Jethro Goes to War (Wandering Engineer Jethro's tale) (49 page)

“
Speak for
yourself,” Jen laughed. She pushed the gun in Bill's hand down.
“First day on the house.”

“
I wouldn't
dream of it ma'am. After all, we are using your air and power. I'll
forward you the credits,” Jethro said, closing his eyes.

“
What's he
doing?” Jen asked.

“
They got
themselves implants. He's probably giving you the money,” Jeri
said quietly.

“
What?”
The woman looked startled. Jethro opened his eyes and nodded.

“
It...”
She pulled the Velcro covering her thigh pocket. The loud ripping
sound made Jethro wince. She pulled out a tablet and then checked it.
“Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle.” She looked up, handing
the tablet to Jed the bald man beside her. “You paid for them
all?”

“
And the
Cartwright’s. Yes ma'am. At least as long as we are here. Once
we leave they will have to find other accommodations.”

“
Ah.”

“
So, soldier
boy, where does our tax dollars go?”

“
Ask your
representative ma'am. I'm just a grunt. We haven't seen a credit.
It's all locked away by the politicians.”

“
I'll do that
sonny,” she said firmly, eyes narrowed. She nodded turning to
the others who nodded as well. “You just bet we all will.”
She held out a hand. “Welcome to The Bar S colony. Don't shoot
your mouth off less you can back it up, don't shoot a gun less you
like suckin' vacuum. All the usual rules and regs are in force as
well. I am the sheriff. What I say goes.” She flashed a badge
clipped to the inside of her lapel.

“
Thank you
ma'am,” Hurranna said coming in behind Jethro. “We've got
some supplies for you folks as well. If you can get some people to
help?”

“
Well, all
right,” Jen nodded. “Seems we misjudged you,” she
shook her head and then they dug into the pile of goods.

Jethro looked around
the rather spartan bazaar in the main concourse of the colony. He
tried not to look disgusted as he walked down the rows of vendors.

“
Hey man, want
some catnip?” a voice called from behind him. He turned to see
Sergei standing with a slim man holding his coat open.

“
Seriously?!”
the big Liger rumbled, grinning as he shot a look to Jethro. “Man,
I haven't had that stuff since I was a kit!”

“
It's the real
deal man, my wife's in hydroponics. She grows it for our cats. Since
I heard you're cats...”

“
Yeah. If it's
real,” Hurranna said nodding to the vendor. “Which I'm
having my doubts.” Catnip had died out on Anvil after someone
new in hydroponics had yanked the pride's supply.

“
Have a whiff.
On the house,” the man said, opening an old plastic bag. She
took a whiff and then closed her eyes.

“
Yeah,”
she coughed. When she opened her eyes again they were fully dilated,
despite the rather bright lights. “Yup, real thing.”

“
Tell you
what, I'll cut you a deal.”

“
Sure,”
Hurranna smiled. “I'm willing to negotiate.” They
dickered for a while before agreeing on a price. She asked for price
on one of the plants but he shrugged it off.

“
A piece of
advice?” she said leaning to him. “Watch those plants
like your kids. This stuff isn't in Anvil anymore. Some twit rooted
the last batch up a couple years ago for rutabagas and flowers of all
things. So you can set up a nice trade with the Anvil cat clan if you
play your cards right.”

“
Ah. I thank
ye.” He ran a finger along side of his nose and grinned. They
shook hands and he left whistling.

“
Why did you
barter?” Sergei asked.

Hurranna looked up
at him in disgust. Her high was coming down. She knew better than to
take another shot, it would give her a head ache. “Remember
what we were taught as kits?” she said over the link.

He blinked at her
and then shook his head in confusion. She sighed and texted again.
“Roll the easy marks. They've got more money than sense.”

“
Oh,” he
blinked. “Okay.”

“
I don't want
to flash that we've got credits to burn. It makes us a target, and
makes us look like rich snobs. Besides,” she sniffed. “I
like a good stiff negotiation.”

“
Yeah, arguing
is right up your alley,” Jethro said smiling and looking
around. She mock glared at him but he ignored it.

They got sandwiches
from a vendor and then went over and sat near a window.

“
Seriously.
What's the big deal, it's not like they can do crap. I mean... And
the tax thing... Is Jen really buying it?” a voice said from
behind him. His shoulders itched.

“
Shut it man,
they're right here.”

“
I don't give
a shit man. Hey soldier boy,” a hand reached out and grabbed
his shoulder. He turned. The man blinked as Sergei and Hurranna
looked up.

“
Crap,”
His friend muttered trying to back away but locked in place by the
crowd. “Crap crap crap...” he said shaking his head.

“
Yes?”

“
I got a beef
with your boss.”

“
You can talk
to him. He's right over there,” Hurranna said, pointing out the
window to the cresting silhouette of Firefly. The guy looked at what
she was pointing at and his mouth dropped open.

“
Damn that's a
big ship,” he muttered, stunned by the giant arrow shaped
vessel. Firefly was one of the largest ships in the system right now.
At least one of the largest in flight. The battleship Bismark was
still in pieces in her slip and will likely remain that way for a
long long time.

“
You should
see it from the inside,” Sergei said hunching his shoulders.
“Old Federation warship. One of the last of her class and first
of the new.”

“
What?”
the man asked confused. Jethro hid a grimace. The guy smelled of
dirt, beer, and stale chips.

