Jethro: First to Fight

by Hechtl, Chris

  “Devil's in the details dear, you know that,” Martel sighed, shaking her head mournfully.

  “Maybe but...” Doctor Thornby stopped what she was saying as the lift stopped and the doors opened. She frowned as three bald human men were standing there. “Um, sorry,” she said as the two women got off the lift.

  “You are quite right doctor, you are sorry,” the man with the brutal face said as the large male grabbed both women from behind. A quick move and they were in the nearby broom closet. The door closed behind them. Thornby gasped but before she could put up a fight the leader flashed a pulser. He let her get a good look before he holstered it and opened a bag.

  “What do you want?” Martel demanded plaintively. She was practically in tears, hands up in front of her chest, afraid for her life, and for good reason.

  “What does it look like lady?”

  “I don't know?!? I'm just a geneticist!” Martel said. “You want credits? Take my ID! Here!” she dropped her ID. Three scooped it up.

  “Do we look like common scrags lady? We want what everyone wants. The shipment.”

  “You're insane. You'll never get it off the station. And if you do it'll be tracked!”

  “Maybe, but then again, maybe not,” the leader said, smiling coldly. “That's for me to know, and you too well... guess at I suppose,” he said nastily.

  “Hey, um, One we don't need two right?” Three asked. He was a thin guy, rat faced, almost stick like. He held a cut down pulser in one hand. The pulser looked well used.

  “Shut it. Two is better than one,” One said as the big bruiser held both women in his arms.

  He must have been a heavyworlder, he was incredibly strong Thornby realized. She knew she was in trouble but wasn't sure why help hadn't arrived yet.

  The leader applied zip ties to the wrists of each woman, then zipped their wrists to their throats. He grinned nastily as he stuffed rags in their mouths and then taped them shut. “Carry them two, let's get out of here,” he said, turning away. “Oh and ladies? If you're expecting someone to ride to your rescue, keep hoping. We've got that covered.”

  Three was at the door, he looked and then nodded. Carefully they headed out. Both women shuffled along, fists clenched in front of them. Thornby felt through her link and hit the distress signal. After a moment she felt a response from her computer in her office, then her signal went out and all hell broke loose. She closed her eyes as inquiries flooded her implants, drowning her in noise and demands.

  She stumbled, and the hood behind her poked her. “Pay attention lady,” the one called two grumbled.

  Thornby glanced longingly to the warehouse distinct. They weren't that far away.

  “Don't worry lady,” she heard. They paused at a corner. The bald male called One smirked at her. “We'll head over there and pick up what we want later. Everyone cooperates and you'll be home by breakfast. They give us any shit and they'll be picking you out of the recyclers for months,” he said, smiling a nasty smile. He had gold incisors, and a battered face. He stared at her coldly with his red eyes, making sure she knew he meant business before he brusquely waved them onward.

  After about a hundred meters they paused when Three touched his ear. He swore. “Boss,” he said, holding a fist up. Two bumped the girls then yanked them back against his chest.

  “What?” One demanded angrily.

  “We've got trouble. Cops. They are around us, cutting us off.”

  “Shit! Mae!” he snarled, turning away and pulling out a microphone.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  Jethro heard the distress signal and responded, leaving his post first at a trot, then a run as Lieutenant Myers reported she wouldn't get to the Commander for another twenty minutes. As he ran the panther watched the feed from the good doctor in a window on his HUD. Station security had cut off their planned egress and they were now trapped in a blind corridor. One of the men was picking at a vent cover, trying to get the thing off. He angrily yanked off the clear mask he'd had on so he could see and breath better.

  “I thought you said this was a sure thing Richy, I mean...”

  “Shut your pie hole! And what'd I say about names duffus?”

  “Sorry Richy,” the big brute holding the two women said.

  His leader looked up to him and sighed, shaking his head in disgust. “Amateurs,” he muttered, thoroughly disgusted. “Surrounded by nitwits and buffoons.”

  Jethro winced, the doctor was rolling her eyes, disorienting him. He missed a step and slowed his stride to compensate.

