Jethro: First to Fight

by Hechtl, Chris

  “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.

  “See, we were confused by how Willis had gotten past security. John pointed out a few things, but not a whole hell of a lot. We made a lot of assumptions and then just dropped it, after all, the bitch was dead,” Bailey said.

  “But this says differently?” Horatio asked, pointing to the camera. Everett nodded.

  “Yes, see, the Chief had found a few things but NCIS and ONI had bagged it all. But well, I was curious, so I went hunting myself.”

  “He poked around my systems, which alerted me. I was about to snap his head off when he pointed out his poking around had found something of interest,” Chief Chambers grunted, arms crossed. “Which is why he's here and not in my brig.”

  Everett flushed. “I admit, I had done some poking around before hand, I had hacked the woman's tablet and cloned it's hard drive.” He pulled out a flash stick and tablet. He put the chip in the tablet and then tapped at it. When he had what he wanted to show he turned it to let the naval officer see.

  “I see.”

  “I didn't find anything, at least not when I first looked at it.” But then I ran a search on it and found a read me file tucked away in an odd folder. It was strange, embedded like that, where no one could find it.”

  “You don't do that with a read me file,” Horatio said nodding. “Usually you leave them out where people can find them, that's the whole point.”

  “Yes sir. I read it and up until a day ago I had been even more confused. It was an explanation on playing with the cameras but it was coded. It took me a while to break it.”

  “You broke the code?” Horatio asked, raising an eyebrow.”

  “He apparently used a lot of Destiny's surplus computing power to do it,” Bailey said dryly. “Which is where I came into the story, when ops found someone running a lot of stuff in engineering they called me.”

  “Ah.”

  “When he got into the file he showed it to me. It is directions on how to access a little known circuit in these things,” Bailey said, reaching out to tap the camera. “Something built into them. A tiny board that lets someone else control them remotely. And since we're a naval reserve vessel and these are navy issue...”

  Logan grunted as if he'd been punched in the stomach. He picked up on it for what it was right away. “Just a minute,” he said, holding up a finger. Grimly he used his implants to call in NCIS, Security, and ONI. Lieutenant JG Irene Teague of ONI domestic showed up within minutes, special NCIS agent Frank Sekim a few minutes after that. Once representatives of each investigator department arrived Horatio also called in any AI in range. He had the Destiny group lay it out to the newly arrived personnel and to the AI attending. The story sobered all of them.

  “What this means is a group of unknown individuals put these in the cameras to override them. They did this in the docks.”

  “Shit,” the intel officer said and swore softly. He was now so pale he was almost translucent. “They were purpose built from the beginning... that means someone in fabrication and installation...”

  Horatio's eyes cut to him and then back to the group in general. “Exactly. We've got a massive security and intelligence breach here people. There is more than one individual involved, that's for sure. This has been well planned and executed. We need to see how wide spread this is. Get a team on Destiny, lock down her communications, lock down the crew and then take her security system apart. Destiny is a naval reserve vessel so it's our jurisdiction. Find out how far this goes. I don't care how.”

  “Sir, what about leaving it in place and using it to track anyone using it?” the intel officer suggested and then looked at the civilians in their midst. All of the civilians were suddenly looking very uncomfortable.

  Logan frowned. It was a good idea actually, you didn't want to break an intel chain once you identified it unless you absolutely had to. What you did do is trace the source of the infection, see who's involved, what they've got so far, what they were after and then either roll them up or feed them disinformation. He'd picked that up a long time ago. The admiral's refresher hadn't hurt either though.

  “Sir I think we need to discuss this...”

  “Right.”

  “About the civilians, they should go into protective custody...”

  “I... um... I'm looking into joining up actually,” Everett said holding up a hand. Bailey snorted. Logan looked at him. “The admiral suggested it. Lieutenant Commander Sprite was well...” He squirmed. “Someone I came to admire I guess you could say.” He blushed.

  Horatio nodded. That was two recommendations in the lad's favor. “All right son.”

  “But as a reservist sir. I don't want to lose my billet on Destiny.”

  Logan nodded again. If the admiral recommended the kid he was okay in his book. “Okay.”

  “I'm thinking of signing on as a reservist as well. I think
ten percent of my engineers are of the same mind,” Bailey admitted. The Destiny security Chief looked nonplussed.

  “I'll put a note in your files alongside the admiral's recommendation. We'll take you when you are available and work with your schedule. Thank you gentlemen, good work,” Logan said with a firm nod of approval and then shook each of their hands in thanks.