“
He means they
are building more. And other stuff. New fabricators, new tools, new
shuttles, the works,” Jethro said nodding to the ship.

“
All that?”

“
Well, some of
it,” Hurranna shot Jethro a quelling look. He shrugged as the
man's hand dropped from his shoulder. “We can't do some stuff
like replicators any more since the Fleet Admiral was forced to
leave.” She shook her head.

“
Is it true he
was ah...”

“
No, he didn't
do anything wrong. Check out Knox's broadcast. You'll get the truth
there. The Admiral dumped the entire thing, everything he saw,
everything he did to him and us.”

“
Oh.”

“
So, I mean,
why'd he leave?” someone else asked, turning in his chair to
look at them.

“
He wasn't
given much choice. He leaves or twenty thousand people die. The damn
bastards had the colony rigged to blow if he didn't.”

“
Oh.”

Another guy nodded.
“Yeah Bert, I heard about that. Didn't think they'd go through
with it though,” he shook his head. “Seems he's kinda
yellow for backing down.”

“
Would you
risk being wrong with those odds?” Sergei growled. “Think
about it. Twenty thousand men, women and children? He sacrificed his
honor to make sure they got to see the next sunrise. It takes a hell
of a lot of guts to do that. Give up everything he was trying to do,
his reputation to save them. He could have gone on a rampage. He
could have killed the people who set him up. Could have ordered us
in.” He nodded his chin to the others. “We'd have all
gone in a heartbeat. He didn't. He backed down. Hopefully, we can
finally see justice done and the people who caused the mess will be
brought to justice.”

“
Yeah,”
a few people nodded.

“
Check out the
links in your mainframe. Firefly uploaded it all there when we got
here. Plus all the latest news from Knox and some other stuff.
Teaching stuff, all sorts of stuff. Stuff on how to fix your systems,
all sorts of things,” Hurranna suggested.

“
Really?”
the man said shaking his head as he got up. “I'll have to check
that out. Thanks miss.” He nodded as he dumped his tray in the
trash and then tossed it on top of a pile of other dirty trays and
left. “Come on Bert, we've got work to do!”

“
Coming,”
Bert said looking over his shoulder. “Sorry. I'll check it,”
he mumbled then left. The crowd dispersed after that.

“
Whew,”
Hurranna said shaking her head. She was glad they'd defused that
situation so easily.

 ...*...*...*...*...

“
Interesting,”
Hurranna said looking up from their rack later that evening.

“
What?”
Sergei asked. Jethro looked up as well.

“
That website
Firefly set up. I was just checking it out and checking out the FAQ.”

“
Okay...”

“
Is the port
admiral and Fleet Admiral the same person. Answer no.” She
shook her head. “They need hypertext links that lead to short
bio's and that holo image Firefly showed us.”

“
Huh,”
Jethro snorted. “Drop someone a memo. Maybe they'll actually
listen to a grunt.”

“
You think?”
Hurranna asked. She grinned. “Already done.”

“
Who'd you
send it to?” Sergei asked, shaking his head. “The Major?”

“
No. Firefly.
The AI.”

“
Okay...”
Jethro shook his head. Sometimes Hurranna had quite the set on her.

Her grin widened.
She flicked her ears and sat back. “And Firefly just updated
the page. Looks like my work here is done!” She stretched
purring in appreciation.

“
You're
kidding?” Sergei asked. “Just like that?”

“
She's not
kidding.” Jethro answered, refreshing and then checking the
page out for himself. “It's been fixed. I'm glad you thought of
it.”

“
You're just
wishing you had the idea first. Help with the promotions board,”
Hurranna said, punching his arm lightly.

“
Not likely,”
he snorted. “The Major isn't holding promotion exams again
until the next class graduates. Since we don't have a place to train
them...”

“
Oh,”
she blinked. “Yeah, could be a long wait.”

“
Yeah.”

 ...*...*...*...*...

Hurranna smirked as
she held up a necklace. It had a jeweled cat in the center. The eyes
were bright diamonds. “I'll take it.”

“
Okay. I'll
just need your credit information...” the vendor said, holding
out a padd.

“
No, I'll
debit it from my account,” she looked at the tablet and sent a
coded signal. “Check your account in a minute.”

“
Um...”
The man withdrew his hand. He looked at her in confusion.

“
Right
about... now,” she nodded, timing it to the second. He looked
down and refreshed his account page. Her transaction was there at the
bottom.

“
How did you
do that?” he asked as she took the necklace from his nerveless
hand.

“
Implants.
Gotta love them,” she grinned. He shook his head, sitting down
on the stool behind his counter. She walked off, playing with the
necklace chain before bending her head down and putting it on.

“
Nice.”

She looked up and
spun snarling. “Why that little...”

“
What?”
Jethro asked, following her. She slammed her hand on the vendor's
before he could finish packing. “I want it back now.”

“
I'm sorry,
all sales are final,” he said. She snarled. He paled, eyes
going wide at the sight of her sharp teeth.

“
Not that. You
little worm. You just tried to empty my account out. My security
system just alerted me. When that failed you hit me with another
transaction. For something twice as much.”

“
Um... I
don't...”
“Problem here?” Jen said coming up
behind them. Hurranna nodded.

“
Yeah uh,
these people are causing a...”

“
He just stole
money from my...” Hurranna snarled, ears flat, scut like tail
thrashing about. People were coming over to see. A crowd quickly
began to form.