Jethro Goes to War (Wandering Engineer Jethro's tale) (33 page)

Most of the bar
quieted at the man's snarl. He shook himself, half rising out of his
chair. “A year. A slave for a year. Watching my crew mates get
raped, tortured and killed one by one. Watching those animals rape a
child and then cut her up. Hooked a Vesuvian up to a table and burned
him slow while they made us watch. It took hours for him to die. I
can never ever get the smell of his burning flesh out of my head now.
For what? He never hurt no one, never bothered anyone. Nice guy.”
He shook his head and then pointed to the marines.

“
These boys
and girls, or at least the others that trained them saved my ass.
Mine and those that survived,” his mouth writhed. He drained
his beer and then wiped his mouth. “So close your fat mouth.
These kids earn their living with their sweat and blood. They lay
their lives on the line so others can see another day. What have you
done? Fuck all. Drink and bitch. That's it.” He sat down
shaking his head. He put his head in his hands. His table mate patted
his shoulder.

“
Damn,”
Hurranna said, wide eyed. She shivered a little, clearly shaken.

“
Yeah,”
Jethro said, suddenly not in the mood to drink anymore.

 ...*...*...*...*...

When they left the
bar he had a hell of a time supporting the Liger. He sighed. Hurranna
smiled sweetly at him. She made a muscle with her bicep. He rolled
his eyes. It wasn't that strength was a problem, no it was the fact
that the Liger was so damn big! And of course he had his own mind
about where they were going and how to get there.

A group of punks on
the corner were hanging out and drinking from a cardboard carton. He
sighed recognizing the signs.

“
Hey moreau
bitch come over here and get some real love! Come suck my wanker you
bitch, that's all you're good for!” one punk said. He laughed
as his friends slapped his back and whistled.

“
Back in a
sec,” Hurranna sent over the link. She strolled over to the
punks. He couldn't believe it, she was working it, strutting. The
punks cat calls added to her strutting. He shook his head.

“
Now, what did
you call me?” she asked the punk with the eagle tattoos on his
face and arms and sporting a purple mohawk. He glanced at his
friends. “Don't look at them look at me. You think you can
handle me?”

“
Yeah Bitch,”
he says giving his friends a look for support. She got closer.

“
No not that,
the other thing,” she murmured huskily, standing on her toes
and leaning forward toward him.

“
Uh, moreau?”
he asked stupidly. His friends smirk. Her hands stroked his chest.
One dropped lower.

“
Ah, that's
it,” she said. Her eyes blazed as one hand dropped and suddenly
grabbed his manhood. He squeaked, started to move and then froze.

“
I don't think
you've got the stones to handle something like me. In fact I know you
don't, don't I?” she said looking him in the eye. The guy was
staring down at her, frozen and bug eyed. “You or your friends
here.” They had all quieted and backed up when she had grabbed
the guy.

The punk gulped, his
adam's apple moving up and down. Sweat beaded his brow. She smiled
again, making sure he got a good look at her sharp teeth.

“
Shit man...”
one guy behind them said softly. They couldn't back away any further
into the corner. Their eyes were wide. He could smell the fear. They
hadn't counted on pissing a predator off. One of them touched a chain
but caught sight of Jethro's snarling face and he stopped, hands
slowly moving back out to show they were empty.

She reached up and
stroked the punk's cheek with a finger, flexing the four centimeter
claw in and out. It touched his chin and drew a small line of blood.
“For your information we don't appreciate being called
Moreau's. We get a little pissed by it. When we do, bad things happen
to those who call us that. Got it?” she asked simply, hand
tightening on his crotch.

“
Yeah yeah...
ah, yes ma'am,” the kid said nervously. She grimaced a little
as he wet himself. She could smell it and feel the damp.

“
Good boy,”
she said. “Go back to your mama's and have them teach you some
manners. You all need to learn how to treat a lady. Got it?”
she asked looking at the other three. They gulped and nodded as she
twisted her hand holding the guy. He practically swooned. She let him
go and he fell to his knees clutching his lap. She wiped her hand on
his head. After a second the man sobbed, falling on his side in a
fetal position.

She turned, gave the
other punks a smile over her shoulder and then strutted back to
Jethro and the others.

“
Geeze what'd
she do to him!” one guy said softly. “Help me get him up
man, we gotta get out of here. Security comes around and they'll snag
him for vagrancy or somethin' or other.”

She smiled and
flicked her ears to Jethro. He shook his head. “Naughty girl,”
he said, eyes dancing.

“
Too right,”
she replied with a feral grin. “And I'm not going to let anyone
forget that.” He chuckled softly at that.

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

“
Spirit of
space not again,” Hurranna sighed as she caught sight of a
group of kids hiding around the corner from the coffee shop they were
sitting at. The only one of them to have a hang over this morning was
Sergei. She and Jethero had remembered to take an analgesic and drink
plenty of water before bedding down.

“
What?”
Sergei looked up. He snorted and then looked back down. “Just
kids.”

“
Yeah, but I
feel like a freak.”

“
After working
at the club I'd think you'd be used to being ogled,” Sergei
grumped. “Hell, you've got a lot more clothes on now. Guess
they like using their imaginations.”

“
Oh shut up,”
she growled, sitting back.

“
Best to get
it over with,” Jethro said shaking his head. Jethro turned in
his seat and pointed to a kid peaking. “You want to come over
and ask what you want to ask? You are making us nervous.”

