Jethro Goes to War (Wandering Engineer Jethro's tale) (34 page)

“
We're still
learning like you. I've got recon training coming up. And vehicles
and then armored suit straining.”

“
Exo suits?
WOW!”

“
YEAH!”
The kid next to him cheered grinning. Jethro tried not to bristle at
the show of teeth. Humans. “SWEET! Just like in the movies!”

“
Oh wow!
That'd be spar!” one kid said to another. They cocked their
hands like blasters then started making blaster noises till the girls
shushed them.

“
Yeah cool.
Something like it,” Jethro said, trying to be as deadpan as
gunny.

“
You know you
want it. Admit it. You've wanted to do it since you were a kit,”
Hurranna said, smiling at him. He ducked his head, ears flat out
feeling intense embarrassment.

“
Yeah, but now
I know how serious it is, how lives are riding on the line; and if we
screw up...”

“
So don't,”
she replied. He gave her a look. “Seriously. Don't screw up,
it'll probably be my ass that's on the line,” she growled. He
snorted. “I'll kick your ass if you do. Your ass is low enough
for me to reach.” She shot a mock glower at the Liger. “Unlike
some peoples I wont mention.”

“
Letch,”
Sergei said with an amused ear flick.

“
What about
you?” the little girl asked as her group settled down.

Hurranna blinked.
“Me? Um,” she squirmed a little. “I'm trying to get
into flight ops training but there is a waiting list. A looong,
looong waiting list.” She groaned softly.

“
Oh. That
stinks,” the girl said in sympathy.

“
Wait, I
thought soldiers...” the oldest boy started to say, confused.

“
We also have
our own pilots. To fly our shuttles, and give us air or space
support,” Hurranna said curtly. “Which is what I want to
do.”

“
Yeah, you're
kind of puny to be running around on the ground.” one of the
bigger kids said.

“
Wanna make
something of it?” the lynx growled, eyes slitting. Her claws
flexed.

“
Um, no,”
he said gulping and slowly backing away.

“
Don't tick
them off,” the girl whispered into his ear.

“
I'm trying
not to but they are prickly!” he whispered back. Sergei
snorted. They turned to him. “What about you?” the boy
asked.

“
Me? I want to
blow stuff up.” The kids grinned at that. “So I'm trying
to get into the demolitions. But I just found out that's the corps.
of engineers,” he grimaced. “Not my cup of tea. All the
math and crap. Building stuff. Rather blow it up any day. Build a
bridge... what's the fun in that?”

“
To practice
blowing it up?” Hurranna asked.

“
Zip it,”
Sergei growled. He sat back with a sigh. “Seriously. I'm not
into the whole class room thing.”

“
Me neither,”
a kid said. “I mean, I can do some of it, but tests always
freak me out.”

“
Yeah,”
Sergei shuddered in sympathy. “We've just had a sampling of
that kind of crap. Pass. I'll see what I can do. Maybe an entry man
for SWAT or something. Hostage rescue. Or the suits. I do like them.”

“
Like they'll
have one in your size,” Jethro teased.

“
They'd
better,” Sergei retorted. “Or I ain't leaving the armory
till they get one.” The others chuckled a little at that.

“
Morgue, it's
called a... oh never mind,” Jethro shook his head.

“
What ever. I
may join you there. It's not like I've got anything else to do,”
Hurranna sighed. There was a waiting list a mile long to get into
flight training. The sims were booked for weeks at a time. Officers
and navy personnel were getting priority.

“
Thanks,”
the girl said. They turned back to the kids. Most were moving away.
One had a skateboard out and was already rolling off. Another kid was
on skates, she held onto the back of his belt buckle as they got
going.

“
No problem.
Check it out like we said. Later,” Hurranna said waving.

Ox looked around at
the chamber. It was a little cramped for him, but most likely large
for other species. As inflatable modules go though, it was nice.

Things were still in
turmoil. They'd had a week off to visit family after graduation, and
then it was back on duty. In that time, he and the others had found,
things had changed.

“
Welcome to
the Annex,” Firefly said from the front of the room. “This
station is currently called the Annex since it is a late addition. We
were forced to withdraw the housing and training modules from Anvil
and they and their contents needed a new home. Hence the Annex.”

A holo of the
station appeared. “We are currently working on the station, so
be aware some areas are off limits.” Areas on the station were
highlighted with yellow and black stripes. “Other areas are off
limits to unauthorized personnel.” A few more areas were
highlighted, this time in red.

“
Each of you
have this map in your e-mail for download to your implant software.
Check it out and familiarize yourself with the station layout and
emergency procedures,” the AI looked around for a moment.

“
Classes in
engineering will commence with Chief Yellow Knife at oh eight thirty
tomorrow morning. Your assigned quarters are also in your HUD inbox.
Please be careful near the station walls.” The avatar turned to
Ox who nodded.

“
The last
thing we need is for one of my horns or spikes to pop something.
Agreed Commander.”

“
I'm glad you
understand.” A few around the Tauren looked at him with a
little trepidation. He snorted softly.

“
Dismissed.
Chow is at the usual time in the mess hall.” The AI's avatar
faded and then winked out. Ox shouldered his bag as he accessed his
map. It was time to see if they actually had a rack his size.

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

Jethro nodded to his
cousin, the leopard Letanga and then to the arctic fox Shiku. “I
kind of figured you two would be here,” he said with an ear
flick.

