Jethro Goes to War (Wandering Engineer Jethro's tale) (54 page)

“
Cleaning.
Let's go,” he said. He knew better than to say anything and
he'd been careful to clean up the evidence. He tossed the towel to
the hamper. Hurranna stared at him and then glanced the Liger. She
shrugged just as he did, then smiled.

“
If you’re
sure.”

“
I'm sure. We
need to check the sled before we use it. A little birdie told me
there is something wrong with the wiring.”

“
Oh?”
Sergei asked, stopping and turning to him.

“
Yeah.”

“
Oh.”

 ...*...*...*...*...

Sure enough, when
they got to the sled a quick inspection found the cut lines. Sergei
muttered as Hurranna used her tiny hands to run a new braided control
wire.

“
How the
hell...”

“
Like I said.”

“
It was no
accident is what he said,” Hurranna replied. “I thought
something was up. Let’s get going before something else
happens.”

As they entered
Firefly's lock Jethro froze at the looks two marines with MP bands on
their arms shot his way. “Something we should know about?”
Hurranna asked, looking from the panther to the military police.

“
Not that I'm
aware of,” one MP said. “You three are to be detained.
Come with us please,” he pointed to the door as his partner
relieved them of their weapons.

“
Sure. Private
Shep right?” Sergei asked, taking his helmet off. He glanced at
the Neo shepard mix. It was a bit of a stereotype to have a shepard
as a cop, but apparently someone had either a twisted sense of humor
or didn't care.

“
That's right.
Get your gear off and move. You don't keep the brass waiting.”

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

“
What's this
about?” Hurranna stage whispered. They knew better than to use
their implants with the MP's and Firefly breathing down their necks.
Best to keep it aboveboard at all times.

“
You have to
ask?” Sergei said shaking his head. “The fight, what
else?”

“
For that?”
She asked. “All this for that?” she asked in disbelief.

“
No talking in
the ranks,” private Shep growled. Hurranna rolled her eyes but
stopped talking.

 ...*...*...*...*...

“
In here now,”
the Major growled. Private Shep undogged the hatch and they stepped
through. On the screen a video of utter carnage was being shown. The
others looked up in curiosity. Jethro took one look and then went to
attention.

The Major caught the
look and shot a look to the Captain and AI. The captain's jaw
tightened and her eyes flashed.

“
Sir. Ma'am,”
the corporal said, saluting each in turn. They returned the salutes.
Sergei and Hurranna followed suit a moment behind him. Hurranna kept
shooting glances to the screen.

“
So, you three
have something to tell us?” the Captain growled.

“
They didn't
have anything to do with it ma'am,” Jethro said quietly.

“
I'm gathering
that,” she said eyes coldly locked onto his.

“
You two can
leave. Dismissed,” the Major said, pointing to the lynx and
Liger.

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

Jethro stood stiffly
at attention as the Major looked through the tablet. “You've
had quite a little foray.”

When Jethro didn't
respond the Major's eyes cut up from the tablet to the cat standing
at attention. Captain Mayweather was sitting beside the Major, she
knitted her fingers together. “You've got a choice. Judiciary
or administrative punishment.”

“
Administrative
sir.”

“
You're sure?”
Captain Mayweather asked, looking at the cat with one eyebrow raised.

“
Yes Ma'am.”

“
Very well,”
the Major nodded and tossed the device on the table in front of him.
“For fighting with civilians, one stripe, one week's pay.”

“
For being
absent without leave one week's pay, confined to quarters two days,
PT detail, and two weeks bread, vitamins, and water,” Captain
Mayweather added. Jethro's jaw tightened but he didn't say anything.
The Major glanced at the Captain and then nodded.

“
Not one word
of this to anyone. Ever,” the Major growled. “Consider it
beyond classified.”

“
Sir yes sir.”

“
All right.
Dismissed Lance Corporal.”

“
Yes sir,”
Jethro about faced and walked out between the MP's.

Captain Mayweather
sighed as the hatch closed. “He did what we wanted. We just
didn't...”

“
He acted
without orders,” the Major said shaking his head. “And he
killed people. By right he should be going before a formal court
martial,” he said as he turned.

“
We've got too
much invested in the kid to throw him away,” the captain sighed
shaking her head. “Besides, I don't have any problem in what he
did, just how he did it. If we push it and it goes public it could
tear the system and the navy apart. We're too fragile right now to
handle the scandal right after the mess with the Admiral.”

“
Agreed. He'll
take his due.”

“
Think he
knows we have his IFF tagged?”

“
We told him.
Of course he does,” the Major shrugged. “Probably why he
owned up to it right off the bat. That and he's an honorable kid.”

“
Then why...”

“
Why did he do
it?” the Major sighed. “Think about it. Even if we had
taken her and her cronies into custody what then? Do you honestly
think she'd get a trial? At best, she'd get a slap on the wrist then
a medal.” The Major grimaced. “I'm just sorry I wasn't
the one who did it.”

“
You and me
both. But it'll be a cold day in hell before I tell
him
that.”

 ...*...*...*...*...

“
So what's
this crap about?” Hurranna said coming in to the back room of
the galley.

“
You shouldn't
be here,” Jethro said, up to his arm pits in potato peelings.

“
Ew. Yeah,
you're right. This sucks,” Hurranna grimaced. “How come
you got the book thrown at you and we didn't get so much as a love
tap?”

