Jethro: First to Fight (81 page)

 During the combat he realized
something in the armor was at first fighting his efforts and then helping him.
His lower back hurt like hell. “What a time for this,” he muttered, trying to
keep his head in the game. He'd killed three of the twenty four, now as he made
it back to their lines his enhanced strength sliced a fourth's leg out from
under him, then he was up and slashing at a fifth before the other went down.

He could feel a presence in the computer
and in his mind, something that had not been there but was now there but wasn't
quite awake. His deactivated shields came online on their own to shrug off
another hit.

He grinned savagely, dropping a sixth
body, then growled, letting the growl echo out over his intercom. The
Horathians went all wide eyed, panicking. Some turned to run.

He moved in, ducking under his shield to
get in close when he had to, then tearing them apart with his claws. It was a
massacre, they didn't stand a chance. Only one came close to killing him, the
one with the plasma rifle. He opened up on Jethro at close range. The shields
shrugged off the fire, but his vision went red warning him the heat was seeping
in and overheating his limited cooling ability. He dropped his cloak and then
roared, breaking the plasma weapon in half. It exploded, tearing apart the
Horathian holding it and throwing Jethro back on his ass. Fortunately his
shields protected him, but they were down to ten percent.

He looked back, seeing one last
Horathian standing there, quivering like an idiot. He growled deep in his
throat, getting to all fours. The last one threw his rifle down and fled in
terror, screaming like a mad man. He was tempted to hunt the bastard down, but
he was headed in the wrong direction. Besides, he'd thrown his weapon down, he
was no longer a threat. No, instead he gathered their weapons and ammunition
and stuffed them in a room, then moved on. He had a job to do, he headed to the
command deck.

“None shall pass,” he growled ominously.
His suit still smoldered from the close plasma hit.

“That's telling them,” Taylor Warner
said as his image appeared. Jethro spun to cover the holographic being then
checked himself. Taylor was in uniform. Before Jethro could come to attention
the cyber gave the panther a thumbs up, then his hologram cut out and he
vanished.

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

Valenko's squad was on point, hammering
the pirates and pushing them back immediately. Other squads secured the side
passages to keep them from being flanked. Their objective was the command deck,
other squads would secure the power plants and life support. Once the primary
objectives were secured they would secure the surviving stationers and then
hunt down Zimmer and the remaining Horathians.

The cybers helped the Marines, the
Warners directed them around traps while the other cybers used the internal
hatches to cut the pirates into smaller groups.

Valenko was wary of the Warners but when
he jacked in they uploaded their fleet ID's to him. He took it on faith who
they were and followed their lead, neatly taking out a pocket of enemy troops.
“Your man got through, Sergeant Jethro is now in the command center. He did a
bang up job slaughtering two squads of pirates on the way in too.”

“Excellent. So, that objective's secure
then,” Valenko said, shifting mental tracks. Jethro could hold the command
center as long as he had power, which he had access to from the station. He
shifted his priorities now.

“We're going with the secondary list of
objectives,” he said, informing the Marines around him. He uploaded the change
to the 'Major as well. “Can you help there? Sir?”

“Of course,” Taylor replied, uploading
new intel the other cybers had gathered. “See what we can accomplish when we work
together?” Taylor Warner teased. “Even if you are a jarhead and not navy.”

“Cute. Sir.” The bear added. He'd gotten
a hasty update from command that Mr. Warner was indeed a naval reservist, a
first Lieutenant vetted by Admiral Irons. His wife Mrs. Rasha Warner was an
Ensign. Taylor had the bear by date of rank, so a sir qualified, at least in
his eyes. Besides, both Warners were not only elders, they were also civilian
leaders of the station. He snorted. They could figure out who should sir who protocol
later. “Any more customers?”

“Thought you'd never ask. As it happens,
yes. Someone's getting cute, they have a couple heavy plasma weapons and are
trying to barricade the open passage ahead of you. It's a straight corridor
about a hundred meters long and they're at the end of it.”

