Jethro Goes to War (Wandering Engineer Jethro's tale) (57 page)

“
Yes,”
Zebo replied. “I was curious about that as well.”

“
Prejudice,”
the Naga Ris'ha hissed.

“
No. Well,
maybe a little,” Valenko shrugged. “They did try to
uplift parrots but it didn't work. Most us are a mix of uplifts and
gene grafts.”

“
I don't
understand,” Zebo said scratching at a scale.

“
It's
complicated,” the heavy worlder Miles sighed. “See, we,
that is normals...”

“
Like you're
normal,” Jethro laughed. Miles snorted. “Seriously, heavy
worlder right?”

Miles nodded. “Bingo
furball.” He shook his head. “See some of the Neo's are
uplifts. But others were grafts or super soldiers.”

“
Again I do
not understand,” Zebo said shaking his body. His arms wrapped
around and crossed under his massive mouth. “Explain. The
changing of one's sonotype to another form is illogical.”

“
Heh, tell
that the Ynari,” Jethro said swishing his tail and flicking his
ears.

“
You don't
have this sort of thing? Or didn't before the Xeno war I take it?”
Hurranna asked.

The Gashg and Naga
looked at her. She shrugged and spread her hands. One had a beer in
it. “What?” she asked. “I take it that's a no?”

“
No. Only a
few races were into this stuff. Terrans went all out. Ynari did as
well, but in a different direction,” Miles said with a smile.

“
Explain,”
the Naga said impatiently. You'd think he would be used to walking
around in the dark at this rate.

“
Well, some
humans were desperate to be different than others. Than mainstream
society that is. They liked to stand out, to be different.
Nonconformists. Others liked fur a little too much.” Miles
grimaced, jerking a thumb to Hurranna. She gave him a one finger
salute.

“
It was during
the early days of gene engineering. Long before star flight and first
contact. When humans had learned how to gene splice code from various
species into Frankenstein monsters,” Valenko rumbled. “A
few people with more money than sense changed themselves. That
started it a little.”

“
But didn't
end it,” Jethro replied taking up the tale in turn. “See
governments were trying to come up with the perfect super soldier
program years before. They tried gene grafting animal traits into
humans, but it didn't work out as well.” He grimaced a smile.
“To have an animal's senses you need some of the traits of that
species. And changes to the brain. If you want to be able to smell
like a dog you have to have the same brain structure... Something
they weren't happy about tinkering with too much. They wanted their
subjects to still be able to blend in with society at large.”

“
That changed
during the AI war. Or just prior to it actually,” Valenko
rumbled picking up the thread of the story. “Desperate people
tried desperate things. They grafted human traits onto us. Uplift.
Much faster than what they did to change dolphins and others.”
He shrugged.

“
We were
uplifted before the war. They didn't have far to go with us though, a
few cosmetic changes so we can walk upright, use our thumbs easier,
and changes to our vocal cords and frontal lobes,” Betty said,
holding up her simian hand and buffing her nails smugly.

“
That's
because you're kissing cousins with the pink skinned humans,”
Jethro retorted. “By the time the AI wars ended our ancestors
were given full rights of sentient life. It was part of the deal the
governments at the time struck with the AI.”

“
Which they
tried to renig on a few dozen times before we got our own people into
office and society's prejudices changed,” Valenko said. “A
few humans had changed themselves into animals like our selkie friend
over there so that helped as well.” Déjà waved a
flippered hand. Apparently he was along to check any seas and
waterways they ran into. “They were busy rebuilding the oceans
though. A few took on traits like us. Over time that sort of
evolved.”

“
And since we
have a mix of human and animal genes we can cross breed. Well a few
of us can. If we want to,” Jethro shrugged. “We have a
limited gene pool on the station though so our clan leaders keep
close watch of the blood lines. Fortunately some of us have genes
that are genetically dominant.”

“
So you’re
a warrior?”

“
Born and
bred,” Jethro said, smiling a tight lipped smile and wiggling
his ears in amused agreement. “As is our bear friend,” he
chuffed then slapped Valenko's side.

“
Well, I've
got a few human black sheep in my genome a few generations back,”
Valenko said with a shrug.

“
Who doesn't?”
Hurranna asked amused. “I'm not a war genie though. The foxes
either. We're some rich guy's idea that got a little out of hand. Not
that I'm complaining or anything,” she smiled a toothy smile.
Jethro snorted.

“
I won’t.”
He leaned back. “Just as long as I'm in arms reach,” he
teased. She mock growled and took a swipe at him hissing. He rumbled
a laughing purr. She settled down though.

“
You'll notice
no crocs right? That's because they are ambush hunters. Reptiles...
at least those on earth are cold blooded. They are hard to motivate.
I think there was a story about some group that tried to uplift a
croc but it backfired,” Jethro grimaced. “I heard it a
long, long time ago so I'm not sure how true it is though.”

“
But he's
right, most of us or at least our baseline species had been in
contact and studied by humans for centuries before they were tinkered
with. Well, all but the dogs. Dogs were domesticated for thousands of
years before they uplifted them.”

The greyhound medic,
alsatian MP, and wolves looked up, snorted and then went back to the
more important spades game they were playing. Gunny Schultz flicked
an ear their way then went back to watching the recorded null G game
on his feed.