“
I was senior,
my responsibility,” Jethro grunted. He tried to keep his temper
firmly in check. He had been on this detail for a week now. Hunger
was getting to him.

“
Bull,”
Sergei said, pushing the hatch further open to get through the door.
Cans clattered on the floor. Jethro scowled but kept peeling.

“
Give me one
of those,” Hurranna said taking a potato. “Talk about a
boring job. I thought standing midwatch outside the officers quarters
was bad,” she sighed, picking up a paring knife. “You'd
think after a couple of thousand years they'd have a better way of
doing this.”

“
They do. Over
there,” Sergei said pointing to a box. “It peels them
right away. Or you can put gloves on and rub and it will shed the
skin that way. Or you can get really lazy and use the dehydrated
stuff in that box on that shelf over your head.”

Hurranna looked up
to the indicated box and then back to Jethro. “So what the hell
man? I haven't seen you eating anything but bread. That's no way to
live.”

“
Part of the
punishment,” Sergei growled answering for him. “And I'm
pretty sure I know why.” He shook his head. “I heard the
scuttlebutt this morning. I remember seeing the pictures.”

“
About what?”
Hurranna asked. “I just got off shift. They split us apart and
kept us too damn busy till now.”

“
The oh so
beloved speaker and some of her retinue in exile bit the dust.”

“
Oh?”
Hurranna said, turning to Jethro who's shoulders were hunched. “Oh
ho! So that's....” she said shaking her head. He shook his head
but didn't look at her. “Now this makes sense.” She shook
her head. “No, come to think of it. It doesn't,” she said
with a grimace. “Everyone wanted the bitch dead. I'd think
they'd have pinned a medal on you.”

“
Perhaps I can
explain,” gunny Schultz growled coming into the already crowded
room. They shot to their feet when he stepped over the knee knocker.
Peelings dripped from Jethro's arms and lap. He swayed a little.

“
You've got to
pay for your pleasures,” the gunny said shaking his head.
“Which we all agree don't we?” He looked to the others
who nodded. “Carry on.” Jethro sat fast. The gunny wasn't
sure if he fell more than sat. “You okay son?” he asked,
voicing his concern.

“
I'll be
okay,” Jethro said hoarsely.

“
Bull. He's on
bread and water. For over a week now. You know what that does to us,”
Hurranna growled. “He's lucky he hasn't lost it yet.”

“
Yes I do,”
the gunny scowled. Neo cats were obligatory carnivores. They required
kilo's of meat to maintain their bodies. Their bodies weren't built
to digest bread as well as an omnivore. Neo cats could digest foods,
they weren't complete carnivores, but when they burned calories like
marines did the best source was from meat. “I think we can
dispense with that part of the punishment. I'll tell the Major.”
He pulled a stool out and picked up a potato. “Hand me a
knife.”

Sergei goggled as
Hurranna picked a knife out of the butcher block and passed it over
to the gunny. “Thank you,” the gunny said and started to
peel.

Sergei bent and
picked one up as well. He clumsily tried to imitate the others. He
was having a hell of a time though, his hands were too big to hold
the tiny paring knife easily.

“
You see, you
did what you did for the right reasons, but you did it without
orders. Initiative is one thing, but well... going off half cocked,
that's something else.”

“
Yes sir,”
Jethro half whispered. He'd figured that much out for himself
already.

“
You knew this
might happen?”

“
Yes gunny,”
Jethro said with a choppy nod.

“
Glad you
understand. You've taken your lumps and haven't complained. You
haven't taken the food you could have in here. Firefly's been
watching,” Schultz sighed.

“
Part of the
problem is that you took the issue out of their hands. They couldn't
make up their minds on what they wanted to do. Officers hate it when
someone takes a decision out of their hands. Makes them feel
redundant.” He smiled a little as he tossed the peeled tuber to
the pot and picked up another.

“
I'm going to
tell you a story.” They heard a cough out in the galley. He
looked and then shrugged a little and looked back. He picked his
voice up so others outside could hear. “Back in the day,
pirates were tried and punished. Up until about thirty years before
the Xeno war, piracy was a capital punishment. That changed when the
politicians got involved,” he scowled, eyes bleak.

“
See, a bunch
of bleeding hearts got together and changed the law. Pirates were
just misunderstood freedom fighters acting out against an unjust
government,” he snorted with them. “The fact that the
Federation was the most just democracy ever was never brought up of
course.” Sergei shook his head.

“
So they got
the law changed. Instead of a nice trial and execution or a mind
wipe, the pirates were given rehabilitation and were then released.
Their ships were turned over to local authorities for commissioning
in the local militias of the area to help protect commerce.”

“
Bet that went
over well with the families of the victims,” Hurranna growled.

“
No. It
didn't,” Schultz growled. “After a while, a pattern began
to emerge. Piracy grew by ten then thirty percent in a few years.
Pirate ships were turning up over and over again, sometimes with the
same crew. If they got stopped sometimes they'd submit but they'd be
smirking the entire time. But the death toll didn't drop.”

“
Ouch,”
Sergei grimaced.

“
Yes. The
captains didn't like having their hands tied. So they did a little...
let’s say, judicial action of their own.”

Jethro looked up,
suddenly intent. The gunny gave him stare for stare then a slow nod
of confirmation. “Yes. After a while pirates stopped turning up
at detention centers for rehab. Accidents in transit, resisting
arrest, killed during boarding, that sort of thing. Ships were
scuttled. To badly damaged to be recovered.” The gunny's smile
was ugly.