“Shit. Way around?”

“Not in those suits,” Warner replied.
“They've got the two avenues nearby covered. If you shift they'll move to a new
junction and you'll still have to face them.”

“Sometimes the only way to do it is
through. But let's see if we can throw in some finesse. Kovu, remote probes.
Shields forward!” the bear ordered.

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

Zimmer scowled. It was obvious from the
way the Marines weren't pulling back that they hadn't bought his bluff. He had
to find a way to make them pay. Something that either leveled the playing field
or gave the enemy a Pyrrhic victory.

He scowled again at the video feed from
platoon Delta. They were down to half strength, trapped in a water park of all
places. The damn elves kept snipping them from the air ducts and returns. He'd
thought he'd finally found a way to deal with the little monsters and now... he
flicked the track ball and zoomed in. He saw what looked like a four legged
robot walking across the open ground. Delta concentrated their fire on the
robot, cutting it apart. It bounced as it spun, bits spinning off it. Then it's
back pack detonated in a blinding flash.

He grinned. “That's showing them!” he
said, then the grin faded as the Private zoomed out. While his people had been
distracted and focused on the robot coming in down the center of the field the
Marines had hugged the walls and flanked the robot, getting in closer. Already
his people were switching targets but the Marines had dropped into the waterway
that wrapped around the park. It was below ground level and even though it was
half filled with water it had concrete on either side, a perfect trench. “No, no
NO!” he shouted angrily.

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

“So we're clear? The cybers are certain
no nuclear weapons came on board?” Valenko asked.

“As clear as I can be Lieutenant,”
Taylor Warner said, looking at the bear. “I think I would have noticed a nuke
coming on board son,” he said patiently.

“Sorry sir, just had to be clear and
all,” Valenko replied.

“I know the feeling,” Taylor said dryly.
“It's a bluff. He could still do a lot of damage and kill a lot of people in
the life support works and in the power rooms though,” he said.

“Yeah well, I think we Marines will have
a say about that,” Valenko replied. He hefted a plasma rifle.

“Just be careful where you shoot those
things,” Taylor replied warily, nodding his chin to the weapon. “One wrong shot
and well... boom.”

“Boom?”

“Big boom.”

“Oh,” Valenko said and then shook his
head. “Okay, I'll pass it on,” he said. “Thanks for the warning and the heads
up sir.”

“No problem Marine, kick some pirate ass
for me.”

“Will do.”

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

“Hey man, I've got to charge my shield,
it's down by half.”

“Good idea,” Kovu growled. The shields
had done a damn good job of protecting them. “Go, I've got point,” he said,
moving past the human. “You never know when we'll need a full charge,” the lion
said.

“You sure?” Fonz asked.

“Go, I've got this.”

Fonz patted him on the arm and then
shouldered his way back through the Marines. “What are you doing?” Valenko
demanded.

“My shield's at half power. Something's
going on, it's not taking a charge from my suit. Only a trickle.”

“Run a diagnostic. The shields use a
capacitor to energize quickly. One of them must be down. Ox,” Valenko looked
for the Tauren. The Tauren's massive head looked up. The bear waved him over.

“Ox will take a look. Kovu on point?”
Valenko asked.

“He's got it boss,” Fonz said.

“Right.”

Kovu walked slowly, keeping in range of
the sensor ball he threw. In a way he hated the things, they gave away his
position, let the enemy know they were coming. He'd tried rolling it a few
times, he didn't get as far with it though. He was getting better at getting it
to bank around corners though. Getting it to stop in an intersection was
tricky.

It was all sort of a game in a way, but
with life or death consequences if they didn't get it right. He crouched,
checking for warm bodies with his IR. The damn plasma line along his right side
made for one long hot straight line that pretty much burned off any sign of
anyone there. Not that anyone would be stupid or suicidal enough to hide behind
a plasma line, the heat alone could kill you if it breached.

“Anything?” Fonz asked.