“
Wouldn't miss
it for the world,” Letanga said shaking his head. He nodded to
Shiku and then to an all black wolf named Tungulria. The black wolf
was supposed to be in the same grade as Jethro it was rumored. He was
curious and looking forward to finding out one way or another. He was
seriously curious. Cats were the only ones with cloaking abilities.
Or at least that was what the clan said. Then again considering that
datum came from rumors passed on by cats, it was questionable.

“
Why you're
here is what I'm wondering. I was half expecting you to be teaching
this,” Letanga continued. He looked around. There were twenty
other students in the group. Eighteen were stock humans.

“
Nope. Gotta
learn to crawl before you can walk,” Jethro replied sensing
someone coming.

“
All right you
lot listen up,” Sergeant Jefferson said coming in and standing
at the podium as they shot to their feet. “I'm your instructor.
For those of you who don't know me, I'm a qualified sniper. I was
also a DI and up until yesterday morning, an E-4 corporal. You are
about to get a two and a half week course on sniper, spotter, and
sneak and peek ops. A few of you know some of this already. I ask
that you set your knowledge aside and try to pay attention. You’re
going to be using different tools and techniques than you’re
used to.”

He looked around and
locked eyes on Jethro. “Lance Corporal Jethro over there will
be my teaching assistant. He's the sneak specialist here.”
Jethro endured the glances his way. “I've checked each of your
records and I'm certain not one of you can outdo him. Ever,” he
scowled. Jethro fought to keep his face from grimacing himself. He
knew damn well the rest of the class was either going to think of him
as a kiss ass or were going to do everything in their power to show
him up. Probably both. Which meant he was going to have to be on his
toes and do his damnedest. No coasting.

“
This course
will be a mix of hands on, field, sims, and class work, with a bit of
sleep teaching thrown in for good measure. Unfortunately the field
work will be limited to practice sneaks on a warship, in VR, or in
designated areas,” he grimaced at the soft groans the class
gave off.

“
Sorry people,
but we pissed way to many people off with that graduating exercise.
We might sneak you into park if we can. For now, do the best you can
with what we've got.”

“
Now, we're
going to take a pop quiz...” The group quietly groaned again at
that. “To assess your skill sets,” he said over the
groans. “Once I know who's who I'll pair you up, those that
know and those that don't. That way you can pass on the necessary
skills. You'll find a file in your HUD... He tapped a button on the
podium. “Now. Get on it,” he paused momentarily. “Oh
and corporal Jethro, no cloak. I was told you need to minimize the
usage so it's a good idea for you to learn how to get along without
it until you absolutely have to use it.”

Jethro nodded at
that. It wasn't like he could walk or run far in cloak. It was good
for brief bursts of a few minutes or so and left him winded
afterward. He was looking forward to trying to expand it's duration
however. “Yes sir.”
“Lets rock.”

 ...*...*...*...*...

The grizzly sniffed
as he looked at his fellow class mates. There were eleven in all, ten
were human. The last one was a genie, a mutt from the look of him.

“
Welcome all,”
the instructor said. The class goggled at the sight of Firefly's
avatar. “I'm going to be your instructor for this course. If
you’re wondering, you are going to be doing a lot more
intellectual work instead of psychical.”

The AI waited until
the class settled into the seats. “There are twelve of you in
this class. Most are from the recently graduated boot camp.
Congratulations. You are here because you've shown leadership
qualities we need and you were recommended by your drill sergeant.”

The bear grimaced.
He had hoped that one of his team would have made it in. Jethro had
shown leadership skills. Apparently he'd leapt on something else
leaning to his recon specialty.

“
Despite the
recent ROTC graduates there are currently three marine officers. The
Major and two lieutenants. The Major started as a captain. He had
prior service before entering the corps and had extensive leadership
qualifications. As you know the tradition of only one captain on a
ship made the captain frocked to the honorary rank of major. After
proving himself in combat boarding actions during the pirate attack
the Admiral made the honorary position permanent with a battlefield
promotion,” Firefly looked around as they digested that then
nodded.

“
There are
fourteen noncoms at or above the rank of sergeant. The remainder of
the corps is made up of mostly newly enlisted. The first class as we
call it is made up of fifty two people in total. With the new
graduates the marines have swelled their numbers nearly six fold.”

“
Which mean's
we've got a lot of Indians and not enough chiefs as you humans would
say. Which brings us to why you are here.”

“
In the next
six weeks we are going to be training and as you organics would put
it, stuffing your brains with as much information as we can. Each
night you will be given sleep instruction on top of what you get
during the day.”

A few people groaned
at that. Sleep teaching on top of book learning was hell. It left
them feeling sluggish and unfocused.

“
Be prepared,
some of your classes will be with navy midshipmen if the general
thrust of the class is in synch with each branch of service. However
due to the different nature of each of the branches most of your
training will be separate.”

“
You will also
be doing a great deal of sim training. Tactical and strategic sims to
assess and develop your skills. Some of you will do excellently in
one or the other category. Those of you who can do well in both and
the other skills we will help you develop, will go far.”

“
Some of you
will be excellent small team leaders. Others will only come into your
own in larger more abstract battlefield sims. Unfortunately we don't
have a call for such at this time, but your skills will be noted in
your files.”

The grizzly grimaced
at that. He'd played some strategy games, but he preferred the first
person shooter and squad level games in his off time over the real
time strategy.
“You will also learn about the importance of
logistics, and how it can determine the course of a battle. Don't
expect it to be just an instant fill response. The sims will have
scaled real world responses to logistics,” the AI studied the
class.