Jethro Goes to War (Wandering Engineer Jethro's tale) (52 page)

“
And we can't
get in to them with their helmets off,” he sighed.

“
Oh,”
Hurranna looked up. “Want me to add my reserve?”

Jethro checked her
system with his implants and then grimaced. “No, you don't have
much as it is,” Jethro shook his head. He looked up. “Sierra
one five to Sierra six, two subjects, one male one female. In an
emergency shelter without helmets. Unconscious. Uploading log and
video now.” He tapped the files of the last few minutes, zipped
them and squirted them through his suit link to the lieutenant in
charge of the Search and Rescue effort.

“
Roger that
sierra one five,” the lieutenant said quickly. He sounded
impatient.

“
Be advised
Sierra One five actual and Sierra one five beta have no reserve o2
remaining. One spare on sled and Sierra one five Charlie has minimum
reserve.”

“
Roger. Get
them on the sled.”

“
Roger that.
Moving now.” Jethro nodded to Sergei who was carefully picking
up the tent. Fortunately in the almost negligible gravity it was
easy. Just a matter of yanking the anchoring stakes out of the ground
and then picking it up.

“
Awkward,”
Sergei grunted as Hurranna hovered around him. “Get the sled,”
Jethro said to her.

“
Ah, I just
checked Sierra one five, we can't take them here. Our lock is a one
person job. They won’t fit,” the lieutenant said.

“
But we can
top them off with air sir.”

“
It still
won’t get them out of that bubble,” the lieutenant
replied. “Get them to the nearest colony with a big enough
lock. Go all out hell for leather. Don't worry about
expenditures.”
“Ah...” Jethro frowned trying to
think of the closest rock. He tried to do the calculations but after
a minute let his computer handle it. He didn't like the numbers it
was projecting. “Wouldn't Firefly be closer sir?”

“
You'd think
so, but she went off on her own since we've got things handled here.
Or did till you found your wayward waifs. “Bar S is the
closest. She'll take you in.”

“
Ah, we're on
fumes sir.”

“
You'll have
to make do then. Breath shallow Corporal. You can do it,” the
lieutenant replied. “Sierra six out.”

“
Oh lovely,”
Hurranna said looking up from where they were tying the bundle down
on the back of the sled. “Take this piece of crap that far? Why
can't we go to them and top off?”

“
He wants to
conserve what he's got I guess,” Jethro shook his head. “Let's
go.” He skipped to the sled and climbed on with the others.
“Got them hooked into the bottle.”

“
Yeah. It
filled the tent till I shut off the valve. I've replaced their CO2
scrubber. Maybe the oxy will wake them. The co2 probably kept them
under.”

“
Yeah,”
Jethro grimaced. He gunned the engine and they flew off. He accessed
his HUD and let it guide him to the Bar S.

 ...*...*...*...*...

“
What the
hell's going on?” a male voice crackled over the guard channel
just as they were approaching the colony.

“
Bar S? This
is Sierra one five. We're coming in hot with recovered colonists in
need of medical attention.”

“
Huh?”

He felt the sled
shift. He turned a glare on Sergei but the Liger spread his hands.
“Wasn't me man.” He turned to see the tent moving.

“
My head is
killing me,” A new man's gruff dust dry voice said on the
radio.

“
Rest sir,”
Hurranna said, hand on his chest. “Try not to move too much,
your throwing the sled off balance. We're overloaded as it is. We're
getting you help.”

“
What the hell
are you?” the man said blearily. He was obviously confused.

“
Marines sir,”
Hurranna replied patiently. She moved the tent window so he could see
her.

“
Oh,”
the man's blue eyes were blood shot. He blinked and tried to rub his
temples. “Damn my head hurts. It's really bright. You're loud.”

“
It's the
hypoxia sir,” Hurranna said softly. “Your body is
fighting it.”

“
Need more
air.”

“
We're almost
there.” Hurranna turned to look at the nearing colony. As she
did the man got a shadowy view of her through her darkened visor.

“
What the hell
are you?” the man panicked, thrashing about. “Where the
hell are you taking me?” he said, hyperventilating.

“
Sir, relax,”
Sergei said, growling. “We're Neo marines. Try to remain calm.”

“
More air. Let
me out of this thing.”

“
Get your
helmet on. And your partner's,” Hurranna said.

“
My... oh shit
Shelly... Oh my goddess! Shelly, come on babe, wake up. Open those
pretty eyes of yours girl.” He touched her then shook her
gently.

“
She's alive,”
Hurranna said.

“
I know that,
I can feel her breathing,” the man growled. “How long?”

“
Since you've
been out or until we get to safety?”

“
Both.”

“
I have no
idea how long you've been out. We were called in yesterday,”
Hurranna shrugged. “I dunno how long it'll take to dock.”

“
Not long
now.”

“
Better not
be, we're almost out of fuel and air,” Sergei muttered.

They got the bundled
couple off the sled as Jethro pulled up to the airlock. A suited guy
was there waiting. He grabbed the tent and plugged a spare air can
in. “We'll take it from here.”

“
Hell you
will, we're out of air too,” Jethro growled, anchoring the sled
to the hand hold near the lock and then climbing off. The three cats
were down to only the air left in their helmets. Their implants were
staving off hypoxia and keeping them moving but that wouldn't last
more then five or ten more minutes.

“
Oh.”