“
You are
different though,” Zebo said, eye stalks moving to look at the
panther. “You and the leopard.”

“
We are
cousins. We were an experiment,” Jethro grimaced. “I'm
actually more than just the two species.”

“
He's a
chimera. Technically we all are, but he's got three species,”
Valenko said taking a swig from his cup and then setting it down with
a clatter.

“
Five.”

“
Damn! Over
achiever huh?”

“
Something
like that. Like I had a choice,” Jethro snorted.

“
True.”

“
I've got
chrometophores in my skin. They are from some sort of Terran squid.
It lets my skin change color. My hair follicles are translucent, they
change color with it, allowing me to blend in to backgrounds.”

“
You can also
control your thermal output with alarming ability,” Zebo said.
His nostril stalks dilated. “You also have not much of a scent
even now.”

“
More changes.
Remember that croc reference a minute ago?” Jethro asked. “I've
got some gene grafts there as well. I can alter my thermal profile.
As for my scent,” he shrugged. “Don't blame me if I
shower regularly and some people don't.”

Hurranna snickered
at that.

“
So you have
animal as well as human traits? Do you go feral?” Ris'ha
hissed.

“
No idea,”
Valenko replied. “I for one am an omnivore, so I don't mind a
good rare steak now and then.” He grinned and picked his teeth
with a large claw. “I'd imagine without civilized contact, and
under the right circumstances it's possible. But then again that's
possible of any species right?”

“
Not mine. We
can exist alone for decades.”

“
Must be nice.
Lonely though,” Jethro replied. He shook his head.

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

They had exited
hyper but were still some time out from Agnosta. The teams were still
training, but had added inspections and equipment tests to their
itinerary.

Valenko rubbed his
back. He'd been surprised that his team was easily dominating the
other two. Even with his team on foot and the enemy with heavy
weapons or vehicles they invariably still won. They'd yet to try two
squads against one, and from the Major's muttering he was sure it was
coming. In fact from the look on the approaching lieutenant's face it
might be now.

“
Ensign a
word, how the hell are you doing what you're doing? You are trouncing
both the Major and I in just about every exercise.” The
lieutenant asked exasperated.

“
Practice
ma'am.”

“
No
seriously.”

“
And I was
being serious ma'am. Also training and knowing your team mates. I've
gone through boot with my entire team. Gunny Schultz ran us through
one hell of a ringer.”

“
Ah.”
She looked thoughtful as she accessed the relevant records. “F
platoon?” she asked surprised. “Shit,” she said,
shooting him a look. Valenko tried not to smile. F platoon was
getting quite the reputation among the corps.

“
Yes ma'am.
Thought you knew.”

“
I assure you
I didn't,” she said dryly.

“
You've got
two of us in your squad ma'am.”

“
The selkie
and the Naga you mean? That's because they... oh never mind. So what
is your secret?”

“
We'll ma'am,
I don't micromanage my fire teams for one.”

“
Ouch.”

“
Sorry.
Jethro, Letanga, and Hurranna take the point fire team. I anchor the
middle with the shooters Miles and Asazi, and doc,” he nodded
to Gusterson. “And gunny has Ox, Sergei, and Chirby as rear
guard.”

“
With that
combination I would think you would evenly distribute your assets.”

“
You'd think
so ma'am, but that's not a good way to do this. Rear guard is slow
for a reason. They are bringing up the rear. I want my heavy fire
support where it won't slow me down.”

“
Ah. And if
they were mixed in with your point?”

“
They would
slow them down. Jethro and Letanga both took the abbreviated recon
class. They are fast and both have stealth ability.”

“
I didn't know
the leopard did.”

“
He's not as
good as the panther, but he's close. He leaves a blurry after image.
But under the right circumstances it's effective.”

“
Ah.”

“
They can
leapfrog each other as needed, with one in overwatch the entire time
the other is in movement. Since they and we all trained together we
know each other's moves and can read each other without many hand
signs or give away communications,” he explained. She nodded.

“
That's about
it ma'am. I let them react as needed and coordinate from the middle.”

“
I assure you
it's a bit more than that. But micromanaging, where did they teach
you that? In class?”

“
No ma'am.
Well they did, but I picked it up a long time ago.”

“
Oh?”
she asked, eyebrow raised.

“
Long version
or short?”

“
Just the high
points please, we may have all day but even I get  bored,”
she said smiling a little.

“
Yes ma'am. I
grew up reading a lot of marine stuff as a cub. When I got to the
station I gravitated to the guard. An old sergeant took me under his
wing and showed me the ropes.”

“
Really?”

“
Yes ma'am.
He'd been on Briev and came to Anvil for regen after his leg got
blown off. But he just sort of stayed on. He was good ma'am. He told
me not to micromanage, he taught me about the differences in
commissioned and enlisted, and taught me to listen.”

“
Ah.”

“
It just sort
of clicked,” he shrugged.

“
Huh,”
she glanced at the troop.

“
I realized a
little while ago why Jethro doesn't want to be an officer. It took me
a while to put it into perspective.”

“
Jethro, you
mean the Lance Corporal? The panther?”

“
Yes ma'am.”

“
He does well
in the exercises,” she admitted.