Jethro: First to Fight

by Hechtl, Chris

  Captain Mayweather nodded diplomatically. “If you put the effort into it you can sir.”

  “I've got to go over the budget. We need a complete overhaul. Admiral Irons was right. If you see him soon please tell him that and I was an ass for not listening to him.”

  Mayweather smiled. “I will sir. I hope we'll find him soon.”

  “You do that. We all need him. More than I ever knew.” Jeff closed his eyes in pain. His parents had been killed in the fighting. They had owned a ranch out beyond the Doonburg city limits. His kids had loved vacationing on the family farm. Now it was a burnt crater.

  “It's not all doom and gloom sir. We're leaving behind the prizes with a skeleton crew for each. I suggest you get them resupplied and get them whatever manpower and equipment they need asap.”

  “I'll do that,” Randall said with a nod. “We'll do that. Definitely. I'll never let this happen again. Not on my watch. Not ever again,” he breathed.

  “Fair enough,” Mayweather replied.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  Many of the captured ships would remain behind. Most were heavily damaged in the fighting and due to the lack of key codes many had only limited use. The two lobotomized corvettes needed completely new electronic suites. They were getting them in the yard, but only after the yard had been repaired.

  Still they formed a presence around the station and would serve as a deterrent to any who entered the system.

  Their skeleton crews would do their best to repair them as much as they could. Ships that were little more than wreckage had been stripped and picked over by work crews looking for intelligence. They were now ready for the breakers. The freighters were rebuilt and either sent along with Firefly with people or out to other colonies.

  Ramora had been rebuilt and was busy working on repairing the orbital mines and damaged orbital infrastructure.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  Six captured freighters would make the unescorted run to Pyrax with goods. Pyrax was supposed to finish the repairs on them. Three ships had hyperdrives that were too damaged or old, they would be used as ferry's in the Antigua system once they received an overhaul by the Yard Dogs. Yard Dogs was already anticipating using one freighter as an improvised movable mining platform. With it parked near a cluster of asteroids, it would service and receive materials from a fleet of drones and tugs. When the ship's holds were stuffed it would return to Prime to unload and do a turn around. Such activity would cut down on the long lonely runs the tugs had been doing before.

  Three other frighteners were too damaged and were mothballed.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  Captain Mayweather left Ensign Lake, an intel and security officer in charge of the Horathian prisoners. She was to extract as much intel as possible in interviews with the prisoners. Lake was good, a blond seductress who could tease all sorts of information out of men with her flirty ways or pouty beauty.

  Captain Pendeckle assigned a squad of Marines to act as guards. Her job was complicated by the war crimes trials underway. The investigators were still crawling all over the stations, taking statements and going over recordings. Most of the spacers who had been on the ships were most likely safe, but those who were on the station weren't.

  Some fell over themselves to make deals to save their wretched lives. Others were sullenly and defiantly silent. To them it didn't matter, they knew they were dead men walking, so why give anything up?

  The charges for genocide, murder, and rape were bad enough for some. A few resented the idea of being put on trial, they had 'just been following orders', or 'you have no jurisdiction over me'. The courts were becoming a tangled mess of confusion that only time and patience would sort out.

  Commander Vargess would remain in charge of the system as senior officer. Fuentes would remain on station with Hecate, guarding the captured ships and system.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  “Here we go again,” Jethro said as Deja looked up. “Being paged?” the panther asked. Deja nodded.

  “Good luck Marine.”

  “We make our own. Time to slip and slide,” Deja said leaving the compartment.

  “Good guy,” Valenko rumbled.

  “Very good.”

  “Think we'll need these?” The bear asked, looking up from his armor. His claws fingered a plasma burn and a sniper hit. Both had done minor damage to his armor. The thing that bugged him was he couldn't remember either hit in all the confusion. He was reluctant to go over the video of the entire engagement again to find out. It didn't matter, he'd survived.