  Chapter 3

  Jethro had a wrestling bout during PT with other Neo's. There were dozens of Marines on the ship, Firefly had the largest ship's company, an actual platoon of Marines on board. Of that group ten percent were from F platoon, and they had a reputation as the bad asses of the corps to protect. That made most want to keep that reputation up, which meant regular practice. They were constantly on the lookout for fresh victims to play with.

  It wasn't surprising that the Neo's occasionally got together to train. With them it was a 'no holds barred' match that just stopped at murder, broken bones, cuts, or permanent injury. Biting, using your claws, or breaking bones were considered lines you didn't cross. Jethro ran the gauntlet as usual, running up against dogs, wolves, other cats, and even a black bear. He was ever wary of a claw or tooth, he had to be, if one tore his skin up it could permanently damage his cloak. Still, it was demanding and fun. Others respected him and each other afterward, so he recognized the bonding psychology involved. But he received a few sore muscles and a dislocated elbow in the last match. That too was normal, though they did hurt.

  He showered later, nursing his injuries. His implants took care of the pain, but he was stiff. One of the things they tended to do was rib each other over the injuries so he did his best to hide them. He was also sore in a couple of odd places on his back and side, places where he hadn't thought could be injured. He had managed to avoid the bear's bear hug but twisting away from it had done something, most likely pulled some muscles.

  He took a soak in the whirlpool, much to the disgust of the locker group who carped about having to pick fur out of the filtration system. The soak did help him though. Still he groaned softly when he bedded down in his rack for the night. He fervently hoped his implants would enhance his natural healing, kicking it up a notch and heal him overnight.

  The Gunny spotted him moving slowly at reveille the next morning as well as favoring his right arm. He scanned the young panther and then ordered Jethro to get checked out by the medics.

  Gusterson their greyhound navy corpsman took one look at the dislocated elbow and tisked tisked. Jethro had put it back in place right off, but the soft tissue was pretty swollen, and there was a torn ligament. He ordered the panther to sickbay.

  Jethro entered hesitantly, favoring the arm as he approached the front desk. The human female nurse smiled. “Another one?” she said, slightly exasperated.

  “Another one what?” he asked, looking at her in confusion.

  “Oh wait you're a cat. Never mind,” she replied, shaking her head. “We've had a couple of the Neohounds come in with problems in their necks and spines. Arthritis in one, it's common in beagles as they get older.”

  “Ah.”

  “Even with your re-engineered necks you Neo's still tend to have the problem. The doctor said it's the bones fusing, or trying to fuse together once the soft tissue in between them erodes. So take care of yourself and when you get a pain, come in. A couple shots of steroids and a little stem cell injection to rebuild the layer and you'll be right as rain,” she said smiling as a beagle exited.

  Jethro made a hole to allow the other Neo to pass. He had a stiff vertebra collar on to keep his neck up. His ears and tail drooped though, a sure sign he was still in some pain.

  Once the beagle had made a follow up appointment the human female returned her attention to Jethro. “So, what's your problem?” she asked, hands over a virtual keyboard.

  “It's nothing really,” he said demurringly. She eyed him and then did a quick scan.

  “No, I can see the swelling, you should be checked out. The doctor will see you,” she said, sending a signal to doctor Standish.

  “Just like that ma'am?”

  She smiled. “Just like that. Follow the corridor here, bear left. He'll be waiting,” she said with a dismissive nod.

  Doctor Standish took charge of Jethro's case since it was a slow day. He used nanites to repair the ligament tissue after he did his own assessment. “I'm curious, I'm looking at your implants, and you don't have some of the basics. If you had this would have been preventable,” Doctor Standish commented.

  “It's my cloak sir,” Jethro replied.

  “It is? Fascinating.”

  “The cloak is more than my skin sir.”

  “Your epidermis? Well, I can see why the implant surgeons didn't want to blemish it, but we now use nanites for such things.”

  “You do? Sir?” Jethro asked, ears perked in surprise.

  The human doctor nodded, not looking up from the arm. “Indeed we do. Oh I know, the first teams couldn't control the nanites, a clear case of chicken and the egg. In order to make and use medical nanites you needed medical implants. Well, now we've got them.”

  “If you say so sir,” Jethro replied, feeling amused. He flicked an ear.

  “Indeed I do. When your class graduated, let's see..” Jethro felt the doctor access his ID implant. “Ah yes, first class. First graduated class actually. F platoon, impressive,” the doctor replied.

  “We did our best,” Jethro replied.

