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.He followed it to where the Marines were bunking, then redirected himself to a nearby empty cabin.Apparently, since they had the room to spare he could have his own room to himself since he was a noncom.That was probably a good thing he realized.He entered the cabin and looked around.It was surprisingly plush with purple carpet in some sort of fresco pattern and a rather large bed.Mirrors were on one wall, and another sported a full-sized smart wall.He nodded, dropping his bag on the bed.There was a dresser built into one wall, and a small door led to a head.He took a peek, wincing at the blindingly white walls.He shook his head and left the room.One of the first things to do now that he'd gotten his gear in a room was report in.He sent an e-mail to Valenko with a report of his quarters.Valenko sent back a quick reply to get squared away.Familiarizing himself with the ship was easy; he had the map after all.It was impossible to get lost with it in his implants and suit.The ship was over two kilometers long, intended to haul thousands of passengers of almost any of the common species across the void.It was quiet, smelled a bit in some places, but nice in a sort of grungy sort of way.He made a mental note to organize GI parties for those Marines who weren't wise enough to keep a low profile when off duty or just couldn't stay out of trouble.The ship had a lot of places to prowl; he made a note to search the ship again.There was no telling what he'd find, and he wondered if the Marines had swept it well enough.After all, if he could think of at least two or three places sensor scans wouldn't penetrate, he was fairly certain the Horathians could as well.He bumped that up a bit on his priority list.Apparently everyone was taking for granted that the ship was secure and clean.All hands were busy getting the ship ready for flight.Well, once things wound down, he intended to suggest some drills.A safety and fire drill for one but also security drills.One could never be too careful.He frowned thoughtfully.Really, they all deserved a rest, and it would be unfair to dump it all on the crew and Marines after he'd had his unintended downtime.But then he smiled evilly.Life in the Corps wasn't about fair, it was about getting the job done and done right.“Right way, wrong way, Navy way,” he murmured.He dodged a bot floating down the companionway.Bots and drones were all over the place, apparently the work of Ox, Chief Chowler, Sergeant Riley, and the Admiral.The Admiral had approved the manufacturing of the mechs and drones to help with their manpower issues.Getting the computer viruses sorted out had been easier than some had assumed.Once the battle had been finished the AI applied self-destruct codes to some of the viruses or ran antivirus programs.Since they were the ones who had created them, they knew just what damage had been inflicted and where.A lot of the computer hardware was being swapped out anyway for newly manufactured equipment; no one really wanted to trust a system that had been compromised, especially in hyperspace.Jethro didn't envy Ox the task ahead of him.The Tauren and the prize crew engineers were going to be busy for weeks.Hell, he'd probably draft Jethro and others with some DCC training to help out, the panther thought wryly.He found the mess; they were using the four-tiered dining room instead of one of the crew galleys near the center of the ship.He shrugged as he looked around.The cylinder compartment was opulent, a bit beyond his tastes with the fluted marble columns, gilded fixtures, waterfall chandeliers, and draperies, but nice.He did make a note to remove the damn drapes though.He didn't appreciate seeing the Horathian flag everywhere.That had to go.Marine or Navy flags would replace them or nothing at all he thought, making a note.“Lieutenant Valenko, a word?” Jethro sent in a text message.“What is it, Gunny?” The bear texted back.“I'm hibernating, or at least trying to,” the bear said, sending him a face with a tongue out.The panther snorted.“Sorry, sir, just thought you'd have some orders for me.”“Check security over.Give me an independent eval when I'm up.Go over the ship; I'd appreciate a second opinion.”“Aye aye, sir, prowl and be the big bad, Gunny.”“Out.And I do mean out.Out like a light,” the bear replied.“Night.”“Night, sir,” Jethro replied.As Jethro checked the brigs and set up, he was badgered by Bast.The AI was awake, and a little playful and into her why phase.He realized she had questions about the therapy session when she started feeding him images of what he'd seen.He was so distracted he nearly stumbled on a curl of carpet.He paused.“What? What are you getting at? I so wish you'd talk,” Jethro sighed.The AI seemed confused by the image of the crying woman, replaying it over and over.He tried to do his best to explain it.“Look Bast, what we saw was.well, an invasion of privacy.A private moment for those people.They were trying to heal, both mentally and physically.”She was puzzled, emitting a confused merow.“There are bad people out there, bad people who wanted to harm them, and did.They are sick, some really sick.” He tried to explain when she didn't let up, telling her quietly that the people were badly treated.“They are victims okay? People who suffered greatly at the hands of the pirates.They survived though, but scarred mentally and physically.Now they are trying to cope, to get back on track.Talking about it, talking in a group helps.It shares the feelings, gets them out, lets you know others know, they feel the same pain, they support you.”The eyes blinked at him and then looked away.He sighed heavily.“It's.it is my.our job to save them.Sometimes we succeed, but we can't be everywhere, you know? We can't.look we can't save everyone.I wish we could.I wish we could spare her pain, but at least she's safe now,” Jethro said quietly.He felt the AI, a phantom touch as she cuddled against him and then drifted into a nap.He hoped the images that had come up in his mind didn't disturb her.He turned, and moved on.Since he had his suit on and had the free time, he decided a deck by deck check, compartment by compartment would be in order.He wasn't sure if he would find anything, but he could do it.As he moved through the ship he became increasingly disturbed, and then angered by what he found.He tried to put a damper on his reactions, knowing they would wake Bast.The last thing he wanted was for the AI to wake and ask questions he didn't want to answer.He shook his head, looking at a room filled with gruesome devices.The smell of blood and death was nearly overwhelming.He closed his helmet and clutched at his C-42 Impaler.He wanted to.he turned away as the AI stirred.No, he'd have to keep a lid on it, he thought.He realized now why the Marines hadn't said they'd done a full search or hadn't done a follow up.Some things.some things you just didn't want to see again.Chapter 19“Does this mean I'm losing you finally, Commander?” Mayweather asked, turning an inquiring eye to her exec.Word had gotten around about the promotions.There was an excited feel in the air; everyone wondered where lightening would strike next [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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