Jethro Goes to War (Wandering Engineer Jethro's tale) by Chris Hechtl Read Free Book Online

he muttered. He
looked longingly back to the water.
    “ That why you
joined? Thought that marines meant water?” Valenko asked giving
the seal an amused look.
    “ Shove it,”
the selkie snarled.
    “ Easy there
pup, no offense meant. You sure are prickly. I'd think you'd have
enjoyed your envelope and showing us landies up for once,” the
bear said.
    The seal stared at
him for a moment then snorted.
    “ That's not it
is it?” Hurranna asked softly. He looked over to her. “You
get a taste of what you've been missing and then back to the cruel
dry world.”
    He looked away but
Jethro and the bear realized she hadn't been far off the mark.
    “ Well, if you
want to do the bathroom duty and take your time I'm all for it. As
long as it's clean when you're done,” the bear said with a nod.
    “ Don't do me
any favors. I can handle my own,” the seal ground out as they
began to form up.
    “ What was
that?” the bear growled.
    “ Nothing.”
    “ Thought not.
Loose the attitude kid. We're all in this together, capisci?”
    “ Yeah, I hear
you,” the selkie said as they began to move out at a jog.
    “ Good. Just
keep your head up kid, maybe you'll be on a planet someday soon,”
the bear said softly.
    “ In your
dreams,” the seal sighed.
    “ No,
seriously, we're marines, anything is possible,” Jethro said
nodding to the others. “We'll be on the sharp end. Boarding
actions, and stuff, planetary drops.”
    “ Or you could
drop out and do something else,” Hurranna suggested.
    “ Like what?
There isn't a lot of calls for me,” the selkie said.
    “ Oh I dunno,
you could scrub the inside of tanks, or that aquarium that I saw in
that restaurant in the rich level of Anvil, the mermaid's tail I
think it was called...” she said.
    “ Neptune's
Pearl, you're thinking of that big tank,” Valenko said with a
wince. “I saw it, they should shut it down, it was nasty when I
ate there last. All green and sludgy.”
    “ Ouch,”
    “ You could
work as a space hand, you know, since you're good with zero g,”
someone behind them suggested.
    “ Trying to get
rid of me?” the selkie asked and then laughed as the bear look
affronted. “Never mind, you can't get rid of me that easy,”
he said.
    “ That's the
spirit.”
     ...*...*...*...*...
    Jethro sighed as he
rubbed his boots clean. They were spit polished, just as the marine
corp manual specified. He checked his reflection in the boot toe and
then carefully set them down.
    “ All done?”
the ursine platoon leader growled, coming over to check. Hurranna
looked up from her cleaning and shook her head.
    “ Why do we...”
    “ Again with
the stupid questions? There is the right way, the wrong way, and the
Navy way. Get used to it,” the bear growled. He shrugged his
huge shoulders. “Believe me; I am not too keen about wearing
shoes either.” He looked down to his boots.
    Jethro glanced down
and then nodded looking up. “Did you wear them on the planet
you are from?”
    “ How'd you
know I was a dirtsider?” the bear said, looking the panther
over.
    “ A body like
yours would suck calories like a fusion reactor,” Jethro said
shaking his head. “Besides, you've got a Russian accent.”
    “ That's
because I'm from a Russian colony. I was a cub when we left,”
he shook his head. “Damn Horath bigots chased us out of the
mountains.”
    “ You've fought
them?” Hurranna asked, sitting up and looking at him with wide
eyes. She was tiny, barely a meter tall compared to the three meter
tall bear.
    “ No, but the
writing was on the wall,” the bear shook his head. “Pirates
raided our colony. Then the Horath moved in. We came to town for
supplies and heard the news. Next time we came people we'd known for
decades were hostile,” he shook his great head. “Sad,
real sad.”
    “ So you left?”
    “ Ma was killed
by a poacher. Da went off to kill the bastards but the townsfolk
didn't see it that way. He was run down by Dilgarth and a posse. The
rest of