  “What I don't get is why the camera trick didn't work. You said it was a sure thing. Mae had it all done right?” The big guy asked, with a growing whine in his voice. He jerked the ladies around and pushed them to their knees.

  “Apparently something else happened or the damn AI saw through it,” Richy replied, not looking up as he used a multitool to patiently unscrew the bolts holding the vent on. “I just need to get three off and we're out of here. How is it going Three?”

  “Three?” Duffus asked stupidly, then looked around. He looked at the guy leaning against the corner with a pulser in his hands. “Um...”

  “Yes he means me. Damn I don't know where you were picked up from or why. Dumb muscle indeed,” the thin human said, shaking his head. “We're cool. They're sending a bot in from what I can hear and see. Mae's feeding me the camera feed from their line.”

  “Oh.”

  Suddenly the man stopped. “Can they hear us?”

  “Why?”

  “Cause all the cops just stopped what they were doing and all looked at the damn cameras. Spooky.”

  “I'd say somethings up. They know we're tinkering with their feed. Mae's about out of time.”

  “She knows,” Three said, shaking his head. He was a cold one, cold blue eyes, bald, with tribal tattoos on his lean frame. He had a ripped blue tank top on, and parachute pants. The pockets were stuffed with gear.

  As Jethro got to the line he nodded to the cops and robot cordoning it off. But as one put out his hands to stop him Jethro ripped off his uniform and handed it to the man. The polar bear stood there stunned as the panther kicked off his boots, handed him his pulser and then began to cloak. “Hold this. I'll be back for it in a minute,” Jethro growled as he disappeared.

  A cop behind the polar bear turned just as the cloak finished. He gaped like a fish, mouth open in stunned disbelief.

  Jethro danced through security, turning sideways when necessary, but quickly moving through the line of armed people and robots to get to the front.

  He'd been careful to cloak outside the feed the hoods were monitoring. Hopefully this Mae wasn't monitoring it directly. He watched on his HUD as the hood named Three looked down at a tablet in his free hand to keep an eye on things. His distraction nearly got him squished by a moving explosives robot. He slid past the thing and then creeped up to the line.

  Men and women, some human, some Veraxin, a few Neo's were there in police uniforms. A few had SWAT armor. It was just the hood's bad luck to have abducted the doctors on the same deck as an earlier SWAT call. Jethro snorted and froze as the men looked around. Slowly he got around them and cut the corner wide.

  The hood named Three looked right at him, but kept turning his head scanning the area. Slowly Jethro creeped on all fours, stealthfully stalking the enemy. He noted the leader Richy had finished his second bolt and was tearing at the vent. He was bending it, but he was wasting his time trying to bend it instead of just removing the last bolt and swiveling the thing out of the way.

  Jethro made a quick assessment and then acted, using his enhanced strength he slammed the leader Richy into the bulkhead head first when no one was looking. As he slumped the other two turned to him in confusion. Jethro felt his concentration slip as he moved faster, slicing his claws into Three's gun hand, making the man gasp and drop the weapon in shock and pain.

  Just as the man clutched at his bleeding hand and started to scream Jethro rabbit punched him in the g
ut. He folded, gasping and falling to the deck in clear view of the cops around the corner.

  By this time the dumb hood Duffus twigged that something was up and grabbed the doctor. He turned and the doctor's feet were thrown into the air, clipping Jethro. The panther grunted at the impact but didn't slow, he moved into the man's personal space and gripped his throat with his right hand and then uncloaked.

  The big human male froze at the grip at his throat, then wet himself as an apparition decloaked in front of him. Jethro was snarling, panting slightly, ears flat, eyes narrowed. “Give me an excuse,” he growled dangerously, throwing subsonics from his implants into that growl.

  Slowly the man's grip loosened and he let the doctor go. She stomped on his foot and he winced but didn't move as she ducked under Jethro's arm and called out to the officers.

  “Wha... what the hell are you?” The man asked, eyes wide. He was sweating bullets, hands open at his sides as security forces rounded the corner cautiously and took down Three, forcing him onto his stomach and his hands behind his back to cuff him.

