Jethro Goes to War (Wandering Engineer Jethro's tale) (25 page)

They felt a quiver.
He grabbed the rope and looked up and down. “What the...”
A second quiver shot through the rock. Suddenly the plumes were the
last thing on his mind as he held on for dear life.

“
What the
hell's going on? Who's shaking the line!” a voice snarled.

“
Quake. Hold
on! What ever you do, mind your claws!” Jethro said, grabbing
the line. He reached for his belt and pulled a safety clip and
slammed it into a crevice near his head. He looked around and found
another. He jacked another in then clipped safety lines from his belt
to one, and a safety line from one clip to the line he was on.

“
Clip a safety
line but make sure you're going into something solid,” Sergei
growled. He looked around. “Damn bad place for a quake,
dangling like a freakin piñata.”

“
Tell me about
it,” Valenko growled as the tremors subsided. “All clear.
But we don't know for how long. There may be aftershocks. Get to the
ground fast as you can folks.”

“
Gotcha.”

“
You don't
have to tell me twice.”

Quickly Valenko,
Sergei, and the rear guard crested the top. They pulled the used line
in and then dropped their lines over the other side. Valenko shifted
his to keep clear of Jethro who was walking backwards down the side
of the cliff.

“
See you at
the bottom,” the rear guard said, and then kicked off. She let
the line unspool then gently pulled the brake, slowing her descent.
After a moment though she went out of control and bounced off the
wall. Fortunately for her with her feet.

“
Careful,
these rocks are sharp,” Jethro cautioned. “Like broken
glass in some places. Watch for the shine.”

“
Gotcha,”
Sergei grunted. “I see what you mean,” he said, one boot
hitting a shiny patch. He felt it slip and bore down, after a second
he could feel a crunch through the sole. “Damn.”

“
Breach?”
Jethro asked, looking up from the base of the cliff. He pulled his
line, reeling it in and wrapping it quickly.

“
No. Don't
think so,” the Liger grunted.

“
Be more
careful,” Valenko grunted. “If I'd known it was going to
be this bad I'd have dropped the rucks,” he panted. He was a
little put out that they had to labor with force emitters simulating
a one gee environment. He was tempted to shut them off but knew
better. He'd be in hack with the gunny the moment they got back.

“
Almost there.
Another fifty meters... forty...” Jethro replied.

Valenko felt his
line tighten. He looked down to see Jethro had finished his chore and
was now anchoring his line. “Thanks.”

“
Just don't
sit on me,” Jethro replied.

“
Wouldn't
dream of it. Now,” the bear grunted a laugh. Sergei's line went
tight as the two wolves anchored his.

“
Screw this.”
He shouldered his ruck off then held it by one arm. He used his free
hand to clip it to his belt. “Look out below.”

“
Don't drop
it!” Shiku said desperately as the ruck dropped. It slowed as
line played out then settled a few meters from the bottom.

Zebo grabbed it and
unhooked it. “Got it.”

“
Yeah. Look
out below!” Sergei said, pushing off and releasing his brake.
He freewheeled down for another twenty five meters then slowed
himself to land on his feet.

“
Show off,”
Valenko growled.

“
Why brer bear
don't you know cats always land on their feet?” Sergei asked
taking his ruck as the wolves pulled his line and started wrapping
it.

“
Cute,”
the bear said getting to the bottom. “Report,” he said
looking up.

“
Scouts found
the shuttle. Old civilian. Lambda class. Pretty banged up. Been here
ages by the look of the dust. One survivor.”

“
Alive?”
the bear asked in surprise, looking up.

“
Course not,”
Jethro said shaking his head. “But he survived the crash. He's
in a suit over there.” He waved to where a group were standing
around a body laying in the shade of the shuttle.

“
That'd suck.
Waiting for the air to run out,” Hurranna said softly. She
shook her head coming over to them. “Scouts are out, well all
but me. I've pulled the emergency recorders and dumped the ship's
memory. Not much in it.”

“
Have a look?”
Valenko asked.

“
Nah, it's
garbage mostly. Viruses galore. The last log said something about a
computer malfunction landed them here. From the looks of it...”
She shrugged and looked back to the craft. “I'd say the viruses
corrupted the systems and they caused the crash. But you'd need a
fancy navy puke to look at the data to be sure.” She shrugged.

“
Yeah, we're
just grunts, what do we know,” Jethro said with a smile. His
hands were out. He used a virtual glove to sketch the scene and then
highlighted the flight path of the craft. By the looks of it the ship
had crested the cliff face, clipped part of it, then slid down it
before hitting a rock and shearing off its starboard side and sending
it into a spin. It had tumbled before coming to a rest here.

“
So we're
here, where is Rigatoni? I want to rub it in,” Shiku said
looking around.

“
No sign,”
Valenko grumbled. “Which isn't good. They had an easier path
and they were dropped just after us. By rights they should have had
this nailed.”

“
Especially
with you pulling rear guard,” Hurranna grunted.

“
Shut it,”
Valenko stared at the way Rigatoni's group should have come. “I
didn't see them when we were on the top of the cliff either. And
yeah, that's got me worried.”

“
And we should
have by then,” Sergei said resting against the side of the
shuttle. “Are we in a combat sim?” he asked, looking
around to see if they were in a trap.

“
No, just a
survival exercise. That's the parameters laid out in the briefing.
Any word from higher?” Valenko asked, turning to the Tauren
nearby.