  “Somehow, something tells me yes. Which means we need to get yours fixed and mine sorted out ASAP sir.”

  “March to the sound of the guns,” Valenko murmured.

  “Yeah,” Jethro breathed. “Yes sir. That we do.”

  The End.

  Author's afterward:

  Finally! I finally got this done! Wow. It took a while, but I'm there, at the end. :)

  Okay, some things to get into. If you are wondering about the threads and some stuff that really didn't get explained, well, some of it you will see in the short stories or other books. Sorry. The short stories sort of weave in to the main plots.

  For those of you wondering about the hymn (and especially you devil dogs who are having choice words over my wording) I wanted something with history to it, but also a bit of an update. And before you ask, yes the WATERFALLS on Montezuma were quite spectacular. Just gorgeous. Pity the damn Xeno's had to blow the system up. Frack, what a waste. I would have loved to have gone there for a vacation. Sigh. Oh well.

  Tripoli had some nice surfing. I'm not sure if it's the multiple moons or what. It could be because the continents were mostly submerged and it had thousands of islands no bigger than New Zealand and Madagascar scattered all over the planet. Dunno. Don't ask me, I may live in sunny socal, but I'm not a surfer. (Though I do say 'dude' waaaay too much.)

  I think you get the picture there. :)

  Um, what else... Can't really think of anything right off the top of my head. Oh, I do want to thank Thomas for the encouragement and occasional poke. Thanks dude. :)

  If I offended you or got something wrong, oops, sorry. I'll try throw the rocks harder next time. What can I say, my aim sucks. Quit dodging! Hold Still! :)

  Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go take a deep breath, scream for a minute, then go get some ice cream. Tomorrow I'll dive into either Jethro 3 'No Place like Home' or The Wandering Engineer 6 'Pirate's Bane', or maybe I'll go work on Alive. Oh! I know! The last 2 short stories to '13 Degrees of Separation'.... Hmmm... I dunno. We'll see. That's for tomorrow. Tonight, chocolate fudge is calllllingggg meeeeee.....

  Appendix:

  My blog:

  http://cyberforge3d.blogspot.com/

  Mechmaster:

  http://www.mechmaster.co.uk/cg-lair/daleks_page1.htm

  Medical and cybernetics:

  http://www.dvice.com/2013-5-31/darpa-prosthetic-interfaces-give-amputees-new-hope

  http://www.dvice.com/2013-5-24/scientists-develop-worlds-most-complex-biological-computer

  http://www.dvice.com/2013-4-12/microscopic-electronics-injected-directly-mouses-brain

  http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/31/stanford-genetic-transistor-transcriptor/

  http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/24/scientists-encode-mp3-dna-memory/

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_biology

  Military:

  http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/edre.htm

  http://www.marines.mil/Portals/59/Publications/MCO%203501.1C%20W%20ERRATUM.pdf

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corps

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Marine_Corps_acronyms_and_expressions

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_education_and_training

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_base

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_exercise

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seabee

  http://en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/Smedley_Butler

  http://www.army.mil/article/86172/TF_Wings_tests_deployment_readiness_plan/

  http://www.usmcpress.com/heritage/usmc_slogans.htm

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Marine_Corps_Recruit_Training

  Suit and weapons tech:

  http://gizmodo.com/how-close-are-we-to-elysium-style-exosuits-993706204

  http://www.dvice.com/2013-9-26/smart-rifle-jet-fighter-lock-and-launch-targeting-tech

  http://www.dvice.com/2013-8-9/fully-automatic-gauss-gun-has-3d-printed-guns-running-scared

  Other:

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuance

  http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061117145710AANwJsi

  http://www.20000-names.com/male_hawaiian_names.htm

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetar

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernova

  http://www.dentalvet.com/Encyclopedia/P00352_SC01111.htm

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanotechnology

  Ships:

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slipstream_(science_fiction)

  http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-06/new-alloy-can-convert-heat-directly-electricity

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fictional_ships

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watch_system

  http://www.dvice.com/2013-4-9/us-navy-gonna-deploy-frikkin-lasers-2014

  http://www.dvice.com/2013-5-3/supercapacitors-near-ish-future-batteries

  Books:

  Regenesis: How Synthetic Biology Will Reinvent Nature and Ourselves by George Church and Ed Regis

  Effects of Directed Energy Weapons by Philip E. Nielsen

  A Civilian's guide to the U.S. Military by Barbara Schanding, PH.D.

