Jethro Goes to War (Wandering Engineer Jethro's tale) (55 page)

“
Bet someone
somewhere noticed.”

“
Oh they did.
The flag officers did at first. They didn't say anything. They built
their careers in the captain's chair. They knew the stakes, they knew
all about the scum. Murders, rapists, thieves, and worse. It wasn't
going to make them sleep any less at night knowing that trash was
being taken care of permanently. Less paperwork to deal with.”

“
But the
politicians...”

“
A few
noticed. The conservatives didn't say anything. Nothing at all, and
even helped squelch any inquiries. The liberals didn't protest. The
backlash from the whole program was a big black eye for them. They
came out as soft on crime so they lost two elections back to back and
were in full retreat.” He shook his head.

“
In fact, they
proposed repealing the law. Which happened just before the Xeno war,”
the gunny finished. He tossed his potato into the tub and then got
up. He handed the knife to Sergei as he looked at Jethro. “We
all know what you did. You took your lumps like a marine. I have no
complaints son. I'm proud of you. You did it, and you covered the
brass and the navy. They are starting to realize it now. By acting
alone and leaving little or no evidence you could be disavowed. The
navy would lose face, but it wouldn't have gotten as badly splattered
as if they had finally gotten their act together to do something. And
anyway, if they had taken too long hemming and hawing the speaker
would have gone to ground again.” He shook his head.

“
Just remember
you're among friends.” He turned and went out the hatch. As the
door swung open they could see the galley was packed with enlisted.
Both marines and navy.

“
Holy crap,”
Hurranna breathed a little sigh. Schultz stopped by a cook and passed
on a low order and then moved off.

 ...*...*...*...*...

“
You
countermanded my judiciary punishment?” Captain Mayweather
demanded. The gunny gave her a look.

“
I asked a
question.”

“
Yes ma'am.”

“
You are out
of line.”

“
No ma'am. You
were,” he said quietly.

Captain Mayweather's
eyes dilated as her nostrils flared. Her knuckles whitened on the
table.

“
Perhaps if
you explained?” the Major asked.

“
First,
administrative punishment is to be determined by the chain of
command. From the Major to me. You are outside the chain of command,”
Schultz eyed the captain. “Second the two week bread and water
ration constituted cruel and unusual punishment, and was life
threatening.”

“
Bull. I've
put others on it,” Mayweather growled.

“
Humans maybe.
I can check the records just as well as you can ma'am. I did. The
longest period was three days. Not fourteen. And none of them were
Neo's.”

“
What does
that have to do with anything? I'm not racist.”

“
I didn't say
you were ma'am. But Neo's and Neo cats like the Lance Corporal have
different dietary requirements. In his case his species is an
obligatory carnivore.”

“
So?”

“
So he
requires meat. Kilo's of meat. His health was failing after a few
days without it. If it had gone a few days more his internal organs
would have shut down,” Doctor Standish said from behind the
gunny.

The gunny looked
over to the doctor and then back to the two senior officers. “The
doctor is correct. However there is a much more dangerous situation
that could have developed. Regression. Deprived of food for so long
the Lance Corporal could have regressed. In doing so he would have
made himself a danger to himself and his ship mates.”

“
I could just
image him going on a feral rampage,” the Major said eyes wide.
He sat back. “I see now what you did and why. Still you should
have come to us.”

“
It is a two
way street sir. If you had come to me about it I would've headed it
off before it came to this,” Schulz said calmly.

“
I... I didn't
know,” Mayweather said, running a hand through her hair.

“
Understandable.
There aren't many Neo's on your crew ma'am. Most opt for Marine
service,” Schultz said, throwing her a face saving gesture.

“
I... I
understand,” she nodded. “Okay. I even agree.” She
shook her head.

“
We've got to
much invested in this kid to screw him up permanently,” the
Major sighed. “Is there any permanent damage?” he asked,
turning to Doctor Standish.

“
I'm not sure.
I've been monitoring his implants. There is some damage. I've been
upping his supplements but...” he shook his head in disbelief.
“How he didn't go feral...” He shook his head again.

“
Sheer will
power. He's got a stubborn streak a kilometer thick,” the gunny
replied. “But he is also willing to admit when he is wrong and
try to correct himself. Something rare in some people,” he
deadpanned looking at the two officers.

“
I agree,”
Captain Mayweather said with a snort. “Backhanded compliment as
it was, it does describe me to a T. You are right, I came down on him
too hard. I was pissed because he backed me into a corner.” She
shot the Major a look. “Okay,
us
into a corner.”

“
You were
trying to make sure he didn't do something like that again ma'am,”
Schultz said with a shrug. “Besides, you’re the captain,
you’re entitled to some things.”

“
But not in
killing a good marine,” she replied as she shook her head. “I
did over react. We didn't know what to do. We were still trying to
figure out something. Commander Logan was trying to figure out who to
trust, who we could pass the information on to...”

“
And he took
the decision out of your hands and that pissed you off,” the
doctor said with a snort. “I know. I know.” He held up
his hands as she glared. “Yeah, your privilege. But he fell all
over himself setting himself up to be disavowed, protecting the navy.
Don't we owe him some of that same protection?”