The Tauren grunted,
then blew out a breath, momentarily steaming up his helmet visor.
“No.” He looked up to the cliffs surrounding them. “Can't
punch a signal to Firefly, she's over the horizon. And these walls
aren't helping. Something's screwing the signal up, bouncing it
around and canceling it out.”

“
Right,”
Valenko sighed. He got to his feet. “Scouts up the cliff. Let's
see what's going on.”

“
Do we have
to? We did our part. I say it's time to go home and get a beer,”
Betty whined.

“
One way or
another you're going up the cliffs. We can't get picked up here,”
Jethro waved to the crash site. “So go girl. Get a move on,”
he waved.

“
What's the
hurry?” she asked, playing out line.

“
In a vacuum?
Every moment can count,” Valenko said. “And something
tells me we're going to need the time.” He turned to the Tauren
and pulled his last signal rocket. “You are second up. If point
doesn't see them I want you to call higher. If you can't use the
rocket.”

The rocket wasn't as
much a signal flare as a message in a bottle. Once it was free of the
asteroid's weak gravity it would orient on Firefly's last known
position and send an omni directional broadcast.

The Tauren had
wanted to modify the rockets to carry a thin wire antenna up but the
powers that be had nixed it.

“
Boss that's
for emergency use only,” Sergei cautioned.

“
So?”
Valenko asked, turning to him and then back to the others. “Let
me ask you something, think Rigatoni wouldn't pull out all the stops
to get here after we drubbed him at Praxis?”

“
Yeah...”
Sergei said slowly as the chimp began to climb.

“
So.. why
isn't he here?” Jethro said slowly. “Yeah, it doesn't
fit. Thompskin probably reamed them good, they'd be hell bent to get
here fast.”

“
And cut
corners along the way whereever possible,” Valenko scowled. He
looked up to the chimp climbing. A sense of urgency began to build in
the group. With no more reluctance they got down to work.

...*...*...*...*...

“
Boss,
nothing,” Betty said from the top of the cliff. “No lines
on the other side either. I don't see anything at all,” she
grimaced and then chuffed softly. She was starting to get a sense of
foreboding that the entire platoon was now feeling.

“
Crap. I was
afraid of that. Jethro, get up there. Betty, rest for five then start
running a line down. Ox don't wait on me for the signal.”

“
Right.”

“
I'm up,”
Letanga the leopard sniper said climbing the line fast. The Tauren
paused at the base, anchoring the line. “I'll see you on the
other side,” the sniper called. He had extra line wrapped
around his torso and ruck.

“
Boss we've
got about a day's worth of life support,” Hurranna cautioned.

“
So be it.
Once we get out into the open we can get picked up. Worse comes to
worse I'll shut off your emitters and then toss you all off the rock
for orbital pick up,” the bear growled.

“
You would,
knowing you,” she snorted. She looked up to the line. “Think
something's wrong?”

“
After that
quake?” he asked. “Yeah. I can believe it. Hope not
though. I'd rather get my ass reamed for jumping at shadows than wait
and something was going down. They may be pain in the nuts Alpha's,
but they are marines after all.”

“
Right,”
Hurranna nodded. She went over to the Tauren. “Let me up next.”
She grabbed the line and then began to climb hand over hand.

The leopard got to
the top and paused. He straddled the top looking around. He unclipped
from the line and then clipped into Betty's safety hook. He leaned
forward and clipped another pair of hooks into the face, then pulled
the line wrapped around his torso off and clipped one end in, the
other he tossed over the other side of the cliff. He unhooked from
the safety line and then clipped into the new line.

“
Be with you
in a minute,” Betty said, waiting for her line to be cleared.

“
See you at
the bottom. I'll leave my line. Take care of it for me,” the
leopard said, giving her a nod as their eyes met. He put a hand
behind him on the line then pushed off.

“
And down he
goes. Sure. Leave me to clean up the mess. Why not,” the chimp
muttered. “I've got nothing better to do anyway. Just sit here
scratching my ass... Or trying not to actually,” she grimaced.

...*...*...*...*...

Jethro got to the
other side of the cliff wall and looked around as he unclipped.
“Going to anchor?” Hurranna asked.

“
No. Stay
here.” He waved and then moved off. He crested the second small
rise easily, without the need of his climbing gear. Really,
Rigatoni's group had it a hell of a lot easier than they did. So what
was keeping them? He turned to see most of the platoon had made it to
the top and was now coming down.

“
Anything?”
he asked over the open channel.

“
Thought I had
something on guard. Computer said it was a signal, but it was bounced
around the rocks and I couldn't make it out,” Ox reported from
the top of the cliff. He was staked out there, staying on the high
ground so he could relay a signal if needed. He'd already set the
emergency rocket off. Hopefully the cavalry would be coming soon.

“
Getting
something,” Senjix the cheetah scout said. He paused and
turned. “Coming from that direction. The plumes.” Jagged
rocks were in the way. They looked like a forest, or stalagmites in a
cave. He grimaced. The jagged cones towered over them, making it hard
to get a sight line of the surrounding terrain.

“
Quake!”
Senjix said, grabbing the nearest rock.

Jethro froze then
felt something below his feet move. It felt wrong, like it was
ballooning under his feet. He instinctively dropped into a forward
roll just as something erupted where he had stood.

A plume of gas
blasted into space where he had been. After a moment it cut off. He
got up and looked around warily.

“
Like walking
in a minefield,” Senjix growled.

“
Which
explains why Rigatoni is late maybe,” Jethro growled turning to
face the cliff. He tried to get a signal then grimaced and walked
through the rocks until he could get line of sight to Ox.