  NCO Guide 9th Edition by CSM Robert S. Rush

  The Basic Training Guidebook by Sgt. Michael Volkin

  Light Infantry Tactics For Small Teams by Christopher E. Larsen

  Naval Ceremonies, Customs, And Traditions, sixth edition by Connell & Mack

  Special thanks to Jim Olson for providing me with a wealth of materials for research. I didn't get a chance to use most of it here, but I will use more in Jethro 3!

  Also, thanks to Thomas Coates for working through some of the Military traditions. :)

  Dramatic personnel:

  Marines:

  Major Jersey Forth: Commanding officer of the Marines. Senior most Marine officer. Former Captain of a planetary militia on Avalon. Former Captain of the Marines before promotion just prior to Admiral Irons departure from the Pyrax system.

  Captain Pendeckle: former Commander of Agnosta 1st Marine recon detachment. Human male. Blocky body, broad shouldered. Tough minded, but fair.

  LT Myers: 1st Lieutenant, Marine. No former combat experience. By the book persona, gruff, no-nonsense personality like his noncom sergeant. Human male. He preferred his bald appearance to the Marine high and tight haircut. A former spacer with EVA and security training. He was a club bouncer as a teen. He joined the college as security guard prior to the pirate attack. The lieutenant signed on as a Marine but was sidelined by a twisted ankle and missed the combat. Offered compensation to officer training and accepted.

  Sergeant Minachelli: Lieutenant Myers noncom squad leader. Human. Tough but fair.

  Sergeant Yelt: bluff no-nonsense human male. The good sergeant is the posture image of a noncom Marine.

  Sergeant Zerric: simple Marine, pale skin, sunburnt, heavyworlder genes bald. He was a plodder, unimaginative but reliable.

  Valenko's squad:

  Valenko: Ensign and then 2nd Lieutenant brown bear/grizzly. Has two daughters, both Marines. Estranged relationship with ex-wife/mate on Anvil.

  Jethro: Corporal later Sergeant E-5. Panther. Sniper, scout, DI. Decendant of Tobias Mclintock, Federation Cadre. Father was an assassin killed on Firefly.

  Asazi: Heavyworlder former prize fighter. Amazon, has a healed broken nose and battered prize fighter face. PFC infantryman. Later promoted to Lance Corporal. She has an interest in Instructor training and became a junior DI with Jethro and some of the other members of the squad.

  Ox: Tauren engineer, heavy weapons, communications, and apprentice armorer. Lance Corporal- later Sergeant.

  Sergei: white Neoliger. Heavy weapons and explosives. Private-PFC

  Gusterson: Medic, greyhound corpsman, navy. Petty officer.

  Kovu: Private, uppity neolion with a superiority chip on his shoulder. short black mane, normally would be scruffy. He outmasses Jethro but was not as smart. Kovu has a reputation as a black sheep in the cat family, bad boy. Cousin to Leo. He has cougar genes, so he has a leaner frame and lacks a full mane. Kovu was demoted from Private to PFC to Private after disobeying orders to see his girlfriend Kiara. Junior assistant DI Infantry, spotter, and junior sniper.

  Pa'nash, “Panache” : Veraxin female, shooter/communication's tech Private. Suffers mild PTSD after boarding actions during the pirate attack on Pyrax. A friend of Gunny Schultz. She bounced around various squads and took several medical leaves of absence before ending up on logistics. Gunny Schultz gave her a second chance.