  “You're worst nightmare. A Marine,” Jethro snarled as the cops got to him. He let go as they snarled for everyone to get on the floor.

  “You okay Commander?” Jethro asked, nodding to the doctor. “Doctor?” he asked, looking down to doctor Martel, noting the leader Richy was being cuffed. Roughly the cops jerked him to his feet and hustled him out of the area.

  “Doctor Martel?” Jethro asked as Doctor Thornby knelt by her side.

  “She's okay, we're both okay, thanks to you. Thanks to all of you. Thank you,” Doctor Thornby said. She was a little worse for wear, with a black eye and torn lip, but she seemed okay. Jethro let out a deep breath as the human smiled to him and mouthed the words thank you to him.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  Jethro stood to one side a few minutes later as medics cleaned the doctors up. He'd gotten his gear from the bemused polar bear and was now dressed once more. “They say doctors make the worst patients,” Doctor Martel murmured as Thornby tried to see the tablet the medics were using to view her test results.

  Jethro snorted. The amusement however died as Lieutenant Teague and Lieutenant Myers arrived on the scene. Teague seemed interested in the goings on, but Myers seemed pissed. The panther gulped as the Marine officer looked around and then put her hands on her hips.

  “I suppose you're proud of yourself?” she demanded, eying the panther.

  Jethro just stood there at attention.

  “If he isn't I am. Good work Corporal,” Commander Thornby said. Myers glanced her way. Thornby turned to her. “The lad saved my wrinkled ass. I'm grateful,” she said.

  “Commander Thornby...” Myers sighed.

  Thornby held up her hands. “Yeah yeah, your domain. I get it. He's a Marine, you're a Marine,” Thornby said, half out loud, half through their shared implant chat.

  “Right. He also left his post,” Myers said, glaring at Jethro. “Give me your report,” she said with a sigh. Jethro dumped the report to her, and then the Commander fumbled with her implants before she did too. Lieutenant Teague looked up as both individuals CC'd a copy to her. She nodded her thanks and then went back to talking with the big brute who was blubbering like a baby about not wanting to go to jail.

  Lieutenant Myers stood their silently, watching the video feed before she turned an eye on Jethro. The Corporal gulped. He was reprimanded by Lieutenant Myers who warned him it could have been a trap.

  “They could have drawn you off, then ambushed your partner. That was stupid and reckless Corporal, you should have waited for back up. They are professionals, just not well organized.”

  Jethro snorted softly.

  “Okay, not quite professionals. Amateurs really, stupid ones,” Myers said shaking her head.

  One of the men, the one called Richy looked up indignantly. He spat on the deck.

  She frowned at him but ignored his disdain. “But even stupid thugs can be dangerous. Did it ever occur to you that they could have killed a hostage?”

  “But ma'am, we're guarding an empty room. We've already moved the equipment yesterday evening,” Jethro said loudly. The abductors looked up and groaned.

  “You mean, all this for nothing?” The one called Three demanded plaintively, kicking the leader as he clutched at his bandaged arm. The leader hung his head and swore.

  “No we haven't,” Thornby murmured over their shared implant chat link.

  “Shush ma'am. They don't know that,” Jethro said ingeniously. Myers hid a chuckle.

  Teague looked up and shot him an approving grin. She knew what he was doing, it would get back to the backers and throw them off until they could get the load moved.

  Myers cleared her throat. “You better clear out before the media gets here. We don't want them knowing about you. Dismissed Corporal.”

  He came to attention, saluted both women, then hustled back to his post.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  The medical staff finished with the navy exams and turned their attention on the Marines for more in-depth follow up exams. The Marines had yearly physical exam for all Marines, a requirement since they were in a lot of hand to hand combat. They were therefore used to the unwanted attention, and sometimes had a bit of fun with it and teased or harassed the nursing staff to get back at them. A few had to be reminded that they were bordering insubordination, taking the fun out of it.

  Doctor Thornby was out of it, she had her hands full with a side project. Something about breeding and the medical equipment the recon squad had been guarding on Anvil. Fortunately the equipment had finally been transferred to the Annex and the medical facilities there. According to what Fonz had overheard, some of the equipment had even been shipped to San Diego to be set up there for the resurrection project.

