Jethro Goes to War (Wandering Engineer Jethro's tale) (42 page)

She turned the blue
LED light on then led the way into the armory. Jethro looked at a
pile of parts in one corner. Sergei mumbled as he moved aside hanging
cords.

“
Careful,
those are live,” The Matriarch cautioned. “Disconnect
them and engineering will want to know why part of their reactor
controls went down.”

“
Oh lovely,”
Jethro muttered looking up to the ceiling.

“
It is best
not to think of it.”

“
No. I think
we shouldn't be here long,” he replied checking his implants.
“Yeah,” he grimaced. “I'm getting residual
radiation from the ceiling and some of the pipes. Coolant lines for
something.”

“
Unfortunate,”
the Matriarch replied. “So you changed your mind?” she
asked amused.

“
No way. Let’s
get what we came for,” he said firmly. She nodded. She pointed
to a large casket. The bare metal was scratched and dented. One hinge
was torn. Jethro went over to it and examined it. He ran his right
hand paw over it carefully.

“
It won’t
bite,” Sergei teased. He snorted and opened the latch and
pulled the door open. It was there, black, drinking in the light.
Beautiful. He reverently ran a hand over the armor. Even old and
battered it was still a thing of lethal beauty.

“
I think it
will look good on you my son. When it is fully restored.” The
Matriarch pulled a gauntlet out and handed it to him. “Try it
on.”

He did. It fit
almost perfectly. He nodded. “Almost a perfect fit,” he
said smiling to Sergei.

“
Not perfect?
How disappointing,” the Matriarch said.

“
No no. That's
good. See we've got to wear a skin suit underneath. They call it an
aketon suit. It's to protect us when we're in vacuum. If this was to
fit perfectly I wouldn't be able to wear it when I needed to,”
Jethro explained as he looked the hand over.

“
It's got
claws,” he said surprised. “I wasn't sure if I had
remembered that correctly or not.” He looked at her. The
Matriarch nodded. “They retract too,” he said softly,
touching the top of one.

“
Be careful.
It has a monomolecular edge,” she cautioned. He drew his free
hand back. “The electronics are fried unfortunately. Your
ancestor warned his descendants, but one didn't listen and tried the
suit on. It killed him and fried the electronics.”

“
Ew. I was
wondering about the smell,” Sergei said with a sniff.

“
But I
remember seeing a different gauntlet. One without claws,”
Jethro said putting the gauntlet back.

“
You did. I
allowed you to see some of the parts from the other suits.”

“
Other suits?”
Sergei asked surprised. “I thought his was the only one!”

“
No,”
she shook her head. “The others are parts from various suits.
Most of the useable parts like the gauntlet you remember are gone
though, sold to the engineers to be used for parts for EVA suits.”

“
Oh.”

“
There are
parts to them left however. Perhaps they will be of use.”

“
Oh,”
Jethro nodded. “We'd like them if possible. We need to outfit
Sergei and Hurranna as well. Eventually Letanga and the others.”

“
Ah. Well
then. We shall see,” the Matriarch nodded.

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

“
Got it?”
the Major asked, meeting them at the shuttle dock. Jethro and Sergei
braced to attention and saluted. The Major saluted then eyed the
double stacked lockers as he broke the salute. “This it I take
it?” There were four lockers, enough for four suits. Suddenly
the day seemed a little brighter.

“
Yes sir. And
other parts from other suits,” Sergei said with a smile.

“
Good. Good,”
The Major grinned. “Let me see.” He came closer. They
reached for the safety straps. The green light over the dock came on
and the door irised open. “Crap.”

He grimaced and then
shook his head. “Later. Let’s go.” He waved to the
door.

“
After you
sir,” Jethro said. Traditionally the ranking officer was last
on and first off. But since cargo had to be near the rear for
balance, they had to do it differently.

“
Ah yes. Good
point,” the Major nodded.

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

Riley was
practically bouncing as he met them in Firefly's boat bay. Most of
their class were there, as were a few of the off duty marines. The
Major grinned as he came out and the crew snapped to attention and
saluted. He returned the salute and then saluted the ships colors and
Federation flag. Sergei, Jethro, and the other passengers followed
suit one by one.

“
Good to have
you back aboard. All of you sir,” Riley said smiling.

“
Can't wait to
see it old friend?” the Major laughed, slapping the armorer on
the shoulder.

“
You know it
sir,” Riley grinned as Jethro and Sergei maneuvered the stack
of lockers out. “Recon armor, this is cool.” The blue
safety glow of the grav cart faded as it slowly sank to the floor.

“
Yeah. I've
got goose bumps too,” the Major replied, watching the two set
the locker down and then turn at attention.

“
She's
battered and needs cleaning sir, but if you'd care to inspect?”
Jethro asked.

“
Yes,”
the Major nodded.

“
We'll need
another container sir,” Jethro replied, turning to the armorer.

“
Another? What
for?” Riley asked. Jethro smiled. “Ah, found more than
you bargained for?”

Jethro nodded.
“We'll let you be the judge of it. I'm not sure how much we'll
get out of some. MAM reactors and all,” Jethro replied.

“
MAM reactors?
Did you say... “ Riley blinked at them. “But they were
only in Cadre armor!” he said as they used grav collars to take
the top locker off the stack and settle it to the deck.

“
Apparently my
ancestor was a bit more than just a recon drop commando,”
Jethro replied.

