jump to Agnosta, Jethro was certain he and the trainee recruits were heartily sick of being on the ship. It wasn't the length of time that was damn near miraculous in his estimation. The Navy crew seemed to be making miracles keeping the ship not only fully functional but also on course and at her speed.
He'd overheard a bit about how Firefly could have handled the upper bands, had she had a supply of antimatter. With antimatter they could have transited the thirty-four parsecs and five jumps in 110 days, but Deja would have been in hell the entire time. Each time the Selkie returned to his rack he practically collapsed, exhausted. And when Deja was at the helm the computers were fully tasked to support him, which meant the net was laggy or offline to the Marines. The corporal said he didn't mind the load though, it was just exhausting to do it all at once. Apparently, the engineers had rigged him up some sort of water sim to make it psychologically easier and possibly even more fun for the Selkie. Jethro knew it was mentally taxing but wasn't sure about the whole fun thing. He couldn't see himself doing something like that. Not for fun.
There was only so much he could do to train the recruits. He knew he was stepping on some toes with the training; he couldn't help it. They also couldn't and wouldn't give the recruits anything more than basic ID implants. That limited things too. He couldn't do physical training exercises; there were too many Marines and not enough room on the ship.
He did know one thing. By the time they arrived in Agnosta, his trainees would know the basics of military protocol and deportment down cold. They should be squared away enough to move them at an accelerated pace, and each had been thoroughly shown the various careers paths possible. He'd identified those who would go on to possible officer training and even those who could handle accelerated promotion into the ranks of the noncoms.
Ox and Riley had even measured each of the recruits in a field trip to the armory. Those recordings were all on file, and could be updated and passed along as needed, just like their medical files.
Something told him after what had happened in Antigua and what was about to happen shortly... they were going to need the Marines—fully-trained Marines—and soon, a lot more of them.
---( | ) --- ( | )---
Doctor Standish and the medics played a prank on Jethro. Jethro was called in for a routine checkup . When he sat on the bed he fidgeted. “Just settle down. It's not like you haven't been here before,” Gusterson said from one bed over.
“What are you doing here?” Jethro asked the greyhound. The medic had been kept busy dividing his time between duty time in the infirmary and with the squad. Like most of the squad he served in several capacities on a ship.
“Didn't you hear? Routine checkup like you. Oh, and a bit of a lecture on some medical procedures,” Gusterson said, distracting him from the nurse behind the panther. Jethro's ears twitched as he heard the human female pick something up from a tray. He smelled her cloying scent; he never understood why humans liked perfumes. Now that he had actually smelled flowers, they didn't smell anything like one. And why...well, he could see some usage in the field to smell like a flower...but...
He felt something touch the back of his neck and instinctively hunched his shoulders and dropped his head down. Then there was a pinch and his body acted instinctively.
They used a clip to fold and pinch the skin on the back of his neck. “It works!” Gusterson said in admiration when Jethro's body went into a fetal curl, legs tucked up, tail tucked between his legs.
“Yeah, it works; now cut it out!” Jethro snarled, practically spitting. His ears were flat. He had a helpless sensation running through him, something he hated. He could see medics chuckling and coming over from all over the infirmary. Suddenly he felt like he was on display. He liked that
He'd overheard a bit about how Firefly could have handled the upper bands, had she had a supply of antimatter. With antimatter they could have transited the thirty-four parsecs and five jumps in 110 days, but Deja would have been in hell the entire time. Each time the Selkie returned to his rack he practically collapsed, exhausted. And when Deja was at the helm the computers were fully tasked to support him, which meant the net was laggy or offline to the Marines. The corporal said he didn't mind the load though, it was just exhausting to do it all at once. Apparently, the engineers had rigged him up some sort of water sim to make it psychologically easier and possibly even more fun for the Selkie. Jethro knew it was mentally taxing but wasn't sure about the whole fun thing. He couldn't see himself doing something like that. Not for fun.
There was only so much he could do to train the recruits. He knew he was stepping on some toes with the training; he couldn't help it. They also couldn't and wouldn't give the recruits anything more than basic ID implants. That limited things too. He couldn't do physical training exercises; there were too many Marines and not enough room on the ship.
He did know one thing. By the time they arrived in Agnosta, his trainees would know the basics of military protocol and deportment down cold. They should be squared away enough to move them at an accelerated pace, and each had been thoroughly shown the various careers paths possible. He'd identified those who would go on to possible officer training and even those who could handle accelerated promotion into the ranks of the noncoms.
Ox and Riley had even measured each of the recruits in a field trip to the armory. Those recordings were all on file, and could be updated and passed along as needed, just like their medical files.
Something told him after what had happened in Antigua and what was about to happen shortly... they were going to need the Marines—fully-trained Marines—and soon, a lot more of them.
---( | ) --- ( | )---
Doctor Standish and the medics played a prank on Jethro. Jethro was called in for a routine checkup . When he sat on the bed he fidgeted. “Just settle down. It's not like you haven't been here before,” Gusterson said from one bed over.
“What are you doing here?” Jethro asked the greyhound. The medic had been kept busy dividing his time between duty time in the infirmary and with the squad. Like most of the squad he served in several capacities on a ship.
“Didn't you hear? Routine checkup like you. Oh, and a bit of a lecture on some medical procedures,” Gusterson said, distracting him from the nurse behind the panther. Jethro's ears twitched as he heard the human female pick something up from a tray. He smelled her cloying scent; he never understood why humans liked perfumes. Now that he had actually smelled flowers, they didn't smell anything like one. And why...well, he could see some usage in the field to smell like a flower...but...
He felt something touch the back of his neck and instinctively hunched his shoulders and dropped his head down. Then there was a pinch and his body acted instinctively.
They used a clip to fold and pinch the skin on the back of his neck. “It works!” Gusterson said in admiration when Jethro's body went into a fetal curl, legs tucked up, tail tucked between his legs.
“Yeah, it works; now cut it out!” Jethro snarled, practically spitting. His ears were flat. He had a helpless sensation running through him, something he hated. He could see medics chuckling and coming over from all over the infirmary. Suddenly he felt like he was on display. He liked that
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