  Doctor Standish and his partner who had been brought on board for the routine exams approached Jethro. “What's up doc? Docs?” Jethro asked, sitting on the edge of his bed. He hated being stuck in the paper patient outfit. It was demeaning, he was a cat. He had fur. He wasn't body shy, he didn't mind going nude.

  “Um, well, we would like to look into you more. We'd like to...”

  “You'd like to see how I tick doc?” Jethro asked.

  “Um, something like that. More like, how your cloak ticks,” Doctor Standish said. “I'm confused by what we know about it and you. Your readings are off the baseline doctor Thornby established and I'd like to know why.”

  “I see...” Jethro said slowly. He didn't like the idea of playing guinea pig, but he wouldn't mind knowing more about his cloak and how to use it. they wanted to explore his cloak.

  “We've checked. There isn't much literature on the subject, none at all quite frankly. We'd like to change that. Doctor Thornby's notes and a few missives in the historical section are all we have to go on,” the civilian doctor said.

  “Okay, I'm game. I have some information, I assumed you had it too,” Jethro said.

  “Gentlemen, what you are looking into is technically classified,” Firefly informed them, breaking into the conversation. All the organics looked at the ceiling in consternation or annoyance. The civilian looked abashed. “You need to stop poking into something that doesn't concern you.”

  “This concerns me,” Jethro said, eyes up. “Commander, Private medical issue. Butt out.”

  “I cannot allow you to access the classified files,” the AI replied tartly.

  "But there is no blockage from us testing for ourselves right?" Doctor Standish asked.

  “As long as you do not publish your findings. Whatever you discover will be classified doctor.”

  The civilian blinked, looking a bit put off. Apparently he'd bet on the idea of breaking ground on the subject to gain a little fame. "Uh, no..."

  "What I'm saying is wouldn't it be nice if every Marine had your ability?" doctor Standish demanded. "I mean the ability to cloak." He waved a hand to Jethro.

  "I'm not sure the galaxy is ready for a bunch of na
ked Marines running around doc," Jethro joked as he wrestled with his feelings. He liked being unique, being different. Would it be... is it... is it wrong to change that? he thought for a moment and then felt a bit of shame when the needs of the corps came to mind.

  "And therein lies a dilemma doctor," Firefly said.

  "Why?"

  "If this tech became common, then the enemy, in this case the Horathian's could get a hold of it and copy it."

  "And they'd have an army of..." the doctor's eyes widened comically.

  "I doubt they would go so far as to modify their epidermis but you are essentially correct. The threat exists."

  "But we can limit the application to Neo's right?" Jethro asked.

  "Yes that's true. Neo's like Corporal Letanga and Tungulria have the chrometaphore ability. But they leave a blurry after image. I was wondering why they don't have your cloak,” Thornby mussed rubbing her chin in thought.

  "Do a comparison doctor. I'm sure you'll figure it out," Jethro suggested.

  They called in the other Neo's who had various cloaking abilities. Doctor Standish explained to them the project and then ran tests. The doctors scanned them with electromagnetic and graviton fields to map their neural transmitters and to try to figure out where the abilities stemmed from. They made a few advances but were frustrated in their ignorance.

  The other Neo's had limited cloaking ability and were not of much help, none knew much about how the cloak worked, just in how to initiate it. Some had the ability to stay in cloak only when they remained motionless and calm. Others could move, but at a very slow pace and were limited to about five minutes.

  There were fifteen Neo Marines with the ability. All were canines or felines. Many of the Marines were posted at other locations so they couldn't be on hand for more than a day. So they focused their exploration on Jethro and Letanga. The medics realized the cloak was more than just a chrometaphore ability. He could naturally manipulate a field around him that in turn manipulated the electromagnetic spectrum around him. It was indeed a true cloaking field.

  “How the hell does he do it?” Doctor Standish demanded, frustrated. “It doesn't make sense! The chrometophore ability, okay, I'll buy that. We've got that in nature, I've got the files. The chameleon, cuddle-fish, I've seen the records of them. That part I get. But this... This damn field!”