Kovu looked over his shoulder as he
crouched in an intersection. “Nothing.”

“Well, we tried, guess we should go home
right?” Fonz quipped. Kovu snorted.

“Come out, come out, where ever you
are,” Fonz crooned mockingly. “Gee, I wonder why they don't want to come out,”
he said, flexing his suit arm.

“Got it fixed?” Kovu asked, eyes still
scanning the corridors for movement. He felt exposed and didn't like it. He
crept back a bit and knelt, looking around the corners carefully.

“Yeah, Ox said the capacitor is about
dead. Overcharged it I guess. One's dead, the other's not holding a charge
well, it's leaking.”

“Okay.”

“He can't fix it here, needs the machine
shops on Firefly so I guess I'll make do,” Fonz said. “Want to switch?” he
asked.

“No, I'm okay,” Kovu said. He waited for
Valenko's signal to move out. When the bear signaled to move on he moved on all
fours to the sensor ball and picked it up. He turned. “Eeny meany, oh what the
hell, Moe,” he said, throwing the ball in the direction the bear indicated.

When it landed he watched as it oriented
to look up, then turn in place, scanning the area.

“Seems like cheating sometimes,” Fonz
said, watching his HUD as well.

“Whatever, let's go,” Kovu said. He made
it half way down the passage before his suit sensors screamed. He turned and
spotted an enemy camera. “Trouble!” he said taking a step back just as an IED
went off. The claymore wasn't pointed at the Marines, but at the plasma line.
Kovu screamed as the plasma line ruptured and a ball of flame erupted in his
face.

Fonz used his shield to ward off the
worst of the plasma. Unfortunately in doing so it inadvertently redirected the
flow onto the lion. When the torrent of flame headed into the ceiling and
burned off he looked down to see Kovu laying there. “Ah shit,” Fonz grumbled.
He looked away, then up to the still sizzling and melting plastic ceiling
panels above them. The red from the molten plastic gave the area an eerie look.
“Sorry man, so sorry.”

“You were just doing your job,” Kovu
croaked out, twitching feebly. His suit locked down to keep him from thrashing
about. It was working with his implants to contain the damage. A list of damage
scrolled on his HUD. He could feel the searing heat for a moment until his
implants cut off his nerves to spare him the pain. He reached with his left
hand and found molten metal and plastic. He coughed, feeling liquid filling his
lungs. “This sucks.”

“Didn't you smell it?”

“How the hell can you smell...” Kovu
coughed. Blood dribbled from his muzzle. “In the damn suit?” he asked. His
visor was cracked from the explosion.

“Medic!” Sergei screamed, rushing to his
side. Kovu moaned and waved his good left hand. His right arm was torn off at
the elbow. Part of his right side was gone. “Damn it, I told you to look!”

“I thought I had!” Kovu mewed weakly as
Gusterson elbowed his way past the others and then ducked under the liger to
get to his new patient.

“Go, I've got this,” Gusterson said,
hands becoming a blur. Two robotic arms deployed from his sides, they began
working on the torn armor of the lion. “Go!”

“Come on man,” Fonz said, slapping
Sergei's shoulder. “We've got to kick some pirate ass,” he said.

“Yeah,” the liger said, gripping his
rifle tighter. “Hell yeah,” he said, sparing Kovu one last look. “Take care of
him doc,” he said.

“Don't I always?” Gusterson said, not
looking up as he worked. His robotic arms plugged an IV patch into one of
Kovu's ports while the other sprayed the wounds with nanite quick heal. He had
a clamp on the lion's Brachial artery, he'd had to break through the crusted
cauterized flesh to do it. Shrapnel had torn the artery up above the
cauterization, without the clamp he would have bled out in minutes.

Two more clamps followed, one on the
Median Basilic vein, another on the Median Cephalic vein. He had to tear at the
burnt flesh to get to them, making the lion whimper softly. Fortunately the
lion's implants were also at work, shutting off blood flow to the limb as well
as to his right leg and right side.