  The 'Fonz' Private Fonzarelli: Human male, rifleman/sniper black hair, he had a mullet and sideburns before joining up. He is friends with Kovu.

  PFC Clive Bret: Blond blue eyed human. Quiet and reserved, no nonsense professional Marine. Married with a child on the way. Rifleman.

  Harley Quinn: Neo hyena Private. Practical joker female. Rifleman. Went through F platoon with the core veterans of Valenko's Squad.

  Gunny Schultz: Doberman, former DI of F platoon. Reassigned to lead DI's on Agnosta.

  Letanga: cousin to Jethro, Neoleopard. Sniper, Marine Private later advances to Corporal. Letganga moved on to another squad.

  Hurranna: Neolynx former member of F platoon and Valenko's squad from hell. Transferred to piloting duty on San Diego.

  Deja: former pirate slave helmsman. Selkie. Marine enlisted. Sergeant. Wants to be a shuttle pilot. Went through abbreviated training on San Diego with Hurranna before completing his training and returning to the Marines. Made it to Agnosta. Met up with a tribe of Selkies near the North Pole. Piloted Firefly as helmsman during their run to Antigua.

  Kiara: Neolioness, daughter of Nara and Simba, love interest of Kovu. Kovu has a reputation as a black sheep in the cat family, bad boy which makes

  him appealing to the girls. She is a new boot in training.

  Others in the Pyrax system:

  Commander Horatio Logan: Former yeoman and enlisted petty officer prior to and during Xeno war. Sleeper, he was awoken over a century prior to the admiral and served as the Chief engineer of Anvil space station before the admiral's arrival. Currently the commanding officer of Pyrax.

  1st Lieutenant Sergio Junior Valdez: Son of Senior Valdez, former tug pilot turned small craft pilot and later first fighter pilot in Pyrax. Currently acting LT Commander in charge of all pilots in the system. (CAG)

  System governor Paul Walker: Elected governor of the system. Tall, rather good looking and charming. A corrupt politician. One of a group of people who conspired to remove the admiral from the system. Walker has a wife and children but goes through mistresses like a buzzsaw. Any who threaten him end up dead.

  Lieutenant Commander Vargess: Love interest of Captain Mayweather. Captain of the Arboth class destroyer Fuentes. Sleeper, former captain of an sublight militia gunship before transferring to the Navy. He and a group of young officer cadets he was sheparding to the Naval academy were lost when their ship was caught by the Xenos and booby trapped. Admiral Irons and the crew of Firefly managed to rescue the sleepers. Commander Vargess is a loyal supporter of the admiral.

  Fuentes (AI): ancient AI recovered and rebuilt prior to the admiral's departure. The AI had only 1 of 3 cores and was partially insane. Fortunately the AI had been repaired and returned to service.

  Crew of Firefly:

  Captain (Lieutenant Commander) Mayweather: Former XO of the Carib queen, a star yacht.
Rose through the ranks quickly to become Captain of Firefly.

  Lieutenant Commander Shelby Logan XO: Daughter of Horatio Logan, formerly his XO on Anvil, recruited as Chief engineer of Firefly before taking over the XO slot. Technically outranks Captain Mayweather by date of rank. Slated to take command of the factory ship/fleet tender Prometheus when it is completed.

  Commander Firefly (AI): Old AI core of the light cruiser Firefly. Technically outranks both colloid commanding officers, but does not exercise command. The AI has put in for command track.

  Janice Yu: 1st Lieutenant, helm and navigational officer. Former helmsman of the Carib Queen. Personal friend of the captain.

  Purple Thorn : 1st Lieutenant Elf tactical officer

  Brighton Able: Graveyard Ops officer. 2nd Lieutenant JG. Was an Ensign on the frigate Centurion. Touchy human, very inflexible, lacks a sense of humor. Likes to throw his officer rank around. Possibly in dire need of a vacation, or maybe his pipes cleaned.