The man pulled the
couple into the lock. Sergei pushed. Once the lock cycled the three
of them went inside. As the air was restored to the airlock Sergei
took off his helmet and took a deep breath. “Air, sweet sweaty
air,” he sighed.

“
Yeah,”
Hurranna said taking her helmet off. “Never imagine what you
take for granted,” she shook her head. The inner door opened as
she tucked her helmet under one arm.

“
Get them to
sickbay,” the man who had been outside said with his helmet
off. The tent was lying on a hover pallet. The man inside was trying
to sit up but the medic pushed him back down. “Easy Sid, you’re
in good hands. Shelly too. Just relax.”

“
Sit back and
enjoy the ride? Hell with that, I know how you drive,” the man
growled.

“
Yeah, you
should, you taught me,” the medic teased, cracking a smile. A
crowd was growing around them. The medic looked over to the three
marines. “Damn,” his eyes widened a little at the sight
of them.

“
She okay?”
Hurranna asked pointing to the woman.

“
Yeah,”
The medic nodded. “Shelly's a hard one. She's just out.”

“
Huh,”
Sid said shaking his head. “Slept through it all. Snored,”
he winced. “Now you know why I'm awake first. She could sleep
through a bomb blast and not so much as twitch.”

The crowd snickered
and chuckled at that. A few near him reached out and patted him on
the shoulder or back. He eyed the marines. “I owe you. We both
do.”

“
Just doing
our job sir,” Jethro said nodding politely.

“
Which we've
got to get back to,” Sergei said yawning. “Sorry.”
he mumbled. “Can we top off our suits and sled? We've got to
get back to Cinder. They may need us.”

“
Ah, yeah,”
Jen said coming over to them. “On the house,” she smiled.
She turned to Jed. “The sled...”

“
Already on
it. I got Bick and Garth to go over it and refuel it.”

“
Thanks. The
spare oxy is out as well. We were on fumes,” Sergei said
shaking his head.

“
You made it.
That's the important thing,” Jen said nodding as the crowd
parted to let the hover pallet move off to sickbay. “Why don't
we fix you up with some grub while they top your suits off and get
your sled refueled. Shouldn't take more than a half hour to an hour.”

“
Thanks,”
Jethro stretched. His ears flicked. “I think we'll take you up
on that.” He nodded to the others who nodded back.

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

“
He's here,”
Hurranna said over their link.

Jethro blinked.
“Who?” he asked after a moment.

“
Him. One of
the guys on the wanted list. Bastard who works for the speaker,”
Hurranna growled. Her eyes were narrowed and the pupils were tight
slits.

“
You're sure?”
he asked after a moment, trying hard not to react.

“
Sure as I'm
standing here,” she growled.

“
Okay okay,
send me a link,” Jethro said. He closed his eyes as she fed him
a still. A head was circled in the crowd.

“
The boys were
right.”

“
Yeah,”
Jethro nodded sitting back. Casually he looked around, picking at his
teeth with a plastic toothpick. “And they were right about
her,” he said freezing. He snapped his eyes in a fast blink
then pulled up an image. He focused on the hooded female with the
male and zoomed in. It was a three quarter profile, and she had dyed
her hair, but he was pretty sure it was her. He pulled up a facial
recognition program, loaded that face and her wanted image and
compared the two. It was a ninety percent match.

“
Yup. It's
her,” Sergei rumbled after Jethro shunted the results to both
of them. “Think we should arrest them or something? Maybe...”

“
No. No we
don't do a thing. It's for higher to sort out,” Hurranna said
urgently. “We've got a mission.”

Jed came in and
waved. They nodded. The bar had been busy, people were coming in and
either offering to buy the marines drinks or swapping close call
stories. The group had been hard pressed to accept while staying
sober enough to go back out. The last thing they needed was to be
drunk on duty. In space. Not a pretty thing to think about.

Fortunately the
bartender had understood and was swapping their drinks for something
non alcoholic. She made a killing and they saved face with the nice
people here.

“
All set,”
Jed said nodding. “All fueled up and ready to rock.”

“
Thanks.”
Jethro nodded as he got up. The others followed suit. “We've
got to get back there folks.” He waved to the crowd and then
they moved off.

Jethro climbed onto
the sled and checked the controls. “Sierra one five to Sierra
six, leaving Bar S now.”

He waited a moment,
checking the sled's systems. He tapped the tank readings to make sure
they were right. He had them on his HUD as well, but it never failed
to double check.

Sleds were little
more than a rocket with inertial dampeners, saddle, and handlebars to
hang onto. Fun as it seemed to ride them, it wasn't a picnic going
long distances on them. Of course belters used them anyway.

“
Hang on
Sierra one five,” the Lieutenant's voice called over the radio
link a moment later. “Wait for pick up by Firefly there. We've
got the situation under control here.”

“
Sir...”

“
That's an
order. Consider it a two day pass for a job well done you lucky dog,”
The lieutenant said.

“
I'm a cat
sir.”

“
Whatever.
Just enjoy it while it lasts,” the lieutenant said. “Higher
wants you to stay put since we've gotten things here. Go enjoy
yourselves. Sierra six out.”

“
Yes sir.
Sierra one five out,” Jethro said turning as he got off the
sled.

“
Something
wrong?” Sergei asked. Jethro shrugged a little.

“
Brass wants
us to wait here for pick up by Firefly. Consider it a two day pass
they said.”

“
Oh. Can't
argue with that,” Sergei shrugged. “I don't mind the idea
of getting out of this monkey suit.”