Jethro: First to Fight (7 page)

These hawks were relatively new, created
when the admiral had been in charge. They had only STOL ability, short take off
and landings, not a normal vertical takeoff and landing ability. But they were
well loved by their pilots, unlike the gangly and butt ugly old Warhorses that
seemingly everyone including the ground crews hated.. She glanced over to one
far in the back. They had 2, one on Firefly, the other stored in the annex.
They weren't the biggest shuttles though, the biggest was the Tauren designed
'Clear Air Turbulence'. They had picked that thing up with the Bismark and for
some reason the powers that be wanted to keep it, not scrap it. She hadn't seen
the thing yet, she'd heard it was huge though, with a massive plasma gun under
her starboard side. The thing was bigger than the main guns on Firefly.
Anything that got in its way would be vaporized.

She glanced to the left, scanning the
bay. There was one Marine Prejudice craft here as well. She was a retake on the
ancient Terran V-22 Osprey, with swivel engines outboard on her topside wings.
Her body was quite large, modular so she could handle a hab module, cargo
module, or a vehicle loading block. She was painted in various shades of greens
and browns and stood out since she wasn't as sleek as the hawks. She was
another craft the ground crew loved to bitch about, mainly because her engines
needed constant checking since their thrusters and intakes kept getting foreign
object debris inside, fouling them during vertical landings and take offs.

Unfortunately the Prejudice was only
designed to land vertically, a screw up someone somewhere may have regretted
after that oversight had entered combat and real world conditions.

“You're relieved,” Private Presley said
nudging her.

She looked up at him. She had to look
up, after all she was barely a meter tall when he was close to two meters.
“Oh?”

“Yeah, oh, avoid the new chef surprise,
wicked stomach bug,” he said, rubbing his tummy.

She snorted, flicking her ears. “I'll
um, keep that in mind,” she said, clearly amused by the word of warning.

“Don't say I didn't warn you,” he said.
He came to attention as the mechanics passed them.

“Some sigh,” the mechanic bringing up
the rear said.

“Huh?”

The human pointed to Hurranna. She
flicked her ears and then shrugged as Presley looked at her. “Someday,” she
said.

“Oh,” Presley replied with a snort. He
nodded his head to the other human. “She wants to be in the pilot seat. I'm not
sure why, she'd need a booster chair. And even with one she wouldn't be able to
reach the pedals,” he teased.

Hurranna turned a glower on her fellow
Marine. “Yuck it up,” she growled, voice dropping into a yowl.

“Do you want to give it a shot?” the
mechanic asked. She turned to him. He smiled. “I can see if I can wangle you a
ride.”

Hurranna snorted. “I've ridden in the
back often enough. I want a front row view,” she said.

“Well, I can see,” the mechanic said.
“Xander,” he said by way of introduction.

“Hurranna she said in reply, flicking
ears forward.

“You off duty?” he asked.

“Yes...” she said slowly.

“Want to chat? I can show you the tech
blueprints,” he said slyly.

“On a first date?” she asked, smiling
now herself as she tucked her arm through his. “Why not?” she asked as he
chuckled and led her off. They stopped by the galley and avoided the chef's
surprise. They set their trays down and rambled about shuttles, fighters, and
other craft before the topic changed to jump point defense. It was a lively
discussion, involving many of their table mates and people around them.

It was a concern of course, they all
held it. How to defend the system they were in from invading pirates? Everyone
had their own theories, but the current consensus was that the minefields,
orbital weapons platforms, and frigates on duty weren't nearly enough.

“Well, how did they up the ante before?”
Xander asked, sitting back and picking at his teeth with a plastic toothpick.

“I think....” Hurranna cocked her head.
“You know, I know they had more than just this, but I admit, I'm a Marine, we
focus on ground defense, not space. Firefly?” she asked, looking up.

The room quieted as the AI avatar
projected itself.

“Yes Lance Corporal?” the AI asked,
clearly amused.

“I'm sorry to bother you. DO you have
any I dunno, links or something on jump point defense?”

“Why are you  asking?” the AI
asked.

“Usual bull session,” she shrugged. “Got
a minute?”

The AI snorted. “I am an officer.”

“No rank in the mess,” Hurranna replied,
flicking her ears and smiling slightly. “We're all friends here,” she said as
Xander stared at her.

The AI cocked his head for a moment and
then shrugged. “The tradition does serve here, and a bit of an educational
experience is appropriate,” he said, noting Purple Thorn in the room as well.
The elf nodded, turning and then standing on the table. She took a seat,
dangling her legs over the edge of the table.

“Very well,” the AI said. “What have you
come up with?”

“Not a whole hell of a lot sir,” Xander said
ruefully. “I'm a mechanic. I know the orbital weapons platforms are ideal, but
they require constant servicing to keep them online. Each time we have to
service them we put men and material in danger... and we have to lower the
defenses as well. There has to be an easier way.”

“I thought of cheap rocks, you know,
scrap metal? But that would mess up any friendly ship that came in right?”
another tech said. The AI nodded. The young man deflated. “Thought so.”

“It would also be hard to keep it on
station, things tend to drift,” Hurranna replied.

“Yeah,” the guy said quietly, still
looking down. Then he looked up. “Could we um, could we put them in nets? You
know release them when an enemy ship comes? Sort of like a shot gun?”

“Not enough specific impulse... though a
kinetic weapon is an interesting idea. A properly handled ship would shrug off
the impact with her wedge and shields though,” the AI mused. The AI was amused,
hearing such ideas coming from enlisted... before, during the war enlisted were
happy just keeping a low profile and getting the job done. Here many were truly
invested in the betterment of their ship and the system. He made a note to
explore the ramifications and the reasons later.