“
Which, since
he is such an asset, and did a good job, I think we can extend.”
The captain nodded to Firefly's avatar. “We'll see to it that
he's protected from official sanction. I'll expunge the AWOL charge.
We'll fix it. Since half the navy is in an uproar, I don't have much
choice,” she grunted.

The gunny felt a
sense of relief. He was glad it was coming out okay.

 ...*...*...*...*...

Captain Mayweather
watched the holo with a trace of annoyance and pride. The galley was
filled with off duty personnel. Most were enlisted but there were a
few officers as well. More crowded the wardroom and corridors. All of
the men and women stood in line, waiting to take a turn with the
panther. So much for being in hack. He was now a celebrity. The
people there weren't there to worship him, they were there to share
in his punishment. Amazing.

“
Not quite
what you had in mind Captain?” Firefly asked, looking at her.
She shook her head.

“
No. I put the
kid in hack and damn near have a mutiny. What the hell are we going
to do with him?”

“
That is
taking it a little too far Captain. There have been no mutinous
sentiments in the crew. They aren't happy at all with his treatment,
but they aren't expressing a need for a change in leadership. I
believe the gunny and Bosun have kept that from happening.”

“
You think I
went overboard?”

“
Yes,”
the AI said simply. “He did wrong. That is a given. But killing
him...”

“
Wasn't my
intent at all. Okay, I screwed up there,” Mayweather sighed.
She looked over to the Major, standing near the door. “Quit
looking so smug,” she growled.

“
Why?”
he asked amused. “You got yourself in a pickle.”

“
Okay okay,
I'm an interfering busy body. So sue me,” she growled. “Your
department, not mine. I get it. Any ideas on fixing it so we don't
look like total asses but keep discipline?”

“
Well, we need
to back the gunny. Pull the records like you said, and expunge them.
Also change the IFF location, and get the kid something to eat.”

“
I don't want
him on my ship,” the captain growled. “I don't need
problems like this,” she sighed rubbing her temples. “He's
a loose cannon.”

“
Well, since I
was still debating on sending him to Agnosta, I guess that decision
is now made for me,” the Major smiled, shaking his head.

“
Great, more
meddling,” Mayweather teased.

“
His team was
the primary anyway. Well, one of them. He's good. Very good. He's
what the corps will mold itself to become in time if we can keep him
straight. Sending him to Agnosta will give him some ground experience
and detach him from this.”

“
Out of sight,
out of mind you mean?” Firefly asked. “It has worked
before. It should work here. There has been some competition for the
slots however.”

“
My people
will do as they're told. I was planning on tapping Ensign Valenko as
one of the officers. Since I am booting Pendeckle up to captain jg,
he should have a good team to back him up. One with experience.”

“
Which he
has.”

“
But not on a
planet. Valenko is one of the few people who has experience on a
planet. He's also the only officer other than myself who has such
experience. We need to pass that experience on to as many people as
possible.”

“
Oh,”
Mayweather blinked. “Your department.” She looked
thoughtful. “Okay, one more piece of meddling. Send the gunny
along as well. And his two friends.”

“
Okay...”

“
Another side
benefit is that the ensign was the Lance Corporal's platoon leader.
He will no doubt request him,” Firefly interjected.

“
Since they
worked so well together, I have no doubt,” the Major said. “I
just need to keep a straight face when he does.”

“
And keeping
one when they find out Schultz is going along for the ride will be
even more fun,” the captain said with a grin. “Enjoy.”
She left without a backwards glance.

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

The gunny tried not
to sigh as he packed his gear. He had a feeling something like this
would happen. Then again, maybe it was a good thing. He was getting a
little cabin fever. Running around on the ground might be fun.

“
Gunny.”
He turned to see the panther behind him.

“
Yes Lance
corporal?”

“
I, ah, need
to mention something. To someone. An officer.”

“
About what?”
The gunny asked, turning back to pack.

“
About what
happened.”

“
Tough.”

“
It's
about...”

“
I don't want
to hear it,” The gunny said firmly. “Don't mention it.”

“
Sir. It's
about Destiny.”

“
What about
Destiny?” Firefly asked as the gunny turned. Jethro came to
attention just as the gunny did.

“
Sir. I ah, am
not sure how to continue.”

“
Start at the
beginning, end at the end,” Firefly said dryly.

“
I was told
not to mention it. But I ah... think it is important.”

“
What?”

“
Before the
bar fight I recorded the persons of interest speaking in the bar.
They mentioned sabotaging the freighter Destiny to kill the Admiral.”

“
Oh. Lovely,”
the gunny muttered.

“
They did?”
Firefly asked.

“
Yes sir.”

“
Did they
mention how?”

“
A virus sir.
They also mentioned that the people who did the job were now dead.”

“
Interesting.
Shoot me the file. I will inform intelligence and those who need to
know.”

“
Thank you
sir,” Jethro said giving a choppy nod. He accessed the file and
sent it to the AI's e-mail address.

“
Now I
understand your other reason for doing what you did. I had wondered.”