The kids came over
slowly, looking a little guilty. One was pushed to the front. Most
were teens or preteens. They were a mix of ages and species.

“
Yeah?”

“
How, I mean,
how do you become a marine?” the Veraxin kid asked. He clicked
his main arms. His secondary arms were clutched to his thorax.

Sergei snorted.
“That all? All you gotta do is check the net. See a recruiter.”
He pointed to a poster over on the other side of the quad. “We've
got them posters up everywhere kid. Go to the URL at the bottom and
it'll tell you all about the corps and where to go see a recruiter to
get more info.”

“
Oh,”
the veraxin boy said. The kids looked a little crestfallen.

“
But since
you're here, go ahead. Ask away,” Jethro said, lounging back
and wrapping an arm around the back of his chair. He smiled a toothy
smile. One of the kids flinched and gulped but didn't back away. He
glanced at the other cats and flicked his ears in amusement.

“
So you went
to the site?”

“
No. We were
recruited in the hospital. Least the three of us.”

“
I was first,”
Sergei said, smiling.

“
Only because
you opened your big mouth before we could get our two cents worth
in,” Hurranna laughed. She glanced at the kids. “It's all
right kids, we don't eat younglings. Too gamey for my tastes.”

“
Hell, too big
for you, they all tower over you,” Sergei said getting her
back. She glared. He smiled. “Any time, any place honey.”

“
Sure thing
peachykins. Just as soon as I clear the rest of my dance schedule,”
she said, smiling a feral smile of his own.

“
Bigger and
stronger.”

“
But dumber,”
she said taking a sip of coffee with her straw. Her eyes locked onto
his and danced a challenge.

Jethro snorted a
laugh. He shook his head. “Don't mind them. We grew up
together.”

“
You... did?”

“
Yeah. We're
from Leo's pride. It's, well it was a corridor gang. Now I'm not sure
what it is. I think all the cat clans have unified.”

“
Yeah. Last
time I heard,” Hurranna nodded. She looked at one of the girls.
“You want to be a marine?”

“
Why not? If
you can do it I can!” she said, chin high.

“
Didn't say
you couldn't. You need to be an adult first. Or at least near adult.”

“
I'm twelve.”

“
Well, as
human's go, that still too young. You'll have to wait until you’re
at least sixteen or eighteen.”

“
Awww...”
Some of the kids said, scuffing their feet against the floor.

“
Yeah, but
there is other stuff you can do in the mean time. Like join ROTC.
That way you can become an officer.”

“
Is that
what...” Hurranna shook her head. The girls eyes fell. “Oh.”

“
No worries,”
Hurranna said softly. “We'll get there anyway. We didn't have
ROTC. We had mama Matriarch and her training to keep us straight.”

“
Um...”
the girl's face was screwed up in confusion.

“
She's the
leader of the cat clans,” Jethro explained. “She kept all
of us out of trouble. See, we, our families were a corridor gang.
That means we protected an area, and the people who lived there gave
us food and creds in return.” The kids nodded, understanding
that at least.

“
Yeah, you
could put it that way,” Sergei said softly.

“
I just did,”
Jethro said giving the Liger a warning look then returning his
attention to the kids. “But us kids grew up learning stuff
together. Mama Matriarch taught us how to read and write, how to do
math and other things. She had us do chores to keep us busy and out
of mischief, though we didn't see it that way until later.”

“
Much later,”
Sergei sniffed.

“
It helped the
community out though. We kept our area clean, emptied the trash, ran
errands for people, ran messages, stuff like that. It helped make
things more bearable.”

“
Oh,”
the girl nodded. “And cleaner.”

“
Yeah. Though
carrying trash to the nearest working chute was a pain,” Sergei
grimaced. “I usually got stuck with it cause I was the biggest
and strongest.”

“
Typical,”
a boy snorted. “And the girls hate the smell. I know the
feeling.”

“
Yeah, but we
got other chores. I had to clean the floors,” Hurranna
answered. “And believe me, I hated getting my fur wet.”
She sniffed in disdain at the memory.

“
Yeah, but you
put up with the mud and water in boot,” Sergei teased,
chuckling. His ears were all the way forward.

Hurranna's twitched
back and forth in their version of a shrug and then she chuckled
herself. “Like I had a choice?” she asked.

“
So, you ah,
serve on ships. Do you do other things?” the oldest boy asked.

“
We go over to
secure the... wait, don't I know you?” Jethro demanded. He took
a sniff. “Yeah, the kids in the bar. You and you.” He
pointed to a pair of taller kids in the back and the pig tailed girl.

“
Yeah.
Guilty.” They stood straight, looking guilty. One put his hand
behind his head self consciously.

“
A little
young to be in a bar,” Hurranna said eying them.

“
We weren't
drinking,” the kid said. “Honest.”

“
Okay,”
she shrugged. “Not my problem anyway,” she grimaced.
“Yeah, we board ships to take control of them, or space
stations, or colonies. We also ride in shuttles or drop pods down to
the surface of a world to secure it.”

“
Why?”

“
Well, if the
pirates took it over... we need to take it back,” Jethro said
slowly.

“
Or if some
whack job goes nuts, we may be called in to set thing straight,”
Hurranna added. He gave her a look and then nodded.

“
Okay. Have
you done that yet?”

“
Give us a
break kid, we just got out of boot,” Sergei laughed. “Kids
these days, eager to get shot at right away,” he shook his head
chuckling.