lucky us,” Tikaani said with a shake of her head.
“Each time you use your abilities you get better at it. You learn reserves you didn't know you had.”
“But it is also wearing us out,” the Neowolf complained.
“It's teaching you stamina,” he said with a grin.
“Aren't we supposed to be learning to do this in suits? Be heavy hitters?”
“Cadre is Special Operations for a reason,” Jethro said, eyes and manner hardening. They had been over that once before. “The armor is for when we can't get in and out without it. It is a tool. Yes, it will become a part of you, but if you can't handle your part, how are you going to manage it in the suit?” he demanded.