  “Yes, I see that. Sent quite a few to sickbay, but you gave ten times what you got in return. Hmmm...” he picked at the wound with the nanites. “I'd put you in a regen tank but there really is no need for something this minor. The Quick heal is working nicely.”

  “Which is why he's doing it out of the box. Showing off. Again,” the nurse said.

  The doctor smiled and winked at Jethro. Jethro snorted. “Do try to relax,” the doctor admonished. “It's only nanites,” he said.

  Jethro didn't even bat an eye. The doctor frowned. “Interesting. You have no problem with the idea of nanites?”

  “No, should I? You're controlling them doctor,” Jethro responded.

  “Interesting,” the doctor drawled, sounding like someone who'd tried to pull a prank only for it to blow up in his face. “You're unique,” he murmured.

  Jethro's ears perked. He snorted softly. “So, nanites, I take it the medical staff can now use them?”

  “Each time we get someone like you to practice on, we get better,” Doctor Standish replied, smiling slightly.

  “I see,” Jethro said, churring slightly in amusement. The doctor glanced at him and then shrugged.

  “Now we do most of the implant surgery with nanites. It's minimally invasive and has a much shorter recovery time.”

  “Lucky for the new recruits,” Jethro murmured.

  “Well, we can bring you up to standard,” the doctor replied. “Eventually. I am a bit concerned about these strange growths in your body,” he murmured, looking at the tablet the nurse was holding out.

  “Strange growths?” Jethro asked. “Is that what's bothering my back?”

  “It would appear so. I thought it was a hernia, but they aren't embedded in your muscles, they're below them. Deep tissue indeed. Strange.”

  “Are they cancerous?” Jethro finally asked, worried about his exposure to space might have harmed him in some way. Cancer was a big concern for Neo's. Their artificial gene sequences could be thrown out of whack due to a lot of issues over time.

  “No. I'm making a note here to look into it further though.” The doctor made note of the strange growths that were causing the panther pain. He put it off as something to do with his unique ability, but made a note to explore further when the panther's medical evaluations came up.

  Jethro talked with Standish a bit, more small talk before they got back to improvements in medicine. Standish stated that they were getting a better hang on the implants, now that the medics had them they could do some of the implant surgeries in a regen tank with nanites. “So
we can catch you up to your unit.”

  “Interesting.”

  “Though, you said we can't make some changes,” the doctor tapped a stylus against his lips. “Hm... you know, let me get with doctor Thornby on your case. I don't want to mess up anything.”

  “Yes sir. I remember my muscles have some croc genes in them.”

  “Oh?”

  “They can shed heat fast and can go from cold to full action in microseconds.”

  “Nice,” the doctor smiled. “Yes, I'll put a note in your chart to look into that when your eval is up in a couple of weeks.”

  “Yes sir.”

  “For now though, light duty. At least until that is healed. And no wrestling. I mean light,” the doctor said, waggling the stylus at him.

  “Yes sir.”

  “Yeah right, Marines, why do I even bother. Go on, get out of here. I mean it though!” the doctor said as Jethro jumped off the bed and headed for the door. “Seriously now!” Standish said. Jethro did an about face and then saluted. He winced. The doctor sighed, shaking his head. “Just go,” he said in exasperation, waving a dismissive hand.

  “Marines,” he grumbled, taking a tablet from a nurse. “Who's next?”

  ...*...*...*...*...

  Jethro was on light duty for a couple of days until his body fully healed. Off duty he was bored. He hopped a shuttle flight over to the Annex to see Valenko in the regen tank. The bear cracked an eye at him and then went back to sleep. “He's heavily sedated,” the human nurse attending the bank of regen tanks said from her desk. She didn't even look up from her tablet.

  “Oh,” Jethro replied quietly.

  “Oh don't worry, you won't disturb him,” the nurse said and walked off.

  “Wanna bet?” the bear growled. “Go get into trouble or something.”

  “That an order?” Jethro snorted. He pointed to his arm. “I can't, doctor's orders.”

  That got Valenko to crack an eyelid again. “What'd you do? Arm wrestle Sergei again?”

  “Now that would be really stupid,” Jethro snorted. “No, wrestling in PT.”

  “Ah. Should have tapped out,” the bear said. His muzzle twitched. “You know what sucks being in here? I want to sneeze and I can't. It fracken bugs the heck out of me. Itching inside my nose. The damn nanites I bet, crawling all over the place. And I want to scratch my nose and my ass, and I can't. Sucks.”