“Let me show you some history so we are all
on the same page.” The AI showed the Neolynx and her human companion a video of
a jump point defense Firefly had encountered, complete with mines and orbital
weapons platforms.

“What's that?” Hurranna asked, pointing
to an asteroid firing weapons.

“An orbital fort. Primitive near the end
of the war, but effective in some ways. The multi-kilometer thick stone acted
as armor.”

“So, stick shields and sensors and stuff
on the outside weapons pods and then people in caves or something?” she asked.

“No, well, yes and no. Cut shafts into
the asteroid and mount missile tubes, weapons, habitation. Some were hollowed
out.”

“Like San Diego.”

“That's a bit of a different story, San
Diego is a Bernal sphere. It was inflated. These were rocks.”

“Oh. So they purpose built these too?”
Hurranna asked, pointing a nail at one. The AI pulled up an image of the
asteroid fort and then used various frames to build up an intelligence profile
of the fort. After a moment it showed a 3D image of the fort complete with tick
marks pointing out various features. The 3D image changed to a wireframe as the
AI overlaid possible interior layouts.

“Ah. Cool. Were they any good?”

“Some were very good. Without the need
for a drive the power reserves could be used for just weapons and shielding.
And with such armor, they could take hits that would crack me in half.”

“Interesting.”

“The hull was reworked over time, the
older the fort the more likely the crew took the time to do that during regular
upgrade and maintenance cycles. It also depended on the system, if they had the
time they'd throw a lot of effort into refining the fort, using nanites or
robots to melt the shell and plate it with titanium composites, or chobham
armor. Spall shields, angled armor, crystal armor... Even self sealing layers. 
Whatever they could think of with the time and resources they had on hand... if
they didn't want to make a bunch more of the things.”

“Cool. Um... just wondering now, any
word on if we're going to have to assault one?”

“In Horath?” Firefly asked, now
surprised. “It's a possibility,” the AI responded slowly, now genuinely
thinking about it. “Park one of these or a group of these around a jump point
and they would rule the roost. Anything coming out of hyper would get reamed.”

“Great. And cracking a nut like that...
no easy task. Boarding actions...” Hurranna murmured.

“Yeah, not a high survival scenario,”
Firefly responded, writing a memo to intelligence and the Commander to look
into the possibility of Horathian orbital forts.

“What I'm also wondering is, if these
are so damn tough, why don't we have them? I mean other than San Diego?” the
lynx asked.

Firefly stared at the Neocat for a brief
moment before he let out a loud chuckle. “I expected something of that nature
from your cohort Jethro. Hearing it from you though...”

“Why sir?” Hurranna asked, now offended.

“No no, it's nothing like that. I'm
surprised at myself for not thinking of it too. I'll pass that along with your
name tagged to it. Good work Lance Corporal Hurranna,” the AI responded as he sent
another memo to Commander Logan as well as the system defense design team.

“Just off hand, would you have any ideas
on how to get around the lock outs? Ways of powering these things?” the AI
asked.

Hurranna frowned and then shrugged
waving an airy hand. “Ask Ox, that's his department sir. I am more interested
in flying.”

“Thank you, I'll do that Corporal,” the
AI responded. “Good day,” he said and winked out.

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

Commander Logan finished the latest report
and then sighed, stretching. “Anything else?” he asked, knowing there always
was.

“Yes sir, we've received a call from
security. A group of civilians want to talk with you and are in the outer
office.”

“What about?” Logan asked, raising an
eyebrow. He'd had a few cranks, and that one assassination attempt. He wasn't
going to let down his guard. But if they were in the annex, someone must have
cleared them. He flicked his implants into the security channel. There was a
chimp there, a chimp with two humans bracketed by two human MP's. The human's
looked nervous, the chimp looked bored, picking at his canines.

The yeoman looked at the security Chief.
Two MP guards were standing there as well. “What is this about?”

“A security breach,” Bailey said before
his security Chief could say anything. “Tell Horatio I'm...” he glanced at the
other two and then blew out a deep breath. “
We
I should say are all
friends of
John
. Look, this is serious. We found something after he left
and unfortunately we don't know who to
trust
with it so I'm clamming up
for now.”

“Let them in,” Horatio said quietly.

“Sir are you sure?” the yeoman asked.
The two guards looked at each other.

“Sure he's sure,” Bailey said, getting
up. The yeoman stared at him. “I don't have implants but I can hear your end
just fine kid,” the chimp snorted. “Now you want to open the door or do I have
to go get a damn torch? I've got a ship to mind you know, plus a kid who's
liable to tear it to pieces if I'm not back soon,” he growled.

“Identities are Chief Bailey, Chief
engineer of the freighter Destiny, Computer Tech Everett, and security Chief Ed
Chambers, also of Destiny sir,” the yeoman said through his implants.

“Show them in,” Logan said, pressing a
button to open his door.

When all three were in front of his desk
he crossed his arms. “So, you know the admiral. I gathered that much, and you
didn't casually drop his first name so,” he looked at Bailey. “Trust him to
befriend the Chief engineer,” he said.

Bailey snorted. “He's a damn good
teacher. Both on and off the mat,” he said, shrugging. Horatio eyed the chimp
for a minute and then nodded again this time in wry understanding.

“Okay, so, let's hear it.”

Interested Horatio listened to their
story. Bailey, Everett, and the security Chief took turns. It was obvious
Chambers was reluctant to be here, but he squared his shoulders and went along
with the other two. They had been trying to get an appointment with someone for
some time but had been shuffled from one desk to another. They also weren't
sure who to trust, so after some ruminations, they decided to go to the top and
to hell with the rest. They brought with them a security camera, Everett laid
it out on the desk.