“
Damn. You
didn't tell me that!” Hurranna said, eyes wide.

“
That's
because we didn't know,” Jethro said shaking his head. “I've
read the archive, same as you. I'm not sure why he left it out.”

“
Security most
likely,” the Major replied. “It is curious though.”

“
Yes sir,”
Sergei said. He looked at Jethro. “I think he did say something
in his speech. The one we got during the moral thing during boot.”
Jethro frowned and then shrugged. Sergei flipped the latch open then
pulled the door open. One hinge broke. He grimaced.

“
Easy, easy
there,” Riley cautioned coming forward.

“
It was
already broken Sergeant. A long long time ago,” Jethro said as
Sergei pulled out a gauntlet. “Most of the other suit parts are
just that. Parts. Armor mostly.”

Sergei laid the
gauntlet on the deck and then pulled out a boot, and then a grieve.
“There are four torso armors in various conditions. Two working
power plants. I checked.”

“
Damn.”

“
It seems the
power plants are micro fusion reactors. And the suits are all for
Neos. There are parts for MAM reactors and weapon systems here.”

“
Yes. I was
wondering about that,” gunny Schultz said nodding. Jethro
glanced at him and nodded politely.

“
With these we
can scan the parts and make as many duplicates as we need. Sized to
fit the wearer of course,” Riley said tracing his fingers over
a torso.

“
They are
missing their electronics, servos, actuators, and other things.”

“
That? Hell,
no problem,” Riley said turning a grieve over and over. “It's
getting the shape right for you lot. That's what my nightmare's been.
This makes it easier.”

“
Having a
template usually does,” the Major said dryly as he leaned over
and pulled out an elbow joint. “Fascinating. Raider armor if
I'm right.”

“
Yes sir.”

“
This is the
best though,” Jethro said ears forward. They turned to him. He
had pulled the last locker upright. He opened the door. The crowd
shuffled and gasped at the sight of the black armor within.

“
Damn,”
the Major said coming over to touch the armor. “Damn. She's a
beauty.”

“
Yes sir. And
from the looks of it, she's been modified. It looks like someone took
out her MAM reactor and retrofitted her with a fusion one.”

“
I heard some
were doing that when antimatter got scarce,” Riley said,
hunkering down. He touched the boots. “Damn, toe claws?”
he asked.

“
Molecular
force blades. With micro actuators. This suit is going to be a pain
to maintain,” Schultz said shaking his head. “But worth
it if it works,” he said. “Even just in the box like this
it looks like it's ready to spring into action.

“
Yes gunny.”

“
I want one,”
the gunny deadpanned.

“
You and me
both,” the Major breathed. “But the line starts behind
Lance Corporal Jethro here.” He straightened nodding to the
panther. “Good find son, you've done the corps a major service
with this.” He held out his hand. Jethro took it and shook it.

“
Thank you
sir.”

“
I mean it,”
the Major said with a smile. He slapped Riley on the back. “Document
every part. I want scans right down to the molecular level. Copy the
software and hardware. Anything and everything you can. I want a
detailed log kept. We're going to have to copy this sucker for the
others. Get it running though. Soon. I want to see it go through its
paces.”

“
Yes sir,”
Riley nodded. “I wasn't planning on sleeping this week anyway,”
he said dryly. “Ox here can lend a hand.”

“
That's the
spirit,” the Major chuckled. “Firefly will make sure your
electronic work is backed up on a hard copy and an external drive.
I'll even have him record everything for posterity. Maybe we can put
the footage up on the military network channel. That would rock,”
he smiled as he left. The others in the bay crowded around to look.

“
Should have
charged for tickets. Would've made a bundle,” Sergei said under
his breath to Jethro. Jethro snorted.

Jethro nodded to the
others as they came in. He was in the suit, or at least part of it.
He had the torso frame on.

“
I taught I
t'aw a puddy cat!” Hurranna joked. “I did! I did!”

Jethro rolled his
eyes at her and shook a fist.

“
Wow.”
Sergei said nodding. “Getting there.”

“
Baby steps.
This here's baby steps. Gotta learn to crawl before you can walk,”
Riley said pointing to the suit. “You're right, definitely
Cadre. MAM reactor went here.” He blocked out a space where the
new reactor was with the blade of his hands. “Some refit job.
Not a hack and slash field op too. Took an all up machine shop to
pull this off. I can tell by the welds. See here and here?” He
pointed to two spots, tracing them with his index finger.

“
I don't see
anything,” Sergei said, leaning forward to get a better view.
Jethro tried to twist to see but Riley held a hand on his chest to
keep him from moving. “See this line? That's barely there.
Means a nanite weld sure as I'm sitting here.”

“
Oh,”
Sergei nodded standing back as his implants refocused to normal. “So
ah, I noticed one of the other suits was about my size...”

“
And you'll
get your turn. One at a time. Once we know how this baby is set up,
fitting you and the others will be a breeze,” Riley said with a
smile. “I've got the fabricator fab'ing parts and spares as we
speak.” He waved to the door.

“
Cool,”
Sergei nodded glancing that way.

“
I broke down
and rebuilt two of these fusion reactors with the Admiral before he
left so getting this sorted out and online shouldn't be too hard.
Biggest issue may be the fuel injectors. If they sucked water
straight they'll have been clogged with minerals. Usually causes a
blockage or even a spitfire.”

“
And that's
bad?”